Rural restructuring in the American West: land use, family and class discourses

Migration patterns, technological developments, and altered human–land relationships are combining to precipitate tremendous changes in rural communities across the western US. These processes of restructuring, however, have been quite contentious and divisive for many of the region's small towns. While we are beginning to understand the causes of recent growth and development trends, the consequences of contemporary forces of restructuring on communities remain unstudied. This paper explores the reactions of residents to forces of restructuring in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, the Methow Valley, Washington, Kane County, Utah, and Teton Valley, Idaho. In depth interviews and survey responses give voice to community members by allowing them to articulate their perceptions and interpretations of recent events. The analyses demonstrate tremendous diversity in the ways in which individuals interpret the changes taking place around them. These diverse interpretations challenge singular conceptions of community and highlight the ways in which notions of land use, family, and class are negotiated in the context of contemporary rural restructuring. The analysis further demonstrates the need for a more synthesized field of rural studies spanning disciplinary and national divides.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
The Second Billion: Population and Family Planning in China . Penny Kane. New York: Penguin Books, 1987, viii + 264 pages, $7.95.
Establishing Agreement: An Analysis of Proposal-Acceptance Sequences . Hanneke Houtkoop. Dordrecht-Holland: Foris Publications, 1987, 204 pages.
Plant Closings: International Context and Social Costs . Carolyn C. Perrucci, Robert Perrucci, Dena B. Targ, and Harry R. Targ. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1988, 193 pages, $38.95 (hardcover); $15.95 (paperback).
Political Theory and Modernity . William E. Connolly. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988, 196 pages, hardback.
Making Mondragon: The Growth and Dynamics of the Worker Cooperative Complex . William Foote Whyte and Kathleen King Whyte. Ithaca: ILR Press, 1988, 315 pages, paperback.
Speaking of Friendship, Middle-Class Women and Their Friends . Helen Gouldner and Mary Simmons Strong. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987, 185 pages, hardback
The Social Construction of Technological System . Edited by Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987, 405 pp., $35.00.
Judging the Jury . Valerie P. Hans and Neil Vidmar. New York: Plenum Press, 1986, 283 pages, $17.98, hardback.
The Flight from Ambiguity: Essays in Social and Cultural Thory . Donald N. Levine. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, July 15, 1988, 248 pages, $12.95, paperback.
The State and The City . Ted Robert Gurr and Desmond S. King. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987, x + 242 pp, $35.00, hardback, $14.95, paperback.     

NY: OASAS holding back payments to counties by 31%

You may have read the story in the Buffalo News about there being a 31% cut to treatment in New York state ( https://buffalonews.com/news/state‐and‐regional/govt‐and‐politics/substance‐abuse‐treatment‐programs‐warn‐of‐dire‐consequences‐from‐cuts/article_634322da‐c2bc‐11ea‐9ffb‐bb3c0962ace6.html ). It's a good story, but misleading in terms of facts.     

Work‐Family Enrichment and Conflict: Additive Effects,Buffering, or Balance?

We used data from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS I) (N = 2,031) to compare three models of how work‐family conflict and enrichment might operate to predict well‐being (mental health, life satisfaction, affect balance, partner relationship quality). We found no support for a relative‐difference model in which the conflict‐enrichment balance predicted outcomes. In the work‐to‐family direction, the additive model fit best: Both work‐to‐family conflict and work‐to‐family enrichment were independently linked to outcomes. In the family‐to‐work direction, the interactive model fit best: Family‐to‐work enrichment buffered the negative outcomes ordinarily linked to family‐to‐work conflict. Enrichment is key because with the additive model, it contributed incremental explanatory power, and with the buffering model, it conditioned conflict‐outcome relationships. Work‐to‐family conflict and family‐to‐work enrichment appeared particularly salient for well‐being.     

Patterns of Intermarriages and Cross‐Generational In‐Marriages among Native‐Born Asian Americans

This article examines patterns of post‐1965 native‐born Asian Americans’ intermarriages and cross‐generational in‐marriages using a combined sample of the 2001–2006 American Community Surveys from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. The analysis focuses on ethnic and gender differences in intermarriage and cross‐generational in‐marriage rates and patterns. About 55 percent of native‐born Asian Americans are found to be intermarried while another 23 percent are married to 1.5‐generation or first‐generation co‐ethnic immigrants. Thus only 22 percent of native‐born Asian Americans are married to co‐ethnic native‐born Asian Americans. As expected, there are significant ethnic and gender differences in intermarriage and cross‐generational in‐marriage rates and patterns. This study is significant because it is the first study that has examined intermarriage patterns among post‐1965 native‐born Asian Americans, the majority of whom are likely to be children of post‐1965 Asian immigrants, using the most recent Census data available. It is also significant for studies of the new second generation in general in that it is the first study to show patterns of cross‐generational in‐marriage among members of the new second generation.     

