Impact of Parenting Behaviors on Recent Alcohol Use Among African American Students

Parenting is a critical factor in substance abuse prevention. Positive parenting behaviors are identified as a protective factor for substance abuse among youth. Limited research exists that investigates the role of parenting practices on minority youth substance use. The present study seeks to examine correlates between parenting and recent alcohol use among African American youth. Specifically, to what extent do African American students report experiencing specific parenting behaviors that are measured by the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health?, do specific parenting behaviors increase the risk of recent alcohol use among African American youth?, does the impact of parenting behaviors on recent alcohol use among African American youth differ based on sex (males and females) and age category (12–13, 14–15, and 16–17 years old) were examined in this study? Logistic regression analysis of the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health was conducted to examine the research questions. Findings indicated that parenting behaviors was associated with recent alcohol among youth. Significant differences were found for males, females, 12–13, 14–15, and 16–17 years olds. Study findings demonstrate the importance of positive parenting behaviors in youth alcohol prevention. Program specialists may target parenting as a means of preventing and reducing youth alcohol use among African American youth.     

War Leaves an Enduring Legacy in Combatants’ Lives

The memory of combat experience endures in World War II veterans. As veterans age, traumatic memory that previously may have been suppressed in the busyness of family and everyday life can re-emerge. Combat stress may affect not only the veterans, but also those people closely associated with them. Interviews were conducted with World War II veteran aircrew, wives, children, grandchildren, siblings, and friends to examine the impact of combat experience on the veterans and the family across the life course from the perspectives of the various participants. The combat experience significantly affected the life course of most.     

Book Review: The Really Hard Questions

Book reviewed in this article:
E. E. Maccoby (1998), The Two Sexes: Growing Up Apart, Coming Together     

An Examination of the Relationship Between Labelling and Stigmatisation with Special Reference to Dyslexia

In this paper it is argued that although labelling can lead to stigmatisation, this is not always the case. Evidence is presented to demonstrate that stigmatisation can take place in the absence of formal labelling or stigmatisation can precede labelling. Most of the evidence presented is from two interview studies one with 27 children and the other with 16 adults. It is suggested that further deconstruction of the labelling process is necessary, and that factors such as whether labels are formal or informal, private or public need to be taken into account. Finally, it is proposed that labelling can be considered at many levels of analysis from the personal to the political and that a coherent framework that integrates these different levels of analysis is needed.     

Culture and Co‐residence: An Exploration of Variation in Home‐Returning among Canadian Young Adults*

Cet article s'inscrit dans la lignée des études sur les dimensions culturelles de la cohabitation entre générations en examinant de près le comportement des jeunes adultes canadiens qui retournent vivre chez leurs parents. Nous explorons les rapports mutuels entre la famille et la diversité culturelle, entre le capital financier et le capital social, et entre le rythme et les mécanismes de transitions précoces qui se manifestent au cours d'une vie. Les modéles de hasards proportionnels sont appliqués à un sous‐échantillon de 2 549 jeunes adultes, àgés de 19 á 34 ans, en tenant compte des données de l'Enquete sociale générale, cycle 10, de 1995. L'une des principales conclusions tirées ici indique que les jeunes qui sont de langue maternelle anglaise sont beaucoup plus susceptibles de retourner chez leurs parents après un premier départ que ceux dont la langue maternelle est le français ou une autre langue. Les autres variables qui entrent en jeu sont le niveau d'education du père, le nombre de frères et de soeurs, le sexe, l'âge au moment du depart de la maison et la raison de ce départ. L'article aborde aussi les questions des responsabilités et des rôles des parents autour de la cinquantaine, et de la socialisation au sein de la famille au cours de la vie. This article offers a focussed examination of variation in home‐returning behaviour among Canadian young adults. Framed within the life course perspective, we explore the interrelationships among family and cultural diversity, financial and social capital, and the timing and pathways of early transitions. Proportional hazards analyses are performed on a subsample of 2,549 young adults aged 19–34, using data from the 1995 General Social Survey, Cycle 10. A major finding is that those whose mother tongue is English are significantly more likely to return to the parental home than those with French or “other” mother tongues. Other variables include: father's education, number of siblings, gender, age at home‐leaving, and initial reason for home‐leaving. Implications for midlife parental roles and responsibilities, and for family socialization are discussed.     

