An Exploratory Investigation of Treatment Strategies for Black,Gay, Bisexual,and Heterosexual Men-Who-Have-Sex- With-Men Who Use Methamphetamine

Research has repeatedly indicated a strong relation between methamphetamine use and risky sex leading to HIV-seroconversion. Despite the high prevalence of HIV among Black gay, bisexual, and other men-who-have-sex-with-men (BMSM) and the strong association between methamphetamine use and HIV-seroconversion, treatment research on methamphetamine use and HIV-risk behaviors among BMSM is limited. The goal of this exploratory study was to investigate treatment strategies for BMSM that may be used to inform methamphetamine treatment programs tailored for BMSM. Data was collected on a sample of HIV-negative and HIV-positive gay, bisexual, and heterosexual BMSM (N = 52) in New York City. Participants were asked to discuss methamphetamine treatment strategies they believed would be successful in treating their own methamphetamine abuse and that of other BMSM who use methamphetamine. Results indicated four treatment areas salient for BMSM seeking treatment for methamphetamine used disorders: (a) outreach/recruitment strategies, (b) therapist qualities, (c) group characteristics, and (d) intervention elements themselves. Findings gathered here and through literature review underscore the importance of adapting evidence-based methamphetamine treatment strategies to include culturally-relevant treatment strategies that address the specific needs of BMSM who use methamphetamine.     

Partner Abuse Among Women Whose Children Have Been Sexually Abused: An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACT

To explore partner abuse among women in families in which a child has disclosed sexual abuse, 102 mothers completed a measure of partner abuse and the Coping Responses Inventory. Results suggest that, like women in the general population, mothers of children who have been sexually abused have often experienced partner abuse. As expected, physical abuse in a current relationship was found to be related to the use of avoidance strategies in dealing with the sexual abuse disclosure. The implications for practitioners and for future research are discussed.     

Differences Between Partners From Heterosexual,Gay, and Lesbian Cohabiting Couples

Partners from four types of couples without children (gay unmarried, lesbian unmarried, heterosexual unmarried, and heterosexual married, Ns=1,412, 1,310, 1,036, and 1,728, respectively) were compared to partners from heterosexual married couples with children (N =3,116) on mean levels of variables from a model of relationship adjustment as well as on the strength of links posited by the model. Although 82% of the mean‐level comparisons were significant, only 36% of the comparisons had effect sizes that were at least small in strength. Type of couple affected links between variables in only 33% of the instances, with effect sizes trivial in strength. Findings support the view that despite variability in structure, close dyadic relationships work in similar ways.     

An Exploratory Investigation of Gay Stepfathers' Perceptions of Their Role

Abstract

This phenomenological study explored the gay stepfather role in its definitions, evolution, and factors that influenced how it was assumed and performed. Five gay men, living in a gay stepfamily that included the full or joint custody of the biological children of their partner, were asked to describe their perceptions of their family role in an open-ended, semi-structured interview. Data from all interviews were analyzed using the Atlas ti computer program (Muhr, 1997) that allowed identification of themes held commonly among the participants. Overall, the participants described stepfather roles and stepfamilies in terms that do not appear to be significantly different from heterosexual counterparts. The participants consistently mentioned the need for flexibility and patience in developing various aspects of their stepfather role such as co-parent/caretaker and friend/confidant. All participants discussed commitment to their families and the benefits gained in their stepfather role. Most had an effective, working relationship with the children's mothers. Interestingly, disclosure was not an issue in these families, and they reported feeling supported by extended family members.     

Hidden in the Margins: A Qualitative Examination of What Professionals in the Domestic Violence Field Know About Transgender Domestic Violence

This qualitative study endeavored to examine the views and experiences of individuals who work with, and those who consider issues related to, transgender domestic violence in an effort to determine what (if anything) is known about this construct. Using a phenomenological approach, ten interviews were conducted with individuals who professionally confront transgender intimate partner violence. Overall, the study found that many individuals from different disciplines were in agreement concerning the paucity of resources for this population, and future research would benefit from quantitative research to understand more about transgender domestic abuse. Furthermore, criminal justice organizations should take active steps within their own agencies to appropriately address this problem for transgender victims of abuse. Finally, all of the participants stated their beliefs that transgender domestic abuse is a very serious problem and believed that more research should be done to better understand it before it can be addressed.     

Better Parents,More Stable Partners: Union Transitions Among Cohabiting Parents

Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1,702 couples) are employed to examine the association between mother‐ and father‐reported parenting characteristics (father involvement and coparenting) and transitions out of cohabitation through marriage or separation in the 5 years after a child is born. Father involvement and coparenting may be signs of commitment and investment among couples without the legal bonds of marriage. Both the level and change in father involvement and coparenting are associated with a decreased likelihood of separation, although neither is associated with greater odds of marriage. These results suggest that higher levels of father involvement and a positive coparenting relationship may keep couples together, which allows children to spend their early years with both biological parents in the household.     

“First Train Out”: Marriage and Cohabitation in the Context of Poverty,Deprivation, and Trauma

There has been a steep rise in the proportion of children born to and living with unmarried parents. Unmarried parents are increasingly likely to cohabitate, especially low-income couples, placing their children at elevated psychosocial risk. This life history study of poor, White single mothers suggests that the current focus on differences between married and cohabiting poor women may overstate underlying similarities in factors associated with their partner formation and dissolution and that poor women's decisions about marriage and cohabitation must be understood in a developmental context that reflects the stacking, over time, of multiple forms of vulnerability to unstable partnerships, single motherhood, and continuing poverty into adulthood.     

