Quality of Community Life Among Rural Residents: An Integrated Model

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships among housing satisfaction, community attachment and community satisfaction and the complex mechanisms involved in predicting community satisfaction among residents in rural communities. The role of housing satisfaction and community attachment in predicting community satisfaction was of particular interest. A structural equation model of community satisfaction was tested with mail survey data drawn from a randomly selected rural sample of 974 households. The results of this study confirmed the influences and mediating role of community attachment and housing satisfaction in predicting community satisfaction. “Spillover” effects from “lower levels of life concerns” (e.g., satisfaction with local services, assessment of current housing conditions) in perceived community satisfaction were found that support previous research (Sirgy and Cornwell in Social Indicators Research 59:79–114, 2002).     

Screening for elder abuse in hospitalized older adults with dementia

When older adults with dementia are hospitalized for psychiatric treatment, which elder abuse screen to use is questionable. This article reviews screens to identify desirable characteristics. For clinician completion, the Elder Assessment Instrument and the Brief Abuse Screens for the Elderly are recommended. For the older adult, the brief Hwalek-Sengstock Elder Abuse Screening Test is suitable. The Modified Conflict Tactics Scale, which can be used by both the older adult and the nonprofessional caregiver, has many of the recommended characteristics. Research is necessary in the application of these screens within hospitals to detect elder abuse within this specialized population.     

Date Rape After the Afterschool Special: Narrative Trends in the Televised Depiction of Social Problems

Social problems scholars have pointed to sensitive depictions of social problems like smoking, rape, and spousal abuse on television as evidence of the success of movements devoted to those causes. Media scholars have countered that the pressure on television producers to hew to formula inevitably leads to stereotypical depictions of social problems. We appraise these two perspectives by way of an analysis of the portrayal of date rape on teen television dramas over the course of 2 decades. We show that, for a period, advocates did secure portrayals of date rape that were in line with a feminist antirape agenda. However, that depiction yielded to one in which date rape figured as a narrative device, used to tell audiences something about the show's characters or their situation, not to tell them something about rape. Developments in teen serials' content and especially their form led eventually to antifeminist portrayals, in which rapes were portrayed as unjust but routine events. Behind these developments, however, were demands on television writers to produce not formula, but novelty. We conclude by theorizing more generally the effects of the demand for novelty on the depiction of social problems on television.     

Socioeconomic success and mental health profiles of young adults who drop out of college

Based on the developmental theories of life course and emerging adulthood, the current study examines a central question about the diversity of trajectories among young adults who drop out of college. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) provides prospective data on a nationally representative sample of US young adults. Our subsamples include young adults who dropped out of college (N?=?1,530) and those who obtained a bachelor’s degree (N?=?1,977). We examined five dimensions of well-being: socio-economic success indicators, happiness/satisfaction, mastery, stress, and depression. Using latent class analysis, five classes of young adults who dropped out emerged that reflected variability in the patterns of well-being. Differences in socio-economic and mental health dimensions are elaborated in the study. The findings from this study provide valuable basis for challenging stereotypes about the college student dropout population.     

Evidence of a Housing Decision Chain in Rural Community Vitality*

Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore and explain the role housing plays in rural community vitality. Community vitality refers to economic strength and social well‐being. In spring 2002 we collected primary interview data from informants in 134 small rural communities in nine north‐central states and identified related secondary data from the U.S. census. We developed a structural‐equation‐path model, which supported a “housing decision chain” that influenced community vitality. Based on this research, local housing decisions do play an important role in community vitality. Strong local leaders use housing planning to secure funding to produce a change in the quantity of housing, which in turn positively influences community vitality. Housing inventory also mediated the effects of total population and percentage population change on community vitality, indicating that housing supply is a fundamental ingredient in community growth strategies. These findings support the conclusion that a combination of housing plans and strategies orchestrated by skilled, committed leadership strengthens rural communities. Heretofore the ling between housing and community vitality has not been investigated; evidence‐based data has been missing from the debate on viable rural community‐development strategies.     

Emergency departments and street-involved youth: factors influencing utilization

Homeless youth often have untreated health problems and experience barriers to care. Existing evidence suggests that homeless youth use emergency departments (EDs) more frequently than other youth. We hypothesized that street youth with access to primary care services would be less likely to utilize EDs for health care. Data were drawn from a study of housing security and changes to it over time among 150 youth (16–20 years) recruited from service agencies for street-involved youth. Our findings show that those with access to primary care were actually more likely to use the ED, suggesting that access may encourage further engagement with the health care system. Findings support the need to better understand why access to primary care increases ED use and what could be done to change this pattern.     

Behavioral and Electrophysiological Indices of Memory in Typically Developing and Hypoxic‐Ischemic Injured Infants

Behavioral and electrophysiological indices of memory were examined in 12‐month‐old typically developing control infants (CON) and infants with history of perinatal hypoxic‐ischemic injury (HII) across 2 days. Using a visual paired comparison (VPC) procedure, novelty preference was tested immediately after a familiarization period and then after delays of 2 min and 24 h. Both groups showed a significant novelty preference only for the no‐delay condition. On day two, event‐related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while infants viewed the VPC familiar face, a more recently familiarized face, and a novel face, and mean amplitude for components thought to reflect memory (positive slow wave, PSW) and attention (negative central, Nc) were computed. In temporal regions, HII showed a diminished Nc and enhanced PSW to the recently familiarized face, while CON showed a similar trend for the PSW only. Overall, infants showed the largest PSW over left scalp regions. Finally, a positive correlation between VPC novelty preference after 24 h and PSW was found in CON, and preliminary results suggest that this association differs as a function of group. Therefore, in comparison with CON, HII showed both similarities and differences on individual tasks of memory as well as potentially disparate relations between the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying memory performance.