Chlamydia trachomatis infection in a male college student population

Male university students were studied to evaluate the merit of routine screening for chlamydia urethritis. Two hundred fourteen sexually active male students answered a questionnaire about symptoms of urethritis and exposure to and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). All subjects were screened for chlamydia by enzyme immunoassay (Chlamydiazyme, Abbott Laboratories). Overall, Chlamydiazyme was positive in 42 of 214 subjects (19.6%). Eighty-six subjects had no symptoms and no history of untreated exposure to STD; 6 of these had positive Chlamydiazyme assays. Based on our results, we conclude that the proportion of male urethral chlamydia infections that are asymptomatic may be much higher than has previously been believed. We further conclude that asymptomatic sexually active male students on this campus are a high-risk population for whom routine chlamydia screening is appropriate.     

The Right to Take Risks: Alcohol and Older People

This paper examines policy and practice regarding the purchase of alcohol for older clients of home carers in three local authorities in the Greater London area. Data were gathered from interviews with home carers and their managers, focus group discussions, and a postal survey. None of the local authorities had a written policy or written guidance on alcohol purchase or on appropriate responses to the identification of problematic drinking in older clients. The findings illustrate the problem of balancing "rights" and "risks" within a philosophy of community care which emphasizes client choice and autonomy, and show how policy and practice are "tailored" by local contexts. It is suggested that both home carers and other domiciliary workers, as well as their older clients, could benefit from a clear code of practice regarding responses to alcohol consumption and problematic drinking by older people.     

Parenting as a Dynamic Process: A Test of the Resource Dilution Hypothesis

In this paper, we tested the resource dilution hypothesis, which posits that, because parenting resources are finite, the addition of a new sibling depletes parenting resources for other children in the household. We estimated growth curve models on the self‐reported parenting practices of mothers using four waves of data collected biennially between 1994 and 2000 on a nationally representative sample of 2,082 Canadian children aged 2 to 5 at initial interview and in continuously intact, two‐biological‐parent households. Results showed that when new children were added to the household, mothers exhibited declines in positive interaction, but increased their levels of consistent parenting. Taken together, these findings suggested that parenting resources were reallocated, rather than diluted, when family size increased.     

FOLK MODELS OF DYADIC MALE BONDS IN ISRAELI CULTURE

This article explores the phenomenology of dyadic male bonds in Israeli culture, based on a secondary analysis of friendship narratives derived from a sample of Israeli-Jewish men. Two folk models of male friendships are delineated, situated in local images of hegemonic masculinity in Zionist ideology. The first model is the hevreman style of relatedness, underscoring sociability and adventure seeking. It endorses "cool" sharing involving nonverbal modes of communication and physical support. The countermodel is "intellectual" relatedness, stressing the exchange of ideas and "soul talk." It endorses psychologistic support and the verbal articulation of emotions. These tropes are discussed in comparative context. Against the dominant psychological-feminist paradigm of "being" versus "doing," it is argued that experiences of male intimacy are richer than overriding stereotypes of male inexpressivity suggest. The article calls for an attentive use of folk models in the sociology of emotions, taking into account the effect of hegemonic meaning systems. Rather than viewing emotional behavior, gender stereotypes, and ideology as separate features in the study of emotions, it underscores how emotional experience is dependent on cultural-interpretative processes nested in local and global social norms, collective history, and gendered ideology.     

Quality Provision with Heterogeneous Consumer Reservation Utilities

This study examines a firm's quality and price decisions when consumers differ not only in their willingness‐to‐pay for quality but also in their reservation utility for the basic product. We find that while the firm offers lower‐quality products when consumers' valuations for quality deteriorate, the optimal quality may increase with a negative shift in consumers' reservation utilities. We also investigate the optimal price and quality of the products within a vertically differentiated product line when the number of products is exogenously given. The existing literature shows that when consumers differ only in their willingness‐to‐pay for quality, the firm sets the efficient quality for consumers with the highest valuation for quality, whereas the concern for cannibalization pushes down the quality of inferior products. We find that when consumers are heterogeneous in both their reservation utility and valuation for quality, the concern for cannibalization may distort the quality upwards, even for consumers with the highest willingness‐to‐pay for quality. In addition, a low‐quality product may enjoy a higher profit margin than a high‐quality product within the product line.     

Native American Food Security and Traditional Foods: A Review of the Literature

This piece explores the emergent themes and subthemes represented within the recent contemporary discourse on Native American food security. Analysis revealed traditional foods as the most common theme present within the sampled literature. We offer a review of this theme (and related subthemes such as food access and human and environmental health) to illuminate the primary concerns, opportunities, preferences, and barriers associated with Native American food security. Our assessments also provide a nuanced understanding of existing literature related to food security and sovereignty, as well as key dimensions of environmental and social equality.     

Same-Gender Sexual Partnering: A Re-Analysis of Trend Data

Numerous studies have been carried out to estimate the prevalence of same-gender sexual behavior. Among studies conducted in recent years, few confirm the commonly quoted figure of 10%. Yet several studies in the early 2000s indicated that the prevalence of same-gender sex may be increasing, especially among women. This article reexamines the trends identified in previous research by using General Social Survey data from 1988 to 2010 and by focusing on multiple measures of same-gender sex over time. Results indicate that for both women and men the likelihood of having had a same-gender sexual partner since age 18 continued to increase through the 2000s, but that the likelihood of having had a same-gender sexual partner in both the past year and in the past five years leveled off for women and reversed for men. Results also indicate that the percentage of people reporting a pattern of predominantly same-gender sexual behavior has neither increased nor decreased over time. A similar result was found among persons who reported being in a same-gender sexual relationship. Overall, results paint a more complex picture than prior studies in characterizing trends in same-gender sexual behavior.