Fertility and fertility-related behavior among Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white female adolescents

Ethnic differences in fertility-related behavior are examined in a community-based probability sample of 706 Mexican-American and 317 non-Hispanic white females aged 13 through 19 years. Mexican-Americans are more likely than whites to have had a live birth, but are no more likely to have been pregnant and are less likely to have had sexual intercourse. Sexually experienced Mexican-Americans, however, are twice as likely as whites to have been pregnant. Among those ever pregnant, Mexican-Americans are more likely to have had a live birth, while whites are more likely to have had an abortion. Ethnic differences remain strong when socioeconomic status and indicators of social instability are controlled statistically, lending more support to the "minority status" hypothesis than to the "characteristics" hypothesis concerning the fertility-related behavior of minority group members.     

CULTIVATING SOCIETY'S CIVIC INTELLIGENCE: PATTERNS FOR A NEW 'WORLD BRAIN'

In spite of remarkable advances in science and technology, humankind is beset with a number of serious problems. These are not just problems that 'won't go away'; they are problems that are worsening considerably. These problems include the growing gap between rich and poor, between those who have too much and those who have too little, as well as a broad range of environmental issues that may have major consequences but, at the same time, are little understood. This essay explores the idea of 'civic intelligence'. What projects, perspectives, policy and technology might humankind develop that would help us collectively address these problems? This essay discusses six aspects of 'civic intelligence' (orientation, organization, engagement, intelligence, products and projects, and resources) as well as ways to make cultivating our 'civic intelligence' a practical - non-utopian - enterprise.     

Interest,Ideology, and Claims-Making Activity*

Social constructionists have produced a rich theoretical and empirical literature on the rise and fall of public issues. By focusing exclusively on claims-making behavior in a micro interactive context, social constructionists, in the tradition of Spector and Kitsuse, generally have rejected efforts to link claims-making to antecedent variables. Thus they often treat claims-making participants as activities, devoid of motives, meanings, and intentions. In this paper, ideology and interest are offered as antecedent variables to claims-making and as the critical factors which determine why some claims are more marketable than others. Interest and ideology also are examined as both subjective and structural/cultural phenomena.     

Abuse and deaf children: Some factors to consider

Deaf children are uniquely disadvantaged in terms of access to information on safety and abuse. This is often due to misunderstood linguistic and cultural needs which relate to the deaf community. Consequently, a greater number of children who are deaf are placed in potentially abusive situations when compared to their non-deaf peer group. A high percentage of deaf children have also acquired negative self-concepts. This is often due to external influences such as educational experiences and family communication. Many deaf children believe that abuse is part of their being deaf. The implications of this are that deaf children are at risk of neglect and abuse as well as long-term damage to their emotional development and self-esteem. A number of survivors of physical and sexual abuse have been referred to the National Centre for Mental Health and Deafness, Preston. Some of these referrals have been inappropriate and due to a dearth of local resources. Extremely little support is available for deaf people who have been or are being abused. There are few appropriately trained counsellors equipped with the necessary skills in communicating with deaf people and even fewer trained in deaf awareness. A number of risk factors have been identified and are illustrated in this article. Three case studies are described to highlight the issues involved.     

Self-employed immigrants and their employees: evidence from Swedish employer-employee data

We present a study of the employees of self-employed immigrants with unincorporated firms in Sweden using matched employer-employee data from 2014. Non-European immigrants are more likely than natives to have employees in their firms. Furthermore, immigrants, especially non-European immigrants, are more likely than natives to employ immigrants in their firms, and non-European immigrants are most likely to employ recently arrived non-European immigrants with low education in their firms. Males are more likely than females to have employees in their firms, but self-employed females are more likely than self-employed males to have female employees. This is the case for all immigrant groups as well as for natives. We conclude that self-employed immigrants play a role in the labour market integration process since they create employment opportunities for immigrant groups that have difficulty entering the labour market.

     

Strengthening senior tax credit programs in Massachusetts

In the last decade, property taxes have increased, creating a financial burden on senior homeowners. In Massachusetts, senior property tax credit programs have arisen to address this problem, as well as to provide cost-effective volunteer assistance for municipal departments, offer seniors meaningful work that otherwise would not have been attempted, and foster involvement in municipal government among seniors. The success of the programs in retaining senior homeowners in the community remains to be evaluated. Program specifics are detailed, policy options are considered, and recommendations are made to strengthen existing programs and assist replication.     

Status inequality and stress in marriage.

