Different Challenges,Different Well-Being: A Comparison of Psychological Well-Being Across Stepmothers and Biological Mothers and Across Four Categories of Stepmothers

Although previous research has indicated stepfamilies experience poorer mental well-being than biological families, it has focused primarily on stepfather-led families. In contrast, this study focuses on the well-being of stepmothers. It is also the first to compare well-being across all combinations of residential, nonresidential, simple, and complex stepfamilies and to measure anxiety and depression as indicators of stepmother well-being. Participants were 333 biological mothers and stepmothers. Among the results, in comparison to biological mothers, full complex and part simple stepmothers reported significantly higher mean levels of, respectively, depression and anxiety. Results also suggest that, for biological mothers but not for stepmothers, having a long-term partner might be a buffer against anxiety and depression.     

Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse in a Hypothetical Cybersexploitation Case: The Importance of Perpetrator Honesty,Outcome Type,and Respondent Gender

This study investigated perceptions of child sexual abuse in a hypothetical cybersexploitation case. Men were predicted to be more negative toward the victim than were women. Victims were predicted to be more negatively judged when they consented to sex than when they did not and when they were lied to than when they were not. Two hundred and seventy-six respondents read a sexual abuse depiction in which the perpetrator's disclosure about his age (being honest from the outset, lying, or refusing to disclose when questioned) and the final outcome of the meeting (consensual verses nonconsensual sexual intercourse) were varied between subjects. Respondents then completed a 17-item attribution scale. ANOVAs revealed broad support for the predictions. Results have implications for education about cybercrime.     

The Effect of Case Severity on Sentence Length in Cases of Child Sexual Assault in Canada

ABSTRACT

Surprisingly, little research exists on the determination of sentence length in cases of child sexual assault. This is striking given the profound short-term and long-term consequences this crime can have on victims and their families. Previous research shows that severity of the offense commonly accounts for much of the variability in sentences in this context. A critical point, however, is that the definition of offense severity varies widely and is often confounded with the age of the complainant. The current archival study, through the examination of 1,783 judicial sentencing decisions, evaluated the effects of key variables on length of sentence in cases of child sexual assault in Canada. Length of sentence increased as intrusiveness of the offense increased, as frequency increased, and as age decreased for children who experienced the most intrusive forms of abuse. In addition, offenders who pleaded guilty received shorter sentences than offenders who pleaded not guilty.     

Picking Up the Mantle of “Expert”: Assigned Roles,Assertion of Identity,and Peer Recognition Within a Programming Class

Changing an established role in a classroom is difficult. It involves constructing a new set of relations within a community. In this article we investigate how students with newly developed interest and experience in programming developed outside the classroom pick up and establish their roles as experts in programming within the classroom community. More specifically, we focus on how two 11-year-old software designers shifted their established roles in their classroom to gain status as expert programmers. We use an identity lens to understand how peer expertise was established in the context of a classroom community, adopting a multifaceted perspective of identity by focusing on an individual's narrativization of self, full, or peripheral participation among a group of people, and individuals' social recognition by others. Our findings point to the importance of both positive positioning by authority figures in the classroom and activities and roles that provide opportunities to establish intersubjectivity among peers in facilitating students' identities as experts in the classroom. Students' willingness to take up a new position in the established activity system also played a role. We consider implications of how making roles flexible within classroom stratification may provide opportunities for more students see themselves as experts.     

The Effects of Auditory Stimulation on Auditory Processing Disorder: A Summary of the Findings

The study's purpose is to determine the efficacy of the Tomatis Method of auditory stimulation as a therapeutic intervention for Auditory Processing Disorders (APD). Forty-one subjects (18 females, 23 males; 4.3–19.8 years old) were evaluated for APD. Performance on standardized tests indicated weaknesses with auditory processing skills. Each subject participated in a 90-hour Tomatis Method protocol and, once completed, each subject was re-evaluated to measure improvement. All subjects demonstrated improvement with skills of immediate auditory memory, auditory sequencing, interpretation of directions, auditory discrimination, and auditory cohesion. Pre- and post-treatment comparison indicated statistically significant differences in the aforementioned skills. These findings suggest that the Tomatis Method of auditory stimulation can be effective as an intervention strategy for APD.     

Using peer‐interviewing methods to explore place‐based disadvantage: dissolving the distance between suits and civilians

Collaborative and participatory research methods reflect ideals to undertake research in consultation and partnership with communities and to advance community empowerment and capacity. They offer ethical and practical approaches for conducting research addressing socioeconomic and health disparities particularly in marginalised or vulnerable communities. Peer‐interviewing is one such participatory strategy employed in studies involving hard‐to‐reach populations. However, while the value of peer‐interviewing for researchers is noted in the methodological literature, there are few discussions that critically examine the benefits and challenges of using peer‐researcher approaches, either for the interviewers themselves or the communities they represent. This study reports the findings from a qualitative study that explored the experiences of peer‐interviewers who were involved in undertaking community surveys of residents in the socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods in which they lived. We discuss the benefits and challenges that participants reported from their involvement.     

Out of the Blue: the dark side of creative enterprise

This paper draws on an archive of media texts that document the making of the film Out of the Blue. Within these media accounts are statements made by a group of residents resisting the film project, and the film‐makers responding to this resistance. We employ a Foucauldian informed discourse analysis to read these statements of resistance as a starting point to examine the power relations within contemporary knowledge generation processes of creative industries. We theorise creative industries as a discursive object located at the intersection of three discursive formations: ‘creativity’, ‘enterprise’ and ‘place’. Through analysing the particular place–identities of Aramoana engaged by the resisting residents and the film‐makers, we are able to suggest how this film project came to be discursively constituted as creative enterprise. In so doing, we find that the resisting residents’ statements work to disrupt the taken‐for‐granted ‘goodness’ of film enterprise, and creative industries more generally.     

Correlates of negative attitudes toward gay men: Sexism,male role norms,and male sexuality

Research has shown that heterosexual men are more negative toward gay men than women are on measures of attitudes toward homosexual behaviour and homosexual persons (Kite & Whitley, 1996). Gender differences in attitudes toward gay men's civil rights are less clear. No empirical studies, however, have investigated these findings with a scale that measures specifically these three attitudinal subcomponents. This study was a preliminary test of a scale that measured these subcomponents. In addition, this study investigated the relationship between these subcomponents and other attitudinal measures: hostile sexism, male toughness, and attitudes toward male sexuality. Results revealed that attitudes toward homosexual behaviour and homosexual persons comprised one factor: affective reactions toward gay men. Results showed that men were more negative on affective reactions than women were. No gender differences were revealed on attitudes toward civil rights. I found significant correlations between affective reactions, hostile sexism, male toughness, and male sexuality. I discuss these findings in relation to traditional gender role beliefs and make suggestions for future research.