Profiles of African American College Students’ Alcohol Use and Sexual Behaviors: Associations With Stress,Racial Discrimination,and Social Support

Though studies show that alcohol use and sexual activity increase during emerging adulthood, few studies examine within–ethnic group differences, particularly among African American college students. This investigation utilized a latent class analytic methodology to identify risk behavior profiles of alcohol use (frequency and amount of alcohol consumed), sexual activity (number of intimate partners), and co-occurring risk behaviors (drinking before sexual intercourse) among 228 African American college students. This investigation also examined whether identified risk behavior profiles were associated with stress (interpersonal, intrapersonal, academic, and environmental), experiences of racial discrimination, and social support (from family, friends, and the college community). Results identified five distinct profiles within this sample: (a) High Sexual Risk—above-average sexual activity; (b) Abstainers—below-average alcohol use and sexual activity; (c) Low Risk—average alcohol use and sexual activity; (d) Alcohol Risk—above-average alcohol use and below-average sexual activity; and (e) Co-Occurring Risk—above-average alcohol use and sexual activity. Identified profiles differed across interpersonal and environmental stress, and self-reported frequency of experiences with racial discrimination. Implications for prevention programs and interventions aimed at reducing alcohol and sexual activity for African American college students are discussed.     

Employed Rural,Low-Income,Single Mothers’ Family and Work Over Time

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine how low-income, single mothers manage their family and work lives. Analysis was based on longitudinal data collected from 28 rural, low-income, single mothers across 11 states who were continuously employed over three waves. Four main themes were identified: demands from family and work, resources the mothers used to maintain employment, work-family conflict, and strategies to retain employment. This study concludes that despite all the difficulties, mothers try to utilize their limited resources and adopt strategies for combining family and work life even though their demands and resources vary over time. Mothers employed in the same jobs receive consistent support from families. Implications for child care and leave policies are discussed.     

Child Support,Father–Child Contact,and Preteens’ Involvement with Nonresidential Fathers: Racial/Ethnic Differences

This study examined how child support, frequency of contact with children, and the relationship between nonresidential parents influenced preteens’ reports of the involvement of fathers and mothers in their life. Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) that has followed the children of NLSY mothers from birth into their twenties. Results showed that increases in child support and in contact with the child over time after separation are linked to a better coparental relationship when children are age 11 or 12. This better relationship between parents is, in turn, associated with greater involvement of both mothers and nonresidential fathers with their children.     

Community,Family, and Individual Factors Associated with Adolescents’ Vulnerability,Daily Stress,and Well-being Following Family Separation

ABSTRACT

This study identified correlates of resilience among adolescents from separated families. Twenty-four adolescents (age 9–14 years) and their parents completed measures of sociodemographic risk and protective factors, interparental conflict, and adolescent responses to conflict. Adolescents reported their behavior, learning, mood, and anxiety difficulties as well as their stress and well-being using a 5-day diary. Resilient adolescents reported more constructive family representations, reported lower interparental conflict, and were from schools and neighborhoods that were more advantaged. Resilient adolescents reported significantly less stress across the diary days than vulnerable adolescents. The results of this study highlight the role of sociodemographic factors, family functioning, and adolescents’ own individual characteristics in their adjustment to their parents’ separation.     

Racial Glass Ceilings,Gendered Responses: Taiwanese American Professionals’ Experiences of Otherness

This article examines Taiwanese American professionals’ interpretations of the glass ceiling to illuminate the manifestations of structural inequality at the micro-level of social life. Data are based on 40 in-depth interviews in the Chicago metropolitan area. Findings suggest that racial inequalities are experienced through race relations. Ethnic cultures construct relational fences along racial lines that designate the place of each group in the racial hierarchy. Although frustrated and alienated by their marginalized position, women and men use different strategies to negotiate the meaning of being an “other.” Women act confrontationally to transgress social boundaries, while men adopt acquiescent and coalitional approaches to dwell in their designated territories. I argue that race intersects with gender and citizenship in shaping the salience of individuals’ social identities, which affects their responses to racial inequality in the white-collar workplace.     

Iranian College Students’ Attitudes Toward Premarital Sex,Marriage, and Family Before and After the Islamic Revolution

ABSTRACT. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine Iranian college students’ attitudes toward premarital sex and marriage before and after the Islamic Revolution. Methods: Responses to a survey from 526 students at University of Shiraz in 2011 were compared to those from another study of 392 students from the same university who completed the same survey in 1977 (2 years before the Islamic Revolution). Results: No substantial changes were observed to indicate that college students adopted theocratic views on premarital sex and marriage after the Islamic Revolution. Conclusions: The Islamic regime's efforts to cultivate conservative attitudes toward sexuality and marriage have not achieved their goals.     

