Parenting from a distance: The effects of paternal characteristics on contact between nonresidential fathers and their children

Changes in marital and fertility behavior have influenced the role of father for many men. We use data from the first two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households to examine various sociodemographic, situational, and attitudinal characteristics that might influence the degree of contact between nonresidential fathers and their minor children. We tap two different dimensions of distance parenting and find that although several variables influence both visiting and talking on the telephone or writing letters, some factors (the presence of multiple children in a household) predict visiting only, while others (child’s age and gender) predict only verbal/written contact. Similarly, some of the life-course decisions made by fathers appear to crowd out their involvement with nonresidential children, whereas other decisions reinforce their parenting behavior.     

Cultivating Professional Allies for Sexual Minority Youth: A Community-Based Educational Intervention

Sexual minority youth (SMY) face multiple risks in their daily lives that may influence their need for supportive care. Health and social service providers have unique opportunities to provide culturally competent services to these youth. This article describes a community-based educational intervention created to increase providers’ knowledge, skills, and intention to support SMY. Based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model, this pilot study found that for a diverse sample of multidisciplinary professionals (n = 2,850), the odds of behavioral intention (BI) to support SMY were significantly higher when trainings were relevant to the professionals’ experience (OR = 1.3), were sensitive (OR = 1.3), developed skills (OR = 1.1), and incorporated policy (OR = 1.2). Implications for the delivery of community-based trainings are provided.     

Domestic Outsourcing,Housework Time,and Subjective Time Pressure: New Insights From Longitudinal Data

Hiring household help could reduce housework time and alleviate subjective time pressure. Associations are assumed to be particularly apparent for women because they spend more time on housework than men. But empirical evidence on whether hiring help actually saves time or relieves time pressure is scant and inconclusive, chiefly because of data and methodological limitations. This study improves on earlier ones in that the authors examined panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (n = 5,124 couples) that enable modeling techniques that take account of selection effects, possible reverse causality, and unobserved heterogeneity. Contrary to some earlier studies, the authors show that outsourcing does in fact reduce housework time, narrow gender gaps, and lower women's subjective time pressure. They conclude that domestic outsourcing may save time and reduce subjective pressure for some women, but one consequence may be increased inequality between women who can and cannot afford domestic help.     

Outness among LGBTQ Social Work Students in North America: The Contribution of Environmental Supports and Perceptions of Comfort

This study examines various environmental factors that may impact a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) social work student's level of ‘outness’ (disclosure) with regard to their sexual orientation or gender identity. An internet-based survey was conducted, comprised of LGBTQ undergraduate and graduate students from social work programs across North America (n = 1,018). Utilizing Pearson's chi square analysis, significant associations correlated between outness and the following six areas: (1) LGBTQ student perception of other students' overall level of comfort with their sexual orientation or gender identity within the program; (2) the number of faculty that know about their sexual orientation or gender identity; (3) the number of students that know about their sexual orientation or gender identity; (4) how supported they felt with regard to their LGBTQ identity within the program; (5) the percent of faculty that are supportive of LGB and Q issues; and (6) awareness of openly LGBTQ administrators or staff members. Implications for social work education and practice are examined, as are suggestions for continued research.     

Active Participation and Well-Being Among the Elderly in Belgium and the USA: A Cross-National Time-Use Perspective

Active participation of the elderly is a recognized response to address the societal and individual challenges of rising life expectancy such as releasing the pressure of age-related public spending, reducing social isolation and improving well-being. How much time older people devote to active participation and whether their time allocation is associated with well-being remains under-investigated. Using time-use data from Belgium (n?=?1384) and the USA (n?=?2133), we investigate the time older people (65–80 years) spent on active participation and examine how this relates to their life satisfaction as an indicator of well-being. The countries vary in the amount of time spent on paid employment and volunteering, but not on informal help. Belgian older people spend much less time on paid employment than their American counterparts. This implies more are available to volunteer and provide informal help. Yet participation rates in these activities are higher in the USA. Multivariate analyses show that associations between active participation and life satisfaction vary between both countries and within both countries by gender and age. Overall, positive associations between paid work and volunteering and life satisfaction suggest that governments would do well to mobilize elderly into active participation, especially in Belgium. Negative associations between informal help and life satisfaction suggest governments should provide greater support for informal carers.

     

Demonstrating LGBTQ+ Affirmative Practice in Groups:: Developing Competence through Simulation-Based Learning

Clinical Social Work Journal - Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and/or gender minority (LGBTQ+) populations experience significant mental and behavioral health...     

Genets in the city: community observations and perceptions of large-spotted genets (Genetta tigrina) in an urban environment

Urban Ecosystems - The global increase in urbanization has resulted in exclusion of many carnivore species from human-altered landscapes due to a variety of anthropogenic impacts. However, despite...     

The influence of plant type on green roof rainfall retention

Urban Ecosystems - Green roofs can mitigate the flood risk by reducing the volume of runoff through direct interception and subsequent evapotranspiration (ET), but the planting choices can...     

Modeling the Airborne Infection Risk of Tuberculosis for a Research Facility in eMalahleni,South Africa

A detailed mathematical modeling framework for the risk of airborne infectious disease transmission in indoor spaces was developed to enable mathematical analysis of experiments conducted at the Airborne Infections Research (AIR) facility, eMalahleni, South Africa. A model was built using this framework to explore possible causes of why an experiment at the AIR facility did not produce expected results. The experiment was conducted at the AIR facility from August 31, 2015 to December 4, 2015, in which the efficacy of upper room germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) irradiation as an environmental control was tested. However, the experiment did not produce the expected outcome of having fewer infections in the test animal room than the control room. The simulation results indicate that dynamic effects, caused by switching the GUV lights, power outages, or introduction of new patients, did not result in the unexpected outcomes. However, a sensitivity analysis highlights that significant uncertainty exists with risk of transmission predictions based on current measurement practices, due to the reliance on large viable literature ranges for parameters.     

Effects of acute androstenedione supplementation on testosterone levels in older men

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of acute androstenedione supplementation on hormone levels in older men at rest and during exercise. Men (n?=?11) between the ages of 58 and 69 were divided into an experimental (n?=?6; 62.33?±?2.57 y) and control (n?=?5; 60.2?±?1.02 y) groups. Each participant received an oral 300?mg dose of either androstenedione (experimental) or a cellulose placebo (control) for 7 d. Pre- and post-supplementation participants completed two separate, 20-min strength tasks consisting of leg extension and leg curls at different percentages of their 10-RM. Researchers collected blood samples pre-, during, and post-exercise. Blood samples were analyzed for testosterone, androstenedione, and estradiol levels. The researchers found a significant difference between pre- (4.36?±?56?ng/mL) and post- (5.51?±?0.35?ng/mL) testosterone levels, as well as pre- (0.88?±?0.20) and post- (7.46?±?1.25) androstenedione levels, but no significant differences between pre- and post-estradiol levels for either group. It appears that short-term androstenedione supplementation augmented acute testosterone responses to resistance exercise in older men. However, further study of this supplement is needed to determine any potential it may have in mitigating andropause.