Peer Substance Use Associated With the Co-occurrence of Borderline Personality Disorder Features and Drug Use Problems in College Students

Abstract

Objective: To determine if the substance use patterns of one's close friends and romantic partners would be a significant contributor to the co-occurrence of borderline personality disorder (BPD) features and drug use problems above and beyond impulsivity and negative emotionality. Participants: Participants were 2,202 undergraduates who attended a large southeastern university between 2003 and 2006. Methods: All subjects completed measures assessing the presence of BPD symptoms, drug use problems, general personality traits, and the proportion of their friends and partners who had used illicit drugs within the past 12 months. Results: The illicit drug use patterns of one's friends and romantic partners was a significant contributor to the co-occurrence of BPD features and drug use problems even when controlling for levels of impulsivity and negative emotionality. Conclusions: These findings suggest possible additional avenues for treatment focusing on helping students with BPD and drug use problems modify their social group.     

County Government Resources Associated with Dependent-Adult Abuse Investigations in Iowa

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated on a county level the association of Iowa's domestic dependent-adult abuse investigations with the location of adult protective services (APS) offices, rurality, government resources, felony charges and prosecutions, child abuse reports, and census demographics. In 2003, the rate of dependent-adult abuse investigations for Iowa was 0.70 per 1,000 population age 18 and older. Higher rates of child abuse investigations, felony prosecutions, sheriff's annual salary, and lower rates of child abuse substantiations are associated with higher rates of dependent-adult abuse investigations and substantiations.     

Micropolitics of race and ethnicity in women's prisons in two political contexts

Research over the past two decades has focused on the topic of race as important for understanding order and compliance in men's prisons. However, relatively little research considers how subjective understandings of imprisonment are influenced by race, particularly in the case of women prisoners. The current study analyses 139 interviews conducted with women prisoners in California and England in order to determine how race and ethnicity shape prisoners' experiences and abilities to cope with institutional confinement. Findings suggest that women's understandings of their racial identities differ substantially in these two contexts. In California, where the conditions of confinement are more extreme and white women assume a minority status, racial identity emerges as a salient factor in coping with the adversities of prison life. By contrast, in England, it is the women of colour, and particularly foreign nationals, who have a greater appreciation of the role of race and ethnicity in their daily lives. These findings have implications for our understanding of how prisoners draw on their lived experiences to make sense of their carceral worlds.     

Immigrants’ support for social spending,self‐interest and the role of the group: A comparative study of immigrants in The Netherlands

This study examined immigrants’ support for social spending. We tested the dominant self‐interest hypothesis for a number of immigrant groups in the Netherlands with highly varying socio‐economic positions. We additionally examined the effect of immigrants’ group interest by testing the relevance of in‐group immigrant benefit participation rates and their effect on support for social spending. In this article, we discuss how immigrants’ sense of belonging to a group affects the association between immigrants’ self‐ and group interests in welfare and their support for social spending. We found that self‐interest has explanatory relevance, but that this is strongly correlated with level of income. Results showed weak support for the effect of group interest. Instead of the expected moderation effects of sense of belonging on the self‐ and group‐interest explanations of support for social spending, the results showed a direct effect of sense of belonging on support for social spending.     

FEAR OF CRIME IN URBAN RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS:

Current work on fear of crime centers largely around three dominant theoretical models: indirect victimization, community concern, and incivilities. Previous work (Taylor and Hale 1986) confirms the importance of the central construct in each model and shows that no one model has more explanatory power than another. But work to date has not examined ecological impacts of some key constructs, even though the models clearly imply processes operative at the neighborhood level. This study extends earlier work, combining central predictors from each model and distinguishing between- and within-neighborhood sources of impact, with data from surveys of 1622 residents of 66 Baltimore neighborhoods and from on-site assessments. Findings indicate ways in which these theories, particularly indirect victimization and incivilities, need further theoretical articulation of central constructs. The results also confirm the generalizability of Merry's diversity thesis—developed from field work in a multi-ethnic subsidized housing context—to urban neighborhoods in a major metropolitan area.     

Maybe Bacon Had a Point: The Politics of Interpretation in Collective Sensemaking 1

Despite major contributions to theories of organizational knowledge from socially situated, practice‐based approaches, there remains a blind‐spot in this literature concerning power and politics. This paper makes some initial attempts to address this absence by thinking about how far alternative theories of power/knowledge can strengthen and extend practice‐based approaches to knowledge. The need for a detailed analytic of the multiple techniques, strategies, and expressions of power/knowledge in concrete social situations and the different ways in which they come together through specific episodes of enactment is highlighted. To illustrate this, we draw on an ethnographic study of an inter‐organizational collaboration in the telecommunications sector. This illustration focuses on struggles over meaning during a problem‐solving encounter during the later stages of a project for developing and implementing new software for telephone exchanges.     

Nursing home abuse report and investigation legislation

Nursing home complaint investigation procedures are established by each state's respective legislation. The purpose of this study was to determine the state statutes that had text addressing nursing home report and investigation of abuse and to describe the content of that text. All states and the District of Columbia have statutes addressing the licensure and re-certification of nursing homes. Fourteen of these licensure and re-certification of nursing home state statutes have text specifically addressing the topic of abuse reports and investigation in the nursing homes. Main concepts discussed in those sections were reporting requirements, mandatory reporting, and definitions.     

Sexual vs. Nonsexual Currently Most Upsetting Trauma: A Fresh Look at Attenuation of Sexual Response,Alcohol Intoxication,and Post-Traumatic Stress

This study examined the dependence of sexual response (vaginal pulse amplitude [VPA] and subjective sexual arousal) on alcohol intoxication (.10% breath alcohol concentration [BrAC] versus no alcohol) and the nature of a woman’s currently most upsetting traumatic event (C-MUTE), whether it was sexual (e.g., rape) or nonsexual (e.g., combat). Self-reported sexual outcomes were also compared by C-MUTE type. A total of 117 women completed background measures and either drank alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages. They were shown erotic films and their VPA was assessed. A two (sexual versus nonsexual C-MUTE) by two (.10% BrAC versus no alcohol) analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that, controlling for post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, women with a sexual C-MUTE showed lower percent VPA change than women with a nonsexual C-MUTE. No significant effects were found for subjective sexual arousal. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that women with a sexual C-MUTE reported more frequent anxiety and inhibition during partnered sex and more frequent lack of vaginal lubrication versus women with a nonsexual C-MUTE. There was no significant interaction between C-MUTE and alcohol intoxication. Whether a woman is currently upset by past sexual victimization may influence current sexual difficulties. Attenuated VPA may be attributable to the sexual nature of a C-MUTE as opposed to general trauma exposure.