Emotional stresses that are experienced in marriage are traced to differences in spouses' status origins. Linking status differences to such stress are a number of intervening conditions. People to whom status advancement is important and who have married mates of lower status are apt to have a sense of loss that leads, in turn, to a disruptions of reciprocity, expressiveness, affection and value sharing in marital exchange. Such disruptions then act as immediate antecedents to emotional stress. It is through this process that the status order of the larger society can reach out to have a deleterious influence on the emotional states arising out of marital transactions.     

Career Development in the Commonwealth of Independent States

The dramatic changes that have occurred in the former Soviet Union as part of its transformation from a communist command economy to a free-market economy are having a profound impact on the lives of its people. These changes are particularly important in the area of work and careers because these contrasting economic systems assign different meanings and valuations to these domains. Although the institutional and structural changes that are needed to make this transformation successful have been addressed extensively, the changes that are required in the career attitudes, values, and overall conduct of individuals have received little attention. This article applies a developmental-contextual approach to the analysis of changes that have occurred in the former Soviet Union and how they may affect individual career development.     

Fair division of indivisible items between two people with identical preferences: Envy-freeness, Pareto-optimality, and equity

This paper focuses on the fair division of a set of indivisible items between two people when both have the same linear preference order on the items but may have different preferences over subsets of items. Surprisingly, divisions that are envy-free, Pareto-optimal, and ensure that the less well-off person does as well as possible (i.e., are equitable) can often be achieved. Preferences between subsets are assumed to satisfy axioms of qualitative probability without implying the existence of additive utilities, which is treated as a special case. Algorithms that render fair division practicable are proposed, and their vulnerability to strategic manipulation is investigated. Received: 18 May 1998/Accepted: 2 March 1999     

Marriage and family therapists working with couples who have children with autism

Current research about families and couples who have children with autism is discussed using the Double ABCX model as a guide. A case study is presented along with recommendations for therapists who work with couples who have children with autism. Marriage and family therapists are encouraged to use the Double ABCX model as both an assessment tool as well as for intervention. More research and effective therapists in this area are needed in order to keep up with the rising rates of families that include children diagnosed with autism.     

Labor Market Disparities Between African Americans and Afro Caribbeans: Reexamining the Role of Immigrant Selectivity

Black immigrants from the Caribbean have long attained greater labor market success than African Americans. The most recent studies show that Afro Caribbeans have earnings that are approximately 16% greater than African Americans and that Afro Caribbeans are as much as 21% more likely to be employed than African Americans. The most prominent explanation for greater Afro Caribbean success is that, because they have chosen to migrate, Afro Caribbeans are positively self‐selected on characteristics that are key for success in the U.S. labor market. Proponents of immigrant selectivity argue that migrants have greater levels of both hard and soft skills than nonmigrants. Using data from the National Survey of American Life—the first social survey to provide a nationally representative sample of both African Americans and Afro Caribbeans—this study finds that Afro Caribbeans have greater hard skills than African Americans but split the difference on two measures of soft skills: African Americans and Afro Caribbeans are matched on John Henryism, but African Americans have greater personal mastery than Afro Caribbeans. Contrary to expectations, controlling for differences in hard and soft skills does not provide for a meaningful reduction in labor market disparities between African Americans and Afro Caribbeans.     

Ethnic Chinese in Malaysian citizenship: gridlocked in historical formation and political hierarchy

The ethnic Chinese in Malaysia are a significant minority who call for a critical assessment as far as their cultural identity and political positioning are concerned. Appropriating the concept of ‘multicultural citizenship’, this article attempts to dissect various demands and aspirations of the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia’s multiracial hierarchy. It suggests that using the lens of multicultural citizenship can help shed light on Malaysian Chinese as well as the entire nation, where ethnicity and citizenship are gridlocked in historical formation and political hierarchy. In recent times, Malaysian Chinese have articulated their political desires and demands in order to get rid of the disgrace of racial constraints, and also to envisage a more inclusive multicultural citizenship for Malaysia as a nation-state. This article also compares and contrasts three Chinese public figures who have taken disparate stands and approaches with regard to language, culture, race, nation, and party politics.     

The Friends Thou Hast

Abstract

Most studies of male commercial sex workers (CSWs) in Thailand have been framed within a context of HIV risk and have investigated sexual behaviours and HIV knowledge. However, Mann et al. (1992) have identified health and social services and a supportive social environment as equally essential partners in an HIV-preventive triumvirate. This paper is based on extended observation and a series of in-depth interviews with forty-three male CSWs who are both organised (bar workers) and freelance as well as a number of clients (farang and Thai) and bar management. This paper examines the social environment in which male CSWs operate. It considers workplace conditions and support, the personal relationships workers have with parents, friends, clients, other bar workers and management, and how these are influenced by workers' cultural norms. A number of recommendations designed to reduce HIV-infection rates are made.     

