Ethnic Differences in Symptom Presentation of Sexually Abused Girls

ABSTRACT

Although researchers have begun to examine the issue of ethnic and cultural factors in childhood sexual abuse (CSA), relatively little has been done to look at possible ethnic and cultural differences in psychological symptoms related to CSA. This study investigated the relationship between ethnicity and symptom presentation among Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian sexually abused girls. The study examined the relationship between ethnicity and depression, ethnicity and post-trauma intrusive symptoms, and ethnicity and post-trauma avoidance symptoms. Results indicated that African American girls had significantly higher levels of post-trauma avoidance symptoms than Hispanic girls, but not Caucasian girls. No significant differences were found between ethnic groups for depression or intrusive symptoms.     

Ethnic identities and national identities: Some examples from Malaysia

Using examples from Malaysia, this paper emphasizes the importance of relating ethnicity to the power of the state and political processes involving different ethnic groups. Ethnic group formation involves processes that make people identify as an imagined community in a nation‐state. Indeed, the processes that create ethnic and national identities are part and parcel of the same historical processes. It is also necessary to relate national identity to ethnicity, as national identity is imagined differently by different ethnic groups in a nation‐state. The paper describes Malay and Chinese ethnicity as well as the complex ethnic identification and ethnogenesis of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak.     

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health: The Role of Lifestyle,Education, Income,and Wealth

Abstract

This article addresses the persistent relationship between race/ethnicity, SES, health-related lifestyle behaviors, and self-reported health using data from the 1995 National Health Interview Survey and its topical supplements. Through a series of models, we found that both SES (education, income, home ownership, and house and business monetary value) and health-related lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, nutrition awareness, and smoking) contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in self-reported health. Further, the impact of education on smoking behavior and self-reported health differs by race/ethnicity, with non-Hispanic whites receiving greater health benefits from education than African Americans and Hispanics. Although SES and lifestyle behaviors are indirect paths through which race/ethnicity affects health, the relationship between SES and health also is shaped by racial/ethnic status.     

Adolescent Independence across Immigrant Generations: Age and Ethnic Variations

Abstract

This study examines differences in the level of independence in decision-making experienced by three generations of immigrants and the moderating effects of age, sex, and ethnicity. Data for this study were obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Results indicate generally less independence in decision-making among first-generation immigrants relative to their higher-generation counterparts; however, the relationship varies significantly with ethnicity and age. Among Latinos, adolescents' level of independence increases across successive immigrant generations to a much greater degree than among other ethnic groups. Age further contributes to this interaction, with evidence of greater increases in independence with age among first-generation immigrant Latinos. Findings demonstrate that cultural traditions with regard to parenting and adolescent socialization are important not only within ethnic groups but also within immigrant generations.     

Marxist and Neo-Marxist Interpretations of Ethnicity

Abstract

This paper reviews both the contributions and inadequacies of Marxist and neo-Marxist efforts to account for the persistence of ethnicity in modern societies. The former approach relegates ethnic group relations and consciousness in capitalist society either to a vestigial survival of pre-capitalist class relations or as a case of false consciousness. It treats ethnicity as a necessarily dependent variable, and predicts that ethnicity eventually will disappear. Recognizing the continuing significance of ethnic forces in modern capitalist societies, neo-Marxists concerned with uneven development at both an external global and an intra-societal level offer explanations as to how structures of ethnic inequality are functional for capitalist accumulation. Critiques of such theories are offered. The essay concludes by evaluating the limitations and prospects of a Marxist analysis of ethnicity.     

Teacher ethnicity,student ethnicity,and student outcomes

A review of the empirical literature was conducted to establish the relation between teacher and student ethnicity, and cognitive and noncognitive student outcomes. It was hypothesized that ethnic teacher–student congruence results in more favorable outcomes for especially minority students. A total of 24 quantitative studies focusing on primary and secondary education in the United States were reviewed. The results show that there is as yet little unambiguous empirical evidence that a stronger degree of ethnic match be it in the form of a one-to-one coupling of a teacher to students with the same ethnic background, or a larger share of ethnic minority teachers at an ethnically mixed school, leads to predominantly positive results. Insofar positive effects were found, they apply to a greater extent to subjective teacher evaluations than to objective achievement outcome measures.     

