Speeding through the frat house: a qualitative exploration of nonmedical ADHD stimulant use in fraternities

Qualitative methods were used to investigate the use of nonmedical Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) stimulants by fraternity members. The primary goal of the study was to determine students' levels of understanding and motivations for use of these Schedule II controlled substances. Seventy-nine in-depth interviews were conducted. Key findings highlighted how: a) easy it was for subjects to obtain stimulants; b) little health information nonmedical users have about stimulants; c) academic stress created a fertile context for stimulant use; and d) a small number of prescribed users supply the vast majority of nonmedical users with their stimulants. Most nonmedical users claimed to primarily use ADHD stimulants in periods of high academic stress and believed that they not only reduced fatigue, but also increased reading comprehension, interest, cognition, and memory. These qualitative data have supplied a rich and complex understanding behind nonmedical ADHD stimulant use among fraternity members.     

Foreclosure,Inequality, and the Difference That Place Makes

While the Great Recession and the associated rise in foreclosures significantly impacted households across the United States, default rates in rural areas and rural‐urban foreclosure differences have failed to attract substantial research attention. To expand the scale and scope of the foreclosure literature, this article examines place‐based differences in estimated foreclosure rates across U.S. counties, which are classified as urban, suburban, micropolitan, or rural. Defaults are considered both overall and for each county classification, and are related to income distribution and inequality, homeownership, adjudication of default, place‐based factors including amenity scores and proximity to urban areas, and geographic region. The article finds a complex relationship among these variables, with inequality itself negatively associated with default rates and lower‐middle?income households positively related to foreclosure. Further, while proximity to urban areas is positively related to foreclosure rates among nonurban counties, natural amenities are related to lower default rates in these areas. The article concludes by considering policy implications, and recommends expanding foreclosure mitigation and prevention strategies to nonurban places.     

Role of the Black Grandmother in the Racial Socialization of their Biracial Grandchildren

The current study was conducted with seven Black grandmothers who have a biracial (Black and White) grandchild or grandchildren examining their role in the racial socialization process of their grandchild or grandchildren. Racial socialization is defined as how these grandchildren of biracial parentage came to understand their blackness. The following criteria had to be met; born before 1975 as this would ensure the grandmothers experienced the 70s. Black pride movement and they need to have contact with the identified grandchild. Qualitative methods with a phenomenological lens were used. The results revealed the perspective and methods they exercised in racially socializing their biracial grandchildren fell into eight themes. The themes that emerged were community influence, spirituality, social adjustment, feelings toward “the other,” social perception, cultural indoctrination, grandma’s burden, and the road ahead. Although each grandmother had a different journey and the “why” behind viewpoints varied, their conclusion regarding the proper racial socialization of their biracial grandchildren was to socialize them, as Black was unanimous.     

Collaborative sliced inverse regression

Sliced inverse regression (SIR) is an effective method for dimensionality reduction in high-dimensional regression problems. However, the method has requirements on the distribution of the predictors that are hard to check since they depend on unobserved variables. It has been shown that, if the distribution of the predictors is elliptical, then these requirements are satisfied. In case of mixture models, the ellipticity is violated and in addition there is no assurance of a single underlying regression model among the different components. Our approach clusterizes the predictors space to force the condition to hold on each cluster and includes a merging technique to look for different underlying models in the data. A study on simulated data as well as two real applications are provided. It appears that SIR, unsurprisingly, is not capable of dealing with a mixture of Gaussians involving different underlying models whereas our approach is able to correctly investigate the mixture.     

Specific niche requirements drive long-term survival and growth of translocated epiphytic orchids in an urbanised tropical landscape

Urbanisation is expanding at an unprecedented rate, affecting multiple taxa the world over. Ex situ conservation practices in urban areas (e.g. managed relocation) can help mitigate species extinction. However, systematic evaluations of ex situ practices and quantification of niche spaces, especially in urban areas, are largely lacking. Using epiphytic orchids as a study system, we translocated 13 propagated native species (2251 individuals) on 99 host trees across six urban sites. After 5 years, 12 of 13 species showed survival rates above 50% and 9 of 11 species exhibited positive growth. Generalised linear mixed models revealed that species and presence of humus corresponded to orchid survival, whereas the fork microsite and height from ground corresponded to orchid growth. Species-wise, the biophysical factors that were associated with survival and growth varied widely, with 7 of 11 species showing distinct interactions with more than one factor. Notably, the presence of humus and relative humidity influenced the survival of 4 of 11 species. This study suggests that managed relocation can serve as a viable conservation strategy for native orchids and possibly other epiphytes as well. We propose that species-specific niche requirements are identified and integrated into intervention actions.     

Do We Think Children Need a Mom and Dad?: Understanding How Gender Ideology Impact Attitudes Toward Same-Gender Parent Family Rights

Research and opinion polls demonstrate that attitudes toward same-gender parent families have been improving in recent years among Western countries; however, the history of oppression toward, and misconceptions about, same-gender parent families continue to be demonstrated in Australian family rights policies. Common misconceptions include the belief that children need both male and female role models, and this could be influencing peoples’ support for same-gender family rights and having a wider impact on legislation change. Yet a dearth of research exists exploring a connection between gender role beliefs and support for same-gender family rights using a broad international sample, including Australia. To investigate this connection, a sample (N = 615) from 18 English-speaking countries responded to a series of questions to determine the importance of gender norm beliefs on same-gender family prejudice. Regression analysis demonstrated that people with traditional beliefs about gender norms were more likely to endorse a negative attitude toward same-gender marriage and same-gender parenting. Findings suggest a link between socially prescribed gender norms and prejudice toward same-gender parent families that may be fueling arguments against same-gender family rights policies. The implications of these findings on same-gender parent families and their rights require future investigation.     

Perceptions of Equal Opportunity among Women and Minority Army Personnel

Equal opportunity (EO) is recognized by the Department of Defense (DoD) as being crucial to maintaining a high state of military readiness. In the last two and a half decades, a number of EO initiatives have been employed by the DoD and each of the military services in an effort to promote fair treatment of minorities and women. Social science literature suggests that the integration of racial minorities, particularly African American males, is a military success story. Some social scientists argue convincingly that the military has far surpassed civilian organizations in integrating African Americans. While the U.S. military has had a long history of addressing racial issues, problems concerning gender have only recently been addressed on a large scale. Some scholars assert that the military is the last male bastion in the United States. It lags behind the civilian sector in integrating women. This study examines the perceptions of active‐duty men and women in the U.S. Army to determine whether minority men are more satisfied with the equal opportunity climate than women and whether minority women are less satisfied with the equal opportunity climate than non‐minority (White) women. The purpose of this study is twofold: One objective is to examine differences within the gender category, i.e., African American, Hispanic, and White women. The other objective is to explore differences across gender. Degree of satisfaction is measured by responses to items on the Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (MEOCS). The data were stratified by rank level, officer and enlisted, and a General Linear Model (GLM) was performed with race, gender, and the interaction of race and gender as independent variables. In the final analysis, the data were stratified by paygrade, and a GLM was performed on each part separately. Among the findings, race is a more powerful predictor of the attitudes of active‐duty men and women toward the EO climate in their units than either gender or the interaction of race and gender. While gender is significant in most of the statistical models, and the interaction of gender and race is sometimes significant, these variables explain less than one percent of the variance. Although African American men are generally more satisfied with the EO climate than African American women, they are less satisfied than White and, in some cases, Hispanic men and women.