Sexual Portrait of Couples Seeking Relationship Therapy

This study sought to provide information about the sexual well‐being of 298 mixed‐sex couples seeking relationship therapy and determined the extent to which problems with sexual functioning and dyadic adjustment of both partners are associated with sexual satisfaction. Partners completed measures of dyadic adjustment, sexual satisfaction, and sexual functioning. Thirty percent of couples reported a clinically significant sexual problem. Compared to their male partners, the women were more likely to report a sexual problem as well as lower dyadic adjustment, sexual satisfaction, and overall sexual functioning. Path analysis indicated that relationship adjustment uniquely predicted individuals' own sexual satisfaction; problems in sexual functioning uniquely predicted own and partner sexual satisfaction. Findings underscore the need to address sexual problems in relationship therapy.     

A Multilevel Multinomial Model for the Dynamics of Graduates Employment in Italy

Social Indicators Research - Several studies have demonstrated that skilled human capital is a key resource for the economic growth of a territory, since it helps to increase productivity,...     

Representations of autism in Australian print media

The mass media provides a frame for discourse around important health issues, and it has been widely demonstrated that the development and reinforcement of stereotypes of minority groups are strongly influenced by the news and entertainment media. An extensive search of academic databases failed to locate any studies which examined the representation of autism in the news media, although there were a number of articles on the media role in the autism and MMR debate. This paper reports on an examination of the extent, and nature, of coverage of ‘autism spectrum disorders’ in the Australian print media between 1996 and 2005. Key findings include a relatively limited amount of factual information and a dual stereotype of people labeled as having autism as either dangerous and uncontrollable or unloved and poorly treated. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the nature and tone of this coverage of autism and its potential impact on individuals described as ‘autistic’, their families and carers and the community in general.     

Opening the black box of link formation: Social factors underlying the structure of the web

Links play a twofold role on the web: they open the channels through which users access information, and they determine the centrality of sites and their visibility. This paper adds two factors to the analysis of links that aim to draw a parallel between the web and other offline interorganisational networks: the resources that the organisations publishing online are able to mobilise, and the status or public recognition of those organisations. Exponential random graph models (ERGMs) are used to analyse a sample of the web of about one thousand sites, showing that both the economic resources of the producers of the sites (a proxy to their wider pool of resources) and their presence in traditional news media (a proxy to their status) significantly increase their probability of receiving more links, and therefore, their centrality. This adds a sociologically relevant dimension to the analysis of the web that has been disregarded so far but that is crucial to understand the way it distributes visibility.     

Birth-interval dynamics in rural Bangladesh and maternal weight

This article reports on the results of a study conducted in rural Bangladesh on the influence of maternal weight on the components of birth intervals, including gestation and intrauterine mortality, the duration of postpartum amenorrhea, and the duration of waiting time to conception (the menstrual interval). When biological factors (including maternal age, parity, and supplementation practices) and behavioral variables, including religion, education, and occupation, were controlled, maternal weight was found to be related to the risk of intrauterine mortality and to the probability of resuming menses in the postpartum period. The implications of these findings for policies and programs in developing countries are discussed.     

Hispanic Adolescent Girls’ Attitudes Toward School

Hispanic adolescent girls are at elevated risk for dropping out of school. The authors interviewed 54 Hispanic adolescent girls who were attending after-school programs in the New York metropolitan area. The study investigated how the multiple factors of mother–daughter and friend mutuality, coping, acculturation, self-esteem, depression and family environment influenced the way these girls felt about school. The final logistical regression analysis appeared to support our hypothesis that girls who have a higher degree of mutuality with their mothers will be more likely to like school a lot. In addition, girls who liked school a lot were significantly more likely to have higher overall grades and to be somewhat religious. Findings are discussed within the context of the empirical and theoretical literature and implications for prevention of school drop-out are considered.     

Are All Dads Equal? Biology Versus Marriage as a Basis for Paternal Investment

The stepfather relationship provides a source of potential conflict in remarriage families, because the mother and partner may have different interests in the well‐being of children from a prior union. Using three different theoretical perspectives—biology, sociology, and selection—this paper examines the engagement, availability, participation, and warmth of residential fathers in married biological parent, unmarried biological parent, married stepparent, and cohabiting father families. The data come from 2,531 children and their parents who were interviewed during the 1997 wave of the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Biology explains less of father involvement than anticipated once differences between fathers are controlled. Marriage continues to differentiate paternal investment levels, as do age of child and financial responsibility to nonresidential children.     

Contesting meaning: Newfie and the politics of ethnic labelling

The ethnic label Newfie is a site of ideological dispute: for some, it is simply an informal term for residents and expatriates of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, for others it may function as an in–group term of solidarity which takes on negative connotations when used by non–Newfoundlanders, and for still others it is the equivalent of a racial slur. In this study we first trace the history of the term, a fairly recent innovation. We then examine present–day attitudes as expressed in (provincial and national) media discourse and in self–report data. We argue that debate over Newfie is part of a larger ideological struggle concerning the commodification of an ‘invented’ Newfoundland culture, which itself must be understood in terms of Newfoundland’s socioeconomic position as Canada’s poorest province. Finally, we compare the Newfie case to other instances of contested group labelling.