The Sociology of Women's Abortion Experiences: Recent Research and Future Directions

Abortion is a common and essential reproductive healthcare procedure experienced by approximately one third of women at some time in their life. Abortion is also commonly politicised and presented in public discourse as inherently contentious or controversial. However, recent sociological research on women's experiences of abortion is relatively thin on the ground. The body of qualitative research on abortion experiences, which does exist, varies in scope and focus on a relatively limited range of themes. Building on an earlier review of qualitative research on women's abortion experiences, this paper explores the recent literature and identifies three key thematic areas: the context of abortion; reasons and decision‐making; and abortion stigma. It then goes on to identify gaps in the literature, to explore what shape a sociology of women's abortion experiences might take and to suggest future directions for sociological research.     

TRAUMA TRAINING AND THE REPARATIVE WORK OF JOURNALISM

This article examines discourses of trauma and affective labor in the emergence of trauma training in US journalism. In a body of training texts and films used in US journalism schools, crime and disaster journalism are being refigured as affective encounters between reporters and victims; in the process, training builds a language of trauma that describes and models the news making process as potentially reparative: as an epistemological meeting point between existing knowledge of social traumas and a training apparatus that enables constructs of trauma to do the cultural production of news differently. Rather than treat the emergence of trauma training initiatives as further evidence of the hegemony of therapeutic politics, I draw from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's calls for reparative critique, in which transformations in the process of news production may reveal the work of affective labor and its emotional intensities as key, but often unacknowledged, features of cultural production. Analysis of training films and manuals in these curricula, on the one hand, shows their attachments to a medical discourse of trauma that borrows language and constructs from the trauma science literature, replicating forms of referentiality between wounded bodies and traumatized psyches. However, their translation into representational practices and modes of conduct for reporters – as witnesses to others' testimonies – also pose ways of understanding the burdens and affective responsibilities professions like journalism increasingly bear for displaying and interpreting social change and political upheaval.     

Exploring Adolescents’ Relationships with Non-Parental Adults Using the Non-Parental Adult Inventory (N.P.A.I.)

Adolescents’ relationships with non-parental adults is one identified protective factor that has received comparable little attention. Previous work indicates that significant, non-parental adults play an important role in adolescent development. This exploratory study examines the frequency of adolescent contact with non-parental adults, and their enjoyment of that contact using the Non-Parental Adult Inventory (N.P.A.I.). Gender and age differences among adolescent reports, and differences between parent and adolescent reports are explored. Frequency and reported enjoyment of adolescent contact within select categories of non-parental adults differed by gender. Parent and adolescent reports significantly differed with parents both underestimating and overestimating the strength of adolescents’ relationships with select adult groups. Results provide preliminary data regarding the nature of adolescents’ relationships with a broad range of non-parental adults.     

Moderating the Effects of Childhood Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence: The Roles of Parenting Characteristics and Adolescent Peer Support

We investigate parenting characteristics and adolescent peer support as potential moderators of the effects of childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on adolescent outcomes. Lehigh Longitudinal Study (N=416) data include parent and adolescent reports of childhood IPV exposure. Exposure to IPV predicted nearly all adverse outcomes examined; however, after accounting for co‐occurring child abuse and early child behavior problems, IPV predicted only 1 outcome. Several moderator effects were identified. Parental “acceptance” of the child moderated the effects of IPV exposure on the likelihood of teenage pregnancy and running away from home. Both peer communication and peer trust moderated the relationship between exposure to IPV and depression and running from home. Peer communication also moderated the effects of IPV exposure on high school dropout. Interventions that influence parenting practices and strengthen peer support for youth exposed to IPV may increase protection and decrease risk of several tested outcomes.     

What is a Vote Worth? A Focused Inquiry to Scaffold Elementary Historical Thinking

Abstract

Meaningful source work is at the heart of social studies learning, but often a tall order for elementary-aged students. In this article, the authors describe the construction and implementation of a fifth grade inquiry on the Suffrage Movement using a focused version of the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint. Using source analysis scaffolds coupled with discussion and organizational tasks, students used primary and secondary sources to create complex evidence-based claims showing the intersection between First Amendment rights, civic engagement, and the Suffrage Movement. This focused inquiry supported meaningful application of learning to an informed civic action project.     

Doctors say future of price transparency appears cloudy

A new ACPE survey on price transparency reveals that, while physician executives recognize the trend, they're not convinced that health care pricing can be easily understood by patients.     

Political Generations in Developing Countries: Evidence and Insights from Algeria

The socialization literature has examined whether individualswho pass through their formative years during definable historicaleras constitute political generations characterized by shareddispositions or collective memories that outlast the eras themselves.Drawing upon 1995 public opinion data from Algeria, we ask whetherpolitical generations are discernible in a non-Western societyin which the government and politics have undergone fundamentaltransformations in character and normative orientation. We findevidence that shared attitudes characterize Algerians who cameof age during the regime of President Houari Boumedienne—astable 13-year period from 1965 to 1978 marked by centralizedpolitical leadership, low grassroots political participation,and state-led socialism. Other cohorts are not similarly distinguishable,however, nor does the Boumedienne cohort differ from otherswith respect to a number of political, economic, and culturalorientations. Like other studies, this research indicates thatsome historical periods produce durable generation effects whileothers do not and that some attitudes acquired during the formativeyears of late adolescence and early adulthood persist over timewhile others do not.