Self-esteem,Self-focused Attention,and the Mediating Role of Fear of Negative Evaluation in College Students With and Without Asthma

Abstract

Objective: The current study investigated the mediating role of fear of negative evaluation on the relationship between self-focused attention and self-esteem among college students with and without asthma. Participants: Young adults with (n = 148) and without (n = 530) childhood-onset asthma were recruited from a college student population. Methods: Self-focused attention and fear of negative evaluation measures were completed. Participants also answered questions about inclusion in a social activity. Results: Higher levels of self-focused attention and fear of negative evaluation were associated with lower self-esteem in both groups within the context of social activity participation. Fear of negative evaluation mediated the relationship between self-consciousness and self-esteem. No significant differences were found between groups. Conclusions: Findings indicate significant relationships among self-focused attention, fear of negative evaluation, and self-esteem in the context of social activity participation. Further examination of self-esteem regarding participation in social activities among college students appears warranted.     

Women's Status and Social Capital in the United States

SUMMARY

Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone found that social capital is closely associated with a variety of important indicators of community health, and women benefit from many of these resources as members of their communities. But is there anything distinct about how women experience social capital? Is there a relationship between social capital and women's status overall? Using data on social capital from Bowling Alone and data collected by the Institute for Women's Policy Research for its Status of Women in the States project, we assess trends across the states on both dimensions. Overall, the findings suggest that there is a strong relationship between the two.     

Comments on Willis,Wells and Picou

Most research relating objective indicators of the quality of environment to subjective indicators of the quality of life has failed to find a relationship between the two. This research, by using community data, establishes an association between the local environment and perceived life quality, and in doing so, provides empirical support for focusing on local as welt as national investigations of life quality.     

Association Fellows' Luncheon Address: Maintaining Purpose in a Changing Environment

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the motivational factors and the barriers to physical activity (PA) in traditional college students (TS) and nontraditional college students (NTS) and determine if differences exist between these 2 groups. Participants: A total of 746 college students; 628 were TS (19.1 ± 1.2 years), and 118 were NTS (31.2 ± 8.6 years). Methods: In fall 2010, students voluntarily completed a demographic questionnaire, Barriers to Being Active Quiz, and Exercise Motivations Inventory–2 (EMI-2). Results: EMI-2 revealed that TS and NTS differed on 8 of the 14 motivational factors for exercise. There was a significant difference between TS and NTS for the following barriers: fear of injury (p = .001), lack of resources (p = .017), and lack of skill (p = .003). Conclusion: Based on these findings, interventions can be developed for the varied needs of a diverse student population as it pertains to PA participation.     

Coparenting in Intact and Divorced Families: Its Impact on Young Adult Adjustment

ABSTRACT

This study examined the potential mediating roles of coparenting and parenting practices on the relationship between marital status and young adult adjustment in intact and divorced or separated families. Participants were 340 undergraduate students from intact and divorced or separated families who completed questionnaires that tapped a range of adjustment factors (mental health, fear of intimacy, work ethic, self-esteem, delinquency) along with coparenting and parenting practices. Data were analyzed via structural equation modeling. Results suggest that coparenting and parenting practices, including parental hostility, parental cooperation, mothering, and fathering, are important partial mediators of the relationship between marital status and young adult adjustment. Intervention and legal implications are discussed.     

Changes in type 1 diabetes health indicators from high school to college

ABSTRACT

Objective: Evaluate trajectories of type 1 diabetes health indicators from high school through the first year of college. Participants: Seventy-four students with type 1 diabetes who maintained pediatric endocrinology care during the first year of college. Methods: Hemoglobin A_1c (HbA1c), blood glucose monitoring frequency, body mass index (BMI), and clinic attendance data were collected via retrospective medical chart review in spring 2012. Group-based trajectory models evaluated diabetes-related health indicators over time and identified distinct growth trajectory groups. Results: BMI increased and clinic attendance decreased in the first year of college. Trajectories for other health indicators were heterogeneous and stable over time; 69% of students were classified as having stable good glycemic control. Racial minority youth and youth on conventional insulin regimens were disproportionally represented in higher-risk groups. Conclusions: Diabetes health indicators are stable or decline upon college entrance. Results signal the need for targeted support for college students with type 1 diabetes.     

Scientific Acedia

Abstract

Using a gendered context, this paper examines women's fear management strategies. Using twenty-six in-depth interviews with married and divorced participants, the researcher considers one question: “How does gender influence fear management strategies among newly married and divorced women?” Results depict a unique intersection between strategies women use to manage fear of crime and the ways they “do gender” that vary by the marriage context, providing insight into women's fear of crime.     

