Social stigma and negative consequences: factors that influence college students' decisions to seek testing for sexually transmitted infections

College students often delay or avoid seeking testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), even if the services are readily available. We used in-depth, semistructured interviews to survey 41 college students aged 18 to 23 years about factors that influence decisions about STI testing. We grouped statements into 9 themes that represent influences on the decision. The most frequently mentioned factors were negative consequences of testing and perceived vulnerability to infection; other issues that influenced decision making included perceived benefits, perceived severity of diseases, public knowledge and opinion, social norms, provider characteristics, test-site characteristics, and personal considerations. Social stigmas and negative consequences appear to represent significant barriers to college students' being tested, which could increase the risk of spreading infections to others. Clinicians and health educators should raise students' awareness of the need for screening and should work to reduce the barriers to screening, including social stigmas and negative consequences.     

The ultimate deception: childhood sexual abuse in the church

Childhood sexual abuse is a serious problem. Significant evidence exists that victims experience both short-term and long-term emotional and psychological problems related to the abuse. Childhood sexual abuse committed by clergy or other adults affiliated with the church may have additional ramifications because of deep violations of trust, honesty, and love. In addition, it can create spiritual distress in victims. Child and adolescent mental health nurses need to actively promote risk-reduction strategies to help prevent the abuse from occurring in their communities.     

Designing for a Response Transformation Parameter

We investigate D -optimum designs for experiments in which a linear model holds after an unknown power transformation of the univariate response variable. This is a departure from standard D -optimal design in which an appropriate scale for the response is assumed known before data collection. The design problem that we formulate is intrinsically non-linear, requiring characterization of likely parameter values. Several applications are presented to illustrate the importance of recognizing the role of response transformations at the design stage.     

Public support for social security

This article reports the results of a nationally representative survey of 1,209 Americans that examines their support for Social Security and six other major social welfare programs. It probes the extent to which members of the public are willing to demonstrate their support, the differences in support among population subgroups, and the extent to which perceptions of Social Security and Social Security recipients predict overall support for Social Security. The authors find high levels of support among members of the public, including a willingness both to write letters to congress members and to pay higher taxes. Some groups of citizens—especially blacks and those who classify themselves as liberals—are more supportive than others, but the differences are not great and contribute little toward explaining the variance in support. The perceptions that the program makes a worthwhile contribution to society and that recipients have no alternative sources of income other than Social Security contribute the most toward predicting overall support for Social Security.     

Knowledge and Women's Interests: Issues of Epistemology and Methodology in Feminist Sociological Research*

This analysis focuses on feminist methodology in the field of sociology by surveying the techniques used in recent research concerning gender-related topics as well as feminist analyses of epistemological assumptions underlying the conduct of inquiry. In addition to the critique and reformulation of standard research practice, feminist methodology involves the development of innovative methodological approaches, including visual techniques, conversational and textual analysis, and analysis of spontaneous events. Linked to the development of innovation is the feminist analysis of the epistemological assumptions which underlie different ways of knowing. These principles of feminist knowledge include (1) the necessity of continuously and reflexively attending to the significance of gender relations as a basic feature of all social life, including the conduct of research; (2) the centrality of consciousness-raising as a specific methodological tool and as a “way of seeing;” (3) the need to challenge the norm of “objectivity” that assumes a dichotomy between the subject and object of research; (4) the concern for the ethical implications of research; and (5) an emphasis on the transformation of patriarchy and the empowerment of women.     

Phytosociological analysis of restored and managed grassland habitat within an urban national park

Floyd Bennett Field (FBF), 579 ha in extent, is a division of Gateway National Recreation Area. It is the site of a former airfield, constructed by filling salt marshes with dredged materials. Except for the portion known locally as the North Forty, all sections of FBF have been cut over to maintain low vegetation. A grassland management plan (GRAMP) for 165 ha was initiated in 1986, to maintain habitats for open-country birds. Over the next few years, encroaching woody vegetation was removed manually and mechanically from the management area. Since then, it has been maintained as a grassland and receives annual mowing, as well as continued manual removal of the larger woody sprouts.A portion of the GRAMP management area (III) was selected for intensive study of vegetation composition. A grid system was created and vegetation cover was estimated in 127, 1 m × 1 m quadrats. The quadrats were subjected to cluster analysis (CA). Eleven clusters were recognized. These clusters were treated as plant associations. The following types were distinguished: (native) little bluestem–dewberry grassland, six-weeks fescue annual grassland, a grass marsh, a rush marsh, a switchgrass dry grassland, and a deer-tongue panicgrass grassland; (exotic) mugwort herbland, oriental bittersweet-Japanese honeysuckle vineland, Kentucky bluegrass-mixed grassland, Japanese knotweed tall herbland, and spotted knapweed-common St. Johnswort herbland. The little bluestem–dewberry association accounted for nearly half of all quadrats; six subclusters were recognized. The plant associations determined by CA were compared with plant lists compiled during traverses of all of the map categories in the six GRAMP Areas (I, II, III, IV, V, VI). A table was created to relate the quantitative data of the plant associations to the appropriate map categories. A nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination (NMDS) was performed on the quadrat data. Finally, the plant associations were compared with those described in the literature of local vegetation studies. The mowing program has been effective in decreasing woody plant cover and has permitted the invasion of a few taxa into monospecific communities, but attendant disturbance of the substrate is likely to cause an increase in exotic plant taxa. As earlier studies noted, mowing has caused the increase in cover of sod-forming grass, and bare ground has virtually disappeared in the managed area. This has negative implications for the maintenance of those grassland bird species that require open ground for nesting.     

