Young Adult Dating Relationships and the Management of Sexual Risk

Young adult involvement in sexual behavior typically occurs within a relationship context, but we know little about the ways in which specific features of romantic relationships influence sexual decision-making. Prior work on sexual risk taking focuses attention on health issues rather than relationship dynamics. We draw on data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (n = 475) to examine the association between qualities and dynamics of current/most recent romantic relationships such as communication and emotional processes, conflict, demographic asymmetries, and duration and the management of sexual risk. We conceptualize ‘risk management’ as encompassing multiple domains, including (1) questioning the partner about previous sexual behaviors/risks, (2) using condoms consistently, and (3) maintaining sexual exclusivity within the relationship. We identify distinct patterns of risk management among dating young adults and find that specific qualities and dynamics of these relationships are linked to variations in risk management. Results from this paper suggest the need to consider relational dynamics in efforts to target and influence young adult sexual risk-taking and reduce STIs, including HIV.     

To serve and protect: Textualizing the Falklands conflict

ABSTRACT

This article examines the roles and functions of narratives in the conduct and prosecution of the Falklands War. It looks at how, and with what degree of success the Falklands conflict was emplotted into potent definitions of national identity; how it was constructed as the embodiment of certain cherished ideals of nationhood, and thus slotted into what Patrick Wright calls the ‘mythical Histories’ of Britain and Argentina. It considers how the languages of diplomacy and sport were articulated within a discourse of war. It examines how participants in the conflict, journalists and combatants, made use of narratives cognate with the tradition of the romance quest in an effort to make sense of the conflict, promote its aims and provide themselves with reassurance at times of uncertainty, if not naked terror. It also considers how opposition to the war, dissenting opinions about the legitimacy of its aims and prosecution, and a more critical view of its costs, was most often and most effectively articulated in narratives which contested and deconstructed the discursive norms of the romance quest, or which challenged the coherence of the narrative or the narrative subject itself.     

Psychosexual Correlates of Sexual Double Standard Endorsement in Adolescent Sexuality

Endorsement and enactment of the (hetero)sexual double standard (SDS), prescribing sexual modesty for girls and sexual prowess for boys, has been shown to be negatively related to sexual and mental health. To be able to challenge the SDS, more insight is needed into the conditions that shape gendered sexual attitudes. A survey was conducted among 465 heterosexual adolescents (aged 16–20 years), examining the relationship between a number of relevant demographic and psychosexual variables and SDS endorsement. SDS endorsement was assessed using a newly developed instrument, the Scale for the Assessment of Sexual Standards Among Youth (SASSY). Gender (being male) and religiousness were significantly associated with increased SDS endorsement. For both boys and girls, increased feelings of entitlement to self-induced sexual pleasure (e.g., masturbation) were significantly associated with reduced SDS endorsement, whereas higher gender investment was significantly associated with increased SDS endorsement. Furthermore, increased feelings of entitlement to partner-induced sexual pleasure and more frequent talking about sexuality with peers were associated with increased SDS endorsement among boys but not among girls. We conclude that future research should explore peer influence processes through peer communication about sex, gender investment, and feelings of entitlement to both self and partner-induced sexual pleasure.     

Maternal Tactile Stimulation and the Neurodevelopment of Low Birth Weight Infants

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of early maternal touch to the neurodevelopmental status of low birth weight (LBW) infants. One hundred and eight LBW infants and their mothers were videotaped during a typical feeding when the infant was 3 months old. This tape was used to analyze both the mother's touch and other facets of caregiving behavior using standardized coding systems. Data on perinatal medical risk were also acquired through chart review, and neurodevelopmental tests were administered to the infants at age 1 year. Results indicate that infants whose mothers used more stimulating touch during caregiving had better visual‐motor skills at 1 year of age. In addition, infants of mothers who touched them frequently had more advanced gross motor development. Findings suggest that stimulating and frequent touch may help to compensate for early neurosensory deficits and promote neurodevelopment for LBW infants. Infant birth weight made the strongest contribution to all measures of infant neurodevelopmental status at age 1 year.     

Restructuring Human Services in Canada: commodification of disability

The human service system in Canada has undergone significant changes as a result of the dismantling of provisions that were once in place to ensure access to services by society's more vulnerable citizens. This paper draws on a cross-Canada examination of services to adults with developmental disabilities to report on the response of service providers in this time of turbulence. Qualitative analysis provides insight into the ways in which services have responded to shrinking budgets. Without leadership and lacking a social policy framework from senior levels of governments, the changing face of human services has been accompanied by the arrival of a new market-orientated service provider group that has deepened the commodification of disability. The examination concludes with the introduction of an approach to support which resists the trend toward commodification and re-establishes the social good, allowing the individual with a disability the right to participate more fully in community life alongside other members of society.