Ethnicity versus Ethnic Identity: What Predicts Substance Use Norms and Behaviors?

ABSTRACT

Although researchers often incorporate various measures of ethnicity and ethnic identity (EI) into research about substance use, the relationships among ethnicity, EI, and substance use remain unclear (Marsiglia, Kulis, & Hecht, 2001; Phinney, 1996). This paper explores whether ethnicity and three EI instruments are useful in predicting substance use outcomes among three samples of ethnically diverse middle school youth. Findings include that age, gender, and/or racial or ethnic group membership influenced the strength of EI and that age, sex, and strength of EI influence substance use norms and behaviors. In each case where significant effects were obtained, a stronger sense of EI as measured by two of the instruments predicted more negative attitudes toward, and less use of, alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. Implications for preventing substance use among middle school youth by building on and strengthening ethnic identity are provided.     

The success of the Cuban success story: Ethnicity,power, and politics

This article examines the convergence of various forces that constructed a public image of Cuban Americans in the United States as a politically united, socially homogeneous, and economically successful ethnic group. The claims that comprise the Cuban “success story” are not well‐grounded in an objective, empirical reality, but do reflect the historical interplay of power and politics locally, nationally, and internationally. The focus is on how politicians, the media and the civic elite construct images of reality, the processes that determine which images gain prominence in the public mind, and the ways in which the images, themselves, shape social and political outcomes. Metropolitan Miami provides the laboratory, but the analytical approach generates important insights for the study of ethnicity and the politics of identity more generally.     

The behavioural relevance of ethnic attitude studies∗

The assumption implicit in many ethnic attitude studies that attitudes influence behaviour and that knowledge of ethnic attitudes permits socially and politically important behavioural predictions is critically evaluated. Four main arguments are elaborated on to question the validity of the claim of a simple causal link from attitudes to behaviour: (a) situational variance of attitude effects (b) the problematic of an isomorphism between cognitive and behavioural phenomena, (c) empirical evidence indicating an influence from behaviour to attitudes, and (d) the question of valid self‐perception in attitude measurement. It is argued that the question of an attitude behaviour link cannot be meaningfully answered when the social context within which attitudes are learned and behaviour is shaped is neglected in the analysis. The social context and a corresponding reinforcement pattern are seen to provide social meaning to both attitudes and behaviour and secondly to determine the particular relationship between these variables, i.e. consistency, inconsistency, or irrelevance.     

Ethnic monitoring in higher education: Some reflections on methodology

Ethnic Monitoring in higher education has been limited and piecemeal. It often fails to explore the relationships between ethnicity and student progress and achievement, and to account for any ethnic inequalities revealed. In this paper an approach to ethnic monitoring that utilizes quantitative and qualitative methods is discussed. We argue that such an approach gives a clear statistical picture of group progress and achievement, identifies social, economic and institutional factors that might account for ethnic inequalities, and highlights the processes of racism and discrimination in higher education. All of these aspects are vital to a thorough understanding of ethnic inequalities in the higher education sector in the United Kingdom.     

Kinship Care: A Cultural Resource of African American and Latino Families Coping with Parental Substance Abuse

SUMMARY

This paper examines kinship care as a cultural resource used by African American and Latino families coping with substance abuse by a family member. Although there is a growing body of literature on kinship care, there are no conceptual or empirical studies that have drawn or built on cultural similarities between these two groups of ethnic minority families. A framework that prioritizes cultural assessment and relevance in using familial and cultural resources is proposed to assist practitioners confronted with the demographic realities of working with social, clinical and ethnocultural complexities when serving ethnic minority families. The framework is based on practice implications raised by recent studies on kinship care and from the perspective of pertinent cross-cultural and anthropological literature.     