Bayesian modelling of effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on child cognition based on data from multiple cohorts

High levels of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) result in significant cognitive deficits in children, but the exact nature of the dose-response relationship is less well understood. To investigate this relationship, data were assembled from six longitudinal birth cohort studies examining the effects of PAE on cognitive outcomes from early school age through adolescence. Structural equation models (SEMs) are a natural approach to consider, because of the way they conceptualise multiple observed outcomes as relating to an underlying latent variable of interest, which can then be modelled as a function of exposure and other predictors of interest. However, conventional SEMs could not be fitted in this context because slightly different outcome measures were used in the six studies. In this paper we propose a multi-group Bayesian SEM that maps the unobserved cognition variable to a broad range of observed outcomes. The relation between these variables and PAE is then examined while controlling for potential confounders via propensity score adjustment. By examining different possible dose-response functions, the proposed framework is used to investigate whether there is a threshold PAE level that results in minimal cognitive deficit.     

Autocastration and autopenectomy in a patient with transsexualism and schizophrenia

Previous research focusing on changes in gay male sexual practices as a result of AIDS often avoids taking into consideration the meanings which sexual practices have within the gay community. As an alternative, the present study used a content‐analysis of personals advertisements within the personals section of The Village Voice to assess changes in the language gay men use to refer to their sexuality between the years 1978, 1982, 1985, and 1988. A significant increase in personals advertisements suggesting a concern with health is noted from 1982 to 1985. This increase continues from 1985 to 1988. Corresponding in time with these changes are increases in the number of personals advertisements which express a rejection of “stereotypical” presentations of self within the gay community. This rejection is seen as an attempt at self‐affirmation of characteristics perceived by gay men themselves as being desirable at particular historical moments. Implications for the basis of future policy interventions in reaction to AIDS are discussed. Finally, the utility of personals advertisement columns as an indicator of the meanings which people of various sexual preferences attach to their sexuality is discussed.     

Social support in single parents' transition from welfare to work: Analysis of qualitative findings1

Cook KE. Social support in single parents' transition from welfare to work: Analysis of qualitative findings Since 1995, single parents have been required to participate in welfare‐to‐work activities. While quantitative meta‐analyses have consolidated the social and economic impacts of such transitions, no attempt has yet been made to synthesise the qualitative evidence. In this article, I offer an analysis of 16 qualitative articles that explore the role of social support in the lives of single mothers making the transition from welfare to work. By focusing on the functions and reciprocal nature of social support, this study examined how welfare‐to‐work programmes shift women's dependence from the state onto family and friends, many of whom are in similarly impoverished situations and/or are unable to provide adequate support. Furthermore, women are often required to reciprocate the support they receive, which creates additional barriers to a successful welfare‐to‐work transition.     

Connection,connectivity and choice: Learning during COVID-19 restrictions across mainstream schools and Flexible Learning Programmes in Australia

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated school closures may have constrained educational participation particularly for students in disadvantaged circumstances. We explore how 30 disadvantaged students in secondary school (14 mainstream/16 Flexible Learning Programme) from Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania experienced home learning during the first wave of COVID-19, teasing out nuances across two educational models. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with these students, our analysis revealed three interconnected themes inflecting their learning: connection, connectivity and choice. Connection captures the desire for belonging and practices that facilitated meeting this desire during system-wide disruptions to school routines and face-to-face learning. Connectivity captures the impact of digitally facilitated learning at home on students' ability to engage with curriculum content and with their learning community. Choice captures the availability of viable options to overcome barriers students encountered in their learning and possibilities to flexibly accommodate student preferences and learning needs. Students from Flexible Learning Programmes appeared generally better supported to exercise agency within the scope of their lived experience of home-based learning. Findings indicate a need for strengthening student-centred policy and practices aimed at leveraging the affordances of information technology, balancing self-directed and structured learning and providing holistic support to enable meaningful student choice.