American income inequality across economic and geographic space, 1970–2010

This analysis examines the spatial clustering of income inequality and its socioeconomic correlates at the meso-scale over the past four decades. Cluster analysis is used to group N = 3078 counties into five inequality clusters; and multinomial logistic regression is used to assess the effects of socioeconomic correlates. High and extreme inequality places are concentrated in large metropolitan centers, high amenity rural areas, and parts of the Great Plains and Mountain West. They tend to have better socioeconomic outcomes, with fewer at-risk populations, higher incomes, lower poverty, and greater economic participation. Unequal places are more specialized in high-skill finance and professional services, and in energy-based mining. By contrast, equality places are associated with low-skill services, education and health services, manufacturing, and stable farm economies.     

Specificity of the Tuberculin Skin Test and the T-SPOT.TB Assay Among Students in a Low–Tuberculosis Incidence Setting

Abstract

Objective: Interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) are an important tool for detecting latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Insufficient data exist about IGRA specificity in college health centers, most of which screen students for LTBI using the tuberculin skin test (TST). Participants: Students at a low–TB incidence college health center. Methods: TST and T-SPOT.TB were performed on prospectively recruited students. TB exposure risk was assessed using a questionnaire: Those at low risk were assumed to not have LTBI in order to calculate test specificity. Results: Of 184 students enrolled, 143 had results available for both TST and T-SPOT.TB. Agreement of the tests was 97% (kappa statistic 0.717; 95% confidence interval, 0.399–1.00). Among 124 low-risk students, specificity for TST and T-SPOT.TB were 98.4% and 100%, respectively. Conclusions: T-SPOT.TB specificity was high among low-risk students. Additional studies such as cost-effectiveness analyses using T-SPOT.TB as a single or confirmatory test to TST are needed to contribute to LTBI screening policy decisions.     

Family Divorce and Romantic Relationships in Early Adolescence

Prior research has indicated that family experiences, including parental divorce, family conflict, and parental monitoring, play an important role in adolescent relationships (e.g., Mahl, 2001 Mahl, D. 2001. The influence of parental divorce on the romantic relationship beliefs of young adults. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 34: 89–118. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Research on how these family experiences affect romantic relationships during early adolescence is lacking. Because pubertal maturation has been linked with earlier dating, it is also important to consider its role when studying adolescent relationships. This study compared 1,765 young adolescents (grades 5–8) from intact (n = 1,315) and divorced (n = 379) families on their dating patterns, susceptibility to romantic influence, and romantic relationship quality. The findings show that adolescents from divorced families, compared to adolescents from intact families, report more dating, report more susceptibility to romantic influence, and do not differ in their romantic relationship quality. In line with the hypotheses, both family conflict and puberty mediated the relationship between family structure and dating stage, as well as family structure and susceptibility to romantic influence. Parental monitoring, however, did not mediate between family structure and the romantic relationship variables. Finally, differences, regardless of family structure, were found between males and females, where males indicated being at a higher dating stage than females.     

Seeking Justice: The Strategy of the National Social Action Program

Past efforts at law reform have taken years of consciousness raising. The resulting legislation has been ineffective in reducing men’s sexual violence against women and children, in large part because most women are understandably reluctant to go to court. This reluctance comesfrom recognition of the fundamental failures of the legal doctrine. The judicial response to men’s sexual violence can be reformed through the use of existing procedures (e.g., prosecution objections and appeals). This paper describes 3 local actions to start a fast and effective reform of the legal doctrine: Documenting the Outrageous, Challenging the Legal System, and Supporting Victims.     