A qualitative analysis of African American fathers’ struggle with reentry,recidivism, and reunification after participation in re-entry programs

The experiences of African American fathers with reentry, recidivism, and reunification after a period of incarceration and after participation in a re-entry program. Results of the thematic analysis yielded the following major themes: unaddressed childhood trauma, self-identification, reentry; self-esteem and self-worth; reentry; family reunification after incarceration; and recidivism. Unaddressed childhood trauma and post-release stress emerged as the major barriers to successful transition from incarceration. Implications for social work policy, research, practice, and education are provided.     

Working With Urban,African American Fathers: The Importance of Service Provision,Joining, Accountability,the Father–Child Relationship,and Couples Work

Urban, African American fathers have been a difficult population for social workers and other helping professionals to effectively serve. This article, based on interviews with front-line African American service professionals at a father-focused program, who also participated in writing this article, provides information about and suggestions for working with young fathers. Providing father-friendly service, joining with fathers, holding them accountable for their behavior, and addressing their relationship with their child and the mother of their child through couples work are suggested, along with other interventions.     

‘With almost electric speed’: mapping African American abolitionists in Britain and Ireland, 1838–1847

African American abolitionists made an indelible mark on nineteenth-century transatlantic society: their lectures were held in famous meeting halls, taverns, theatres, churches, and the private parlour rooms of wealthy patrons across the British Isles. This article will demonstrate how digital mapping techniques reveal not only the extent of how far African Americans travelled, but also how visualizing their tours can lead to new avenues of research. Digital mapping can reinvigorate scholarship on transatlantic activism by providing original insights into journeys by men such as Frederick Douglass and Moses Roper.     

A comparison of African American and white college students’ affective and attitudinal reactions to lesbian,gay, and bisexual individuals: An exploratory study

African American (n = 70) university students were compared with White students (n = 140) on their affective (homophobia) and attitudinal (homonegativity) reactions to lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. The results initially suggested that African Americans had modestly higher homophobia and homonegativity scores than Whites. However, those ethnic differences vanished after controlling for frequency of church attendance, religious commitment, and socioeconomic status. For both ethnic groups, gender and religiosity variables significantly predicted homophobia and homonegativity. Men in both ethnic groups had significantly higher homophobia and homonegativity scores than their female counterparts. Lastly, additional regression analyses revealed that one aspect of African American culture—family practices—significantly predicted homophobia, but not homonegativity, above the predictive ability of religiosity. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Ratings of Parental Involvement: Views of Married Dual-Earners with Preschool-Age Children

In this paper, we examine how married dual-earner mothers and fathers of preschool-age children rate their own involvement in parenting, and their spouse’s involvement in parenting. Five dimensions of parenting are examined: discipline, support for spouse, spending time with children, praise and affection, and attentiveness. Several comparisons between mothers’ and fathers’ ratings are made. We find that both mothers and fathers rated themselves most highly on praise and affection and lowest on discipline and also rated their spouse least favorably in terms of discipline. In general, mothers were more generous in their ratings of fathers, than fathers were in their ratings of mothers. These findings are discussed in light of self-determination theory, which is used to frame our analysis.     

Corporate Associations Written on the Wall: Publics’ Responses to Fortune 500 Ability and Social Responsibility Facebook Posts

This is a quantitative content analysis of Fortune 500 companies’ Facebook profiles, wall posts, and wall comments. It confirms that a 3-part typology of message strategies—corporate ability (CA), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and hybrid—exists in corporate online social networking communication. As predicted, when corporations used CA strategies in wall posts, publics’ wall comments demonstrated greater CA associations and product evaluations than CSR associations and company evaluations. Likewise, when corporations used CSR strategies, publics showed greater CSR associations than CA associations. These corporate messages and publics’ responses in the real-world digital market support the synergistic model of corporate communication strategy.     

Politicizing the spirit: ‘American Africanisms’ and African ancestors in the essays of Toni Morrison

This article is a comparative study of American and Soviet programmes of space/cosmos elaboration in terms of ideological and technological competition during the era of the cold war. It is in a sense a rereading of a book written by Nikolai Nosov for Soviet children called Neznaika on the Moon (1965). This book – which was the most popular among Soviet children in the 1960s and 1970s – helps to uncover ideological and technological paradigms of the time when outer space happened to be the scene of the cold war conflict. The subject of space/cosmos has been studied in many contextual respects. However, there are four key notions – such as technology, ideology, time, consciousness – which make it possible to see similarities and differences between American and Soviet scientific approaches to outer space.