An Applied Research Agenda for Homosexually Active Men of Color

This paper outlines a research agenda for designing and implementing services to gay men of color. The paper reviews the anthropological, historical, and international literature on homosexuality for its implications for contemporary service delivery. The paper proposes that a problem-solving model that recognizes the central importance of empathy and rapport may be used to organize research. The paper concludes with a discussion of methodological issues.     

Health Strategies of HIV-Infected,Homosexually Active Men in Sydney,Australia

Drawing from a sample of gay and bisexual men who participated in large-scale surveys, and exploring issues derived from a smaller-scale study on working-class gay men, this close-focus study explores the relation between sexual identity, attachment to gay community and responses to HIV infection. Ten long-term HIV-infected, homosexually active men were interviewed using the open-ended life history method. A typology of four health strategies desribes these men's relations to medicine and the type and range of responses developed. These strategies are informed by class background, form and degree of attachment to the gay community, and age. Implications are discussed for existing AIDS service organizations, and for the possible future development of health services within gay and lesbian communities.     

Depressive Distress and Prevalence of Common Problems Among Homosexually Active African American Women in the United States

SUMMARY

We report findings from a national survey of 603 homosexually experienced African American women who self-identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Levels of psychological distress greatly exceeded population norms for African American women. The most frequent problems participants reported were romantic relationship and financial difficulties. Problems with using drugs or alcohol to self-medicate psychological distress were the most chronic stressors. Although 31% of women indicated they received emotional support from a counselor or other professional in the prior month, the least likely to receive support were those reporting chronic financial, housing, anger, or substance use problems. These findings underscore the vulnerability of African American women, who navigate the triple stigma of having a minority ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender.     

The Gender Gap in Fear: Assessing the Interactive Effects of Gender and Perceived Risk on Fear of Crime

In this research we explore the interaction between gender and perceived risk of victimization on levels of fear of crime. Much of the previous research on the effects of gender on fear of crime assumes that crimes are not gendered and that the effects of gender would operate the same regardless of type of crime. Challenging this assumption, we examine crimes that disproportionately victimize women or men. We find that there is greater nuance in both fear of crime and perception of risk when explored in this way. In fact, men's fear of crime actually surpasses women's fear at high levels of perceived risk for those crimes in which men are more likely to be victimized. We offer explanations for this finding, concluding that gendered perceptions of crime and victimization may drive these differences. In sum, our study indicates that future research on fear of crime must be even further attuned to the gender gap in fear.     

Experiences of Latino Men in Stepfamily Education

Relationship education evaluations have historically overlooked the experiences of ethnically diverse populations and stepfamilies. Using qualitative methods, this study examines the experiences of 16 Latino men in a stepfamily relationship education program. The four emergent themes dealt with recruitment and participation, improved family relationships, the value and importance of the family, and normalization of the participants' stepfamily situation. Subthemes of findings are presented, as well as implications for future programming.     

The Social Construction of Fat: Care and Control in the Public Concern for Healthy Behaviour

Especially during the last decade populations of modern affluent societies are warned by scientist, politicians, media and interest groups that there is an obesity epidemic. Being overweight is now not only culturally condemned, but also medically and politically defined as a major public health threat. This article presents three lines of critique which is offered against this dominant public perception. Some argue that we need to change our attitude to fat irrespective of the medical truth. Others agree there is a problem, but they disagree with the analysis and therefore offer other solutions. Most fundamental is the kind of critique that starts with the question ‘But is it true?’ This question leads to three major conclusions. First, it turns out that the medical science is flawed, one‐sided and contradicted. Second, because there are no effective therapies, present policies produce major negative side‐effects. And third, these policies produce and legitimize discriminatory practices. A general conclusion which can be drawn from this critical literature is that the present risk discourse on fat has much more to do with social and cultural issues like power, blame and control than with health problems.     

Coming Out to Tell Our Stories: Using Queer Theory to Understand the Career Experiences of Gay Men in Public Relations

Despite the increasing focus on understanding the diversity of public relations, academics and practitioners have largely ignored gay men. Grounded in queer theory, this qualitative study examines the experiences of gay men working in public relations. We used in-depth interviews and focus groups to allow participants to discuss their careers openly. Practitioners indicated that they enjoyed working in public relations, although they pointed out areas of dissatisfaction and suggested ways to improve the working environment for gay men. These include an increased awareness of personal lives and the gay community, reduction of stereotypes, and adopting diversity-friendly policies.     

