Social Networks and Social Settings: Developing a Coevolutionary View

One way to think about social context is as a sample of alters. To understand individual action, therefore, it matters greatly where these alters may be coming from, and how they are connected. According to one vision, connections among alters induce local dependencies—emergent rules of social interaction that generate endogenously the observed network structure of social settings. Social selection is the decision of interest in this perspective. According to a second vision, social settings are collections of social foci—physical or symbolic locales where actors meet. Because alters are more likely to be drawn from focused sets, shared social foci are frequently considered as the main generators of network ties, and hence of setting structure. Affiliation to social foci is the decision of central interest in this second view. In this paper we show how stochastic actor–oriented models (SAOMs) originally derived for studying the dynamics of multiple networks may be adopted to represent and examine these interconnected systems of decisions (selection and affiliation) within a unified analytical framework. We illustrate the empirical value of the model in the context of a longitudinal sample of adolescent participating in the Glasgow Teenage Friends and Lifestyle Study. Social selection decisions are examined in the context of networks of friendship relations. The analysis treats musical genres as the main social foci of interest.     

Do Alcohol and Marijuana Use Decrease the Probability of Condom Use for College Women?

Alcohol and marijuana use are thought to increase sexual risk taking, but event-level studies conflict in their findings and often depend on reports from a limited number of people or on a limited number of sexual events per person. With event-level data from 1,856 sexual intercourse events provided by 297 college women (M _age = 18 years; 71% White), we used multilevel modeling to examine associations between alcohol and marijuana use and condom use as well as interactions involving sexual partner type and alcohol-sexual risk expectancies. Controlling for alternative contraception use, partner type, regular levels of substance use, impulsivity and sensation seeking, and demographics, women were no more or less likely to use condoms during events involving drinking or heavy episodic drinking than during those without drinking. However, for drinking events, there was a negative association between number of drinks consumed and condom use; in addition, women with stronger alcohol-sexual risk expectancies were marginally less likely to use condoms when drinking. Although there was no main effect of marijuana use on condom use, these data suggest marijuana use with established romantic partners may increase risk of unprotected sex. Intervention efforts should target expectancies and emphasize the dose-response relationship of drinks to condom use.     

The Trauma Trifecta of Military Sexual Trauma: A Case Study Illustrating the Integration of Mind and Body in Clinical Work with Survivors of MST

Military sexual trauma (MST) has recently received much attention from the media in contemporary society. With the ever-increasing population of United States service members returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it is vital for any mental health practitioner to be aware of the epidemic that is sexual assault in the military, the unique trauma experiences of the MST survivor, and treatment implications incorporating multiple psychological theories. This article explores three factors, referred to as the trauma trifecta, in which the effects of MST are exacerbated: the loss of professional and personal identity, the regulatory functions of self harm behaviors, and the retraumatization that many service members endure as a result of the distinctive characteristics of the military culture and its service to veterans. A case study with clinical interventions will be utilized to demonstrate this concept of “the trauma trifecta” and the unique challenges in treating the PTSD symptoms that can result from MST in clinical therapy. Drawing from multiple theories in clinical treatment, this paper illustrates the strengths and limitations of cognitive-behavioral techniques, highlights the integration of feminist theory to illustrate the obstacles of power structures, and mind–body interventions, bridging the gap between talk therapy and body therapy. Through this unique integration of multiple therapies, the case study illustrates the veteran’s reengagement with her body and the reformulation of her identity post MST.     

“Don’t Argue with the Members”

Mel Pollner regularly cautioned researchers not to argue with the members of settings under consideration. He warned against substituting the researcher’s meaning for the meanings of those being studied. This article discusses facets of the caution as they relate to the research process. Seemingly simple, the tenet is nuanced in application. The article adds to the nuance by distinguishing what is called the “replacement” of meaning with the “displacement” of meaning, providing a way of understanding what members could mean if the contexts and settings of their accounts were taken into consideration.     

The relationship between sex guilt and sexual desire in a community sample of Chinese and Euro-Canadian women

Many studies have documented significant differences in sexual desire between individuals of European and Chinese descent, but few have examined the mechanisms that underlie these differences. A recent study of university students found that sex guilt is one mechanism by which culture influences sexual desire among Chinese and Euro-Canadian women. The goal of this study was to examine whether sex guilt also mediates the relationship between ethnicity and sexual desire in a sample that is more representative of women in the general population. Euro-Canadian (n = 78; mean age = 42.1 years) and Chinese (n = 87; mean age = 42.8 years) women were recruited from the community. Euro-Canadian women reported greater sexual desire and less sex guilt. In the entire sample, sex guilt mediated the relationship between ethnicity and sexual desire such that the Chinese women reported greater sex guilt, which, in turn, was associated with lower sexual desire. Among the Chinese women, sex guilt mediated the relationship between mainstream acculturation (degree of Westernization) and sexual desire such that more Westernized Chinese women reported less sex guilt, which, in turn, was associated with greater sexual desire. These results support recent findings and further suggest that sex guilt may be one mechanism by which ethnicity affects sexual desire.     

The Effects of First Occupation on Long Term Health Status: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

In this paper, we use a longitudinal survey that has collected information for 50 years on a large cohort of Wisconsin high school graduates and their siblings to examine the long term impact of early occupational choice on health status. We find evidence that beginning a career in a blue collar occupation is correlated with several measures of poor health outcomes at ages 50–65. Since our dataset includes usually unobserved pre-labor market characteristics, including IQ and childhood health status, we can show that controlling for these variables is important for many results and suggests a high level of selection into occupation based on health and ability. We also provide evidence of gender differentials in the association between first occupation and later health. Then, we replace our basic measure of occupational categories with summary measures of job characteristics and find that employment at “bad jobs” at the beginning of an individual’s career predicts later health outcomes. Finally, we use sibling information in the dataset to show that unmeasured family background factors explain a large share of the effects of occupation on later health. Overall, the evidence points to limited, though heterogeneous, long term effects of health from blue collar employment.     

Changes in Firm Pension Policy: Trends Away from Traditional Defined Benefit Plans

In light of the recent concerns regarding the solvency of Social Security’s Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI), private pensions may play an increasingly important role in retirement welfare of US retirees. However, the private pension landscape has evolved in ways that may result in lower private pension wealth for retirees. One recent such phenomenon involves the conversion of traditional defined benefit pension plans to cash balance plans, which results in lower pension benefits for many workers. In this study, I investigated how characteristics of the firm’s workforce influenced whether the firm converted their traditional pension plan to a cash balance plan and how these characteristics related to the firm’s pension plan policy more generally. Using the Longitudinal Employer-Household Data and pension plan data from the Department of Labor/Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, I found little evidence of workforce age distribution effects on the likelihood of DB plan conversion to a cash balance plan in the 1990s. More generally, I consistently found positive associations between firms with older and more female workforces and defined contribution plans during the same time.