Negotiating Emotional Support: Sober Gay Latinos and Their Families

This study explores how sober gay Latino men obtain support from their families. Familial ties can be a protective health factor, yet many gay Latinos experience rejection from family members because of their sexuality. There are very few studies that examine the extent and quality of emotional support from kin for this population. Understanding family dynamics within the context of recovery and sexuality can increase our understanding of how to leverage family ties to develop alcohol abuse interventions. The study was conducted via semistructured interviews with 30 sober gay Latinos using a grounded theory approach. Analyses of the qualitative data identified the following themes: family values shaped the participants’ perception of their range of choices and emotional responses; participants reported feeling loved and supported even when sexuality was not discussed with parents; and family support for sobriety is essential. Findings suggest that familial ties shape perceptions of support and importance of disclosing sexual identity. Family support often results from agreements about sexual identity disclosure, and some families can overcome cultural and religious taboos on sexuality. Future studies should investigate families that negotiate acceptance with their gay members, and whether they exhibit heterosexual biases that may influence the psychological stress of gay Latino men who wish to be sober.     

Capacity Building Contributions of Short-Term International Volunteers

Previous research suggests that international volunteer service may have both positive and negative effects on host organizations. Applying a capacity-building perspective, this study uses semistructured interviews to ask staff in hosting organizations to identify the main outcomes of short-term volunteer service. These views were compared with perspectives of staff from matched organizations that do not host international volunteers. Findings suggest that international volunteers may increase organizational capacity by supplying extra hands, providing technical and professional skills, contributing tangible resources, and enhancing intercultural understanding. Volunteers may also challenge organizations as they absorb staff time and resources. Staff members from both types of organizations identify individual and institutional variables that may affect the quality of these outcomes, including volunteers' language capacity and the intensity of the service placement.     

Youth gambling in Melbourne's west: Changes between 1996 and 1998 for Anglo‐European background and Asian background school‐based youth 26

Abstract

In this study of gambling frequency and problem gambling in school‐based young people from the western suburbs of Melbourne, 710 students from Years 10, 11 and 12 were surveyed in 1996, and 776 students from the same years and from the same schools were surveyed in 1998. The mean age of both cohorts was 16.3 years. The major aim of the study was to assess changes in youth gambling patterns over this two‐year period. A second aim was to compare gambling patterns among Asian youth in comparison with their Anglo‐European counterparts. Results indicated that gambling frequency (including use of poker machines) had significantly reduced over the two‐year period, as had problem gambling. Contrary to the stereotype, young Asian background students were less likely to gamble than Anglo‐European students, spent less money on gambling, but paradoxically, scored higher on the problem gambling scale. Possible reasons for this anomalous finding were discussed.     

Receptivity to Change in a General Medical Practice

In this paper, Pettigrew, Ferlie and McKee's concepts of receptive and non receptive contexts for change are examined using data from an evaluation study of a general medical practice implementing a Personal Medical Services Pilot between 1998 and 2001. Four questions concerning the applicability, associatedness, temporality and dynamism of the eight factors Pettigrew et al. identified as constitutive of receptivity are used in the analysis, which extends the original model through an operationalization yielding 21 ‘focal questions’. Although the process of change at the fieldwork site was stalled, the receptivity model is shown to have been a useful tool in identifying the factors blocking change. The analysis shows that when the eight factors are conceptualized in terms of the strength, direction and continuity of their influence, the receptivity metaphor provides a distinctive tool for the analysis of change. The paper concludes that further refinement of the model could provide a basis for the derivation of change management typologies.     

Telling it like it is: news websites and online newspapers

This article examines the content and possible uses of four online news providers: , aimed at the potential clients of a major transnational information corporation; , aimed at ‘alternative globalization’ activists; , intended for transnational businesspeople and , directed at both local newspaper readers and members of the Irish diaspora. It suggests that the form, content and multimedia use of each is determined by its target audience and by the use this audience makes of the potential of the Internet for developing cross‐border networks. Furthermore, it suggests that it is not necessarily the size, extensity and power of this audience that determines the degree of sophistication and global engagement of the website, nor is it the power and wealth of the individual website’s developers.     

The secret life of the city rat: a review of the ecology of urban Norway and black rats (Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus)

Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and black rats (Rattus rattus) are among the most prolific and widespread urban pest species in the world. Yet despite their ubiquity, a unified understanding of the ecology of these species in urban habitats eludes us. A comprehensive understanding of urban rat ecology is important for managing rat populations and mitigating the harmful effects that they may have on urban ecosystems (e.g., structural damage, food contamination, and disease spread). The objective of this systematic review and narrative synthesis is to collate, compare, and contrast data from the published literature regarding the ecology of Norway and black rats in urban centers. Themes emerging from the synthesis process, and discussed in detail, include population dynamics, behavior, movement, and environmental influences on rat populations.     

An interactive web-based method of outreach to college students at risk for suicide

OBJECTIVE AND PARTICIPANTS: From 2002 to 2005, the authors tested an interactive, Web-based method to encourage college students at risk for suicide to seek treatment. METHODS: The authors invited students at 2 universities to complete an online questionnaire that screened for depression and other suicide risk factors. Respondents received a personalized assessment and were able to communicate anonymously with a clinical counselor online. At-risk students were urged to attend in-person evaluation and treatment. RESULTS: A total of 1,162 students (8% of those invited) completed the screening questionnaire; 981 (84.4%) were designated as at high or moderate risk. Among this group, 190 (19.4%) attended an in-person evaluation session with the counselor, and 132 (13.5%) entered treatment. Students who engaged in online dialogues with the counselor were 3 times more likely than were those who did not to come for evaluation and enter treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The method has considerable promise for encouraging previously untreated, at-risk college students to get help.     

Creating SPOTs for Successful Aging: Strengthening the Case for Developing University-Based Retirement Communities Using Social-Physical Place Over Time Theory

Five elements are cited as being critical for a university-based retirement communities’ (UBRCs’) success: proximity to the university, two-directional programming, continuing care, a financial link to the university, and a minimum 10% resident connection to the university. We illustrate these criteria using examples from existing UBRCs. The comparisons are then contextualized in the broader framework of Social-Physical Place Over Time (SPOT) theory. SPOT theory focuses on the interactions between social and physical places among older adults. By analyzing the intersections between SPOT theory and UBRC criteria, we identify additional criteria to improve the definition of a UBRC: transportation support and facilitating activity. UBRCs offer value because they provide the social and physical place where older adults can live when they retire, thereby improving changes in individual agency and belongingness needs, which are key tenets of SPOT theory. The integration of the UBRC criteria and the SPOT theory framework builds on this relatively new meta-theory in environmental gerontology. SPOT theory effectively highlights how UBRCs benefit older adults and the community; UBRCs provide significant benefits not only to older adult residents, but also to the university communities that house them.     

Chi-square tests for multivariate normality with application to common stock prices

The theory of chi-square tests with data-dependent cells is applied to provide tests of fit to the family of p-variate normal distributions. The cells are bounded by hyperellipses (x-[Xbar])'S^-1 (x-[Xbar]) = c_i centered at the sample mean [Xbar] and having shape deter-mined by the sample covariance matrix S. The Pearson statistic with these cells is affine-invariant, has a null distribution not depending on the true mean and covariance, and has asymptotic critical points between those of x² (M-1) and x² (M-2) when M cells are employed. The test is insensitive to lack of symmetry, but peakedness, broad shoulders and heavy tails are easily discerned in the cell counts. Multivariate normality of logarithms of relative prices of common stocks, a common assumption in finan-cial markets theory, is studied using the statistic described here and a large data base.