What does the pursuit of a high quality of life entail?: Grounding a theoretical model in lived experience

In response to calls for a better understanding of quality of life, we draw upon working professionals’ perspectives and experiences to introduce a theoretical model that emerged from an inductive analysis of respondents’ language. A key element of this model includes a collective picture of factors representing quality of life. Further, this model suggests interrelatedness among these factors with pursuit of a high quality of life emerging as a dynamic process with a tensional nature. Our proposed model extends existing research by more fully capturing the complex ways in which people from the United States describe quality of life and its pursuit.     

The influence of riparian corridor width on ant and plant assemblages in northern Sydney,Australia

Protecting riparian corridors is a commonly applied environmental policy in urban landscapes. However, empirical data demonstrating their efficacy for biodiversity conservation outcomes is scarce. In this study we investigated whether riparian corridor width influences the diversity and community structure of ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and vascular plant assemblages therein. Eighteen corridors of differing widths were selected from within the Ku-ring-gai Local Government Area, Sydney Australia. Ants were sampled using pitfall traps positioned within rectangular vegetation transects (30 × 10 m). Both ant and plant species richness, when standardised for sampling effort, were unrelated to riparian corridor width. However, significant compositional differences between sites were evident with increased width up to ~50 m. Narrow corridors contained greater abundances of opportunistic ant species and higher proportions of exotic plants. We interpret this to be the result of the greater disturbance/edge influence derived from adjacent upland urban environments. Site beta diversity did not increase with corridor width, suggesting that the exclusion of novel upslope habitats in narrow riparian corridors is not a significant cause of community assemblage modification at these sites. To minimise the impact of deleterious edge effects on ant fauna, environmental managers should seek to retain riparian corridors wider than ~50 m. However, we observed substantial between-site variability of biotic assemblages, irrespective of corridor width. Therefore we recommend that environmental management practice needs to take a catchment-wide approach and consider other parameters that may contribute to riparian health so as to optimise the protection of riparian biodiversity.     

Risk Factors for Clinically Significant Intimate Partner Violence Among Active‐Duty Members

Hypothesized risk factors for men's and women's clinically significant intimate partner violence (CS‐IPV) from four ecological levels (i.e., individual, family, workplace, community) were tested in a representative sample of active‐duty U.S. Air Force members (N = 42,744). When considered together, we expected only individual and family factors to account for unique variance in CS‐IPV perpetration. Hypothesized factors from all four ecological levels were related to men's CS‐IPV perpetration bivariately, but, as expected, only individual and family factors accounted for unique variance across ecological levels. For women, only risk factors from the individual and family levels were significantly related to CS‐IPV perpetration even bivariately. Results imply somewhat different risk profiles across gender and identify ecological risk factors of men's CS‐IPV not previously studied.     

FRACTURED RESISTANCES:

This article analyzes the arguments of two of the central positions in the debate over assimilationism in the gay and lesbian community as a means of exploring the meaning of resistance, opposition, struggle, and agency within the context of a dominant and generative field of power. Instead of debating which position is better or most effective, or which involves "true resistance," we use Foucault's formulations to suggest that each represents but one among a multiplicity of strategies, all existing simultaneously in a field of power. Because this field is composed of a plurality of dissonant, multi-layered, multidimensional relations of power, we argue that no single form of resistance can be identified and uniquely practiced. Instead, each struggle contributes its own partial modification to the overall transformation of the field of power, and simultaneously highlights the inconsistencies faced by agents who attempt to present a coherent identity in opposition to structures of domination.     

Becoming Self-Employed

This study explored how persons become self-employed. In critical incident interviews (Flanagan, 1954) with 5 self-employed persons, the critical events that assisted or hindered progress toward self-employment were elicited in chronological order. First, the 108 incidents were organized into 22 categories. Next, using the chronological order of categories of events, 2 basic patterns or plots for becoming self-employed were identified. Last, 8 distinctive themes of personal progress in the patterns were described. In general, becoming self-employed involved establishing conditions of action that enhanced a sense of agency, enabling each person to make a decision.     

Children’s Time Use: Labor Divisions and Schooling in Indonesia

Data from the Worker and Iron Status Evaluation are used to examine gendered patterns in children’s time in market and nonmarket work, schooling, and leisure in Indonesia (N= 2,929). Boys spend more time in market work; girls spend more time in nonmarket work. Work responsibilities increase with age as well as gender differentials in children’s time use. By age 18, girls spend nearly 1 more hour per day working and enjoy significantly less leisure time, but the gender gap in schooling is not significant, suggesting that parents and children are committed to both work and schooling. Additionally, Tobit regression results suggest that parents’ education, household income, and rural residency are important predictors of children’s labor and schooling time.     

The Immigrant Paradox in Pregnancy: Explaining the First‐Generation Advantage for Latina Adolescents

The immigrant paradox is a population health pattern whereby later generation immigrant youth display less favorable outcomes when compared to first‐generation co‐ethnic peers. This study examines the role of number of sex partners in explaining the immigrant paradox in pregnancy among Latina adolescents. This secondary analysis utilized a nationally representative sample of Latinas in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. As expected, first‐generation Latina adolescents demonstrated less risk than second‐ or third+ generation Latinas for becoming pregnant. Further, the lower number of sexual partners fully accounted for the first generation's advantage in lower rate of adolescent pregnancy. These findings have important implications for healthcare providers who work with Latina girls in pregnancy prevention.