Mixed matters in Australia

ABSTRACT

Mapping attitudes toward intermarriage – who is and who is NOT considered an acceptable mate – offers an incisive means through which imaginings of belonging – ethnicity, nationhood, citizenship, race, and culture – can be critically evaluated. Looking specifically at Australia, despite a growing body of research on whiteness, and Mixedness, there is very little qualitative research on attitudes toward mixing among the different groups in Australia. Therefore, in this article, I document attitudes towards ‘mixed’ marriage through focus group interviews in communities across Australia to explore what boundaries, if any, exist and the attitudes of different groups toward intermarriage and ‘mixed’ families in Australia. Drawing from these 69 focus groups conducted across seven cities and the surrounding area of the six states of Australia: Darwin, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, and Melbourne with homogenous groups based on the ways Australians self-identify – indigenous (Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander), white (differentiating if applicable between those who identify as Australian as opposed to European or South African), African Australian, and other groups at various community locations, I argue that national discourses of multiculturalism and imaginings of who and what constitutes being Australian heavily influence attitudes toward mixing. Furthermore, there is a clear hierarchy of desirability in terms of who is considered marriable, with pattern in the narratives and counter-narratives offered by different groups. These findings are presented within a larger discussion of how the contemporary situation in Australia compares to the institutional, individual, and ideological practices that discourage mixing globally.     

Developing Differences: Gender,Childhood and Economic Development

SUMMARY: Western images of the child in modern thought set up an opposition between innocence and experience which is supplemented by discourses of child care and child protection, and reflected in international policies and legislation for children. This article traces idealised conceptions of children of the North and South and unravels dichotomies between work and play as they map onto gendered and cultural spaces. These issues are linked to an analysis of assumptions underlying both international policies for child development and models of economic development, focusing in particular on the Human Development Index put forward in the 1992 United Nations Development Programme. In order to counter the naturalisation and abstraction of development in both, which reflects and contributes to the cultural and economic domination of the Northern hemisphere over the South, the article ends with a call to attend to both the specificity and diversity of children's developments.     

The Relationship Between Pathological Gambling and Sensation Seeking: The Role of Subscale Scores

Research investigating the relationship between gambling and sensation seeking has yet to establish conclusively whether pathological gamblers (PGs) are more or less sensation seeking than nonpathological gamblers (NPGs). Sensation seeking is usually measured with the Zuckerman et al. (J Consult Clin Psychol 46:139–149, 1978) SS Scale form V (SSS-V). Whereas previous studies relied on the SSS-V total score, the current study uses two samples to demonstrate the importance of the SSS-V subscales, which include Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TA), Experience Seeking (ES), Disinhibition (DS), and Boredom Susceptibility (BS). In two samples, strong intrascale correlations between DS and BS, and between TA and ES, suggest that certain subscales reflect similar underlying characteristics. In both samples PGs displayed higher scores than NPGs on the DS and BS subscales, with mean differences in Sample 2 reaching significant levels for both DS and BS. Results support the notion that the SSS-V can be divided into concepts reflecting actual behavior, based on the DS and BS subscales, and hypothetical behavior, based on the TA and ES subscales. Furthermore, PGs appear to have a preference for the more behavioral subscales while NPGs show a preference for the more hypothetical subscales. Reasons for the subscale divisions and preferences are discussed.     

Drivers of Change in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The Role of China in Re-Shaping the Country

Africa has always been potentially one of the richest continents in the world, but, due to a series of causes (colonization and decolonization process, wars, dictatorships etc.) it has never reached its full potential. The fight against poverty has been carried out by different institutions at the multilateral and bilateral level during the last 30 years, but the route toward economic development seems to be still long for African countries. This paper will focus on the analysis of the new approach to international cooperation introduced by the People’s Republic of China in order to exchange rights of exploitation of Africa’s mining and natural resources with large amounts of capital without any conditionality. The case-study which will be considered is the agreement concluded between the People’s Republic of China and the Democratic Republic of Congo.     