Maternal Into‐The‐Face Behavior,Shared Attention,and Infant Distress During Face‐to‐Face Play at 12 Months: Bi‐directional Contingencies

We describe a new maternal intrusion behavior, moving a toy or hand “into‐the‐face” of the infant, and we investigate its bi‐directional associations with infant‐initiated shared attention, infant distress, and infant gaze, during mother–infant face‐to‐face play at 12 months. The play was videotaped split‐screen, with infants seated in a high chair. Videotapes were coded on a 1‐sec time base for mother and infant gaze (at partner, toy, both, or gaze away); infant distress; and maternal intrusion behavior, “into‐the‐face.” We defined “infant‐initiated shared attention” as mother and infant looking in the same second at a toy that the infant‐initiated interest in. We documented that maternal into‐the‐face behavior decreased the likelihood of infant‐initiated shared attention, increased the likelihood of infant distress, and decreased the likelihood of infant gazing away. Reciprocally, infant distress and gazing away increased the likelihood of mother into‐the‐face. In moments when the dyad was engaged in infant‐initiated shared attention, mother into‐the‐face was less likely. This work documents bi‐directional contingencies in the regulation of maternal intrusion and infant behavior during face‐to‐face play at 12 months. We suggest that mother into‐the‐face behavior disturbs an aspect of the infant's experience of recognition.     

Gender Differences in the Effect of Job Characteristics on Work‐to‐Family Conflict in Japan: Application of the Job Demands‐Resources Model into Japanese Population1

This article uses the job demand‐resources (JD‐R) model to analyze the Japanese population and gender differences in work‐to‐family conflict in Japan. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme in 2015, the study addresses four main questions: (i) does the JD‐R model apply to the Japanese population? (ii) which gender is more likely to experience work‐to‐family conflict? (iii) does gender moderate the relationship between work‐related factors and work‐to‐family conflict? and (iv) do different factors predict work‐to‐family conflict between men and women? The findings show that the JD‐R model applies in part to the Japanese population, and women are more likely to experience a higher level of work‐to‐family conflict than men. There are also different factors predicting work‐to‐family conflict by gender, even though gender does not moderate the relationship between work‐related factors and work‐to‐family conflict. This article points out the peculiar Japanese social and cultural contexts that lead to gender differences in work‐to‐family conflict. It offers two solutions: (i) legal regulations to reduce working hours and the frequency of working on weekends to prevent work from intruding on family life; and (ii) changes to the work environment to make women workers more comfortable at work because of the male‐dominated workplace and Japanese culture on family gender roles in Japan.     

Peek‐a‐What? Infants’ Response to the Still‐Face Task After Normal and Interrupted Peek‐a‐Boo

Infants’ sensitivity to the vitality or tension envelope within dyadic social exchanges was investigated by examining their responses following normal and interrupted games of peek‐a‐boo embedded in a Still‐Face Task. Infants 5–6 months old engaged in two modified Still‐Face Tasks with their mothers. In one task, the initial interaction ended with a sequence of normal peek‐a‐boos that included tension build‐up, peak, and release. In the other task, the initial interaction was followed by a sequence of peek‐a‐boos that ended with an interrupted peek‐a‐boo in which the build‐up was followed directly by the still face. Infants showed the still‐face effect with their attention and smiling when the still face followed the normal peek‐a‐boo sequence, but only with smiling when the still face followed the sequence with the interrupted peek‐a‐boo. Infants’ social bidding to their mothers in the still‐face phase was greater following the interrupted peek‐a‐boo sequence. When social exchanges are interrupted before the closure of the vitality envelope, infants respond with more attention vigilance and social bidding, demonstrating their awareness of the structure of social exchanges.     

Coming Up…

The Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC) 2nd Annual Conference on Deflection and Pre‐Arrest Diversion will be held November 10‐13 in Ponte Verda, Florida . For more information, go to https://csgjusticecenter.org/law‐enforcement/announcements/second‐annual‐police‐treatment‐and‐community‐collaborative‐training‐conference/     

Infants’ Visual Attention to Baby DVDs as a Function of Program Pacing

This study examined the effects of program pacing, defined as the rate of scene and character change per minute, on infants’ visual attention to video presentations. Seventy‐two infants (twenty‐four 6‐month‐olds, twenty‐four 9‐month‐olds, twenty‐four 12‐month‐olds) were exposed to one of two sets of high‐ and low‐paced commercial infant DVDs. Each DVD was approximately 5‐min long, and the order the DVDs were viewed was counterbalanced for pace. Attention was higher during rapidly than slowly paced DVDs, particularly for the 6‐ and 9‐month‐old infants. These results support previous research documenting that attention is initially controlled by exogenous qualities (e.g., rapid pace), but with development and experience becomes more influenced by endogenous factors.     

