Promoting Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem for Multiethnic Sexual Minority Youth: An Evidence-Informed Intervention

ABSTRACT

Sexual minority youth face multiple challenges, yet research regarding evidence-informed practice strategies for this population is limited. This study describes the pilot efforts of Strengths First, the first strengths-based intervention created specifically to promote self-esteem and self-efficacy among multiethnic sexual minority youth. A pretest–posttest design was used to gather preliminary data from program participants (n = 162) about the potential effectiveness of the program during a 2-year period that ranged from the inception of the program in June 2008 to September 2010. Significant increases in self-esteem and self-efficacy were found. Implications for social service research and practice are discussed.     

Entanglements of Evidence in the Turn Against Critique

Over the past decade, a range of theorists have argued that critique, in its rigid pursuit of hidden truths, has become routinely dismissive of everyday attachments and geared towards a diagnosis of error. To explore the turn from critique, this essay revisits two of the most influential arguments against the hermeneutics of suspicion, by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Bruno Latour. It argues that while these theorists present a divisive account of methods and their potentials, when read closely, the points of differentiation between critical and post-critical methods are intriguingly mutable. These critiques of critique, animated by concern and premised on experience, trouble their own accounts of critique’s identity. The turn against critique encourages critics not to summarily dismiss ways of thought as simply and irreparably wrong. In keeping with this aim, this article asks if there might be a way to rethink, rather than retrench, critique.     

Marriage Expectations Among African American Couples in Early Adulthood: A Dyadic Analysis

Using Family and Community Health Study data consisting of 168 unmarried, primarily African American couples, the current study sought to understand the dyadic interplay among school, work, and partner-specific marriage expectations in early adulthood. Drawing on the economic prospects, adult transitions, and work - family literatures, the authors hypothesized and found ample support that expectations to marry a romantic partner were linked not only to one's own school and work-related experiences but also to those of a partner. These associations held while controlling for relationship satisfaction, general views of marriage, and other covariates that have been posited to explain racial inequalities in relationship and marriage patterns. Furthermore, the authors found that actor covariates of marital expectations differed from partner covariates, a finding that highlights the advantages of dyadic analyses in helping researchers understand marriage as both a developmental and interpersonal process.     

Creativity and the Self: A Self Psychological Approach to Art and Healing

This paper explores the contributions of Heinz Kohut and self psychology to the conceptualization of art and healing on an individual and cultural level. The roles of normative narcissistic development, selfobject experience, and empathy are emphasized in the formation and maintenance of creative expression. Crayton Rowe’s addition of the undifferentiated selfobject is also explored. The lives and work of legendary artists, as well as a case example from the ongoing clinical treatment of a creative professional, provide illustration.     

Measuring Measurement Error in Economic Time Series

A spectral decomposition method is described for obtaining an upper bound on the amount of measurement error in a time series. The method is applied to generated data and to M1b, real GNP, and the CPI. The bounds provide insight into both the amount of measurement error in these series and the stochastic specification of the errors.     

Who's calling the shots? Decision-makers and the adoption of effective school-based substance use prevention curricula

This study investigates the relative roles of school district and school-level decision-makers in the implementation of effective substance use prevention curricula. Drawing on a "Site-Based Management" approach to effective decision-making, we hypothesized that schools whose personnel played active decision-making roles would be more likely to implement effective curricula than those in which decision-making was the prerogative of school district personnel. Study data comprised 1369 questionnaires completed by a representative national sample of both district-level prevention coordinators and middle school-based lead prevention teachers. From the perspective of the lead prevention teachers, the school district-level prevention coordinator was more influential than school staff in selecting effective prevention curricula. However, we did find some support for our hypothesis from our district-level informants, who indicated that community groups and advisory committees also play a modest role in the selection of such curricula.     

Family Structure and Child Well-Being in a Non-western Context: The Role of Parent–Child Relations and Parental Conflict in South Korea

Population Research and Policy Review - Research suggests that children who live with two biological married parents are less likely to exhibit behavioral problems than children who do not. While...