Development of Sexual Expectancies among Adolescents: Contributions by Parents,Peers and the Media

To expand the scant research on sexual expectancies development among non–sexually active adolescents, we examined the relationship between adolescents' exposure to four socializing agents—mother/female guardian, father/male guardian, peers, and television programs with high sexual content—and their endorsement of four sexual expectancies: social benefit, pleasure, social risk, and health risk. Data are from Waves 2 and 3 of a three-wave annual longitudinal study conducted among California adolescents, the majority of whom were not sexually active (N = 914, 84%). Structural equation models were conducted to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between the socializing agents and the sexual expectancies. Cross-sectional results indicate associations between peer sexual communication and social benefit, pleasure, and social risk expectancies. A positive association was found between exposure to music videos and social benefit expectancies, and a negative association was found between exposure to music videos and health risk expectancies. Longitudinal results suggest that communication with peers positively predicted pleasure expectancies and negatively predicted social risk expectancies. No other socializing agents were associated with any sexual expectancies. An invariance test found that significant correlations were similar across the different age groups. Results suggest that efforts to support positive sexual decision making among non–sexually active adolescents should target peer sexual communication.     

‘They’ve Always Been There for Me’: Grandparental Involvement and Child Well‐Being

With diversifying families, increased life expectancy, growing numbers of dual‐worker households and higher rates of family breakdown, grandparents are now playing an increasing role in their grandchildren’s lives. Despite growing importance there has been little empirical research exploring how grandparental involvement impacts on young people’s well‐being. This national study, which includes a survey of 1596 children (aged 11–16) and in‐depth interviews with 40 young people, aimed to address this deficit. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that grandparental involvement is significantly associated with child well‐being – results that are reinforced by qualitative evidence. Findings suggest grandparents may be under‐recognised in the policy agenda.     

Visual ethnography: Using photography in qualitative research

This article proposes a new way to use photographs in ethnographic research. The method builds on earlier examinations of the unique properties of photographic articulation, interpretation and use, employing the inherent ambiguities of photographic imagery. Responses to ethnographic photographs of a rural farm community were recorded during group interview sessions and analyzed in relation to additional ethnographic data gathered in order to study sociocultural continuity and change across generations in farm families.     

Religious Cults, the Individual and the Family

Relatively little attention has been paid in the professional literature to the cult phenomenon: what it is, how it attracts converts, what differentiates the vulnerable youth from the non-vulnerable; the effects of cult membership on the convert's family, and, particularly, in what ways the family can be aided during and after involvement with the cult. The authors have drawn on clinical observations, interviews, and extant literature from a variety of disciplines in constructing a portrait of the vulnerable youth; the techniques used by cults to attract, recruit, and convert members; the dynamics of the recruits family; and the most effective modes of therapy for intervening. The intent of the article is to stimulate: 1) professional awareness of and knowledge about the cults, and 2) further research into related family dynamics and therapeutic techniques.     

The World Bank model for global interdependence: A quantitative framework for the World Development Report

This paper describes the basic structure of the Global Model used in preparing various parts of the World Development Report (WDR) issued annually by the World Bank. The report is designed to help clarify linkages between the international economy and the domestic strategies of developing countries. The paper is divided in four parts. The first two present different aspects of the model structure and discuss the reasons that induced the authors to orient themselves towards given functional specifications. In the final parts the policy relevance of the exercise is studied in light of the results that the model has produced for 1975–1985.     

Outcomes for the sociology of mental health: are we meeting our goals?

In this paper I argue that a fruitful discussion of the choice of outcomes in the sociological study of the social antecedents of mental health problems would benefit from a consideration of the goals that we are trying to achieve. The most clearly articulated goal is that of uncovering those aspects of society that produce harm. I examine the premises of the current conceptual framework--the stress paradigm--in light of its ability to fulfill this goal, and I discuss the implications for the types of outcome measures we use.     

Students' Attitudes to the Inclusion of People with Disabilities in the Community

This study measures and compares the attitudes of students studying different subjects to the inclusion of people with mental retardation and mental illness in the community. The Community Living Attitude Scale (comprising the four subscales of Empowerment, Exclusion, Sheltering, and Similarity) was administered to a random sample of 149 Israeli college freshmen and women (social work: n = 43: law: n = 24; natural science: n = 42; and social science: n = 40). Overall, the students endorse Empowerment and perceive the Similarity of persons with disabilities to themselves more than they agree with the Exclusion attitude of segregating persons with disabilities from community life. Social work students showed more positive inclusion attitudes to people with disabilities than other students. Students were more likely to endorse Exclusion for people with mental illness than for people with mental retardation.