Similar Others in Same-Sex Couples’ Social Networks

Same-sex couples experience unique minority stressors. It is known that strong social networks facilitate access to psychosocial resources that help people reduce and manage stress. However, little is known about the social networks of same-sex couples, in particular their connections to other same-sex couples, which is important to understand given that the presence of similar others in social networks can ameliorate social stress for stigmatized populations. In this brief report, we present data from a diverse sample of 120 same-sex couples in Atlanta and San Francisco. The median number of other same-sex couples known was 12; couples where one partner was non-Hispanic White and the other a person of color knew relatively few other same-sex couples; and there was a high degree of homophily within the social networks of same-sex couples. These data establish a useful starting point for future investigations of couples’ social networks, especially couples whose relationships are stigmatized or marginalized in some way. Better understandings of the size, composition, and functions of same-sex couples’ social networks are critically needed.     

The use of sparsest cuts to reveal the hierarchical community structure of social networks

We show that good community structures can be obtained by partitioning a social network in a succession of divisive sparsest cuts. A network flow algorithm based on fundamental principles of graph theory is introduced to identify the sparsest cuts and an underlying hierarchical community structure of the network via maximum concurrent flow. Matula [Matula, David W., 1985. Concurrent flow and concurrent connectivity in graphs. In: Alavi, Y., et al. (Eds.), Graph Theory and its Applications to Algorithms and Computer Science. Wiley, New York, NY, pp. 543–559.] established the maximum concurrent flow problem (MCFP), and papers on divisive vs. agglomerative average-linkage hierarchical clustering [e.g., Matula, David W., 1983. Cluster validity by concurrent chaining. In: Felsenstein, J. (Ed.), Numerical Taxonomy: Proc. of the NATO Adv. Study Inst., vol. 1. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 156–166 (Proceedings of NATO ASI Series G); Matula, David W., 1986. Divisive vs. agglomerative average linkage hierarchical clustering. In: Gaul, W., and Schader, M. (Eds.), Classification as a Tool of Research. Elsevier, North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 289–301; Thompson, Byron J., 1985. A flow rerouting algorithm for the maximum concurrent flow problem with variable capacities and demands, and its application to cluster analysis. Master Thesis. School of Engineering and Applied Science, Southern Methodist University] provide the basis for partitioning a social network by way of sparsest cuts and/or maximum concurrent flow.     

Healthy relationship education for dating violence prevention among high-risk youth

A federal grant was awarded to provide the Love U2 healthy relationship curriculum to low-income, high-risk youth. This research sought to examine the relative effectiveness of a brief intervention with this curriculum compared to the much more intensive relationship education programs that have been previously provided to high-risk youth. Data were collected from 233 participants through measures of training and relationship outcomes pre- and post-training. Participants experienced high levels of training satisfaction, significant increases in relationship knowledge and self-efficacy related to conflict resolution. They also experienced a significant improvement in attitudes toward couple violence in the desired direction. Implications of these findings for promoting healthy relationships and reducing dating violence among high-risk youth are discussed.     

阿拉伯文献对新疆历史地理的若干记述

本文介绍了阿拉伯文献对喀什、和田的一些记述。     

Motherhood of Battered Women: The Struggle for Repairing the Past

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze battered women's subjective perceptions of their own motherhood. Although there is substantial knowledge about the negative effects of children witnessing their mothers' abuse by their fathers, there is little research available on the motherhood of battered women. Examining this issue in the clinical, ethical, and research domains is a complex process. Yet, increasing our understanding of battered women's own perspective is essential if we want to implement comprehensive and effective treatment. The present study is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 battered women. The finding show that battered women describe a basic mission in their life that structure the core meaning of their motherhood, namely, to repair the negative experiences of physical and emotional distress caused by their parents. Such repair is seen as compensating for the past and as building a positive and safe emotional reality for their children's future.     

The meaning of work among immigrants living in poverty in Israel: Replanting roots of belonging

The global financial crisis has increased the number of working immigrants living in poverty around the world. This article presents and analyses the interaction of work, immigration and poverty among working immigrants in Israel. Methodologically, this study has combined hermeneutic phenomenological and social constructivist approaches and in so doing has aimed to describe the realities of immigrants living and working in poverty. Presenting both men's and women's perspectives, we found that immigrants who work and live in poverty attribute crucial significance to work, which serves as a primary route of integration into the new culture as well as a means of coping with both the uprootedness caused by immigration and the difficulties of living in poverty. However, immigrants’ construction of work as the sole conduit for integration leaves them particularly vulnerable to discriminatory workplace practices.     

Volunteers and the risk of posttraumatic stress disorder

Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) result from exposure to a traumatic event and influence a person's ability to cope psychologically. Recent documentation from emergency rooms shows that medical personnel, including volunteers who treated severely injured people, can develop symptoms of PTSD even though the volunteers themselves were not personally subjected to the stressful event. This article finds similar results among adolescents who volunteered with Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance, and blood bank service. Because of the security threats Israel has faced, these adolescents are likely to be exposed to traumatic events during their volunteer service, and some may develop PTSD. This article explores who is most susceptible to developing PTSD and the underlying theories of why that may be the case. Since the adolescents' motives to volunteer vary, the article proposes that volunteers with certain motives retain their enthusiasm for volunteering despite the danger of developing PTSD symptoms. It also finds that some of the motives to volunteer correlated with a reduction in the level of PTSD symptoms. Understanding the adolescents' motivations to volunteer will help nonprofit leaders and managers allocate volunteers according to their motivations and the levels of threat a particular job entails.