A clinical comparison of lesbian and heterosexual women in a psychiatric outpatient clinic

Previous research has reported that when compared to heterosexual women, lesbians may use alcohol and illicit substances to a greater degree and may experience greater psychiatric symptomatology. This study sought to describe any differences in clinical diagnoses, familial histories, and substance usage between lesbian and heterosexual women in a psychiatric outpatient clinic. A chart review was conducted and a sample of 455 heterosexuals and 75 lesbians was obtained. Data, where available, included demographic information, clinical diagnoses, time in treatment, sexual orientation, past and present substance use, and familial substance abuse and psychiatric history. Lesbians were found to have greater past illicit substance use but less current use. No significant differences were found for alcohol use. Similarly, no significant differences in clinical diagnoses were found. Significant differences were found among families. Family members of lesbians had greater substance use and psychiatric histories. These findings both support and dispute some previous research and suggest areas for future researchers to explore.     

The contribution of hour constraints to working poverty in Britain

We explore the implications of hours demand constraints on the propensity to experience poverty. Our analysis of British data suggests that whilst the extent of poverty increased over the period 1985–2001, its intensity, under some measures, declined. In terms of hours constraints, we find that even the most generous elimination of underemployment vis allowing workers to supply as many hours as they prefer (but not as few) without encountering any negative employment and/or hourly wage implications, leaves the poverty rate and poverty gap virtually unchanged.      

Decomposition of tree leaf litter on pavement: implications for urban water quality

Leaf litter may be an important source of nutrients to stormwater and ultimately contribute to eutrophication of surface waters associated with urbanization. Thus, understanding decomposition and nutrient release from leaf litter that falls on impervious surfaces is important for stormwater management. However, few studies have examined leaf litter decomposition in the unique urban environment of the street gutter. We compared decomposition of leaf litter of five street tree species in a parking lot gutter in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. In contrast to our expectations, comparisons with past studies revealed that litter decomposed more rapidly in the gutter than in nearby natural areas. And decomposition rates were as rapid as those measured in other urban settings (forests and streams), with most species losing 80 % of their initial mass after 1 year. Litter of most species had retained more than half of its initial N and P after 1 year. However, in contrast to N, litter P dynamics largely were uncoupled from litter mass dynamics, with litter P increasing and decreasing unpredictably over the year. Short-term (24 h) laboratory studies revealed that litter had the potential to lose a high fraction of its initial P, with high variation among species (from 27 to 88 %), and a smaller fraction of its initial N (<10 %) via leaching. Thus, street tree species may differ in their potential contributions to nutrients that are released during decomposition. Our results suggest that careful selection of street tree species and timely removal of litterfall have significant potential to reduce nutrient fluxes from streets to storm drains, particularly for P.     

Family–school relationships in immigrant children’s well-being: the intersection of demographics and school culture in the experiences of black African immigrants in the United States

This article explores the types of family–school relationships that promote academic, socio-economic, and social and emotional well-being of black African immigrant children in the United States. The data are ethnographic, drawing on one year of participant observation and interviews at two elementary schools. The findings are also set within the context of an analysis of data from the New Immigrant Survey. The article identifies mechanisms by which relationships between black African immigrants and schools are created and argues that intersections between demographics and school culture are central, particularly as related to the possibilities for relational power, which can allow parents and school staff to transcend persistent inequalities of race and discrimination.     

An Ecological Framework for Sexual Minority Women’s Health: Factors Associated With Greater Body Mass

In recent years, many studies have focused on the body of sexual minority women, particularly emphasizing their larger size. These studies rarely offer theoretically based explanations for the increased weight, nor study the potential consequences (or lack thereof) of being heavier. This article provides a brief overview of the multitude of factors that might cause or contribute to larger size of sexual minority women, using an ecological framework that elucidates upstream social determinants of health as well as individual risk factors. This model is infused with a minority stress model, which hypothesizes excess strain resulting from the stigma associated with oppressed minority identities such as woman, lesbian, bisexual, woman of color, and others. We argue that lack of attention to the upstream social determinants of health may result in individual-level victim blaming and interventions that do not address the root causes of minority stress or increased weight.     

Marriage and immigration enforcement: The impact of Secure Communities on immigrant women

We investigate if increased deportations under the Secure Communities (SC) program impacted the marriage patterns of immigrant women in the United States. We focus on country of origin-MSA deportation rates, arguing this is appropriate given the dominance of endogamous marriage among immigrants and large heterogeneity in removal rates. We find that rising deportations increased marriage rates and endogamous marriage, decreased exogamous marriage to immigrants from other countries, and had no impact on marriage to native-born men. This is striking because SC likely reduced same ethnicity partners in marriage markets. We find some evidence that increased network effects may explain these results.     

Educating Australia’s Jewish Communities about Child Sexual Abuse

It has been claimed that effective responses to child sexual abuse (CSA) must engage with the specific cultural, social, and religious contexts of the target communities. For Jewish communities in Australia, the program J-Safe was established to raise awareness, create cultural change, and empower the Jewish community to be able to prevent, recognize, and address child sexual assault within the school setting. This paper reports on the experiences of teachers in two Jewish-day schools who had participated in the J-Safe Project’s protective behaviors teacher training program. Participants’ accounts of the training indicate the Project builds teachers’ knowledge and supports teachers’ skill development in the areas of incidence, behavioral indicators and responding to disclosure suggest the training has relevance for the Jewish teaching context. However, the extent to which the training was successful at engaging with culturally specific norms within the Jewish community seems to have been limited, although it may be that the participants were not atypical from the wider group who participated in the J-Safe Project training.     

The Effects of the Interspersal of Related Responses on the Emergence of Intraverbals for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - The present study evaluated the emergence of intraverbals for 2 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Prior to baseline, both children demonstrated...     

The American Civil Rights Movement Reconsidered: Teaching the Role of Women

Abstract

This article examines coverage in social studies curriculum and U.S. history textbooks, specifically, of women in the American Civil Rights Movement (CRM) and considers how social studies teachers can broaden the narrative they teach to include more gender-related issues and the work of women activists. The author found that despite a rich body of scholarship focused on women in the CRM, textbooks, which still serve as the central curriculum documents in most secondary social studies classrooms, provide a relatively cursory treatment of women’s roles in the movement. The context of women’s activism and the intersections of race and gender, particularly around sexual violence and sexism within the movement, are rarely examined. To address this problem, the author provides examples of critical issues confronted by African American women in the era of the CRM as well as examples of activists that teachers could incorporate into their CRM units. In addition, the author argues that an inclusive study of the American CRM provides an excellent opportunity for students to develop an understanding of the many ways in which women and girls—often in the face of great personal danger—acted with courage and skill in the fight for racial justice.