Creating Ethnicity: East European Jews and Lithuanian Immigrants in Chicago

Abstract

By focusing on East European Jewish and Lithuanian ethnic groups in the United States, this paper offers a three stage model for understanding the process by which assimilating groups create their ethnicity: Stage One, ethnic community and participatory organizations; Stage Two, individual perpetuation and representational organizations; Stage Three, informal behavior and residual symbols. The model considers the impact of both cultural and structural variables, instead of treating them as rival claimants to primacy. In applying the model to data gathered in the groups' Chicago communities, we found that despite particular divergencies, both groups presented a similar response to the United States, enabling their members to maintain a dual ethnic identity beyond the tightly-knit ghetto and urban village.     

Body Mass Index,Disordered Eating Behavior,and Acquisition of Health Information: Examining Ethnicity and Weight-Related Issues in a College Population

Objective and Participants: To investigate ethnic differences related to weight, the authors assessed body mass index, dysfunctional eating, receipt of health information, and perceived obstacles to healthy lifestyles of 210 ethnically diverse college women. Methods: The authors used the Eating Attitudes Test to assess dieting, food preoccupation, and bulimic behaviors. Results: The authors found no ethnic differences in body mass index or disordered eating, but African Americans were more likely than were European Americans and Latina Americans to receive nutrition information from professionals and less likely than European Americans to perceive time as an obstacle. Overall, receipt of health information from a professional was related to fewer disordered eating behaviors; however, the specific eating behavior that was reduced varied by ethnicity. Conclusions: Health professionals should reconsider traditional assumptions of disordered eating behavior as a European American problem and consider cultural appropriateness in the development of effective health programs.     

(Mis)taking policy: Notes on the cultural policy debate

Abstract

The article argues that terms like ‘postcolonialism’ and ‘multiculturalism’ can be totalizing and themselves elide difference. In terms of recent argument in cultural studies in Australia, approaches drawn from postcolonialism referring to Orientalism and race have been contentiously applied to multicultural discourse referring to migration and ethnicity. In such discourse there is a ruling binary distinction between the migrant and Australian society. I seek to complicate the analysis of multiculturalism by pointing to a heterogeneity of shifting centres and margins, for example, between and within ethnic communities, and in diasporic relationships.     

The Paradox of Risk: Historically Black College/University Students and Sexual Health

Abstract

Objective: This literature review provides an analysis of the current state of the empirical research on sexual health among students attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Methods: Several electronic databases were used to identify 24 empirical studies that met criteria for inclusion in this review. Results: The results indicated that perceived human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk, religiosity, HIV testing, condom use, and substance use were as high or higher for black HBCU students in comparison with students of other racial/ethnic groups. Comment: Consistent with past findings, sexually transmitted infections continue to be of concern among HBCU students, as seen in the general black population. Limitations: This review only examined cross-sectional studies published between 2000 and 2013. Conclusions: The findings in this review suggest the importance of moving beyond individual risk models to examining structural barriers and assets related to promoting sexual health on HBCU campuses.     

Multiethnic Parentage

Abstract

Given increasing inter-ethnic contact resulting from migration and refugee movements as well as global economic and political activities, this paper explores the potential for bridging cultural, ethnic and racial divides by people who are not confined to a single ethnicity. Based on a piece of exploratory qualitative research, the paper describes the personal ethnic identity of 13 people of multi-cultural/ethnic/racial parentage, and then draws out links between their identity resolution and their social relationships. From the findings, hypotheses are formulated concerning the relationship between identity resolution and ease of bridging ethnic divides in social contexts. Implications of the findings for social work practice and the challenge of enhancing social cohesion are considered in the concluding section of the paper.     

