Becoming Parents

Ninety-six lesbian adoptive parents were part of a cross-sectional study to explore their adoption experiences, specifically focusing on their sources of consultation/information and possible bias, adoption timeframes and costs, and their satisfaction with the adoption experience. Questions within each of these domains were tested for significant differences across international, private domestic and child welfare adoption venues. While their overall experiences were positive, several key significant findings are discussed, with practice considerations suggested for adoption professionals and other lesbians seeking adoption. Lastly, a call for future research is made to further our understanding of lesbian mothers' transition to adoptive parenthood.     

Multiple chemical sensitivity and workplace discrimination: the national EEOC ADA research project

Information from the Integrated Mission System of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was used to investigate the employment discrimination experiences of Americans with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) in comparison to Americans in a general disability group with allergies, asthma, HIV, gastrointestinal impairment, cumulative trauma disorder and tuberculosis. Specifically, the researchers examined demographic characteristics of the charging parties; the industry designation, location, and size of employers against whom allegations were filed; the nature of discrimination (i.e., type of adverse action) alleged to occur; and the legal outcomes or resolutions of these allegations. Findings indicate that persons with MCS were, on average, older than the comparison group and comparatively overrepresented by Caucasians and women. People with MCS were proportionally more likely than the comparison group to allege discrimination related to reasonable accommodations. People with MCS were proportionally more likely than the comparison group to file allegations against employers in the manufacturing and public administration industries, employers with 201-500 workers, and employers in the Western Census region. People with MCS were proportionally more likely than the comparison group to receive non-merit resolutions as a result of the EEOC's Americans with Disabilities Act Title I investigatory process. Implications for policy and advocacy are addressed.     

An ecological approach to facilitate successful employment outcomes among people with multiple chemical sensitivity

Many adults with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) must prematurely exit the workforce because of the severity of their MCS symptoms, the resulting disability stigma, and their unmet needs for on-the-job accommodations. To help individuals with MCS continue working or re-enter employment, rehabilitation professionals must understand the barriers resulting in unemployment and implement interventions to reduce or remove those barriers. In this article, the Ecological Model of Career Development is presented as a scheme for identifying barriers and implementing rehabilitation interventions to improve the employment outcomes among people with MCS.     

Gauging the Impact of Growing Nonresponse on Estimates from a National RDD Telephone Survey

Declining contact and cooperation rates in random digit dial(RDD) national telephone surveys raise serious concerns aboutthe validity of estimates drawn from such research. While researchin the 1990s indicated that nonresponse bias was relativelysmall, response rates have continued to fall since then. Thecurrent study replicates a 1997 methodological experiment thatcompared results from a "Standard" 5-day survey employing thePew Research Center’s usual methodology with results froma "Rigorous" survey conducted over a much longer field periodand achieving a significantly higher response rate. As withthe 1997 study, there is little to suggest that unit nonresponsewithin the range of response rates obtained seriously threatensthe quality of survey estimates. In 77 out of 84 comparableitems, the two surveys yielded results that were statisticallyindistinguishable. While the "Rigorous" study respondents tendedto be somewhat less politically engaged, they did not reportconsistently different behaviors or attitudes on other kindsof questions. With respect to sample composition, the Standardsurvey was closely aligned with estimates from the U.S. Censusand other large government surveys on most variables. We extendour analysis of nonresponse to include comparisons with thehardest-to-reach respondents and with respondents who terminatedthe interview prior to completion.     

Informal Care Intensity and Caregiver Drug Utilization

Providing informal care has negative health consequences for informal caregivers. If these health consequences increase drug utilization among caregivers, estimates of health care savings from informal care—mainly realized through reductions in utilization among care recipients—should consider the increased drug costs incurred by informal caregivers. This paper evaluates whether more intensive informal caregivers have higher drug utilization than less intensive caregivers, controlling for initial health status and other factors. We find that informal care intensity is associated with higher drug consumption. An increase of 10% of total informal care per day is associated with a 0.7% increase in drugs. The small magnitudes indicate that, in this application, it is not important to consider caregiver drug utilization when quantifying the net savings to the health care system of informal care. For individual caregivers, such as those who take multiple drugs per month and/or have no drug coverage, the increase in drug utilization associated with intensive caregiving is likely to be costly.     

To Disclose or Not to Disclose Biracial Identity: The Effect of Biracial Disclosure on Perceiver Evaluations and Target Responses

Are biracial people perceived more negatively than their monoracial counterparts? Across two studies, we compared ratings of warmth, competence, and minority scholarship worthiness for biracial (Study 1: Black/White, Study 2: Asian/White), White, and minority (Study 1: Black, Study 2: Asian) college applicants. Findings suggest that both biracial applicants were perceived as colder and sometimes less competent than both White and corresponding minority applicants. Moreover, biracial people were also perceived as less qualified for minority scholarships than other racial minorities, which is partially explained by penalties to warmth and competence. Study 3 shows that disclosing one's biracial identity makes biracial people vulnerable to negative feedback. Taken together, these studies suggest that biracial people who disclose their biracial identity experience bias from perceivers and may be more vulnerable to that bias because of the personal nature of racial disclosure. Findings are discussed considering the stereotype content model ( Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2007 ), cultural stereotypes about biracial people ( Jackman, Wagner, & Johnson, 2001 ), and the costs of disclosing devalued identities.     

Moving Beyond Agency: A Review of Gender and Intimate Relationships in Conservative Religions

Studies of gender regimes within conservative religion have often focused on the dynamics of intimate relationships to separately analyze women's agency and men's authority. By bridging studies of men and women in a variety of intimate relationships, this article provides a relational analysis of how gender and religion intersect in daily life. Given the importance of marriage within conservative religions, I first review studies of married women and married men to illustrate the varied ways these institutions intersect. Next, I present findings from the limited but burgeoning scholarship on those who have not yet or cannot live up to the religious goal of heterosexual marriage: unmarried heterosexuals and gay and lesbian relationships.     

Medicalizing the optimal: Anti-aging medicine and the quandary of intervention

The emergence of anti-aging medicine over the past two decades has posed tremendous challenges for traditional categories that define the relationship between aging and biomedicine. The frameworks of nature and disease have been critical in marking how biomedicine can and should intervene. Anti-aging advocates posit that because aging is a predictable, biological universal, it is natural and can therefore be understandable. Moreover, proponents accept and perpetuate the pervasive construction that aging is a painful decline. Here, its undesirability coupled with its knowability render the process of aging ameliorable. Thus, anti-aging advocates argue that aging is natural, not a disease, but should nonetheless serve as a site of intervention. Situating the optimization of the aging process as their primary goal, many anti-aging advocates assert that it is more emblematic of human nature to liberate the body from its perceived biological constraints than it is natural to age.