Is the Cohabitation–Marriage Gap in Money Pooling Universal?

Numerous studies have shown that cohabitors are less likely to pool their money than married couples. The authors raise the question of whether the marriage–cohabitation gap in money pooling varies according to the level of institutionalization of cohabitation in the society. They compared 2 Canadian regions with very different demographic regimes. The francophone province Québec has the highest proportion of cohabiting couples in the world, whereas the levels of cohabitation are moderate in other Canadian provinces. Moreover, the 2 regions differ in their legal systems (civil code vs. common law) and legal regulation of cohabitation. Using data from the Canadian 2011 General Social Survey (N = 9,852), the authors found that cohabitors in both regions are less likely to pool their money together. Nevertheless, they did not confirm the hypothesis that the marriage–cohabitation gap is smaller in Québec despite the higher levels of institutionalization of cohabitation in this region.     

Contributions of Divergent Peer and Parent Sexual Messages to Asian American College Students' Sexual Behaviors

Receiving more parent sexual communication is generally linked to a later age of first sexual intercourse and less sexual risk taking. However, Asian American youth report minimal parent sexual communication, later sexual initiation, and fewer sexual risks than their counterparts. What contributes to this unexpected pattern of sexual communication and sexual behaviors? To answer this question, we surveyed 312 Asian American college students ages 17 to 22 on their sexual behaviors, parent sexual communication, and peer sexual communication. Assessment of parent and peer sexual communication was completed via a measure in which participants rated the frequency with which they had received each of 22 sexual messages from each source. Young women generally received more messages promoting abstinence, traditional sex roles, and sex within a relational context than their male counterparts. Young men, however, reported greater parent and peer communications that were accepting of casual sex. Exposure to peer messages that were accepting of casual sex was associated with more sexual partners, casual sex encounters, and sexual experience. Being older, being raised outside the United States, being less religious, and being homosexual was each predictive of more sexual experience. Implications regarding the role of culture and gender on sexual socialization are discussed.     

Mechanisms of Adherence in a Harm Reduction Housing Program

Advances in clinical therapies for people living with HIV have greatly increased life expectancies, but the high levels of adherence that are necessary for clinical success are infrequently achieved, especially for chronically homeless substance users. The Open Door is a harm reduction housing program that seeks to improve clinical outcomes for this population. We present findings from qualitative interviews with residents of the program, conducted to explore facilitators of residents’ success in the program, which is ultimately defined as HIV clinical adherence. Two major themes developed. Positive changes captures processes or characteristics that residents reported as having changed as a result of living in the program. Mechanisms of success reflects aspects of the program to which residents attributed their improved adherence. Given that improving adherence in vulnerable populations has both clinical and public health implications, our study suggests future avenues for research and foundations on which to build future interventions.     

Youth leadership program for changing self-image and attitude toward people with disabilities

Society has a negative attitude toward people with intellectual disabilities or psychiatric disabilities. It is well documented that they are subjected to prejudice, stigma, and negative attitudes (Di Giulio, 2003 ; Finger, 1994 ). Professional literature indicates that information about disabilities and encounters with persons with disabilities can change negative attitudes (Carter, Hughes, Copeland, & Breen, 2001 ; Krajewski & Flaherty, 2000 ). This study accompanied 164 9th-grade students from various junior high schools throughout Israel. Half of the students participated in an integration program for changing attitudes toward persons with disabilities, and the other half served as the control group. The research examined the existence and the degree of relationship between participation in the program, changes in attitudes toward people with disabilities, and self-image. The research findings pointed to a positive change in attitudes of the participants of the program in comparison with the control group, resulting mainly from personal contact with people with disabilities. No relationship was found between levels of self-image of the research group and attitudes toward people with disabilities.     