National Minority, National Mentality, and Communal Ethnicity: Changes in Ethnic Identity of Former Soviet Union Jewish Emigrants on the Israeli Kibbutz

In this paper we examine and compare the ethnic identity of the Jews in the former Soviet Union (FSU) and the process of change in ethnic identity among the new immigrants from the FSU. This analysis considers the role of the kibbutz as the first experience of Jewish community in their lives, as well as the location of the first phase of their process of absorption and resocialization into new and unfamiliar surroundings. The data are drawn through a longitudinal research design, with a pre‐ and post‐analysis of changes in the ethnicity of migrants studied from their arrival on the Israeli kibbutz until the completion of the five‐month kibbutz programme. We found that pre‐migration Soviet Jews defined their ethnicity as a discriminated national minority with a weak symbolic ethnicity content. The ambivalent nature of the ethnicity of Jews while in the FSU was expressed in the fact that although a majority were deculturized from traditional dimensions of Jewish life, they nevertheless felt they belonged to a specific ethnic group. Post‐migration ethnicity was found to be remarkably altered; the former ambivalence was dissolved. On the macro‐level, membership in the economically and politically successful Russian‐speaking group of Israeli society is a source of self esteem, rather than a sign of shameful otherness. On the micro‐level of ethnicity, the encounter in the initial phase of absorption in Israel, within the kibbutz Jewish community, often demands a re‐examination of their private concept of Jewishness, serving as a first step in resolving their ambivalent ethnic identity. Consequently, their new ethnic identity may now well have weaker boundaries, but a more positive (non‐alienating) content than that left behind.     

Sikh ethnonationalism and militancy: manifestation and prognosis

ABSTRACT

The study primarily answers the question that whether the movement of Sikh ethnonationalism had been defeated permanently during 1990s or whether it still persists? The study perceives that the movement of Sikh ethnonationalism cannot end till the core pivotal ethnic issues, the moving force of the movement are prevailing. The study eventually predicts that the movement will sooner or later rejuvenate from its previous stage, i.e. militancy, as the sociopolitical circumstances of Punjab have been nourishing microclimate for resurgence of the same. In typical political scenario, the moderate outfit of Sikhs is eager to stimulate the ethnic-regional issues of the Sikhs while the radical factions are also observant to ignite the clinkering Sikh ethnic issues once again. Contrarily, the political aspirations of the BJP controlled by the RSS are opposite to the ethno-political demands of the Sikhs. This contradiction, if aroused systematically, has the potential to rekindle the old spark of militant movement.     

Ethnic Sensitive Social Work Practice: Back to the Future

SUMMARY

In this paper we examine the history and future directions of ethnic sensitive social work practice. We highlight the context within which the approach was developed and current sociodemographic trends. The various rights movements of the sixties and seventies pointed to the need to refocus on social class and ethnicity. The new demographic landscape, largely a function policies, reinforces the importance of concepts such as the ethnic reality and other aspects of our work.     

Black Immigrants in the United States and the "Cultural Narratives" of Ethnicity

This article argues that social science representations of post-1965 Black immigrants in the United States employ the concept of "ethnicity" in ways that reinforce the racialist myth of Black (American) cultural inferiority. Specifically, the discursive use of Black immigrant "ethnic" and "cultural distinctiveness," while admittedly reflecting an important recognition of the heterogeneity of the United States Black populations, is in fact predicated upon a repackaged "culture of poverty" discourse that serves to reaffirm the overarching racial order. In a discussion of the theoretical and historical development of the concept, I show how the current discourse of "ethnic distinctiveness" perpetuates a form of racism under a theory that denies the relevance of race while it continuously recodes the biological notions of race as "culture." Thus, Black immigrant distinctiveness, when presented through the prism of the cultural narratives of ethnicity, allows for the perpetuation of a "cultural racism" that adversely affects all Blacks in this country. I therefore call for a rejection of ethnicity theory as it is currently conceptualized and suggest the need to ground theories of Black distinctiveness within analyses of power relations and ongoing practices of racial subjugation.