Patterns of family service needs and caregiver–child relationships among families at risk of child welfare involvement

Caregivers at risk of involvement in the child welfare system report high levels of need for multiple types of services, and their children have high levels of mental health need. Caregivers from families with more service needs, as well as unmet needs, are less likely to be engaged with child welfare services and may have diminished capacity to care for their child. This study takes a family‐centered approach by using latent class analysis to identify patterns of both caregiver and child service needs among families at risk of child welfare involvement. Using data from the LONGSCAN consortium (N = 957), we identified 4 classes of service needs among child welfare‐involved families. We then examined differences between the 4 classes based on demographics, maltreatment histories, unmet service needs, and caregiver–child relationship. The caregivers were split fairly evenly among the 4 classes: low needs, medical needs, poverty support, and high needs. There were significant differences between classes on assessed variables, with higher levels of needs associated with diminished caregiver–child relationships.     

Elite Dilution or Saved by the Belles? The Changing Social Demography of the Pacific Sociological Association

This article examines four overlapping structural changes in the Pacific Sociological Association’s membership since the 1970s: (1) a burgeoning student participation, (2) the seeming withdrawal of faculty from research-based universities, (3) the feminization of the PSA’s leadership, and (4) the fading proportion of men at all levels of the organization. Instead of signaling a weakened professional association, however, these changes point to an energized PSA that leads other American regional sociological associations on indicators valued by sociologists. Three principal data sources inform this analysis: PSA administrative records; content analysis of the PSA meeting programs in 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2013; and the 2013 PSA conference registration data. I use my experiences at University of Oregon to illustrate some themes.     

Association of low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels with the frailty syndrome in Mexican community-dwelling elderly

Objective: Since vitamin D is an important regulator of muscle function, the effect of vitamin D deficiency on frailty syndrome has been recently studied. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the association between 25(OH)-vitamin D levels and frailty status in Mexican community-dwelling elderly.

Methods: Sample of 331 community-dwelling elderly aged 70 or older, a subset of those included in the “Coyoacán cohort” were included. 25(OH)-vitamin D assay and frailty status were measured.

Results: Mean age was 79.3 years and 54.1% were women. Those classified as frail were more likely to have lower Mini-Mental State Examination score (p?=?0.015), more disability for instrumental activities of daily living (p?p?p?Conclusion: These results suggest that older adults with low 25(OH)-vitamin D levels are associated with the probability to being frail compared with those with sufficient vitamin D levels.     

Consumers’ Insights About Spirituality in Advertising

While the study of spirituality in advertising is an emerging area of scholarship, previous research tends to focus more on the spiritual message rather than on the consumer. Although some studies report on the meanings consumers derive from spiritual advertising messages, the definitions of spirituality as religion in these studies are not in alignment with the holistic approach applied here. In this article, we interview consumers and ask what meanings may emerge from their responses to spiritually dense commercials. (By spiritually dense we mean commercial messages rich with spiritual core ideas, as described in the Spirituality in Advertising Framework). Four themes have emerged from the data: authenticity, the journey, inspiration, and nature. We analyze these findings in light of both theory and practice. Consideration of ethical issues and the positive dimension of spirituality in advertising are also discussed.     

Alternative Approaches to the Governance of Transnational Labor Recruitment

As globalization advances, the governance challenges relating to cross‐border labor recruitment have also grown. Transnational companies that manage the employment‐based migration process often take advantage of individuals seeking work abroad. While some states have implemented recruitment regulations, a combination of jurisdictional constraints and economic interests have limited states’ capacity and political will to take action. Supplemental strategies are emerging led by international organizations, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs), labor unions, and corporate trade groups. This paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of strategies led by each of these different types of actors and explores potential synergies among them.     

Organised Voluntarism in Ireland

Historically Irish society has had a long tradition of grass roots voluntary community work. However, with the rise of neoliberalism in the 1990s, the Irish community and voluntary sector became increasingly subjected to government controls and restrictions. As a result, voluntary community work became more formally organised, centrally regulated and depoliticised. Such ‘organised voluntarism’ (Fye and Mulligan in Prog Hum Geogr 27:397–413, 2003) has since become part and parcel of contemporary community development initiatives in Ireland. While some UK research has explored the impact that this discursive and policy shift is having on volunteering, there is a dearth of Irish literature on this issue. This article presents an account of how and why this form of voluntarism took hold in contemporary Ireland. The establishment of Family Resource Centres in Ireland will be recalled and assessed to further illustrate the observations being made about organised voluntarism in Ireland.     

Urban noise affects song structure and daily patterns of song production in Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus)

Traffic noise is becoming a more prominent fixture in urban environments as cities and highways expand to accommodate the growing human population. Birds, in particular, rely heavily on vocal communication and have recently been shown to change the structure of their signals in response to environmental noise. Our objective was to determine the impact of traffic noise on Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) song structure and song timing. We recorded bird songs using a directional microphone and installed permanent recording devices to monitor daily song patterns at both high traffic noise sites and low traffic noise sites throughout southern Ontario, Canada. Our results indicate that at sites with high traffic noise, Red-winged Blackbirds sing songs with fewer introductory syllables, which are an important component of individual recognition and repertoire formation. In addition, the typical diurnal singing pattern of birds associated with noisy urban sites is more homogeneous than that of birds associated with quiet rural marshes. In the early morning and evening, singing effort was higher at rural sites than at urban sites, while in the midday singing effort at urban sites was higher than at rural sites. Birds at our noisy urban sites appear to be avoiding acoustic masking by increasing song production during the quiet part of the day and decreasing song production during the noisy rush hour periods. Based on our results, urban noise is impacting communication structure and the daily pattern of song production in a marsh-nesting species. These results have important implications for avian conservation and land use planning for urban development.     

Impact of urbanization on the water quality,fish habitat,and fish community of a Lake Ontario marsh,Frenchman’s Bay

Frenchman’s Bay is a barrier beach wetland with a highly urbanized watershed located east of Toronto, along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Degradation of water quality has reduced the historically large stand of emergent vegetation to fringe emergent beds to the north and south of the Bay. Altered hydrology and runoff from the urban watershed and a nearby major highway have resulted in poor water quality, and warmer waters at the northern site. By contrast, the southern site has considerably cleaner and cooler water, as it is influenced by exchange of good-quality water with Lake Ontario. These differences in water quality were reflected in the composition of the fish assemblages that were sampled at the two sites over a 2-year period. Comparisons with past studies indicate that the dominant fish community of Frenchman’s Bay has been relatively stable for the last 20 years. Scores for the Wetland Fish Index, an indicator of wetland condition, were significantly higher in the south site than in the north site, which corresponded to significant differences in Water Quality Index scores. Although the northern portion of Frenchman’s Bay shows clear signs of degradation, the southern portion contains important fish habitat for western Lake Ontario.