Making Rape Education Meaningful for Men: The Case for Eliminating the Emphasis on Men as Perpetrators,Protectors, or Victims

Analysis of college men's responses to a fictional woman revealing a rape experience indicate that men want to know how to support women who have experienced rape, however, they feel unprepared to do so. Additionally, men reported their previous education on rape as insufficient, inappropriate, and irrelevant leading us to conclude that rape prevention strategies that focus on men as perpetrators, potential victims, and/or protectors are less than ideal for reaching men. However, based on the men's responses in the interviews and reflective writing pieces, we suggest that teaching men to be supporters or allies of raped women holds promise for making rape education relevant to the men. The paper concludes with suggestions for practitioners on how to meet current rape prevention goals while shifting the focus of the training for men and encourages further empirical testing.     

Racial Prejudice and Fear of Criminal Victimization by Strangers in Public Settings*

In this article we examine the extent to which racial (antiblack) prejudice conditions the effect of the race of strangers encountered in public settings on whites' fear of being crime victims in those settings. We hypothesize that encountering black strangers. as opposed to white strangers, evokes greater fear of being a crime victim in prejudiced whites than in whites who are not prejudiced. Data collected using the factorial survey method support this hypothesis. These results indicate that research dealing with whites' fear of being crime victims in public settings needs to consider both the race of potential criminals and the racial attitudes of potential victims.     

The Effects of Parenthood on Workforce Participation and Income for Men and Women

This paper examined the effects of parenthood on workforce participation for men and women in the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a 30-year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1,265 individuals born in New Zealand in 1977. The findings suggested that the effects of parenthood on workforce participation were different for men and women. For women, parenthood was associated with decreasing participation in paid employment and fewer hours worked. For men, however, parenthood was not associated with decreased workforce participation and in some cases was associated with increased working hours. These findings had consequences for personal income, with 83–90 % of the total gender income gap in this cohort being attributed to gender differences in the effects of parenthood. These findings suggest that parenthood has markedly different effects on workforce participation and income for men and women.     

The Adolescent Sexual Development of African American Gay Men with AIDS: Implications for Community-Based Practice

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study describes the adolescent sexual development of ten African American gay men living with AIDS. The informants retrospectively describe the challenges of being a gay adolescent in a mostly heterosexist and homophobic environment. They report unsupportive homophobic and heterosexist family members, community members and school officials. They also describe their burgeoning sexual orientation, sexual initiation as well as consensual and non-consensual sexual experiences with their peers. Additionally, several informants describe seeking sexual experiences with adult men. Later they suggest the adult men became their primary sources of emotional and psychological support. Implications for community practice, intervention and research with both African American gay adolescents and adult men living with AIDS are discussed.     

The Effects of the Political Environment On Public Relations in Bulgaria

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between Web characteristics and perceptions toward relational components. A 2 (low interactivity and high interactivity) x 2 (text-oriented and multimedia-oriented) between-group experiment was designed with 197 participants to investigate this question. The outcomes showed that interactivity has significant effects on relationship building. However, the interaction effects between interactivity and medium arrangement suggest that nonessential arrangement of interactivity and multimedia did not enhance positive perceptions of relationships with the organizations. Interactivity, however, showed that the main effect, multimedia orientation, did not. The application of interactivity on the Web was discussed for better relationship building.     

The Ethics of Research With Men who Have Learning Disabilities and Abusive Sexual Behaviour: a minefield in a vacuum

In the wake of the recent awareness of the sexual abuse of people with learning disabilities is the recognition that a small number of men with learning disabilities are themselves sexually abusing. The need to understand the men's behaviour and provide effective responses is pressing yet the search for an ethical course of enquiry appears illusory. The two conflicting dilemmas which make this task so difficult are whether the men's learning disabilities preclude their giving informed consent to the research process, and/or whether men who are sexually abusing have lost some rights to exclude themselves from research which is intended to prevent further abuse. This paper explores in depth these dilemmas and describes the authors' attempts to resolve them as they attempted to devise a protocol for consent to involvement in a qualitative study of men with learning disabilities who sexually abuse. Issues raised in this particular context have relevance to many other issues in learning disability services where robust ethical debate is needed, but often glossed over.     