A review of research on violence in same-gender couples: a resource for clinicians

This paper reviews current research that has primarily focused on domestic violence among same-gender couples. Several key issues pertaining to the identification, assessment, and treatment of domestic violence among same-gender couples are examined and outlined to assist clinicians in effectively working with gay and lesbian clients who may be experiencing domestic violence. Resource information is included to help mental health clinicians recognize specific stressors of marginalized individuals as well as assessment and treatment recommendations are made.     

The narrowing sex differential in life expectancy in high-income populations: effects of differences in the age pattern of mortality

Using data from the Human Mortality Database for 29 high-income national populations (1751-2004), we review trends in the sex differential in e(0). The widening of this gap during most of the 1900s was due largely to a slower mortality decline for males than females, which previous studies attributed to behavioural factors (e.g., smoking). More recently, the gap began to narrow in most countries, and researchers tried to explain this reversal with the same factors. However, our decomposition analysis reveals that, for the majority of countries, the recent narrowing is due primarily to sex differences in the age pattern of mortality rather than declining sex ratios in mortality: the same rate of mortality decline produces smaller gains in e(0) for women than for men because women's deaths are less dispersed across age (i.e., survivorship is more rectangular).     

Sports Sociology’s Still Untapped Potential

Following up on Zirin’s (2008) challenge that sports sociologists “get off the bench,” and Karen and Washington’s (2001) plea to make sports sociology more central to analyses of social power, this article empirically reviews and assesses the sociology of sports from 1977–2008. Using a sample of 441 articles selected from the three major sports sociology journals during that period, we conclude that sports sociology exhibits a strong and increasing bias toward micro‐level analyses of (for example) how the content of sports frames and constructs the social world. A smaller and shrinking body of work examines more macro‐oriented issues such as the economics and politics of sports, and there seem to be few attempts to meaningfully synthesize these micro and macro orientations. We think this partiality toward micro‐oriented frameworks is rooted in factors unique to sports sociology while also reflecting larger trends within sociology as a whole. As advocates of popularly accessible public sociology, we respectfully suggest that sports sociologists try harder to weave macro analyses into their work, not necessarily replacing micro‐level approaches, but complementing them. We believe that sports sociology is well‐positioned to become a standard bearer for public sociology, but only if it pays more attention to the way organized sports intertwines with the organizational, political, and economic forces that perpetuate and exacerbate social inequality.     

Regulating social welfare services: Between compliance and learning

With the ongoing privatisation and marketisation of social welfare, the regulatory functions of governments have become much more important, necessitating careful attention. Yet there is little scholarly work on the goals and nature of regulating privatised social welfare services. To fill this gap, this study examined the regulatory process used by the Israeli Youth Protection Authority (YPA) to regulate homes for at‐risk youth. Based on 24 semi‐structured interviews with inspectors and staff, the article highlights the YPA's distinctive learning‐based and collaborative approach to regulating social welfare services. This approach puts the capacity‐building of professional skills, rather than compliance, at the centre of the regulatory mission and leaves room for professional discretion to the homes and the inspectors. The article outlines the distinctive features of this approach, considering its advantages and shortcomings in comparison with the more legalistic and audit‐based approaches currently dominating the field of social care inspection.     

Intergenerational Continuities and Their Influences on Children's Social Development

The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the recent efforts by psychologists to explore intergenerational continuities and their influences on children's social development. A primary criterion for inclusion in the review was use of three generations of subjects represented in the research, although two generation studies were included to supplement or expand upon the conclusions drawn from three generation studies. The following domains of research were reviewed: (1) literature regarding the repetition of child abuse across generations, (2) research examining the intergenerational continuity of attachment status, (3) investigations of the continuity of parenting and childrearing behavior parents experienced with their own parents, (4) research examining intergenerational continuities in parenting involving non-human primates, and (5) investigations of intergenerational continuities in both peer and sibling relationships. Across all literatures reviewed, evidence was found for intergenerational continuity with gender of parent affecting results. Two primary mechanisms for transmission appear to be cognitive schemas of relationships and modeling. A paradigm is proposed describing possible means of intergenerational transmission of influence on the social development of children.