Effects of urbanism,race, and class on happiness and physical health

The joint effects of urbanism, race, and socioeconomic status on self reported health and happiness are studied. Relationships of “neighborhood fear” and unemployment with health and happiness are also studied within different urban/rural race‐class categories. It is hypothesized that 1) lower socioeconomic status (SES) blacks residing in central cities will report the poorest health and lowest happiness and 2) “neighborhood fear” and unemployment will be most strongly related to health and happiness among central city lower SES blacks. The sample is pooled data from the 1972–1983 National Opinion Research Center (NORC) General Social Surveys. Findings indicate that urbanism has a modest negative relationship to happiness, but low SES urban blacks are not uniquely low in happiness. Contrary to the central city hypothesis, neighborhood fear is most strongly related to health among suburban blacks with less than high school or high school graduation attainment. A relative deprivation explanation is advanced. Unemployment negatively relates to the happiness of blacks and whites in a variety of urban‐SES‐race categories.     

Overcoming Future Professionals’ Fear of Digital Storytelling

ABSTRACT

Digital storytelling assessments at university can develop emerging human service and social workers’ skills in contemporary social media production and related advocacy. Despite growing interest in digital storytelling in these disciplines, there is little support for developing the technical sides of the practice. This article shares key learnings from an Australian teaching and learning project used to develop a digital storytelling module for social work and human services students at university who are not filmmakers. Students across a range of courses undertook digital storytelling assessments using the module. A key finding was that students still experienced considerable fear but were able to turn that into significant personal and professional development. This article explores these and other key learnings from the project and offers tips for others wishing to implement digital storytelling.

IMPLICATIONS

• Emerging social work and human services professionals studying at university often exhibit fear and resistance to new tasks such as digital storytelling. Such students need to be supported to navigate that discomfort to achieve learning.

• Students can be supported using online modules that support the technical and creative sides of digital storytelling.

• This project found that students were able to develop confidence and skills in digital storytelling after completing this module and assignment.

     

Intimate partner violence,health, sexuality,and academic performance among a national sample of undergraduates

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and academic performance among heterosexual and sexual minority undergraduates, including whether health mediates this relationship. Participants: A national sample of undergraduate students aged 18–24 years old who completed the 2011–2014 National College Health Assessment IIb (N = 85,071). Methods: We used structural equation modeling to create a latent variable of IPV victimization (stalking, physical, sexual, and emotional violence) in order to test its relationship with health (physical and mental) and two indicators of academic performance (GPA and perceived academic difficulties), according to participants’ sexual identity (heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and unsure). Results: Regardless of sexual identity, undergraduates who reported IPV were more likely to have lower GPA and increased academic difficulties. Health mediates this relationship, such that IPV reduces health, which negatively affects performance. Conclusions: IPV poses a serious threat to undergraduates’ health and educational success. Findings warrant universal prevention and intervention.     

Teenage Black Girls and Violence: Coming of Age in an Urban Environment

Abstract

Exposure to violence and fear of violence in relation to hopefulness and anger were investigated for 30 teenage Black girls 14 to 19 years of age. Information from focus groups was included to provide a context for the empirical data. Results indicated that overall the girls were hopeful, with a mean score of 135 (SD = 18.2) out of a possible score of 168. Correlation and regression procedures revealed a statistically significant negative relationship between hopefulness and exposure to violence. No significant relationship was found between anger and hopefulness. Fear of violence was positively related to exposure to violence but did not appear related to anger or hopefulness. The findings were mixed and did not capture the kind of hopelessness and anger which often appear in the literature describing children growing up in urban environments. Through the use of focus groups the teenage girls provided contextual information which seemed to indicate that many of them shared the values of mainstream society in terms of their future aspirations and assessment of their communities.     

“I feel like her daughter not her mother”: Ethnographic trans-cultural perspective of the experiences of aging for a group of Southeast Asian refugees in the United States

ObjectiveThis study seeks to understand trans-cultural aging and stressors for aging refugees. It describes the experiences of Cambodian refugee women as they age in the United States.MethodExperiences of 16 Cambodian refugee women (ages 44–60), participants of a Cambodian community health center support group, were examined over a year.ResultsAnalysis revealed complex experiences of aging in the U.S. including these: (a) loss of role as respected elder, (b) fear of living separate from children, (c) feeling devalued by children, and (d) feeling self-blame for intergenerational cultural gap. The women described years of employment interrupted by the exacerbation of post-traumatic symptoms later in life preventing further employment.DiscussionAn ethnographic trans-cultural perspective of the experiences of aging for Southeast Asian refugees. Aging refugees face stressors even 20–30 years after resettlement. Findings show decrease in functioning as survivors of torture age. Recommendations for social service programs and providers are made.     

The Fears and Futures of Boy Victims of Sexual Abuse: An Analysis of Narratives

ABSTRACT

Qualitative analysis of boys’ narratives about child sexual abuse revealed several themes, including memories of the abuse, the disclosure and subsequent events, the healing journey, and a meta-theme titled “fear and safety.” In this article, boys’ (N = 19) experiences related to fear and safety and the healing journey are explored. The narratives provided a unique look at boys’ road to recovery, perceptions of counseling, and hopes for their futures. Recommendations for counseling boy victims are discussed.     