Assessing Value Differences Between Leaders of Two Social Venture Types: Benefit Corporations and Nonprofit Organizations

This study considers key value differences between leaders of two types of social ventures: for-profit social benefit corporations and nonprofit organizations. The research question asks to what degree the value sets of leaders of benefit corporations are congruent with those of similarly situated individuals in nonprofit organizations. The results show the values of leaders working in benefit corporations and nonprofit organizations are in many ways aligned, but there are notable statistical differences. A sectoral association of values is also present with employees in both types of organization, especially when the previous work experience of employees is considered.     

Heterogeneity in treatment effects across diverse populations

Differences in patient characteristics, including age, sex, and race influence the safety and effectiveness of drugs, biologic products, and medical devices. Here we provide a summary of the topics discussed during the opening panel at the 2018 Johns Hopkins Center for Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation symposium on Assessing and Communicating Heterogeneity of Treatment Effects for Patient Subpopulations: Challenges and Opportunities. The goal of this session was to provide a brief overview of FDA-regulated therapeutics, including drugs, biologics and medical devices, and some of the major sources of heterogeneity of treatment effects (HTE) related to patient demographics, such as age, sex and race. The panel discussed the US Food and Drug Administration's role in reviewing and regulating drugs, devices, and biologic products and the challenges associated with ensuring that diverse patient populations benefit from these therapeutics. Ultimately, ensuring diverse demographic inclusion in clinical trials, and designing basic and clinical research studies to account for the intended patient population's age, sex, race, and genetic factors among other characteristics, will lead to better, safer therapies for diverse patient populations.     

Keeping a Home: Changing Mortgage Markets and Regional Economic Distress

Abstract

In the relatively affluent post World War II period, homeownership in the United States has risen steadily to include an increasing segment of the working class. Although the extension of homeownership has helped to attenuate some of the inequalities of class and to integrate the more affluent segments of the working class into the social and political mainstream, economic and political events are threatening this historic trend. Dependent upon long term financing, homeownership has two components: keeping as well as buying a home. High and persistent rates of unemployment in old industrial areas have meant the loss of stable incomes for skilled workers, and with it, rising rates of home mortgage delinquency and foreclosure. To examine the threat to continued homeownership, this paper locates homeownership in its structural context, at the intersection of major changes in financial institutions (deregulation) as well as local economic and industrial change.

Our research suggests that regional economic difficulties are being exaccerbated by national deregulatory trends. We found that deregulation has facilitated a general movement from a local to a nonlocal mortgage market. This includes the growth and privatization of the secondary mortgage market and the repositioning of lenders in the local market. We found that delinquent homeowners with locally held and serviced mortgages were better able to negotiate forebearance with their lenders for reasons ranging from the ability to exert public pressure to the economic self-interest of local lenders. Except for FHA mortgages, delinquent homeowners with nonlocal mortgages were penalized. For blue collar workers, the loss of a home more than the loss of a job removes an important class buffer thus reversing a post World War II trend.     

A qualitative study investigating adolescents' understanding of aggression,bullying and violence

There is a general consistency across the research literature regarding the definition of bullying. This has filtered down into the construction of governmental and school anti-bullying policies around the world. However, research suggests that children and adolescents are failing to accurately identify cases of bullying. This in turn has implications upon the accuracy of our perception of the extent of the problem of bullying within schools. The current study aimed to investigate how 11–17 year olds understand and differentiate between terms relating to interpersonal peer aggression, violence and bullying. Fifty-seven (twenty male, thirty-seven female) participants were recruited via an opportunity sample. Participants took part in focus group interviews within which they were asked to provide a definition for a list of words relating to both traditional and cyber forms of aggression, bullying and violence. Thematic analysis revealed that the participants held a shared understanding of the terms relating to aggression, bullying and violence. Participants defined each term by describing the behaviors involved, their perception of the level of control the perpetrators of each type of negative peer interaction have and the perception of those involved. The implications of these findings for both policy and future research are discussed.