More Work for Mother: How Spouses, Cohabiting Partners and Relatives Affect the Hours Mothers Work

This paper investigates the determinants of work hours for mothers ofsmall children living in households with one other adult. We hypothesize that the presence and characteristics of the other adult affect a mother's work-related decision-making, and that the nature of the effect varies by the relationship to the otheradult—whether a spouse, an unmarried partner, or a relative. The results indicate that relationship type shapes how mothers' weekly hours of work respond to financial need, childcare pressures, and their own human capital. Married mothers appear to be more able to call on the earnings of their partners to reduce their work hours than mothers in other household situations. There was little evidence that female relatives freed mothers to work.     

(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.     

An Investigation of Cognitive Operations on L2 Listening Comprehension Performance: An Exploratory Study

This study examines the research being conducted in the process of defining eflective listening. Some of this work includes the compiling of lists of listening competencies; however, before this work can be completed, there are some basic theoretical questions to address in assessing listening effectiveness. This study reviews the literature relating to theoretical issues such as who decides what constitutes effective listening, how is the assessment made, when is the assessment made, and are some listening behaviors more important than others. One of the primary conclusions of the review is that there is insufficient research in real-time listening contexts to establish how speakers assess the efkctiveness of the listener in the interaction.     

Domestic Abuse Assessment in Child Custody Disputes: Beware the Domestic Violence Research Paradigm

ABSTRACT

In some states, custody assessors are now required to become familiar with the dynamics of prevalence of domestic abuse since the presence of one or more abusive parents in the house has an impact on the “best interests of the child.” The domestic abuse literature is misleading in setting a framework for abuse incidence and threat source for children. Males are represented as primary perpetrators of physical abuse although data from meta-analytic studies show otherwise. Indirect aggression is scarcely mentioned in the literature, although prevalent in research on aggression. Physical violence directed towards children is actually more likely to be mother-perpetrated. Child safety may be compromised if attention is focused solely on the possibility of abuse from a male perpetrator.     

Forgotten Domestic Objects

Abstract

This article presents an experimental anthropological method for researching memories about the communist past in Bucharest, Romania. Focusing on collections of ordinary objects in individual households, it examines how domestic spaces function not solely as repositories for artifacts of remembrance, but as containers for things that have been forgotten. Viewing these items as triggers of Proustian/Benjaminian ‘involuntary’ or inadvertent memories, rather than intentionally commemorative souvenirs, I explore how these new encounters offer alternative insights into perceptions of Romania’s past, present, and future. Such an approach reveals forms and contents of remembrance work that counter dominant academic and popular discourses about how Romanians are currently reflecting upon their communist past.     

Relational Personality Theory and Holland's Typology Among Women: An Exploratory Investigation

Relational personality theorists propose that women have a tendency to view themselves in the context of relationships with others and to make decisions to optimize and maintain relationships. The current study explored whether relational identity may underlie women's career interests as measured by Holland's typology and examined possible implications of this relationship in career settings. Measures of women's connected self and the Social dimension of Holland's typology were found to be related but separate constructs. Participants with Social interests also indicated some variation in their interest in working in collaborative environments and/or in helping roles on the job.     

Patriarchy: The Predominant Discourse and Fount of Domestic Violence

While supporting the need to make class and other forms of marginalisation more visible in the understanding of, and response to, domestic violence, this article argues that, domestic violence is ultimately a discursive phenomenon and that patriarchal discourse remains the fount of domestic violence. This conclusion was drawn after data from a qualitative study of 24 men, from different cultural groups (ethnic, religious, racial, age and class), who had used violence in an intimate heterosexual relationship was considered, alongside ethnographical accounts of societies in which domestic violence is deemed not to have occurred, or to have been minimal. Whereas egalitarian and respectful attitudes towards women are enshrined in the discourse and social institutions of tribes such as the Semai and Waorani, in which intimate partner violence was absent, the most overwhelming discovery of the qualitative study was that class and cultural differences, evident in an analysis of the men's narratives, seemed to be eclipsed by the preeminence and strength of gendered discourse, in keeping with Western patriarchal dictates.     

Domestic Violence in the Second Half of Life

Providing an adequate and effective community response to women age 50 and older who experience domestic violence is complicated by the oftentimes disparate goals and expectations of service providers, emergency responders, and victims themselves. This article shares information provided by participants of focus groups designed to understand and identify what women age 50 and older want and need from agencies that provide services to enhance victim safety.     

城市增长与生活碳排放的理论研究

实现“低碳城市”不仅需要产业转型和技术革新,也需要生活方式逐步向“低碳”方式转变。本文重点关注城市的生活碳排放,从经济学的研究视角,综述国内外有关城市发展（主要体现为经济增长、人口增长和空间蔓延三个标志特征）与生活碳排放的理论研究成果;并根据国内的研究,简要介绍当前中国城市生活碳排放的构成及空间分布特点。     

Shelter Service Utilization of Domestic Violence Victims

This study examines service utilization among 283 adult victims of domestic violence identified by crisis responders as being in need of crisis services. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences between the domestic violence victims who choose to utilize shelter services and those who do not. Findings suggest that domestic violence victims who were more likely to utilize shelter services included those who had children at the time of the incident, victims who called for assistance from a location other than their home, victims who did not have a current order of protection in place, and victims who were injured during the domestic violence incident. Implications suggest more specific services to be provided by shelters.     

Domestic Violence

Summary

Domestic violence in same-sex relationships is still a rarely spoken about phenomenon that occurs far too often. This article explores this heinous behavior as a gross violation of human rights and explores how and why domestic violence may happen. Strategies for professional social work intervention for both the victim and the perpetrator are explored, and myths about same-sex domestic violence are exploded.