Politics, Social Movements, and the Body

This paper outlines a conceptual idea of the 'body' in social movement research that captures how the body is both the materialization of civic culture and empowering agent of change. After critically reviewing the three main debates on the body literature –'biopolitics', 'embodiment' and 'feminism'– I explain why each fails to provide an adequate account of the embodied self in social movements. I suggest combining the concepts of 'performativity. and 'performance' to capture how social movements use, challenge, and reproduce civic norms to construct 'embodied performances' as forms of symbolic communication for the purposes of stimulating cultural and political change. By combining the two concepts, I will put forth an theory of the body in social movements that addresses: 1) the constraints of normative civic ethics that limit possible forms of struggle as well as foreshadow political consequences 2) how embodied performances create community and solidarity within a heterogeneous population to make mobilization possible and 3) the stratification and sometimes fracturing of social groups during the social movement process.     

Assessing low‐income African‐American pre‐schoolers' behaviour problems in relationship to community violence,inter‐partner conflict,parenting, informal social support and social skills

This study examined the relations among community violence exposure, inter‐partner conflict and informal social support and the behaviour problems of pre‐schoolers, and explored how mothers' parenting skills and children's social skills may mediate the child outcomes associated with such exposure. Participants were 185 African‐American mothers and female caregivers of Head Start children who completed study measures in a structured interview. Path analyses revealed that greater inter‐partner conflict was associated with more internalizing and externalizing child behaviour problems. Positive parenting was associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviours. Higher levels of child social skills were associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems. Child social skills fully mediated the relationship between community violence and externalizing behaviours as well as between informal support and externalizing behaviours. Social skills partially mediated the relationships between positive parenting and externalizing behaviours. No mediating effect was found on the relationships between inter‐partner conflict and child behaviour problems. Implications of the findings for intervention and future research are discussed.     

Child Sexual Abuse and the Superfluous Association with Negative Parenting Outcomes: The Role of Symptoms as Predictors

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between child sexual abuse and high‐risk maternal parenting indicators and the extent to which maternal depression and self‐perceived parenting competence influence that relationship. Using path analysis, results indicate maternal depression and parenting sense of competence mediate the relationship between child sexual abuse and outcome variables. Post hoc analyses indicated that child sexual abuse was significantly associated with decreased parenting sense of competence, controlling for depression. These results highlight that the pathways for increased risk in parenting outcomes for child sexual abuse survivors may be indirect and associated with beliefs of their own sense of competence and depression as opposed to a direct association with sexual abuse itself. Implications are discussed.     

Outcome measurement in homeless systems of care

Public and private interest groups are pressured to demonstrate that investments of resources, time, and effort have resulted in improvements in the lives of those experiencing homelessness and/or reductions in the scope of homelessness. Measuring desired outcomes can provide information to support accountability efforts. This article reviews the literature on outcome measurement in homeless systems of care, grounded in a conceptual model consisting of three elements: continuums of care, service programs, and clients.This review did not reveal the existence of any single comprehensive outcome measurement instrument that could be used for the homeless system of care. System-level outcomes include cost savings, reduction of access barriers, and organizational linkages. Service program-level outcome measurement is typically based on the aggregation of client-level outcomes. At the client-level of measurement, several instruments were identified in the literature that have potential for providing the basis of outcome measurement.     

Social Inclusion and Place‐Focused Initiatives in Western Sydney: A Review of Current Practice

This paper presents a review of the range of policies and programs that currently direct resources to disadvantaged communities in New South Wales, with a specific focus on the western Sydney region. These ‘place‐focused initiatives’ are the main sources of funding for community renewal from a range of government agencies at federal, state and local government levels. The research on which this paper is based identified thirty‐six programs administered or managed through thirteen government agencies or departments with a combined budget in excess of $163m in 2000/2001. It is argued that this diverse range of programs, while important, is highly fragmented, lacks a coherent spatial targeting framework, is poorly related to either local social or physical planning processes, and is poorly integrated in terms of its local outcomes. Moreover, beyond the public housing estates, existing policies lack the capacity to address the poor housing market conditions that generate local concentrations of disadvantage. A number of alternative policy ideas are presented that, if developed, might offer a better framework for the delivery of integrated policies to address the problems of social disadvantage and exclusion at the local level.     

Personal probabilities of probabilities

By definition, the subjective probability distribution of a random event is revealed by the (‘rational’) subject's choice between bets — a view expressed by F. Ramsey, B. De Finetti, L. J. Savage and traceable to E. Borel and, it can be argued, to T. Bayes. Since hypotheses are not observable events, no bet can be made, and paid off, on a hypothesis. The subjective probability distribution of hypotheses (or of a parameter, as in the current ‘Bayesian’ statistical literature) is therefore a figure of speech, an ‘as if’, justifiable in the limit. Given a long sequence of previous observations, the subjective posterior probabilities of events still to be observed are derived by using a mathematical expression that would approximate the subjective probability distribution of hypotheses, if these could be bet on. This position was taken by most, but not all, respondents to a ‘Round Robin’ initiated by J. Marschak after M. H. De-Groot's talk on Stopping Rules presented at the UCLA Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Mathematics in Behavioral Sciences. Other participants: K. Borch, H. Chernoif, R. Dorfman, W. Edwards, T. S. Ferguson, G. Graves, K. Miyasawa, P. Randolph, L. J. Savage, R. Schlaifer, R. L. Winkler. Attention is also drawn to K. Borch's article in this issue.     

Exposure to Parent and Peer Alcohol Use and the Risk of Drinking Onset and Escalation Among Adolescents

Although the rate of alcohol use among adolescents has declined, it remains their drug of choice. Parent and peer alcohol use are powerful risk factors for youth alcohol use. However, questions remain about how these factors influence underage drinking. The present study investigates the relationship between exposure to parent or peer alcohol use and two stages of adolescent drinking—onset and escalation—overall and at five age points during adolescence. Participants were 9348 adolescents in Waves I (WI) and II (WII) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, whose parents completed interviews at WI, and who identified themselves as either non-drinkers or experimental drinkers at WI. Reports of WII alcohol use were used to measure onset among WI non-drinkers and escalation among WI experimenters. Risk ratios were calculated to assess the overall impact of exposure to parent or peer alcohol use on onset and escalation, and at five age points (i.e., ≤?13, 14, 15, 16, and ≥?17). Findings show that exposure to either parent or friend alcohol use increased the risk of onset and escalation. Age-based analyses reveal a more nuanced relationship, showing variability in the nature and strength of influence by stage of drinking and by age. This study highlights the relevance of both parent and peer modeling on youth drinking throughout adolescence. Implications in advancing prevention and treatment include parental education about the impact of their own behaviors and the importance of monitoring teens’ friendships.