Managing Contradiction: Stockholder and Stakeholder Views of the Firm as Paradoxical Opportunity

Stockholder and stakeholder perspectives have been positioned in the literature as being in tension, and thus a potential source of innovation and change. However, researchers have overlooked a systematic examination of this presumption in theory and in practice. This study explores the ways that stockholder and stakeholder assumptions are presented by theorists and compares these with expressions of stockholder and stakeholder perspectives used by firms in practice. We argue that theoretical entrenchment dichotomizing these perspectives has disrupted the ability of researchers to leverage this tension. While scholarship remains trapped in a vicious cycle, we also argue that firms in practice express only the acceptance dimension of a virtuous cycle. Our empirical research demonstrates that firms accept and accommodate the paradoxical tension between managing for stockholders versus balancing the interests of stakeholders. This is evidenced by strategies we identify as book‐ending, cadence, continuous and simultaneous co‐mingling, and hybridization. We find that in practice these tensions are more integrated whereas in theory they are treated as more distinct and, often, in conflict. We suggest ways in which both scholarship and practice can better leverage tension as paradoxical opportunity.     

University Presidents’ Perceptions and Practice Regarding the Carrying of Concealed Handguns on College Campuses

Abstract

Objective: To assess the perceptions and practices of a national sample of college and university presidents regarding their support for concealed handguns being carried on college campuses. Participants: The sample for this study consisted of a national random sample of 900 college or university presidents. Methods: In the spring of 2013, a 3-wave mailing procedure was used to ensure an adequate response rate to a valid and reliable questionnaire. Results: The response rate was 46%, more than what was needed based on the power analysis. The vast majority (95%) of respondents were not supportive of carrying concealed handguns on campuses. They perceived there to be more disadvantages than advantages to handguns on campus. However, college administrators were not focused enough on the primary prevention of campus firearm trauma. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest a number of activities that could be implemented to enhance safety on college and university campuses.     

Access Barriers to Mental Health Services for Older Adults from Diverse Populations: Perspectives of Leaders in Mental Health and Aging

This project is based on the results of telephone surveys with 52 local, state, and national informed respondents including policymakers, county leaders, planners, and advocates in mental health and aging with a particular focus on the states of California and Florida. This article addresses challenges to access to mental health services for diverse older adults including barriers related to race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, location, age, gender, immigrant status, language, sexual orientation, and diagnosis. The article also highlights broad themes that emerged including (1) the importance of outreach and transportation tailored to diverse elders, and (2) recruitment of diverse staff and training related to diversity. The article concludes with policy and practice recommendations to reduce these disparities in access to mental health services for diverse populations of older adults.     

Toddlers Activate Lexical Semantic Knowledge in the Absence of Visual Referents: Evidence from Auditory Priming

Language learners rapidly acquire extensive semantic knowledge, but the development of this knowledge is difficult to study, in part because it is difficult to assess young children's lexical semantic representations. In our studies, we solved this problem by investigating lexical semantic knowledge in 24‐month‐olds using the Head‐turn Preference Procedure. In Experiment 1, looking times to a repeating spoken word stimulus (e.g., kitty‐kitty‐kitty) were shorter for trials preceded by a semantically related word (e.g., dog‐dog‐dog) than trials preceded by an unrelated word (e.g., juice‐juice‐juice). Experiment 2 yielded similar results using a method in which pairs of words were presented on the same trial. The studies provide evidence that young children activate of lexical semantic knowledge, and critically, that they do so in the absence of visual referents or sentence contexts. Auditory lexical priming is a promising technique for studying the development and structure of semantic knowledge in young children.     

Explaining age differences in women’s emotional well-being: The role of subjective experiences of aging

ABSTRACT

Our study examines explanations for the “paradox” of older women’s better emotional well-being compared with younger women. We consider the role of subjective experiences of aging in a society that devalues older women. Using a sample of women (n = 872) from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (1995–1996 and 2004–2006), we examine the role of five components of the subjective experience of aging in explaining older women’s better emotional well-being compared with younger women: age identity, conceptions of the timing of middle age, aging attitudes, aging anxieties, and self-assessed physiological changes. We find that, compared with women 50–54 years old, those 35–39 years old report lower positive affect, and those 25–49 report higher negative affect. These patterns are partially explained by younger women’s greater anxiety about declines in health and attractiveness and older women’s more youthful identities. Our study underscores the value of considering the implications of our ageist and sexist society for women’s emotional well-being across adulthood.