Religion and civic engagement among America's youth

Scholars of civic engagement are noticing the consequences of religiosity. Scholars have seen the influence of religiosity on political and charitable behavior among adults. But does this pattern hold for adolescents? In this study, I use a new survey of American teenagers, the National Study of Youth and Religion, to assess the impact of intense religiosity on adolescent volunteerism and political activities. Evidence from multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that intense religiosity, measured in terms of behavior (frequent church attendance) and beliefs (theological conservatism) significantly increase the likelihood that teens will volunteer. However, adolescent political involvement is not related to religiosity.     

Family Structure Effects on Maternal and Paternal Parenting in Low‐Income Families

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey, a birth cohort study, this study analyzes the effect of family structure on parenting for 3,402 mothers and 2,615 fathers. To address the problem of omitted variable bias, fixed effects methods are used to control for the presence of time‐invariant unobserved characteristics that may counfound estimates. Marriage by itself did not influence the parenting of mothers or fathers, and there was little effect of family structure on maternal parenting. The presence of a romantic partner was important, as fathers who repartner had lower engagement scores and mothers reported cohabiting stepfathers to be more involved in the family’s life as compared to married biological fathers.     

Mugabe’s fall from grace: satire and fictional narratives as silent forms of resistance in/on Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean state media has been known to portray the long-serving President as a superhuman who has remained unscathed by the ravages of age. Rumours of his failing health have often been downplayed by narratives of him being as “fit as a fiddle.” This myth of the indefatigable Mugabe was dealt a blow when in February 2015 he fell to the ground in full public view upon his return from an African Union meeting in Ethiopia where he had been named chair of the continental organisation. This paper sets out to analyse the satirical memes that flooded social media after the falling of Mugabe. Bringing into conversation Goffman’s dramaturgical model, Scott’s weapons of the weak thesis as well as Mbembe’s theories of sovereign power, the paper contends that these “memes” led to the emergence of competing narratives that cracked the armour of Mugabe’s invincibility in Zimbabwean political and social discourses. The paper further argues that the memes constitute vital avenues of resisting, contesting, rewriting and availing a different “truth” about Zimbabwe and powerful myths around the fetishisation of Mugabe’s person and power.     

What Adolescents Can Tell Us: Technology and the Future of Social Work Education

The use and usefulness of Information Technology (IT) is rapidly growing around the world, especially among the youth. IT has been shown to impact learning styles, communication, and social relationships in many ways. Recently, significant discussion has arisen around the importance of IT in higher education and more specifically, social work education. This study qualitatively assesses 128 youth aged 13–14 years to understand their access to and use of IT as well as the way it impacts their psychosocial development to provide clues that will help inform the design of social work education for the future. Youth in four school districts reported unanimous access to computers and television and a majority of students used other technologies. Adolescents reported increased ease of communication and ability to get information as well as enhanced social relationships connected to their use of IT. Discussion and implications suggest that in the future, social work education will have to implement IT into its curriculum in order to attract students and provide the best possible learning environment for the next generation, which has included technology in every aspect of their lives.     

A THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION OF PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD SEX EDUCATION

Rates of teen pregnancy in the United States are significantly higher than those in most other industrialized nations. This is troubling in light of the consequences to teen mothers, their children, and society. Some suggest that teen pregnancies can be decreased by providing sex education in the public school system, while others believe that sex education is inappropriate for public school. Little research exists, however, on predictors of attitudes toward sex education, and most existing research is dated and lacks a theoretical framework. Guided by the seminal work of Ira L. Reiss, we examine the impact of labor shortages, religiosity, militarism, gender egalitarianism, regulation of sexuality, and a naturalistic view of sexuality on attitudes toward sex education. Results suggest that Hispanics, those with high levels of religiosity, and those who supported regulation of sexuality were significantly less likely to support sex education in public schools. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Making of Heroes: An Attributional Perspective

Abstract

Through the use of posed vignettes in a telephone survey, we investigate the construction of heroes. We examine the extent to which respondents attribute hero status to three potential 9/11 and “war on terrorism” heroes: Todd Beamer, Army Private Jessica Lynch, and President George W. Bush. Findings suggest the importance of the extraordinary nature and the rarity of action(s) performed by heroes in the attribution of hero status; the role of class, status, and party in the attribution process; and the moral consideration of what should be done in each posed vignette. In addition, the study indicates the utility of attribution theory for the sociological examination of heroism and the viability of normative constructs in examining heroic behavior.     

Women's expectations and experiences with labour pain in medical and midwifery models of birth in the United States

BackgroundThis research focuses on how women understand and experience labour as related to two competing views of childbirth pain. The biomedical view is that labour pain is abnormal and anaesthesia/analgesia use is encouraged to relieve the pain. The midwifery view is that pain is a normal part of labour that should be worked with instead of against.AimsTo determine differences in the preparation for and experiences with labour pain by women choosing midwives versus obstetricians.MethodsPrenatal and postpartum in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 80 women in Florida (United States): 40 who had chosen an obstetrician and 40 who had chosen a licensed midwife as their birth practitioner.FindingsWomen in both groups were concerned with the pain of childbirth before and after their labour experiences. Women choosing midwives discussed preparing for pain through various non-pharmaceutical coping methods, while women choosing physicians discussed pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical pain relief.ConclusionsEqual numbers of women expressed concerns with childbirth pain during the prenatal interviews, while more women choosing doctors spoke about pain after their births. Women had negative experiences when their planned pain relief method, either natural or medical, did not occur. The quandary facing women when it comes to labour pain relief is not choosing what they desire, but rather preparing themselves for the possibility that they may have to accept alternatives to their original preferences.     

Exploring Adolescents’ Relationships with Non-Parental Adults Using the Non-Parental Adult Inventory (N.P.A.I.)

Adolescents’ relationships with non-parental adults is one identified protective factor that has received comparable little attention. Previous work indicates that significant, non-parental adults play an important role in adolescent development. This exploratory study examines the frequency of adolescent contact with non-parental adults, and their enjoyment of that contact using the Non-Parental Adult Inventory (N.P.A.I.). Gender and age differences among adolescent reports, and differences between parent and adolescent reports are explored. Frequency and reported enjoyment of adolescent contact within select categories of non-parental adults differed by gender. Parent and adolescent reports significantly differed with parents both underestimating and overestimating the strength of adolescents’ relationships with select adult groups. Results provide preliminary data regarding the nature of adolescents’ relationships with a broad range of non-parental adults.