Are Hispanics the new ‘Threat’? Minority group threat and fear of crime in Miami-Dade County

Research examining the determinants of fear of crime has arguably raised more questions than it has answered. This exploratory study addresses one of the compelling questions that remains unanswered: what is the role of ethnicity, both at the community and individual levels, in understanding variation in fear of crime? Guided by racial or minority group threat theory, we examine the relative sizes of both the Black and Latino populations as indicators of minority group threat to determine their role in understanding individual fear of crime in a city where Latinos represent a much larger proportion of the population than Blacks (Miami-Dade County, Florida). Furthermore, the race and ethnic backgrounds of the respondents are also considered to evaluate their role in understanding variation in the fear of crime. Using both Census tract-level data and data collected from a NIDA sponsored grant that was part of a larger study about physically disabled residents, our findings reveal that in Miami-Dade County where Blacks are highly segregated from whites, the relative size of the Latino population is a predictor of fear of crime among white residents. Implications of this finding are considered, including a call for more nuanced research focusing on the predictors of fear of crime within multiethnic communities.     

A Queer Day in Canada: Examining Canadian High School Students’ Experiences With School-Based Homophobia in Two Large-Scale Studies

The goal of the study is to examine how location (nationally, compared to Canadian regions) is related to indicators of a hostile school environment for sexual minority youth, particularly when physical abuse is used as the outcome variable. Data representing 5,766 Canadian students were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate techniques. Results from the multivariate analyses showed that non-physical abuse was the most significant predictor of homophobically based physical abuse, for both LGBQ and non-LGBQ students. Findings reiterate the importance of considering the progression of harmful events as an escalation of violence as well as the need to view homophobic bullying as having a significant impact on all students. Finally, while the presence of homophobia is prevalent across all Canadian regions, there are, nevertheless, many regional differences, which could be used to inform region-specific action plans.     

Focus groups identify optimum urban nature in four Australian and New Zealand cities

Urban residents and nature have often beneficial interactions, but there can also be conflict. We investigated the relationship between human wellbeing and nature in the two most-populous cities of both Australia and New Zealand. An online survey measured nature value orientations, and a selection of respondents who agreed to be contacted again were chosen based on their nature value orientation to invite to a focus group. This ensured that focus group participants represented a continuum of value orientations. Regardless of their nature value orientation, focus group participants were clear about needing nature in their city. They expressed strong opinions about how nature should be incorporated into the urban matrix to improve their lives. All focus groups described the integrated design of urban and natural elements when discussing positive experiences of nature in cities and had persistent concerns about how natural spaces are managed. While participants in different cities did discuss different landscape attributes and nature-related challenges, such as flooding, these differences did not affect the overall desire for nature in cities. We argue that urban design has the potential to ensure that residents engage with and experience nature in cities, and that design practices and policies could support the successful human-nature integration. Further research in other locations would determine how this work scales to either smaller towns and developed areas with smaller populations, or to mega-cities and other countries around the world.

     

Assessment as the Site of Power: A Bourdieusian Interrogation of Service User and Carer Involvement in the Assessments of Social Work Students

The centrality of service user and carer involvement in social work education in England is now well established, both in policy and practice. However, research evidence suggests their involvement in student assessments is underdeveloped and under researched. This study focused on the positioning of service users and carers in relation to other stakeholders involved in the assessments of social work students in England. Using narrative research methodology, 21 participants, including service users, carers, social work students, social work employers and social work educators, were offered a semi-structured individual interview. Participants’ narratives revealed different power relations among those involved in social work students’ assessments and a lack of confidence among service users and carers in making failed assessment recommendations. The paper concludes by arguing the case for social work educators and service user organisations to provide joint training to support service users and carers in their role as assessors of social work students.     

Using Textual Prompts to Teach Mands for Information Using “Who?”

Recent research on teaching mands for information to children with language deficits has focused on manipulating establishing operations (EOs). However, only a few of those studies have programmed both EO conditions (in which information is needed) and abolishing operation (AO) conditions (in which information has already been provided) to ensure functional use of the mand for information. Shillingsburg, Bowen, Valentino, and Pierce (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 47, 136–150, 2014) provided a successful demonstration of differential responding between EO and AO conditions demonstrating control of the response by the relevant EO. Echoic prompts resulted in successful mands for information “Who?” One limitation of this study was that the participants did not re-issue the initial mand upon approaching the named adult to retrieve the item. This may be problematic in the natural environment as it is unlikely that the named adult would know what the child was looking for. The current study sought to replicate and expand previous research by using textual prompts to teach the mand “Who?” in four children diagnosed with autism (Phase 1) and by requiring the mand for the item be re-issued upon approaching the named adult (Phase 2). Textual prompts resulted in differential use of the mand for information during EO and AO conditions for all of the participants. Additionally, three of the four participants who did not re-issue the mand to the named adult during the Phase 2 baseline did so following the intervention. Overall, results support the use of textual prompts to teach mands for information to children with autism.

     

Social isolation from extended family members and friends among African Americans: Findings from a national survey

This study investigated the correlates of objective social isolation from extended family members and friends among a national sample of African Americans. The analysis is based upon the African American subsample (n = 3,570) of the National Survey of American Life. The dependent variable examines four categories of respondents: 1) socially isolated from both family and friends, 2) socially isolated from friends only, 3) socially isolated from family only, and 4) not socially isolated. Overall, 23% of respondents indicated some degree of objective social isolation from family, friends or both groups, while the complementary 77% of the sample were not isolated from family or friends. Only 4% of respondents indicated being isolated from both family and friends. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed several gender, education, marital status and region differences. In particular, African American women were less likely to be socially isolated from family members than African American men. This finding was sustained even when controlling for differences in subjective isolation from family members, underscoring the protective effect of female gender. Study findings are discussed in relation to previous research on social isolation, as well as prior research on African American social support networks.     

The roots of Regina Spektor’s post-Soviet poetics

ABSTRACT

Regina Spektor’s rigorous training in piano, starting in the Soviet Union and continued throughout her youth in the United States, helps to explain her skills in composing complex and unexpected pop music. Less obvious, though, will be an understanding of the roots of her poetic skills in writing lyrics. This paper examines how Spektor was influenced by Russian bard tradition, as well as the widespread informal music dissemination network known as magnitizdat.     

Is Pornography Really about “Making Hate to Women”? Pornography Users Hold More Gender Egalitarian Attitudes Than Nonusers in a Representative American Sample

According to radical feminist theory, pornography serves to further the subordination of women by training its users, males and females alike, to view women as little more than sex objects over whom men should have complete control. Composite variables from the General Social Survey were used to test the hypothesis that pornography users would hold attitudes that were more supportive of gender nonegalitarianism than nonusers of pornography. Results did not support hypotheses derived from radical feminist theory. Pornography users held more egalitarian attitudes—toward women in positions of power, toward women working outside the home, and toward abortion—than nonusers of pornography. Further, pornography users and pornography nonusers did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward the traditional family and in their self-identification as feminist. The results of this study suggest that pornography use may not be associated with gender nonegalitarian attitudes in a manner that is consistent with radical feminist theory.