Heterosexual Anal Intercourse among Men in Long Beach,California

Anal intercourse poses a greater risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission than vaginal intercourse, and in recent years there has been a growing understanding that heterosexual anal intercourse (HAI) is not uncommon. However, the majority of the anal intercourse literature has focused on men who have sex with men. The little research on HAI has mostly looked at women, with limited work among men. This analysis examined the association between HAI and high-risk behaviors (N = 1,622) and sexual sensation seeking (N = 239) in a sample of men recruited from 2001 to 2012 in Long Beach, California. Almost half of the sample was non-Hispanic Black. The median age was 42 years, 42% were homeless, and 20% reported recent HAI. Men who reported HAI were likely to be Hispanic, were likely to be homeless, had a male partner, engaged in sex exchange, and used cocaine or amphetamines during sex. Men who reported HAI scored higher on the Sexual Sensation Seeking scale. This research supports other work showing the relationship between HAI and high-risk behaviors. More important, it contributes new knowledge by demonstrating the association between HAI and sexual sensation seeking. This research highlights the importance of personality traits when trying to understand sexual behavior and when developing HIV prevention interventions.     

Green grey hairs: A life course perspective on environmental engagement

ABSTRACT

Older adults provide a long view of understanding environmental engagement from their early beginnings to their current community activities. This study draws on interviews with self-described environmentalists and follows a life course analysis that employs social work values and practice skills as they work towards environmental justice in their Midwestern communities. We conclude that the older adults of this second generation of environmentalists offer valuable lessons for social workers with regard to environmental justice, while at the same time contributing insights into older adult volunteering and addressing the challenge of a generational gap in participation in their community organizations.     

Cui bono? Depicting the benefits of the new municipal budgeting and accounting regime in Germany

The new budgeting and accounting regime for the public sector (Doppik), which is based on private sector accounting standards, has been the subject of numerous discussions in research and practice in Germany for the last 20 years. However, those discussions were mostly characterized by assertions, unproven statements and logical arguments. The objective of this paper is to empirically analyze the perceived benefits of a reformed municipal accrual budgeting and accounting system by using a structural equation model. Our results show that improved management capabilities are an important indirect factor, whereas efficiency, intergenerational equity, and transparency are direct determinants of benefit. The consistent implementation of the new output-/outcome-oriented management rationality and the necessity of harmonizing budget laws are revealed as prerequisites for further development.     

Migration Patterns During Italian Urbanization, 1865-1921

This study examines patterns of male migration in central Italy during its transformation from an agrarian to an urban-industrial society. The Italian population registers provide data on the extent and type of emigration among more than 3,500 men (ages 10 and over) who immigrated to the commune of Casalecchio di Reno, bordering the city of Bologna, from 1865 to 1915. Demographic and social differentials in overall rates of emigration and their relation to places of origin and destination are measured. The implications of these results for an understanding of population mobility are discussed.     

The impact of class,education, and health care on infant mortality in a developing society: The case of rural Thailand

Demographic and social factors affecting infant mortality in rural northern Thailand are examined using log-linear modifiedmultiple regression models and data drawn from a representative sample of married couples in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. Demographic factors do not account for the effects of variations in parental ability or willingness to provide adequate infant care. The final model estimated incorporated both these social dimensions of child care. Parental ability, measured by father’s social class, mother’s health information, and local community development levels, continued to have significant independent effects upon infant survival. Parental willingness, measured by parent’s beliefs about intergenerational wealth transfers, no longer had a significant effect net of other social variables, but infant survival was still affected by whether both parents wanted a birth.     

Impediments to Mothers Leaving Welfare: The Role of Maternal and Child Disability

This research examines the relationship between disabilities in families and exits from welfare. Controlling for variations in characteristics known to be associated with welfare exits, this study investigates and documents that specific configurations of disabilities in families are also strongly associated with reduced rates of welfare exits. The impact of a child with a disability on welfare exits is similar to the mother's own disability, with an impact equivalent in magnitude to minority status. The presence of a child with a disability limits the chances that a mother with disability will leave welfare. Our findings add to the literature on welfare dependency and have implications for welfare reforms that emphasize work, self-sufficiency, and reducing poverty.     

Use of actors as standardized psychiatric patients

Using actors in simulation provides opportunities for immersive, interactive, and reflective experiences to improve health care professionals' clinical expertise and practice. These experiences facilitate the development of enhanced critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills without risks to patients. This article discusses how to integrate actors and students into simulated experiences. Examples are provided using mental health simulations with actors as standardized psychiatric patients.     

Keeping a close watch– the rise of self-surveillance and the threat of digital exposure

Digital technologies have given rise to increased occurrences of self-surveillance and forms of 'virtual vigilantism'. This has progressed from key moments such as the video recording of the Rodney King incident, to recording human rights abuses, to citizen grassroots surveillance. From this has emerged the phenomenon known as citizen journalism where recent urban crises have been recorded on mobile phones by the individuals involved. Also on the increase are forms of mob vigilantism, or 'participatory panopticon'; examples here include phone images spread over the Internet as severe forms of 'community punishment'. I argue that these unmediated forms of bottom-up surveillance – sousveillance – show the early signs of a new type of civil responsibility that stands unregulated and without restraint. This paper addresses the issues of increased individualised self-surveillance and asks whether this is the consequence of a personalised resistance to an ever increasing surveillance society.