Experiences of Peer Evaluation of the Leicester Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Strategy

The Centre for Social Action was commissioned by the Leicester City Council to evaluate its Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Strategy. This was a multi‐stage project with a central element of consulting with young people. This article outlines the process that was followed in order to recruit, train and support young people through the process of being peer researchers. Issues covered include retention of interested young people, experiences of training peer evaluators and supporting them throughout the project. The added value of using peer evaluators will be discussed and recommendations given for those wanting to work with young people as researchers in future.     

Patterns of positivity: Positive affect trajectories among infants of mothers with a history of depression

This study examined positive affect (PA) trajectories over the first year of life among infants of mothers with a history of depression (N = 191) as well as predictors (i.e., maternal prenatal and postpartum depression symptoms, maternal parenting behaviors) of those trajectories. Infant PA was observed in play and feeding tasks during laboratory visits at 3, 6, and 12 months of age; parenting behaviors were observed at 3 months. Mothers completed questionnaires regarding their symptoms of depression throughout the prenatal period and during the first 3 months postpartum. Growth curve analyses indicated that infant PA increased across time, and this finding replicated across both the play and feeding tasks, though increases slowed over time. Neither maternal prenatal nor postpartum depression symptoms predicted infants' PA trajectories, but mothers' PA, positive parenting, and disengaged parenting were associated with infant PA during the play task. Our finding that infant PA increased over the first year postpartum suggests PA trajectories among infants of mothers with a history of depression may be indices of resilience, despite risks associated with their mothers' history of depression. Furthermore, this study highlights parenting behaviors that may be important targets of prevention and early intervention efforts to bolster infant PA.     

Sexual Behavior Among Young Carers in the Context of a Kenyan Empowerment Program Combining Cash-Transfer,Psychosocial Support,and Entrepreneurship

This study examined associations between sexual initiation, unprotected sex, and having multiple sex partners in the past year with participation in a three-year empowerment program targeting orphan and vulnerable children (OVC). The Kenya-based program combines community-conditioned cash transfer, psychosocial empowerment, health education, and microenterprise development. Program participants (n = 1,060) were interviewed in a cross-sectional design. Analyses used gender-stratified hierarchical logit models to assess program participation and other potential predictors. Significant predictors of increased female sexual activity included less program exposure, higher age, younger age at most recent parental death, fewer years of schooling, higher food consumption, higher psychological resilience, and lower general self-efficacy. Significant predictors of increased male sexual activity included more program exposure, higher age, better food consumption, not having a living father, and literacy. Findings support a nuanced view of current cash transfer programs, where female sexual activity may be reduced through improved financial status but male sexual activity may increase. Targeting of OVC sexual risk behaviors would likely benefit from being tailored according to associations found in this study. Data suggest involving fathers in sexual education, targeting women who lost a parent at a younger age, and providing social support for female OVC may decrease risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission.     

Statistical Methods and Graphical Displays For Analyzing How The Association Between Two Qualitative Variables Differs Among Countries, Among Groups, Or Over TimePart II: Some Exploratory Techniques, Simple Models, and Simple Examples

We introduce some simple models that can be viewed as special cases of the general model and general approach to analyzing the association in multiway tables that we first presented in 1998. We use two empirical examples to demonstrate the flexibility and utility of the simple models introduced here and of our general approach.     

Efficient Design with Interdependent Valuations

We study efficient, Bayes‐Nash incentive compatible mechanisms in a social choice setting that allows for informational and allocative externalities. We show that such mechanisms exist only if a congruence condition relating private and social rates of information substitution is satisfied. If signals are multi‐dimensional, the congruence condition is determined by an integrability constraint, and it can hold only in nongeneric cases where values are private or a certain symmetry assumption holds. If signals are one‐dimensional, the congruence condition reduces to a monotonicity constraint and it can be generically satisfied. We apply the results to the study of multi‐object auctions, and we discuss why such auctions cannot be reduced to one‐dimensional models without loss of generality.     

Low Social Status Markers: Do They Predict Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence?

Some markers of social disadvantage are associated robustly with depressive symptoms among adolescents: female gender and lower socioeconomic status (SES), respectively. Others are associated equivocally, notably black v. white race/ethnicity. Few studies examine whether markers of social disadvantage by gender, SES, and race/ethnicity jointly predict self-reported depressive symptoms during adolescence; this was our goal. Secondary analyses were conducted on data from a socioeconomically diverse community-based cohort study of non-Hispanic black and white adolescents (N = 1,263, 50.4% female). Multivariable general linear models tested whether female gender, black race/ethnicity, and lower SES (assessed by parent education and household income) and their interactions predicted greater depressive symptoms reported on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Models adjusted for age and pubertal status. Univariate analyses revealed more depressive symptoms in females, blacks, and participants with lower SES. Multivariable models showed females across both racial/ethnic groups reported greater depressive symptoms; blacks demonstrated more depressive symptoms than did whites, but when SES was included this association disappeared. Exploratory analyses suggested blacks gained less mental health benefit from increased SES. However, there were no statistically significant interactions among gender, race/ethnicity, or SES. Taken together, we conclude that complex patterning among low social status domains within gender, race/ethnicity, and SES predicts depressive symptoms among adolescents.     

The We-Lead Model for Bridging the Low-Income Community Leadership Skills-Practice Gap

There are several community leadership development programs that devote tremendous resources to help improve the vitality and wealth of individuals and communities through the development of local leadership capacities. One great challenge is that these programs fail to coordinate existing community resources to create opportunities to engage program graduates. This article interrogates the effectiveness of leadership development programs in creating opportunities for engagement. Expanding on U-Lead model, the article proposes a WE-Lead model that can bridge the skills-practice gap by emphasizing the importance of aligning community leadership development programs with community needs through building community coordinated coalitions.     

Conservative Politics,Sacred Cows,and Sacrificial Lambs: The (Mis)Use of Evidence in Canada's Political and Penal Fields

This article explores the federal government's justifications for its decision to cancel Canada's prison farm program, and demonstrates how Harper's Conservatives used talk of “evidence,” “science,” and “research” to appear to be performing good, modern governance. We argue that developments within the penal field are deeply intertwined with activities within the political field—and are more clearly understood when situated within the broader context of politics, science, and the strategic (mis)use of evidence. Scholars must be careful in assuming the state is actually engaging evidence rather than doing so only at the level of rhetoric and discourse. Cet article explore les justifications utilisées par le gouvernement fédéral par rapport à sa décision d'annuler le programme canadien de prisons‐fermes, et démontre comment les conservateurs d'Harper ont utilisé les notions d’‘évidence’, de ‘science’ et de ‘recherche’ pour donner une apparence de bonne performance et de gouvernance moderne. Nous affirmons que les développements du champ pénal sont profondément imbriqués avec les activités à l'intérieur du champ politique—et sont mieux comprises lorsque situés dans le cadre plus large des politiques, de la science et des stratégies de (mal)utilisation d’évidences. Les spécialistes devraient être prudents lorsqu'ils assument que l’État prend réellement en compte les évidences alors qu'il est en fait seulement au niveau de la rhétorique et du discours.