Development Mobilities: Identity and Authority in an Angolan Development Programme

This ethnographic essay considers how international non-governmental organisations are able to make claims to authoritative knowledge about development work by offering the transnational mobilities of their staff members as evidence. I examine how one professional's biography—his trajectory from Angola to Britain and back again—was differentially presented to external donors and internal staff members as befitting the institutional needs of an international good governance intervention in Angola. These presentations reflect a commoditisation of the cosmopolitanism of professionals' histories in the service of development as a regime of mobility. I argue that, in this development regime, a global hierarchy prevents some individual professionals, particularly those from developing nations, from realising the same benefits of their cosmopolitan mobility as professionals from industrialised nations. While one of mobility studies' many strengths is that it highlights global interconnectedness, social scientists should not read equality in these interconnections but examine how patterns of transnational mobility may produce and reproduce global structures of inequality.     

Identity,Peer Relationships,and Adolescent Girls' Sexual Behavior: An Exploration of the Contemporary Double Standard

The idea of a sexual double standard emphasizes that men have more sexual freedom, whereas women are subject to social sanctions for the same behaviors. This research uses a sample of adolescent women to examine the social consequences of reporting a greater number of sex partners. The research explores whether there are broader social costs and feelings of low self-worth associated with a high number of sex partners, and also focuses on characteristics of the adolescents' close friends. The analyses of quantitative data (n = 600) provide support for the emphasis on the adolescents' immediate network of friends: Friends' attitudes and behaviors were significant predictors of respondents' own sexual experiences, while those reporting a higher number of sex partners did not report a lack of popularity, desire for more friends, or lower self-esteem. In-depth relationship history narratives collected from a subset of respondents (n = 46) provide additional context. Women often recognized the existence of a double standard on a societal or school level, but support or acceptance provided by the more immediate network of similarly situated friends serves as a buffer against such negative attributions. The findings suggest that programs targeting sexual behaviors should focus on how peer norms influence girls' sexual choices.     

Sexual Practices and the Duration of Last Heterosexual Encounter: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships

This study investigated the association between sexual practices and duration of a sexual encounter. Using data from a population-based computer-assisted telephone survey of 8,656 Australians aged 16 to 64 years, four distinct patterns of sexual practices among respondents were found: “basic sexual encounter” (involving mainly kissing, cuddling, stroking one's partner and being stroked, and vaginal intercourse), “basic sexual encounter plus oral sex,” “all assessed sexual practices” (all sexual behaviors included in the survey), and “mainly vaginal intercourse” (characterized by lower levels of kissing, cuddling, and stroking). For both men and women, respondents classified in the basic sexual encounter plus oral sex, and all assessed sexual practices clusters reported significantly longer durations than those in the basic sexual encounter group, whereas respondents in the mainly vaginal intercourse cluster reported shorter durations. These differences were found even after allowing for demographic differences in sexual duration—specifically, age and partner type of the most recent opposite-sex partner. These findings add to the understanding of what typically happens in a sexual encounter. Overall, longer sexual encounters appear to be associated with the inclusion of the least common sexual practices—namely, oral sex and self-stimulation.     

Predictors of out-of-home placement following residential treatment

Objective

There is a lack of research examining predictors of out-of-home placement (OOHP) following residential treatment (RT). The current study examined how various child and family factors predict OOHP at discharge and 6-months post-discharge for a RT sample.

Methods

Three hundred and eighty-three children (11.92 years, SD = 2.63, 293 boys) with serious mental health disorders were assessed using the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI) and placement information forms at admission, discharge, and 6-months post-discharge from RT.

Results

OOHP at discharge was predicted by older age, OOHP at admission, child welfare involvement, deliberate self-harm, a history of physical abuse, neglect, witnessed domestic violence, and a poor family situation (p < .05). At 6-months post-discharge, OOHP was predicted by dual diagnosis, OOHP at admission, child welfare involvement, neglect, and witnessed domestic violence (p < .05).

Conclusions

Pre-treatment factors are predictive of OOHP following RT. Identifying these key predictors and developing permanency planning options for children to promote stability and consistency is essential. A systemic evidence-based approach is imperative in promoting resilience for children at risk of OOHP, including family intervention and collaboration with the community.