Seeking safer sexual spaces: queer and trans young people labeled with intellectual disabilities and the paradoxical risks of restriction

Young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people labeled with intellectual disabilities have unique sexual health needs that are not being met. Denial by others of their right to pleasure and the exercise of heightened external control over their sexuality are commonplace. Current research indicates that these youth are at heightened risk for compromised sexual health. This study aimed to explore the ways in which social and environmental conditions influence vulnerability to adverse sexual health outcomes for this population. We used a community-based research approach to conduct qualitative interviews and focus groups with 10 young LGBT people (aged 17-26) labeled with intellectual disabilities. Participants reported multiple limitations on their autonomy that resulted in having sex in places where they did not feel comfortable and were unlikely to practice safer sex. Attempts by authority figures to protect youth through limits on their autonomy may be unintentionally leading to negative sexual health outcomes.     

Senior Services that Support Housing First in Metro Vancouver

Housing First is a model and philosophy for housing homeless people in immediate and permanent housing. In order to implement and deliver Housing First, research is essential to understand the system of support services as they currently exist. Guided by principles of community-based participatory research, this paper presents the findings from a senior-focused deliberative dialogue workshop in Metro Vancouver, Canada. Participants (16 service providers and 1 service recipient) identified services and resources available to support seniors in maintaining housing and barriers and facilitators for accessing services. Broadly, data were organized into seven themes: (1) Housing; (2) Home support; (3) Transportation; (4) Information availability, accessibility, and navigation; (5) Cultural diversity; (6) Discrimination; and (7) Funding and financial support. Results found that affordable housing that adapts to changing health conditions, income supports, health services, homecare, transportation, and culturally appropriate and nondiscriminatory informational resources are among the supports most needed for persons as young as 50 years old to succeed under the Housing First model in Metro Vancouver. Barriers to Housing First service provision, including rigid eligibility criteria for chronically and episodically homeless, should be revised to better support the growing number of older adults who are newly entering homelessness in Metro Vancouver.     

The restructuring process and economic centrality in capitalist agriculture

The purpose of the paper is to examine contemporary relations in agricultural production. The discussion focuses upon the internal and external processes modifying production relations on the farm and, in particular, the changing significance of farm-based sources of income and capital (economic centrality) to the farm business in the restructuring of agricultural capital. There are a variety of reasons why farm businesses are finding it increasingly necessary to diversify their sources of income, and in some cases capital generation, which relate to their internal family relations and external contacts. While obtaining alternative sources of income for farmers may be advocated for the purpose of reducing their marginalisation and low income problems, this may only be realisable for a minority. The complexities of farm businesses and their external relations with other forms of capital suggest the need for a construction of a typology which focuses on the economic centrality of the business to the farm family. The discussion here is divided into four sections. First, the main characteristics of the restructuring process in British agriculture are identified, leading to a discussion focusing on the transformation of the family farm. The concept of economic centrality is then discussed as an important characteristic of the restructuring process affecting British farming, and a typology of farm businesses established, based upon empirical evidence collected from London's Metropolitan Green Belt. This evidence forms part of a wider study of the changing structure of farm businesses in three areas of lowland England (East Bedfordshire, West Dorset and London's Green Belt) which links farm business change to changes in the farm landscape.     

Antecedents and consequences of negative marital stressors

Many couples seeking therapy report the occurrence of severe, negative marital stressors (e.g., infidelity, threats of marital dissolution). In addition, existing research has demonstrated that these marital stressors precipitate Major Depressive Episodes and psychological symptoms. This longitudinal study examines the antecedents and consequences of negative marital stressors to help clinicians and researchers develop interventions that might prevent these stressors and their outcomes. Forty-one women completed a semistructured interview and measures of marital discord and depressive symptoms within one month after experiencing a marital stressor (baseline) and at a 16-month follow up. The results indicate that baseline marital discorded contributes to the occurrence of additional marital stressors during the follow-up period. Although baseline depressive symptoms do not predict additional marital stressors, depressive symptoms along with marital discord predict future depressive symptoms. Finally, baseline marital discord and additional marital stressors contribute to future marital dissolution. Clinical and research implications are discussed.     

Social security,age of retirement,and economic well-being: Intertemporal and demographic patterns among retired-worker beneficiaries

We examine the economic status of a sample of new recipients of social security retired-worker benefits shortly after their first receipt of benefits (1982) and 10 years later (1991). The probability that these retired-worker beneficiaries were poor or near-poor is positively and strongly associated with their acceptance of early retired-worker benefits. Early retirees, women who remained single, and women who lost their spouses experienced large declines in economic status over the decade following their first receipt of benefits. Although both women and men who first received benefits at younger ages had lower economic status than did those who became beneficiaries at older ages, this retirement age-related disadvantage increased over the decade for women but not for men.     

Toward an ecstasy and other club drug (EOCD) prevention intervention for rave attendees

A growing body of recent research has identified that "rave" attendees are at high risk for the use of "club drugs," such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy"). Rave attendees, however, comprise only one of several club-going populations. In the current study, we explore the prevalence of ecstasy and other club drug (EOCD) use among a sample of club attendees in Washington, DC. Data were collected from adult, primarily homosexual, club attendees during the summer of 2003. Data collection was scheduled between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. Participation rates were high. Of the 211 club attendees approached, 88% (n = 186) completed the interview. Drug use prevalence rates were low. With the exception of alcohol and marijuana, 2-day self-reports were less than 1% for each drug. These findings, amalgamated with results from other EOCD-related studies involving several distinct populations, offer considerable insight into the state of ecstasy in American society. Based on a meta-analysis of this literature, we offer a community-level prevention intervention for the population at highest risk for EOCD use-rave attendees.     

Understanding perpetrators of nonphysical sexual coercion: characteristics of those who cross the line

Sexual coercion is defined here as a form of male sexual misconduct in which nonphysical tactics (e.g., verbal pressure) are utilized to gain sexual contact with an unwilling female partner. This study compares the risk characteristics of sexually coercive (n=81) and nonoffending college males (n=223) across several domains. Results revealed that sexual coercers differed from nonoffenders in that they more often subscribed to rape myths, viewed interpersonal violence as more acceptable, reported greater hostility toward females, and perceived male-female relationships as more inherently adversarial. In addition, compared to nonoffenders, sexually coercive males showed stronger indicators of promiscuity and delinquency, reported more psychopathic personality traits, had more empathic deficits, and were more likely to have experienced certain forms of childhood abuse. In most respects, coercers did not differ from those who reported engaging in more severe forms of sexual assault involving the use of physical force. These results suggest important differences between nonoffending males and those who "cross the line" by engaging in sexually coercive acts. In addition, consistent parallels can be drawn between the predictors of sexual coercion identified in this study and those documented in the sexual aggression (e.g., forcible rape) literature.