Biologists finally horn in on senescence in the wild

In 1995, biologists discovered an unusual new species, the antler fly (Protophila litigata). Antler flies inhabit discarded moose and deer antlers for most of their life cycle, and male antler flies exhibit sexually selected behaviors on their home antlers. It now turns out that these curious flies might provide new insights into the evolution of aging. For years, biologists assumed that senescence did not occur in the wild. But over the past decade, several studies of natural populations of birds and mammals have found age-related declines in rates of reproduction or survival, indicating senescence. A new study of antler flies by Bonduriansky and Brassil provides the first evidence for senescence in a wild invertebrate. The researchers are able to mark individual flies and follow them throughout their entire, albeit short, life-spans. This small species offers huge opportunities to study senescence and age-related selection on fitness characters in the wild.     

The Interference of Stereotype Threat With Women's Generation of Mathematical Problem-Solving Strategies

At the highest levels of math achievement, gender differences in favor of men persist on standardized math tests. We hypothesize that stereotype threat depresses women's math performance through interfering with their ability to formulate problem-solving strategies. In Study 1, women underperformed in comparison to men on a word problemm test, however, women and me performed equally when the word problems were converted into their numerical equivalents. In Study 2, men and women worked on difficult problems, either in a high- or reduced-stereotype-threat condition. Problem-solving strategies were coded. When stereo-type threat was high, women were less able to formulate problem-solving strategies than when stereotype threat was reduced. The effect of stereotype threat on cognitive resources and the implications for gender differences in mathematical testing are discussed.     

Patterns of parental bereavement following the loss of a child and related factors

This study investigated the patterns of parental bereavement in 20 parents who have lost a child to cancer, congenital heart disease, meningitis, or drowning in the last 19 months, using semi-structured interviews and standardized questionnaires of depression and grief. Qualitative content analysis of interviews identified three bereavement patterns: The majority of parents (65%) presented uncomplicated, Integrated Grief five mothers were Consumed by Grief and one mother and one father expressed Minimal Grief. Quotes from parents exemplified these patterns. Parental gender, symptoms of depression, and pre-death relationship between parents and their deceased child differentially related to these patterns. Having surviving children, social support, and being active appeared to help to integrate grief into daily life. These findings illustrate differential patterns of parental bereavement and related factors, information that has important implications for identifying at-risk parents for complicated bereavement.     

Food Availability in the Heartland: Exploring the Effects of Neighborhood Racial and Income Composition

This article examines the relationships between neighborhood racial and income composition and healthy food availability. We explore the extent to which physical and social isolation affects healthy food availability for groups marginalized by race and class in a context largely missing from the literature. We use census tract data and five‐year estimates from the American Community Survey to produce maps illustrating the patterns of race and income composition in Topeka, Kansas. Included in these maps are data points illustrating the distribution of stores offering healthy foods. We find that, as in the large metro areas analyzed thus far, the distribution of healthy food stores in Topeka is similarly patterned. Blacker (and poorer) neighborhoods tend to have the lowest levels of healthy food availability. We conclude with a discussion of the relevance of this work to the knowledge base regarding food environments and health in the United States.     

“I Felt Guilty for Being So Happy”: Narrative Expressions and Management of Postdivorce Ambivalence

Scholars have highlighted ambivalence as a central feature of experiences of divorce and its aftermath and discussed ambivalence as an important issue for divorcees in adjusting to their new status. While most of this scholarship assesses postdivorce ambivalence as a psychological phenomenon to be addressed therapeutically, this study analyzes postdivorce ambivalence as an interpretive problem to be addressed sociologically. Following Merton’s (1976) insight that ambivalence be viewed as rooted in culture and social structure as well as individual psyche, we use a narrative analytic perspective to examine how divorcees both discursively express and interpretively manage their ambivalence. We then consider some of the more general cultural discourses—such as images of marriage and divorce—that shape or condition these narratives. Ultimately, we argue that conflicting stances toward marriage in the wider U.S. culture are at once important sources of postdivorce ambivalence and significant interpretive resources for its discursive management.     

The Career Development Quarterly: A Centennial Retrospective

The Career Development Quarterly has been the premier journal in the field of vocational guidance and career intervention since its inception 100 years ago. To celebrate its centennial, 3 former editors trace its evolution from a modest and occasional newsletter to its current status as a major professional journal. They recount its history of publishing foundational articles in vocational guidance practice and career development theory, commitment to improving counseling practice, leadership in public policy and social justice issues, and expansion to international audiences.     

Public Perceptions of Risk and Preference-Based Values of Safety

This article reports the results of two studies aimed at estimating preference-based values of safety in three contexts—namely rail, domestic fires and fires in public places—relative to the corresponding value for roads using matching (or equivalence) questions. In addition, both studies included a variety of questions intended to shed light on respondents' perceptions of risk and attitudes to safety in the various contexts. While the two studies were, to all intents and purposes, identical in the procedure that they employed, the essential difference between them was that the first study took place in late 1998, whereas the second study was carried out in early 2000 in the aftermath of a major rail accident at Ladbroke Grove near London's Paddington station which occurred in October 1999 and in which 29 passengers and 2 train drivers died. In addition, the second study sample was deliberately weighted to contain an above-average proportion of regular rail users. These studies demonstrated how certain factors which have been shown to affect people's perception of risk (see Slovic, P. (1992). In S. Krimsky and D. Golding (eds.), Social Theories of Risk, Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 117–152) also affected our respondents' priorities over safety programs. The results also showed however, that the impact of these perceptions upon the trade-offs between preventing deaths in different hazard contexts was a good deal less pronounced than has been suggested by the value differentials that are currently implicit—and in some cases, explicit—in public policy making.     

Realized Potential or Lost Talent: High School Variables and Bachelor's Degree Completion

This study examined how background and high school variables affected participants in either realizing their potential by completing a bachelor's degree or experiencing lost talent by not completing a bachelor's degree. A sample of participants who had demonstrated above average cognitive ability and had high postsecondary educational goals when in 8th grade was selected from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (national longitudinal data from 1988 to 2000; National Education, 2002). Several background and high school variables had strong effects on degree completion. Results were used to develop the Realized Potential or Lost Talent model. Implications for helping young people in their educational‐career development are included.     

Deprivation and Child Abuse: Implications for Strategic Planning in Children's Services

SUMMARY. The paper reviews the association between material deprivation and child abuse and considers the implications of the association for preventive strategies. The authors conclude that community-wide strategies aimed at supporting all child carers are more likely to succeed in preventing child abuse than those based on identification of high risk' groups. Common elements of successful community-wide strategies are presented as are the implications for child protection policy making.