Racialized Incorporation: The Effects of Race and Generational Status on Self‐Employment and Industry‐Sector Prestige in the United States

This study examines how race and generational status shape self‐employment propensities and industry‐sector prestige among the self‐employed in the U.S. It draws on theories of assimilation, racialization, and a combined framework, racialized incorporation, to guide the analysis and interpret the results. It uses data from the U.S. March Current Population Survey (2000–2010) offering the first nationally representative examination of second‐generation self‐employment in the U.S. This study investigates three questions. First, do the odds of being self‐employed decline in the second and third generations? Second, do generational patterns in self‐employment propensities vary by race? And finally, do race and generational status affect the odds of being self‐employed in low‐, medium‐, and high‐prestige industry sectors? Results offer some support for the assimilation perspective: Immigrants are generally more likely than third‐generation groups to be self‐employed with the exception of Asians, where second‐generation Asians have the greatest odds of being self‐employed. However, results also reveal that generational patterns in self‐employment propensities vary by race and industry‐sector prestige. Accordingly, first‐ and second‐generation whites have the greatest odds of being self‐employed (across all levels of industry‐sector prestige), and third‐generation whites are more likely than all generations of blacks and Hispanics to be engaged in high‐prestige self‐employment. These findings suggest that immigrants, their offspring, and native‐born groups undergo a racialized incorporation in which self‐employment is organized along hierarchical and racial lines associated with uneven levels of prestige.     

Memory for One‐Time Experiences in the Second Year of Life: Implications for the Status of Episodic Memory

Memory based on a one‐time experience is an important element of its definition as “episodic.” Infants' memories for one‐time experiences over long delays are largely unexplored. Using elicited imitation, we tested 20‐ and 16‐month‐olds' (Experiment 1) and 13‐month‐olds' (Experiment 2) memories as a function of number of experiences and delay. Over 1 month, 20‐ and 16‐month‐olds remembered individual actions of one‐time events; 20‐month‐olds also remembered temporal order; with verbal reminders, 16‐month‐olds did as well. Over 3 months, recall depended on multiple experiences. Thirteen‐month‐olds' required multiple experiences, even over 1 month. The findings speak to the gradual emergence of an important element of episodic memory, namely the ability to preserve memories of one‐time experiences over long periods of time.     

Very Preterm and Full‐Term Infants’ Response to Socio‐Emotional Stress: The Role of Postnatal Maternal Bonding

Very preterm (VPT) infants are at risk for altered socio‐emotional stress regulation, even in the absence of perinatal complications. Moreover, becoming a mother of a VPT infant is a traumatic event, which might affect the establishment of a bonding relationship toward the infant during the postnatal period. The main aim of the present study was to assess the association between maternal postnatal bonding and socio‐emotional stress response in 3‐month‐old VPT infants, compared to full‐term (FT) controls. Thirty‐three VPT and 28 FT infant‐mother dyads underwent the maternal Face‐to‐Face Still‐Face (FFSF) procedure to assess socio‐emotional stress regulation. Maternal postnatal bonding was measured through the Maternal Post‐Natal Attachment Scale (MPAS), which includes three scales: Quality of attachment, Absence of hostility, and Pleasure in interaction. The VPT infants exhibited less self‐directed and other‐directed regulatory behaviors during the Still‐Face episode. Mothers of VPT infants reported lower Quality of attachment compared to FT counterparts. Importantly, higher levels of Quality of attachment were associated with more other‐directed behaviors during the Still‐Face episode in FT dyads, whereas this was not observed in VPT dyads. In conclusion, VPT infants might be exposed to a double‐risk condition for socio‐emotional development, encompassing both difficulties in stress response and the exposure to a less‐than‐optimal maternal bonding.     

The Relationship Between Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury and Family Functioning: Adolescent and Parent Perspectives

We explored parent and adolescent reports of family functioning, how this differed if the parent was aware that their child self‐injured, and how parental awareness of self‐injury was related to self‐injury frequency, self‐injury severity, and help seeking. Participants were 117 parent–adolescent dyads, in 23 of which the adolescent self‐injured. Adolescents who self‐injured reported poorer family functioning than their parents, but parents who did not know about their child's self‐injury reported similar functioning to parents whose children did not self‐injure. Parents were more likely to know that their child self‐injured when the behavior was severe and frequent. Help‐seeking was more likely when parents knew about self‐injury. Family‐based interventions which emphasize perspective‐taking could be used to effectively treat self‐injury.     

