A Longitudinal Study of Depressive Symptoms and Marijuana Use in a Sample of Inner‐City African Americans

The association between marijuana use and depressive symptoms was examined longitudinally in a sample of 622 African American youth, interviewed on six occasions, using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). We considered whether depressive symptoms predicted changes in marijuana use and vice versa from high school through the transition into young adulthood. We also examined gender differences in these behaviors over time. The results indicated that depressive symptoms predicted later marijuana use only for males. Marijuana use did not predict later depressive symptoms for females or males. These findings are consistent with a unidirectional hypothesis indicating that marijuana use may play a role as mood regulator among young males, but not among females. Research findings also indicate that females with lower depressive symptoms use more marijuana than females who report high depressive symptoms. These findings did not change even after controlling for the effects of using other substances at previous stages, school achievement, and demographics factors. These results suggest that depressive symptoms may be an antecedent of marijuana use among African American males.     

Public Assistance Use among U.S.‐Born Children of Immigrants1

U.S.‐born children of immigrants may be less likely to receive some social services than are children of native‐born parents if foreign‐born parents who are themselves ineligible are less likely to apply on their children's behalf. We use retrospective data from a sample of about 2,400 lowincome households in three U.S. cities to determine whether children with foreign‐born caregivers are less likely than children with native‐born caregivers to receive benefits from any of five programs over a two‐year period: TANF, SSI, Food Stamps, Medicaid, and WIC. The most significant disparities between children of citizen and noncitizen caregivers are in TANF and food stamp use.     

Environmental Exposures to Metals in Native Communities and Implications for Child Development: Basis for the Navajo Birth Cohort Study

Two disparate statistics often cited for the Western United States raise concern about risks for developmental disabilities in Native American children. First, 13 of the states with the highest percentage of Native American population are located in the Western United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010 (U.S. Census Briefs, January, #C2010BR-10). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf [Google Scholar]). Second, more than 161,000 abandoned hard-rock mines are located in 12 Western states (General Accounting Office, 2014 General Accounting Office. (2014, July 14). GAO-11–834T: Abandoned Mines. Information on the number of hardrock mines, cost of cleanup, and value of financial assurances. Statement of Anu K. Mittal, Director, Natural Resources and Environment Team, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-834T [Google Scholar]). Moreover, numerous studies have linked low-level metals exposure with birth defects and developmental delays. Concern has emerged among tribal populations that metals exposure from abandoned mines might threaten development of future generations.     

Religion and the Rainbow Struggle: Does Religion Factor Into Attitudes Toward Homosexuality and Same-Sex Civil Unions in Brazil?

The provision of civil liberties to LGBT persons has become part of a global movement in societies across the world. In Brazil, a recent judicial ruling for the first time established the right for homosexual couples to enter into civil unions, despite the presence of widespread disapproval of homosexuality among the population and opposition from prominent religious groups. Picking up on this issue, the following study examines whether religion may factor into the attitudes Brazilians hold toward homosexuality and same-sex civil unions. Using data from the Brazilian Social Research Survey, we find that the most restrictive views toward homosexuality and the strongest opposition to same-sex civil unions are most prevalent among devoted followers of historical Protestant, Pentecostal, and Catholic faith traditions, whereas adherents of Afro-Brazilian and spiritist religions, as well as those with no religious commitment, are inclined to assume a more tolerant moral posture toward such issues. The findings point to religion as a potential influence in future public policy initiatives and social movements involving LGBT issues in Brazil.     

Pensioners and the Minimum Income Guarantee: Observations from Recent Research

This article summarizes some of the data collected via the 1999/2000 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey. The absence of any counterpart in Northern Ireland to the British Family Resources Survey has resulted in a dearth of basic information on the financial and allied circumstances of pensioners in this part of the United Kingdom. The authors review the data obtained on levels and sources of income, health and receipt of core disability benefits and the extent of non-take-up of the Minimum Income Guarantee. The authors locate the data within the broader debate about the new directions of pension policy in the UK.     

Measuring the Dynamics of Interactional Synchrony

Past research has revealed that natural social interactions contain interactional synchrony. The present study describes new methods for measuring interactional synchrony in natural interactions and evaluates whether the behavioral synchronization involved in social interactions is similar to dynamical synchronization found generically in nature. Two methodologies, a rater-coding method and a computational video image method, were used to provide time series representations of the movements of the co-actors as they enacted a series of jokes (i.e., knock?Cknock jokes). Cross-spectral and relative phase analyses of these time series revealed that speakers?? and listeners?? movements contained rhythms that were not only correlated in time but also exhibited phase synchronization. These results suggest that computational advances in video and time series analysis have greatly enhanced our ability to measure interactional synchrony in natural interactions. Moreover, the dynamical synchronization in these natural interactions is commensurate with that found in more stereotyped tasks, suggesting that similar organizational processes constrain bodily activity in natural social interactions and, hence, have implications for the understanding of joint action generally.     

Collaborations with faith‐based social service coalitions

Based on the first national survey of faith‐based social service coalitions in the United States, this article presents data on the degree to which these nonprofit organizations collaborate with other specific organizational types, as well as the range and intensity of these collaborations. In general, faith‐based coalitions tend to collaborate most frequently with other faith‐based agencies, a pattern especially characteristic of the more religiously expressive ones. However, collaboration with non‐faith‐based organizations is also quite common. Based on seven organizational characteristics, we are able to predict which faith‐based coalitions are most likely to collaborate with different types of organizations: coalitions that have more explicitly religious policies and practices with reference to clients and staffs are less likely to participate in intense collaborations with some types of secular organizations, and consistently less likely to do so with all types of governmental agencies.     

Participatory Organizational Research: Examining Voice in the Co‐production of Knowledge

This paper advances participatory methods in management research. We propose the term participatory organizational research to describe this adjunct to action research. We illustrate the potential of the method to allow sometimes unheard organizational members to generate alternative perspectives that can offer the potential for the co‐production of new forms of knowledge that are locally relevant. Participatory methods originate from work with marginalized groups and have been used more commonly in community and organizational development. The aim of such research is, generally, to change the social and organizational conditions within which participants operate by using their perspectives as active participants to develop alternative possibilities. As such, this research method has significant potential for management researchers in providing the means for unheard organizational members to voice their perspectives: a central component, we argue, in knowledge co‐production. Based on a participatory study of care quality in elder care institutions, we examine in detail how participatory organizational research can enable voice and explore some of the structural limitations particularly in respect of research ethics.