Attitudes about addiction: a national study of addiction educators

The following study, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), utilized the Addiction Belief Inventory (ABI; Luke, Ribisl, Walton, & Davidson, 2002) to examine addiction attitudes in a national sample of U.S. college/university faculty teaching addiction-specific courses (n=215). Results suggest that addiction educators view substance abuse as a coping mechanism rather than a moral failure, and are ambivalent about calling substance abuse or addiction a disease. Most do not support individual efficacy toward recovery, the ability to control use, or social use after treatment. Modifiers of addiction educator attitudes include level of college education; teaching experience; licensure/certification, and whether the educator is an addiction researcher. Study implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Couples,Money, and Expectations: Negotiating Financial Management Roles to Increase Relationship Satisfaction

How couples handle money has become a popular subject among scholars, practitioners, and the popular press. However, little is known about how finances should be treated within a clinical context. This study examined the financial management roles in which couples participate and their satisfaction level with these roles as well as couples' communication tactics surrounding money and their impact on relationship and financial satisfaction. Results suggested that having shared goals and values about money were a stronger predictor of relationship satisfaction than were communication strategies. In addition, satisfaction with one's financial management role participation may be more important than self-reported financial management roles each partner performs. In this study, financial management roles included 19 areas, including responsibilities such as bookkeeping, financial decision-making, and taxes.     

Chronic pain,pain severity and analgesia use in Australian women of reproductive age

Background

The increasing prevalence and adverse outcomes associated with opioid analgesia use in women of reproductive age have become a significant public health issue internationally, with use during pregnancy potentially affecting maternal and infant health outcomes.

The Social Construction of Reality in the Realm of Children's Mental Health Services

ABSTRACT

Across the United States, systems of care have emerged to provide mental health care to children and their families; fragmentation inhibiting the success of collaboration by stakeholders is common and compromises these systems of care. Survey data were collected from 1,428 respondents in a Midwestern state to examine problems that exist within systems of care from the perspective of the different stakeholder groups. Stakeholder group membership was based upon the respondent's employment or involvement within various child-serving systems and included those in child welfare, juvenile justice, and education, mental health providers, and consumers (i.e., caregivers/parents). Group differences revealed patterns of “finger pointing” by the stakeholder groups on where specific problems exist within systems of care. The findings provide insight into how the social construction of service delivery and practice emerges as stakeholder groups describe, understand, and evaluate problems within the system of care as a function of their own practice location within the system of care. Future research should consider exploring methods that might minimize the competitive nature of disparate child-serving systems and its potentially negative impact upon system performance and treatment outcomes.     

Infants' Understanding of Preferences When Agents Make Inconsistent Choices

This study showed that 8.5‐month‐old infants seemed to consider the consistency of an agent's choices in attributing preferences to her. When the agent consistently chose one object over another, three or four times consecutively, infants acted as if they had interpreted her actions as evidence for her preference. In contrast, when the agent inconsistently chose between the two objects, at the ratio of 1:3, infants did not seem to interpret her actions as suggesting her preference. Converging evidence was obtained from infants' responses across a looking‐time task and an action task. The results are discussed in terms of how infants might use frequencies of agents' actions directed toward different objects to understand agents' preferences.     

Are environmental attitudes influenced by survey context? An investigation of the context dependency of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale

General environmental attitudes are often measured with questions added to surveys about specific environmental or non-environmental issues. Using results from a large-scale national survey on the protection of threatened and endangered marine species, we examine whether the context of the survey in which New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale items are asked influence measured environmental concern. In this application the role that specific threatened or endangered species play in affecting responses to NEP Scale items is explored using a combination of non-parametric and parametric approaches. The results in this case suggest that context does influence stated general environmental attitudes, though the effects of context differ across NEP items.     

Tragic Narratives in Popular Culture: Depictions of Homicide in Rap Music1

Homicide is a rare event, but depictions of it are quite common in our culture and discourse. Commercially successful rappers have appropriated homicide as a central theme in their lyrical compositions. The tremendous success of rap music is indicative of its increasing popular appeal and cultural impact. We reveal the ways homicide is constructed within rap music and its frequency of occurrence across time. Employing a cultural criminology framework, we analyze the most popular rap songs over the period 1989–2000, as determined by Billboard music charts, for references to homicide. Using content analysis we explore the emergent themes associated with homicide scenarios in rap lyrics. Results show violent death was constructed in glorified ways, incorporated cautionary tales, or used as an analogy for powerful rhyming. The major themes found in these homicide‐related rap lyrics were the normalization of killing, respect maintenance, confrontation with the power structure, vengeance, and masculine confrontation. Gender patterns of killing were surprising and distinct. Homicide was almost always male on male. Careful consideration is given to the multiple meanings of homicide, particularly the ways rappers have appropriated the word “killing” and transformed it into a term that indicates creative success.     

Associations Between Family of Origin Climate,Relationship Self‐Regulation,and Marital Outcomes

Using dyadic data from 961 married couples from the Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire project, the current study explored the direct association between family of origin climate and marital outcomes and the indirect association via relationship self‐regulation (RSR). Results from the actor–partner interdependence model analysis indicated that family of origin climate was positively associated with marital stability directly and indirectly via the effects of RSR and marital satisfaction for both men and women. Results suggest that the experience one has in their family of origin is associated with their marital outcomes through their RSR. Actor–partner direct and indirect effects indicate that spouses' RSR may have important consequences for both partner's evaluation of the marriage. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.     

How Does a Cowboy Make Money? Using Student Curiosities to Further Elementary School Inquiries

This article explores examples of student-initiated inquiries (in Grades 1 and 5) and the opportunities and challenges with engaging in them. To explore these student-initiated inquiries, we use the C3 Framework Inquiry Arc (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (2013). The college, career, and civic life (C3) framework for social studies state standards: Guidance for enhancing the rigor of K–12 civics, economics, geography and history. Silver Spring, MD: Author. [Google Scholar]) and Harvey and Daniels's (2009 Harvey, S., &; Daniels, H. (2009). Comprehension &; collaboration: Inquiry circles in action. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. [Google Scholar]) Small-Group Inquiry Model to describe the actions and interactions of two elementary school teachers and their students as they take student-initiated inquiries through various stages of the inquiry process. With each classroom example we include the challenges the teachers encountered and we make recommendations for inquiry-based instruction in elementary social studies.     

Young people’s education biographies: family relationships,social capital and belonging

This paper examines complexities and interdependencies of key family relationships which anchor young people’s educational biographies. It is well recognised that young people’s education pathways in late modernity are strongly dependent on their ability to draw on the range of resources available, and that socio-economic status and family resources play a central role in this process. Less is known about how such relationships anchor young people’s education biographies. Drawing on theories of social capital and belonging in dialogue with qualitative interviews, and situated in studies of rural youth and education, this article considers how young people themselves talk and make decisions about their education in relation to complex family connections. These connections, contestations and negotiations between young people and central family members highlight how the late modern economy impacts on young people’s intimate relationships, and sheds light on the ongoing work of youth to resolve such tensions around their schooling in daily life.