Interorganizational Conflict in the Southern Civil Rights Movement

Moderate social movement organizations (SMOs) often denounce radical SMOs for statements and actions that threaten to alienate potential sources of external support. This paper analyzes the development of such interorganizational hostility in the Southern civil rights movement over the issues of Communist participation, the Vietnam War, and black power. In demonstrating how the moderate SMOs' perceived need for external support aggravated divisions over these issues, this paper calls attention to a major source of interorganizational hostility in the movement that previous work has overlooked.     

What's in a Name?: Preference for "Black" versus "African-American" among Americans of African Descent

This research note examines the preferences of Americans ofAfrican descent for the label "black" versus "African-American."Racial labels have long been associated with majority-groupattitudes toward minority-group members, and minorities themselveshave changed their preferred terminology over time. We tracethe evolution of racial labels from "Negro" to "black" to "African-American"and examine predictors of terminological preference among anational sample of Americans of African descent. Our respondentsare nearly equally divided in their preference for the label"black" versus "African-American." Significant correlates orpredictors of terminological preference include the racial compositionof the grammar school that respondents attended, respondents’degree of racial group consciousness, and age, region, and sizeof city of residence.     

Workplace discrimination and diabetes: the EEOC Americans with Disabilities Act research project

Using the Integrated Mission System of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the employment discrimination experience of Americans with diabetes is documented. Researchers compare and contrast the key dimensions of workplace discrimination involving Americans with diabetes and persons with other physical, sensory, and neurological impairments. Specifically, the researchers examine demographic characteristics of the charging parties; the industry designation, location, and size of employers against whom complaints are filed; the nature of discrimination (i.e., type of adverse action) alleged to occur; and the legal outcome or resolution of these complaints. Findings indicate that persons with diabetes were more likely to encounter discrimination involving discharge, constructive discharge, discipline and suspension - all job retention issues. Persons with diabetes were less likely to encounter discrimination involving hiring, reasonable accommodation, non-pension benefits, and layoff. They were also more likely to encounter discrimination when they were older or from specific ethnic backgrounds, or when they worked for small employers or in the Southern United States. Implications for policy and advocacy are addressed.     

Declining immunity with age in the wild

Despite their higher metabolic rates and lifetime energy expenditures, birds generally outlive similar-sized mammals even in the wild, often reaching maturity and aging considerably more slowly. Wild populations of many bird species have been monitored for years using banding-and-recapture methods, allowing field ornithologists to document age-related declines in survival and reproductive success. Although elderly birds rarely reach advanced stages of senescence in nature, many show other signs of physiological deterioration. In this Perspective, we review recent reports of aging-related changes in the immune response of two small European songbirds, the barn swallow and the collared flycatcher. Researchers in both studies challenged birds' humoral immune response by administering antigen to free-ranging adults during the breeding season. Older barn swallows--particularly breeding females--showed lower antibody responses (both primary and secondary) to vaccination with Newcastle disease virus, an avian pathogen. In flycatchers, older females raised lower antibody titers than younger breeders did in response to an injection of sheep red blood cells, a nonpathogenic antigen, and produced offspring with lower average body masses. Although the relevance of such measures of "immunosenescence" to actual fitness, reproductive success, and mortality is still unclear, studies of wild vertebrate populations may ultimately provide an important link between laboratory research and our understanding of the natural history and evolution of basic mechanisms of aging.     

Transition to university and vigorous physical activity: implications for health and psychological well-being

The authors investigated vigorous physical activity and psychological well-being during transition from high school to first-year university in a sample of 145 Canadian undergraduates. Participants completed retrospective measures assessing vigorous physical activity during their first 2 months at university and their last 2 months at high school as well as measures assessing psychological well-being. According to nationally recommended (US Department of Health and Human Services) standards, two thirds (66.2%) of students reported adequate levels of vigorous activity in high school, whereas significantly fewer (44.1%) met the standard during their first 8 weeks at university. One third of students were active in high school but became insufficiently active once at university; 33% were active at both times; 23% consistently fell short of recommended levels; and only 11% became active once at university. Students who had become insufficiently active reported higher levels of fatigue and lower levels of vigor compared with those who continued to be active.     

The economic toll of intimate partner violence against women in the United States

This study provides estimates of the economic cost of intimate partner violence perpetrated against women in the US, including expenditures for medical care and mental health services, and lost productivity from injury and premature death. The analysis uses national survey data, including the National Violence Against Women Survey and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, to estimate costs for 1995. Intimate partner violence against women cost $5.8 billion dollars (95% confidence interval: $3.9 to $7.7 billion) in 1995, including $320 million ($136 to $503 million) for rapes, $4.2 billion ($2.4 to $6.1 billion) for physical assault, $342 million ($235 to $449 million) for stalking, and $893 million ($840 to $946 million) for murders. Updated to 2003 dollars, costs would total over $8.3 billion. Intimate partner violence is costly in the US. The potential savings from efforts to reduce this violence are substantial. More comprehensive data are needed to refine cost estimates and monitor costs over time.     

Maintenance of community change: enforcing youth access to tobacco laws

Youth access to tobacco remains a significant problem for this nation. Methods have been developed to reduce youth access to commercial outlets and these involve enforcement efforts of monitoring and fining merchant offenders. In the present study, over a three year period of time, readiness to participate in these types of enforcement programs were assessed in 11 communities. Several years after the research study was completed, enforcement activities were re-assessed. Findings indicated that those communities that had made the largest changes in community readiness to enforce youth access laws during the three year intervention were the ones most likely to continue enforcement activities into the follow-up period. There is a need to better understand how youth access to tobacco community-based interventions can be maintained.