The other side: Pro‐cannabis physicians dispute SG advisory

Last week (see ADAW, Sept. 9), we wrote about the advisory from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, M.D., recommending against marijuana use by pregnant women or adolescents ( https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports‐and‐publications/addiction‐and‐substance‐misuse/advisory‐on‐marijuana‐use‐and‐developing‐brain/index.html ).     

Are all communities communities in the mind?

Studies of community undertaken over a period of some forty‐five years by the author and his colleagues are re‐considered to show how the significance of ‘communities‐in‐the‐mind’ has been inadequately appreciated. The distinction made by Clifford Geertz between ‘experience‐near’ and ‘experience‐distant’ is used to sharpen up certain assumptions and approaches of community sociologists, including Frankenberg. Some possible explanations for the decline in the perceived importance of comminity studies from the late 1960s are discussed in the context of the growing centrality of social class in sociological analysis in the 1970s and 1980s. Reference is made to recent research on personal communities by Liz Spencer and the author to illustrate how an ellision between ‘experience‐near’ and ‘experience‐distant’ approaches may be achieved. It is concluded that the imputed community‐on‐the‐ground, often based on materialistic assumptions, should not be conceptually privileged over the real community‐in‐the‐mind.     

Categorical Representation of Facial Expressions in the Infant Brain

Categorical perception, demonstrated as reduced discrimination of within‐category relative to between‐category differences in stimuli, has been found in a variety of perceptual domains in adults. To examine the development of categorical perception in the domain of facial expression processing, we used behavioral and event‐related potential (ERP) methods to assess discrimination of within‐category (happy‐happy) and between‐category (happy‐sad) differences in facial expressions in 7‐month‐old infants. Data from a visual paired‐comparison test and recordings of attention‐sensitive ERPs showed no discrimination of facial expressions in the within‐category condition, whereas reliable discrimination was observed in the between‐category condition. The results also showed that face‐sensitive ERPs over occipital‐temporal scalp (P400) were attenuated in the within‐category condition relative to the between‐category condition, suggesting a potential neural basis for the reduced within‐category sensitivity. Together, these results suggest that the neural systems underlying categorical representation of facial expressions emerge during the early stages of postnatal development, before acquisition of language.     

The Role of Verbal Repetition in the Development of Infant Speech Preferences From 4 to 14 Months of Age

Four experiments investigated infants' preferences for age‐appropriate and age‐inappropriate infant‐directed speech (IDS) over adult‐directed speech (ADS). Two initial experiments showed that 6‐, 10‐, and 14‐month‐olds preferred IDS directed toward younger infants, and 4‐, 8‐, 10‐, and 14‐month‐olds, but not 6‐month‐olds, preferred IDS directed toward older infants. In Experiment 3. 6‐month‐olds preferred IDS directed toward older infants when the frequency of repeated utterances matched IDS to younger infants. In Experiment 4, 6‐month‐olds preferred repeated IDS utterances over the same IDS utterances organized without repetition. Attention to repeated utterances precedes word segmentation and sensitivity to statistical cues in continuous speech, and might play a role in the discovery of these and other aspects of linguistic structure.     

Mind‐Mindedness as a Multidimensional Construct: Appropriate and Nonattuned Mind‐Related Comments Independently Predict Infant–Mother Attachment in a Socially Diverse Sample

In a socially diverse sample of 206 infant–mother pairs, we investigated predictors of infants’ attachment security at 15 months, with a particular emphasis on mothers’ tendency to comment appropriately or in a non‐attuned manner on their 8‐month‐olds’ internal states (so‐called mind‐mindedness). Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that higher scores for appropriate mind‐related comments and lower scores for non‐attuned mind‐related comments distinguished secure‐group mothers from their counterparts in the insecure‐avoidant, insecure‐resistant, and insecure‐disorganized groups. Higher scores for appropriate mind‐related comments and lower scores for non‐attuned mind‐related comments also independently predicted dichotomous organized/disorganized attachment. General maternal sensitivity predicted neither attachment security nor organization, although sensitivity was found to relate to dichotomous secure/insecure attachment specifically in the context of low socioeconomic status. The findings highlight how appropriate and non‐attuned mind‐related comments make independent contributions to attachment and suggest that mind‐mindedness is best characterized as a multidimensional construct.