Family Conflict in Childhood and Adolescence and Depressive Symptoms in Emerging Adulthood: Mediation by Disengagement Coping

Exposure to family conflict in childhood increases risk for later life psychological maladjustment. The family environment shapes the development of coping strategies used to manage interpersonal stressors, representing a pathway through which adverse family experiences impact later emotional functioning. In 2 studies, we evaluated engagement and disengagement coping as mediators of the relation between family conflict in childhood and depressive symptoms in young adulthood. Study 1 included participants from continuously married families exposed to higher and lower quality childhood family environments and found that disengagement partially mediated the relation between family conflict and depressive symptoms. Study 2 examined these relations among emerging adults who experienced parental divorce. Results indicated that disengagement coping fully mediated the relation between family conflict and depression. Engagement did not emerge as a mediator in either study. Elevated family conflict across varying family structures might be associated with poor adjustment via disengaged responses to stress.     

A Case Study of Aston Villa Football Club

This article conceptualizes a Homo Narrans paradigm for public relations by combining symbolic convergence theory (SCT) and situational theory. SCT results in theory-based data for designing message content but not the relevant publics to target messages. Situational theory identifies relevant publics and when messages should be directed to the publics but not the message content. Combined, SCT and situational theory develop a Homo Narrans paradigm that views the exchange of messages between an organization and public as forms of stories. A Homo Narrans paradigm allows researchers and practitioners to advance public relations as an applied social science.     

‘Sperm Milkshakes with Poo Sprinkles’: The Challenges of Identifying Family Meals Practices through an Online Survey with Adolescents

This article contributes to a long‐overdue discussion about research with adolescents. While young people are now recognised as competent and reliable participants, there are particular difficulties associated with using adolescents as respondents. Furthermore, it is rare for young people’s reactions to the research process to be heard. This article reports on some of the methodological challenges faced in designing and administering a Web‐based survey to 15‐year‐old school students in Perth, Western Australia, in an attempt to gain insight into meals practices and beliefs among adolescents and their families. Using empirical data, we discuss issues concerning the competence of adolescents to participate in social research. We conclude that using a Web‐based survey actively facilitates high levels of adolescent engagement in the research process, allowing them to be both subject and object of the research.     

Student Self‐Reported Positive Purpose Over Two Years in Urban Middle Schools

We used Developmental Systems Theory as a framework for understanding the role of contextual factors in the development of purpose in urban adolescents. The sample included primarily low‐socioeconomic students of color attending urban middle schools (n = 2,629; 10–16 years of age). Longitudinal data were collected at four time points across two years. We used hierarchical linear modeling to model change in purpose. On average, purpose declined over time. We also identified several predictors of intercept and slope. For example, Black youth had a higher average purpose intercept, as well as a steeper average decline than other racial/ethnic groups. Females demonstrated a higher average purpose intercept than males, but this effect disappeared when academic achievement was added to the model.     

"A soldier in the service of his country": Dr. William Rees, professional identity, and the Toronto Temporary Asylum, 1819-1874

The first medical superintendent of the Toronto Lunatic Asylum, physician Dr. William Rees, found his tenure from 1841 to 1845 marked by financial struggle, extensive administrative conflict, and physical injury. His personality along with these events have given rise to negative portrayals of Rees as an inept administrator. Less known are his social contributions beyond his asylum work. A more extensive assessment of Rees suggests the value of his biography as a study of Upper Canadian professional and class status. While Rees's occupational endeavours before 1841 enhanced his status, negative experiences at the asylum changed this pattern and caused an ongoing decline in his social status after 1845.     

Reassessing and Revising Commuting Zones for 2010: History,Assessment, and Updates for U.S. ‘Labor-Sheds’ 1990–2010

This paper employs commuter flow data from the 1990 and 2000 Decennial Censuses, and the 2006–2010 American Community Survey to replicate, evaluate, and extend the delineation of commuting zones first proposed by Tolbert and Killian (Labor Market Areas for the United States, 1987). Commuting zones offer a valuable tool for research on regional economies and have long served rural sociologists, economists, and geographers interested in a representation of the economy that acknowledges a connection between urban and rural areas and the capacity of economic systems to cross state lines. Our delineations provide both an update in the form of new delineations for 2010 and a revised set of 1990 and 2000 delineations that benefit from a consistent methodology across decades. We also provide a set of tools for comparing delineations across methods and over time. In presenting our revised delineations, we shed light on the role of expert opinion in the original delineations, the strengths and weaknesses of the original method, and offer suggestions for further revision of this tool that may better reflect the theoretical conception of commuting zones.     

The Emotional Experience and Expression of Anger: Children’s Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to explore and identify key themes related to a child’s experience of anger. The existing literature on children’s emotional experiences stems from adult perceptions and interpretations; this study was envisioned to investigate the experience of anger among children using their own words. Furthermore, this study was designed to illustrate a contextual perspective of children’s emotional knowledge, so that teachers, social workers, counsellors and other child mental health professionals may be able to relate and interpret children’s emotional experiences. Participants were male and female students, aged 8–9 years and in a regular grade three classroom within a community school. Through the use of semi-structured interview focus groups conducted over a span of 10 weeks, participants were invited to disclose their understandings of anger and how they experienced it. Results were analyzed via a content analysis that resulted in five themes. These themes consisted of understanding anger, origins of anger, consequences of anger, regulation and resolution of anger, and finally relations with others. Results and implications of the findings were discussed.     

Differential mortality risks from violent causes for foreign- and native-born residents of the USA

This paper examines the differences in adult violent causes (homicide, suicide, vehicle accidents, and otheraccidents) for mortality risks between the Americanforeign- and native-born adult populations, whileconsidering the length of time lived in the USA and the influences of other socio-demographic characteristics. Data came from the National Health InterviewSurvey-National Death Index linked file for the years1989--1995. Cox proportional hazards modelsestimate the association between nativity, length ofstay, and mortality risk for each violent cause. Theresults show that foreign-born persons differ in their risks of violent death vis-á-vis the native-bornpopulation by the amount of the time they have livedin the USA. In particular, recent immigrants (lessthan 15 years) display higher risks fromhomicide, lower risks from suicide, and lower risksfrom other accidents (not vehicle) than thenative-born individuals. This pattern is differentfor longer-term immigrants (15 or more years) whohave, for the most part, similar risks from othercauses of violent death compared to native-bornresidents. The findings suggest that there arecompositional differences between immigrants by length of stay and that the process of acculturation mayinclude the amplification or diminution of risks ofvarious causes of violent death.