Attitudes toward lesbians,gay men,bisexual women,and bisexual men in Germany

Attitudes toward lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men were assessed in a national representative sample of 2,006 self‐identified heterosexual women and men living in Germany. Replicating previous findings, younger people held more favorable attitudes than older people; women held more favorable attitudes than men; and men held more favorable attitudes toward female than male homosexuality, whereas women did not differentiate. However, women held more favorable attitudes toward homosexuals than toward bisexuals, whereas men did not differentiate. Knowing a homosexual person was an important predictor of attitudes, as was political party preference. Both same‐sex and opposite‐sex sexual attraction were substantially related with attitudes. Our findings support the notion that attitudes toward lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men are related but distinct constructs.     

When Is It Okay to Exclude a Member of the Ingroup? Children's and Adolescents’ Social Reasoning

Social exclusion of those who challenge group norms was investigated by asking children and adolescents, adolescents, age 9–13 years (N = 381), to evaluate exclusion of group members who deviated from group norms. Testing predictions from social reasoning developmental theories of group‐based exclusion, children and adolescents evaluated exclusion based on group norms involving allocation of resources and group traditions about dress code. Exclusion of deviant members was viewed as increasingly wrong with age, but also varied by the type of norm the deviant challenged. Participants who reported disliking a deviant member who wanted to distribute money unequally also found it acceptable to exclude them. Those who disliked deviants who went against norms about dress codes did not think exclusion was warranted. These findings are discussed in the context of children's social‐cognitive development regarding peer rejection as well as the role played by moral judgment and group dynamics.     

The Effect of Parental Gender Roles on Students' Attitudes Toward Lesbian,Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Couples

All of Canada's provinces and territories legally recognize the right of gay and lesbian couples to adopt children; however, widespread acceptance of this practice has not been documented. Using an experimental design, with 506 university students, the present study assessed (1) attitudes toward gay, lesbian, and heterosexual adoptive couples; (2) the sex of the child to be adopted; (3) gender role characteristics of the adoptive couple; and (4) predictors of attitudes toward adoption by same-sex couples. Using vignettes describing potential adoptive couples, the results revealed that gay and lesbian couples were rated significantly less favorably than heterosexual couples when asked about outcomes for the adoptive child. Participants were more likely to approve of child placements with lesbian adoptive couples whose gender role characteristics emulated the traditional masculine/feminine dyad as compared to lesbian couples in which both partners displayed feminine characteristics. Statistically significant predictors of negative attitudes toward adoption by lesbian couples were religiosity and non-essentialist beliefs about homosexuality as well as endorsement of modern homonegative attitudes predicted negative attitudes toward adoption by gay male couples. Targeted education for social workers and adoption agency workers should be developed to ensure objective assessments of prospective same-sex adoptive couples regardless of their gender role characteristics.     

Maybe Next Month? Temperature Shocks and Dynamic Adjustments in Birth Rates

We estimate the effects of temperature shocks on birth rates in the United States between 1931 and 2010. We find that days with a mean temperature above 80°F cause a large decline in birth rates 8 to 10 months later. Unlike prior studies, we demonstrate that the initial decline is followed by a partial rebound in births over the next few months, implying that populations mitigate some of the fertility cost by shifting conception month. This shift helps explain the observed peak in late-summer births in the United States. We also present new evidence that hot weather most likely harms fertility via reproductive health as opposed to sexual activity. Historical evidence suggests that air conditioning could be used to substantially offset the fertility costs of high temperatures.     

Knowledge translation efforts in child and youth mental health: a systematic review

The availability of knowledge translation strategies that have been empirically studied and proven useful is a critical prerequisite to narrowing the research-to-practice gap in child and youth mental health. Through this review the authors sought to determine the current state of scientific knowledge of the effectiveness of knowledge translation approaches in child and youth mental health by conducting a systematic review of the research evidence. The findings and quality of the 12 included studies are discussed. Future work of high methodological quality that explores a broader range of knowledge translation strategies and practitioners to which they are applied and that also attends to implementation process is recommended.     

Immigrant Entrepreneurs: The Identification of Foreign Market Opportunities

Building on the very few studies that examine how immigrant entrepreneurs identify opportunities to conduct business in foreign markets, this article explores how Italian immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia identify such opportunities. Relying on social network theory (Patel and Conklin, 2009), international business research indicates that social ties, including kinship and ethnic ties, facilitate the flow of information that enables entrepreneurs to identify opportunities (Ellis, 2011; Hayton, Chandler and DeTienne, 2011). This study finds that the Italian immigrant entrepreneurs prefer to receive information about business opportunities from trusting, social ties, particularly country of origin (Italy) regional based ethnic ties, rather kinship ties for fear of damaging the relationship. However both first and second generation immigrants do use kinship ties to gain knowledge about Italian market conditions. Implications for policy and practice, limitations of the study and ideas for future research are also presented.     

Moral or civic ties? Deservingness and engagement among undocumented Latinas in non-profit organisations

As alternatives to mainstream institutions, local non-profit organisations (NPOs) are important sites for immigrant civic engagement; yet, there is little research on how immigrants negotiate the benefits of NPOs. We use ethnographic fieldwork and multiple in-depth interviews with 39 NPO staff and Latina immigrants in San Francisco, California. We offer new insights about how undocumented, low-income, Latina mothers – a group constrained by multiple barriers – negotiate direct assistance and civic engagement in NPOs. Although NPOs provide both direct services and civic engagement opportunities, we find that moral judgments within the broader anti-immigrant and anti-welfare climate impact how Latinas feel the need to ‘give back’ or ‘ration’ services in NPOs. Additionally, the expectation that direct services are an entrée for civic engagement has consequences for how Latinas negotiate deservingness and work to preserve their self-worth. For some, these expectations depress further engagement or drive intergroup divisions.     

Beyond the ethno-national divide: intersecting identity transformations during conflict

This article examines intersecting processes of boundary formation and change during periods of conflict in Chiapas and Northern Ireland in a comparative fashion. It provides new approaches to the studies of boundaries, of intersectionality and of identity change. Looking at female activists’ collective identity narratives reveals the interrelation of different processes of identity change and solidarity formation during ethno-national conflict. Those processes are determined by differences in female activists’ perceptions of and positioning towards different levels of society and by spaces for bridging those boundaries. In order to enhance our understanding of ethno-national conflicts, we need to examine intersecting identity categories in relation to social change and highlight underlying and interacting processes at different levels of society that obscure and deny the existence of the gender category.