Protecting Black mothers: How the history of midwifery can inform doula activism

In response to the crisis of racist disparities in maternal mortality, many activists are pushing for increased access to birth doulas for Black women. As states and municipalities respond by incorporating doulas into hospital settings with increasingly common requirements for doula certification, it is more important than ever to investigate the role of doulas, and how that role might change under the medical model of birth within US hospitals. Will activism for doulas turn into arguments for the “right” to a doula? Without the full privileges of citizenship—will the most marginalized women be left out of that right despite their health and safety being at the origins of the activist struggle? To investigate these questions, we can look to the history of midwives in the United States, and examine how the midwifery model of childbirth changed as activists fought for increased access to midwives to improve birth outcomes.     

Physical and mental health changes in aging foster parents: Do child behavioural problems hasten declines?

This study examined foster parent physical and mental health over time. It was hypothesized that increased severity and frequency of child behavioural problems, whether externalizing or internalizing, would be associated with poorer health over time, especially for foster parents ≥60 years of age. Data from the baseline and Wave 2 interview of the 2010 National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well‐Being were used. The final analytic sample included kin and nonkin foster parents who had custody of a foster child for both waves of data collection (n = 962). Ordinary Least Squares regression models with lagged dependent variables showed that foster parents ≥60 had deteriorating physical health over time, but caregiver age alone had no association with worsening mental health. However, parents ≥60 caring for children with externalizing behavioural problems had significantly improved physical health. Mental health of parents ≥60 significantly diminished if child externalizing or internalizing problems worsened. Findings indicate that for aging foster parents, externalizing child behaviours may stimulate physical activity and improved physical health, yet any type of child behavioural problem can deteriorate mental health functioning.     

Assimilation versus multiculturalism: The views of urban Americans

Parents of children in public schools in a large American urban center, representing a number of different ethnic groups, were interviewed about their personal views and feelings toward cultural and racial diversity in America today. Three main issues were addressed: respondents' attitudes toward the maintenance of heritage cultures versus assimilation; their attitudes toward bilingualism; and their attitudes toward other groups in the community. The analyses revealed important differences in attitudes between ethnic minority groups and established white and black groups. Nonetheless, strong support was shown for the retention of heritage cultures, even among middle-class white and working-class black Americans. The working-class white American sample was distinctive in its rejection of multiculturalism and in its negative attitudes toward other ethnic and racial groups. All groups supported the idea of bilingualism for their children, and certain groups thought that public schools had an important role to play in its promotion. Overall, the results delineate a series of factors that affect intragroup and intergroup harmony and the processes of adjustment that transpire within a social system when it has to cope with ethnic and racial diversity.     

Becker's Side-Bet Theory of Commitment Revisited: Is It Time for a Moratorium or a Resurrection?

The results of Cohen and Lowenberg's 1990meta-analysis of 50 studies that empirically testBecker's (1960) side-bet model provide little empiricalsupport for his theory of commitment. They conclude that severe limitations of past research, both interms of measuring commitment and the strategies used totest the side-bet model, may be responsible for the lackof empirical support. Alternatively, they submit that if these methodological problems are notat fault, we should consider abandoning the side-bettheory. Three limitations of past side-bet research areaddressed in this study. The results of this study suggest that it is time to resurrect Becker'sside-bet theory of commitment. In doing so, we shouldsubject his theory to tests that employ more valid anddirect measures of the side-bet variables, that use measures of continuance commitment ratherthan affective commitment, and that apply to bothorganizational and occupational commitment.     

Deregulation and labor earnings

Cross-sectional data drawn from the March CPS from 1968 to 1988 and the May CPS from 1973 to 1988 are used to estimate the impact of deregulation on labor earnings in trucking, telephones, bus transportation, airlines, and railroads. Both average differentials and union-nonunion differentials are computed. Contrary to popular belief, deregulation does not reduce earnings in many of these industries. Implications for theories of regulatory impact are discussed.     

Episodic Cessation of Gambling: A Numerically Aided Phenomenological Assessment of Why Gamblers Stop Playing in a Given Session

The topic of permanent cessation of gambling behavior has received increased attention as the rates gaming (and pathology) increase with accessibility and legalization. Despite this increased attention there is a paucity of research on why people stop gambling in a given session, i.e. episodic cessation. We propose that the study of first-person experiential accounts of why gamblers stopped engaging in play within a given session will shed light on the progression and maintenance of wagering behavior. Using numerically aided phenomenology, we systematically examined accounts of episodic cessation. In doing so, we were able to identifying recurrent themes and then clustering these accounts according to similarities in theme profiles. People reported that episodic cessation occurred because they had lost all their money or because they were forced to (Cluster I), a sufficient amount of money had been won or lost (Cluster II), and a priori limits on wins or losses had been reached (Cluster III). As predicted, gamblers with maladaptive reasons for episodic cessation (Cluster I and II) reported more illusory perceptions of control and negative attitudes toward treatment seeking than those who engage in responsible gambling behavior (Cluster III). Moreover, illusions of control mediated the effect of cluster membership on attitudes toward treatment seeking. The findings of the present research help to integrate recent studies of gambling progression and maintenance.     

Is the Case for Social Science Laws Strengthening?

The effectiveness of Kincaid's (1996) and McIntyre's (1996) cases for the possibility and actual existence of laws in social science is evaluated. The ways in which Kincaid and McIntyre argue against the confounding effects of four long-recognised barriers to the existence of social science laws are assessed. A brief review is presented first of definitions of causal (rather than regularity) laws. The four obstacles undermining causal laws are the non natural or social kind nature of the entities with which social science deals, the nature of mechanisms in social explanation, domain restrictions applying to causal explanation in social science, and the openness of the human systems encompassing socio-economic behaviour. Against the arguments of Kincaid and McIntyre, these four issues constitute fundamental a priori problems that continue to undermine the development of laws in social science, beyond those that can be derived by common sense, and that are potentially effective for policy-making.