The Effects of Pop-up Harm Minimisation Messages on Electronic Gaming Machine Gambling Behaviour in New Zealand

In New Zealand a simple pop-up message feature that provides gambling session information and forces a break in play is mandatory on all electronic gaming machines in all venues (EGMs). Previous research has demonstrated small effects of more sophisticated pop-up messages tested predominantly in laboratory environments. The present research examined gambler engagement with and views on the New Zealand pop-up messages and on the relationship between pop-up messages and EGM expenditure. A sample of gamblers was recruited at casino and non-casino (pub) EGM venues. Most participants were aware of pop-up messages (57 %) and many saw them often (38 %). Among gamblers who reported seeing pop-up messages, half read the message content, and a quarter believed that pop-up messages helped them control the amount of money they spend on gambling. Participants who reported being likely to stop gambling in response to pop-up messages spent significantly less money on gambling when variables that were independently associated with EGM expenditure were controlled for. A modest harm minimisation effect of the pop-up message feature that has been operating in New Zealand for 5 years was evident. Suggestions for improvement of the harm minimisation potential of the current pop-up message feature are discussed.     

An Internet-Based Self-Help Program for the Treatment of Fear of Public Speaking: A Case Study

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the development of the first totally self-administered online CBT program for the treatment of a specific social phobia (fear of public speaking) called talk to me. The online program includes three parts. The assessment protocol gives the patient information about the problem, including impairment, severity, and the degree of fear and avoidance regarding the main feared situations. The structured treatment protocol ensures that the patient does not skip any steps in the treatment. The treatment protocol is a CBT program that provides exposure to the feared situation using videos of real audiences. Finally, the control protocol assesses treatment efficacy, not only at posttreatment, but also at every intermediate step. In this work we describe talk to Me and its practical application through a case study.     

Transnationalisation,Public Communication and Active Citizenship. The Emergence of a Fragmented and Fluid European Public Sphere

This paper is focused on the emergence of the European public sphere debate. This discussion has become more and more prominent between scholars of European Studies who have given it both normative and empirical attention. This is due to a variety of reasons, but in particular the increase in research about the legitimacy of European integration, which has been the subject of a wide debate since at least the beginning of the 1990s. Firstly, the article critically assesses the normative arguments that have supported the development of the European public sphere, by focusing on the social, political and cultural dimensions of European integration. After having assessed this debate and underlined current challenges emerged in light of recent events (such as the euro‐crisis, the rise of euroscepticism and the rise in far right movements), the article then introduces the empirical research on the europeanisation of the public sphere, by looking at the development of an agenda that has more and more concentrated on the fragmentation and fluidity of such construct. This discussion is key to introduce the final part of the article, which focuses on the role of civil society in the broader European constituency and in the public sphere. The article highlights some of the ambiguities inherent to the current research agenda, by calling for a more comprehensive approach to study active citizenship in Europe that departs from a consideration of the NGOs activists as the main locus of analysis.     

Public opinion about AIDS policies. The role of misinformation and attitudes toward homosexuals

In an effort to better understand the cognitive and attitudinal factors underlying public opinion on AIDS-related issues, this article proposes and empirically tests a model of the relationships between (1) knowledge of HIV transmission, specifically the misinformation that AIDS can be transmitted easily through casual contact with HIV-infected persons; (2) attitudes toward homosexuals, the most prominent of the social groups presently affected by the AIDS crisis; and (3) support for restrictive public policies aimed at HIV-infected persons. Data from two nationally representative surveys conducted in December of 1985 (N = 2,308) and in July of 1987 (N = 2,095) provide evidence that misinformation about AIDS transmission and negative attitudes toward homosexuals are strong predictors of support for stringent restrictions of persons with AIDS. The findings also suggest that several background factors, in particular, education and political liberalism, may also play decisive roles in influencing levels of support for restricting those infected with the AIDS virus.