Discrimination and Chronic Kidney Disease among Caribbean Blacks: The Effects of Immigration and Social Status

This study examined the association between discrimination and chronic kidney disease (CKD) among Caribbean blacks and how this association varies by marital status, educational attainment, and length of U.S. residency within the frameworks for the stress buffering hypothesis and stress process model. The analysis was based on the Caribbean black subsample of the National Survey of American Life (N?=?1551). Logistic regression models were conducted to test the aims of this study. The findings indicate that the association between discrimination and CKD varied by length of U.S. residency, marital status, and education. Overall, the findings demonstrate the importance of considering immigration and sociodemographic context when investigating the relation between discrimination and CKD in immigrant populations.     

Family Time and the Psychosocial Adjustment of Adolescent Siblings and Their Parents

This study examined the implications of family time for firstborn and secondborn adolescent offspring, mothers, and fathers in 192 dual‐earner families, defining family time as time shared by the foursome in activities across 7 days. Data were gathered in daily telephone interviews. For firstborns, higher levels of family time at Time 1 predicted less involvement in risky behavior 2 years later, controlling for Time 1 risky behavior. Longitudinal analyses predicting depressive symptoms revealed family time X parent education interactions for firstborns, fathers, and mothers, suggesting that the implications of family time depended on social class. The pattern of results suggests that family time is protective when chosen by family members but not when it represents a default use of time.     

International Perspectives on the Use of Community Treatment Orders: Implications for Mental Health Social Workers

Substantial changes to mental health law and policy have occurredthroughout the Western world during the last decade. The drifttowards control, particularly in the form of Community TreatmentOrders (CTOs), has profound implications for the role of mentalhealth social workers, yet this issue is rarely discussed inacademic literature. This paper seeks to redress this gap inknowledge by examining aspects of law, policy and practice usingthree case studies: Victoria, Australia; Ontario, Canada; andregions of the UK. The paper begins by critically reviewingselected literature on CTOs, revealing competing claims aboutefficacy and their impact upon service users¹ and practitioners.A discussion of policy and practice contexts in the three jurisdictionsis then presented and supported with a typology, to illustratecontrasts and comparisons. In their conclusions, the authorsassert that mental health social workers often have a crucialpart to play in the implementation of CTOs but that this isnot always acknowledged in law and organizational policy. Socialworkers’ roles and responsibilities need to be more explicitlyidentified in mental health law. At the same time, there shouldbe a continuing debate about how such coercive powers fit withcodes of ethics and practice standards, at national and internationallevels.     

Ethnocentrism and History Textbooks: Representation of the Irish Famine 1845-49 in history textbooks in English secondary schools

This case study examines how a topic of Irish history, the Irish Famine 1845-49, is represented over time in history textbooks used in English secondary schools and whether and to what extent ethnocentrism is inherent in this presentation. The concept of ethnocentrism is used as a framework for interpreting the presentation of the topic. A strategy of content analysis of samples of history textbooks from the 1920s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to the present is used. The conclusion drawn from the analysis is that the history of the Irish Famine is marginalised in the overall sample and that the textbooks contain examples of both direct and indirect ethnocentrism. The conclusion also highlights the importance of maintaining an intercultural approach when designing school curricula and of providing alternative accounts of history to that of the dominant culture.     

Monopsony and teachers’ salaries in Georgia

Does monopsony power in the labor market for teachers affect teachers’ salaries? Prior studies have found mixed evidence of monopsony effects in teacher labor markets. A major problem has been controlling for union wage effects, which potentially mask the wage-depressing effects of monopsony. We use data from the state of Georgia, one of the few states in the United States where no teacher bargaining takes place. We detect no evidence of lower average teacher salaries in less competitive labor markets. We also find limited evidence that salaries of beginning teachers may be about two percent lower in less competitive labor markets, but our findings are not robust with respect to our various measures of monopsony and labor market boundaries. We conclude that even in the absence of unions the effect of monopsony on teachers’ salaries appears to be very small.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADOLESCENT NONMARITAL CHILDBEARING AND EDUCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS: A Cohort and Period Comparison

Prior research on the relationship between adolescent childbearing and later life outcomes is deficient in two respects. First, it has focused almost exclusively on socioeconomic octcomes, failing to consider the possible effect of a birth on social psychological outocomes. Second, it generally has ot considered whether the relationship between adolescent choldbearing and outcomes has changed across cohorts and over time. This study attempts to fill these two gaps by estimating and comparing the effects of nonmarital chidbearing on change in a social psychological variable, educational expectations, over the perod between the sophomore year in high school and two years later, using longitudinal data for the sophomore cohorts of High School and Beyond, 1980, and the National Education Londgitudinal Study of 1988. Findings for both cohorts indicate that adolescent girls tend to reduce their educational expectations following a nonmarital pregnancy or birth. In addition, adolescent girls with low educational expectations are at greater risk of a nonmarital pregnancy or birth than adolescent girls with high educational expetions.     

SOCIALLY EMBEDDED IDENTITIES: Theories, Typologies, and Processes of Racial Identity among Black/White Biracials

Current research on racial identity construction among biracial people derives primarily from small convenience samples and assumes that individuals with one black and one white parent have only two options for racial identity: "black" or "biracial." Rockquemore's (1999) taxonomy of racial identity options is used as a framework to synthesize existing research and to generate hypotheses that are explored using survey data from a sample of 177 biracial respondents. The findings support a multidimensional view of racial identity by illustrating that biracial people make various identity choices, albeit "choices" that are differentially available due to an individual's structural iocation.     

Attachment status and complexity of infants' self- and other-knowledge when tested with mother and father

At 13 and 20 months, infants' featural knowledge of self and parent was assessed separately with mother and father. Infants' featural knowledge was measured by a scale that included tasks reflecting infants' knowledge of facial features, spatial location, name, possession and gender. No significant relation between attachment status and featural knowledge was obtained at 13 months when tested with either parent. At 20 months, in contrast, more complex featural knowledge of self and parent was demonstrated by infants who were securely attached than by those who were insecurely attached. Independent of age, however, infants' featural knowledge of their mothers was more complex than that of their fathers, although no differences in self-knowledge were obtained as a function of parent gender. These data are understood in the context of cognitive development and the differences in interactional qualities assessed by attachment status and parent gender.