Strengthening Senior Tax Credit Programs in Massachusetts

Summary

In the last decade, property taxes have increased, creating a financial burden on senior homeowners. In Massachusetts, senior property tax credit programs have arisen to address this problem, as well as to provide cost-effective volunteer assistance for municipal departments, offer seniors meaningful work that otherwise would not have been attempted, and foster involvement in municipal government among seniors. The success of the programs in retaining senior homeowners in the community remains to be evaluated. Program specifics are detailed, policy options are considered, and recommendations are made to strengthen existing programs and assist replication.     

Modulation and Selection of Senses

This essay analyzes two kinds of multiplicity of semantic uses of a single word form. One kind of words have a general meaning, which covers all the more specific possibilities, such as the word cousin. Another kind of words have distinct senses. There are more than one lexical units corresponding to these senses, such as the word bank. Two ways, modulation and selection of senses, are introduced to solve these problems respectively.     

Parents on the job market: Resources and strategies that help sociologists attain tenure-track jobs

Do women and men who have children during gradute school have access to the same institutional resources as non-parents? In the face of two gredy institutions, the academy and parenthood (especially motherhood), do they employ the same sorts of strategies in their quest to attain tenure-track jobs, and are those strategies successful? In this study we use a longitudinal survey of sociology Ph.D.s to investigate the availability and use of three types of resources and strategies during graduate school, and find that they all have important effects on the chances of obtaining a tenure-track position at a research or doctoral university. We find that someinstitutional resources are not equallydistributed in graduate school, with mother's least likely to obtain them, but are significant for attainment of tenure-track positions.Resource-based strategies, including presenting papers and publishing articles while in graduate school, have a positive and significant effect on all groups' attainment of tenure-track positions.Family-based strategies such as child-spacing strategies are also significant; women who have children during graduate school have lower odds of immediately obtaining tenure-track jobs at research and doctoral universities, although access to resources and the ability to use these resources helps significantly.     

Educating Students on International Social Work Issues in U.S. Social Work Programs: How Is It Done?

Although social work education standards call for graduates to be able to practice in a global environment, it is unknown how schools are working to accomplish that as well as what supports they have and what the aims of this education are. A survey of all U.S. BSW and MSW program directors found they have multiple goals for introducing international perspectives in social work education and are using a number of methods in the implicit and explicit curriculum, including speakers, study abroad, international internships, and infusion of material in courses and stand-alone courses. Respondents indicated more supports are available at the institutional level than in their program alone. These results have a variety of implications for social work education including how to further integrate this material into courses and increase the number of students who learn this critical material.     

Older Adults: Work‐Related Issues and Implications for Counseling

In a period of business downsizing, older workers are at risk for unemployment. They often have difficulty finding suitable replacement jobs and frequently face emotional and financial distress. Employers, as well as older workers, may have perceptions and concerns that can create barriers to reemployment. Older workers are a valuable asset in the labor market. Their plight affects society as a whole. Counselors should be aware of work related issues of older workers, career theories and supporting research pertaining to this unique population, and suitable interventions with which to help older adults make smooth career and life transitions.     

The fictitious commodity: A union view of labor’s antitrust exemptions

Labor is not a commodity, though there are those who would have it treated as if it was one. Antitrust is probably a futile exercise when applied to business, it would be dangerously destructive to apply it to labor. The raison d'Être of unions is to remove wages from competition and that is a socially necessary purpose. Of course, events of the last several decades have already weakened unions substantially. In their weakened state, unions are less able to accomplish this social purpose, and workers have suffered as a result (for examples see Mishel et al., 1999). Why weaken unions further now?     

Frequency of Citations as Criterion for the Ranking of Departments, Journals, and Individuals

Interest in the structure and dynamics of sociology as a discipline has led to recurrent attempts to measure the prestige, productivity, and quality of education of the various sociology departments. While several previous papers have suggested the potential value of the Science Citation Index (SCI) as a measure of scientific standing, few attempts have been made to utilize a citation-based measure of scientific prestige. This paper considers the meaning of the citation in science and in stratification theory. Procedures are described whereby citations to individual sociologists and journals are employed to yield rankings of departments of sociology and journals. The differences between these rankings and other rankings are discussed.