(In)credible Violence: An Analysis of Post-Alvarado Domestic Violence Asylum Cases in the United States

ABSTRACT

Every year, women from around the world apply for asylum in the United States to escape an abusive partner. In this article I find that domestic violence applicants may not be interpreted as viable truth tellers since they are missing specific markers of credibility, including legitimacy of fear, coherence and corroboration, and proof of no culpability. I link these questions of credibility to broader US discourses about gender-based violence and racialized conceptions of victimhood, which show a preference for credentialed knowledge over women’s experiences and employ assumptions about autonomous, linear decision-making. I argue that the deployment of these discourses represents a tactic of exclusion, likely motivated by fears of immigration. Asylum adjudication practices (including credibility determinations) must address these issues in order to secure the health and well-being of women fleeing abusive partners in their countries of origin.     

Adolescent Gambling on a Great Lakes Indian Reservation

SUMMARY

The gambling habits of adolescents and the relationship between gambling, other high-risk behaviors and self-esteem were investigated. One hundred eighty-five American Indian and non-Indian students in grades 7–12 in two schools (one tribal and one public) were surveyed on a Great Lakes Indian Reservation. The seventy-eight item survey replicated a previous study on another reservation. The instrument reported data by age, gender, school, ethnicity, socio-economic status, incidence of high-risk behaviors, self-esteem indicators, and incidence(s) of individual and family gambling. The results indicated statistically significant relationships between gambling habits, parental gambling, other high-risk behaviors, and self-esteem. These findings have implications for American Indian youth and their families, for tribal leaders making policy decisions, and for social workers who provide services to these communities.     

Ain’t no love in the heart of the city: Compensatory quasi-adaptive coping among African American males

ABSTRACT

The social and developmental challenges associated with the normative transition from adolescence to young adulthood for young African American males is quite difficult. These challenges are often further complicated when social, environmental, and even psycho-dynamic factors impinge on these developmental processes. Neighborhood disorder along with chronic exposure to urban stressors represent a quiet danger for this population that entrenches them in a milieu characterized by angst, hopelessness, fear, and nihilism. For many young African American males, this creates a seemingly intractable chasm that often relegates them to truncated life course trajectories. The current article explores these areas and the implications for research and practice with this vulnerable population.     

Evolution and Dimensions of a Women's Clinic in a University Setting

Abstract

As theologian Henri Nouwen has pointed out, the opposite of love is not hate; it is fear. Nowhere is the fear which strips us of our capacity to behave rationally better evidenced than in relation to AIDS. Only as we allow ourselves to be moved from what Nouwen calls the house of fear into the house of love will responsible answers begin to be formulated to the emerging moral questions presented by AIDS. The questions are threefold. To those potentially at risk for AIDS or actually infected with it, it raises questions about honesty and love in sexual relations. For caregivers, it raises questions about the nature of our professional obligations. And for society at large, it raises questions about confidentiality and scapegoating. It is the author's contention that an experience of the divine love—unconditional, unmerited, unbounded—is alone sufficient to move us from fear, and its responses to AIDS, to a more loving (and courageous) stance. Only thus will we begin—whether as victims of AIDS, as caregivers, or as members of society at large—to exercise moral responsibility with respect to this dread disease.     

Experiences of Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Parents with Coming Out in a School Setting

Abstract

The present study was conducted to learn more about the experiences of gay and lesbian parents and teachers, particularly about experiences relevant to disclosure of their homosexuality at school. Thirty-four teachers and nineteen parents responded to an anonymous questionnaire. Teachers were more likely to disclose their sexual orientation to fellow teachers than to principals, and to women than to men. Responses to disclosure were generally but not universally positive. Reasons for nondisclosure included fear of losing one's job and of exposure to others. Few parents had come out at their child's school, primarily due to fear of discrimination towards their child.     

Fighting for survival: The experiences of lesbian,gay, bisexual,transgender, and questioning students in religious colleges and universities

ABSTRACT

Little is known about the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students attending religious colleges and universities. This study used grounded theory to analyze the narratives (N = 271) of LGBTQ former and current students. The central theme described by LGBTQ students was a fight for survival with five subthemes: (a) institutionalized homo/transphobia (strict school policies, enforcement of heterosexuality and gender conformity through discipline, conversion therapy); (b) a culture of fear (fear of exposure, homophobic panic and code words, seeking cover); (c) marginalization and isolation; (d) struggle (suffering and suicide, reconciling faith and LGBTQ identity); and (e) coping and resilience (surviving through critical thinking and strategic activism). Implications for practice are provided.     

Understanding Older Americans' Attitudes,Knowledge, and Fears About Vision Loss and Aging

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present study was to identify factors associated with attitudes, knowledge, and fear of age-related vision impairment in a representative sample of US adults age 55 and older. Data were obtained from a national telephone survey. Attitudes toward vision impairment and aging were positive, but fears were extensive and knowledge was lacking. Higher socioeconomic status and experience with nonrelated persons who were visually impaired predicted better attitudes and greater knowledge. Being a women and having experience with persons who were visually impaired predicted lower fear. Findings emphasize the importance of accurate knowledge and training about visual impairment for practitioners working with this population.