Of pelicans and prisoners: avian–human interactions in the Soviet Gulag

The Soviet penal system, commonly referred to by its Stalin-era acronym, Gulag, exposed millions to conditions of imprisonment from 1917 to 1991. Penal institutions were located throughout the Soviet Union, but were concentrated especially in remote and sparsely populated areas such as the Far North, Siberia, and the Kazakh steppe. They were typically camps instead of prisons, with inmates sleeping in communal barracks and performing labour at outdoor work sites. This arrangement brought inmates and their jailers in close contact with the natural world. The richly varied avifauna of the Soviet Union made a particular impression on residents of the Gulag. Administrators employed birds as part of their re-education programs, using them to inculcate in the inmates scientific literacy, but the interactions between inmates and birds were more diverse. Some inmates fed them while others ate them. Some found in birds powerful symbols of springtime, freedom, and home, while others saw them as harbingers of death. Birds were also used by gang members in the Gulag as status symbols tattooed onto their own bodies and the bodies of their victims. Ultimately, birds helped Gulag inmates negotiate and make sense of a world that often seemed devoid of meaning.     

Birth Cohort Differences in Sexual Identity Development Milestones Among HIV-Negative Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States

The coming-out process for gay and bisexual men (GBM) involves crossing sexual identity development (SID) milestones: (1) self-awareness of sexual attraction to the same sex, (2) self-acceptance of an identity as gay or bisexual, (3) disclosure of this sexual identity to others, and (4) having sex with someone of the same sex. We examined trends in SID milestones by birth cohort in a 2015 U.S. national sample of GBM (n = 1,023). Birth cohort was independent of when men first felt sexually attracted to someone of the same sex (median age 11 to 12). However, with the exception of age of first same-sex attraction, older cohorts tended to pass other milestones at later ages than younger cohorts. Latent class analysis (LCA) of SID milestone patterns identified three subgroups. The majority (84%) began sexual identity development with same-sex attraction around the onset of puberty (i.e., around age 10) and progressed to self-identification, same-sex sexual activity, and coming out—in that order. The other two classes felt same-sex attraction during teen years (ages 12.5 to 18.0) but achieved the remaining SID milestones later in life. For 13% of men, this was during early adulthood; for 3% of men, this was in middle adulthood. Findings highlight the need to monitor ongoing generational differences in passing SID milestones.     

Work-based Supervisors: The Neglected Partners in Practice Learning

The introduction of the Degree in Social Work programme in 2003 prompted considerable diversification in arrangements for practice supervision, teaching and assessment. A small scale exploratory study was undertaken into a model which utilises work-based supervisors, working in tandem with off-site practice teachers who are primarily responsible for the assessment of student social workers. The study focused on exploring the experiences of work-based supervisors and off-site practice teachers working to this model. The findings pointed to increased anxiety and confusion about roles amongst work-based supervisors and off-site practice teachers. Work-based supervisors described themselves as the ‘neglected partners’ in the learning process, taking on most of the work, but with limited recognition, reward or status. Work-based supervisors valued the new range of professional development opportunities to support them in their role but had difficulty in accessing these due to other professional commitments.     

Residential Segregation, Nativity Status, and Hispanic Living Arrangements in Later Life

This study examined the relationship between residential segregation in metropolitan areas and the living arrangements of middle-aged and older Hispanics. We specifically considered whether the relationship between residential segregation and living arrangements was different depending on nativity status. This study also explored whether measures of assimilation were related to living arrangements. Using data from the 2000 Census Public-Use Microdata Sample (5 %), our multilevel logistic regression models showed that residing in metropolitan areas with higher residential segregation indexes of evenness, isolation, and clustering was related to an increased likelihood of living in a co-resident household versus an independent household. We discovered that the relationship was in the same direction for US-born and foreign-born Hispanics but the relationship was stronger for US-born Hispanics. Finally, we found that as assimilation increased, so did the likelihood of living independently and that persons living in the ten largest immigrant gateway cities were most likely to co-reside as compared to live independently. These results underscored the importance of developing theoretic models of ethnic group living arrangements that include characteristics of both individuals and the community.     

Condom use negotiation in heterosexual African American adults: responses to types of social power-based strategies

This study examined gender differences and preferences in the use of and response to six different styles of condom use negotiation with a hypothetical sexual partner of the opposite gender. Participants were 51 heterosexually active African American adults attending an inner-city community center. Participants completed a semistructured qualitative interview in which they were presented with six negotiation strategies based on Raven's 1992 Power/Interaction Model of Interpersonal Influence. Results showed that female participants responded best to referent, reward, and legitimate strategies, and worst to informational tactics. Male participants responded best to reward strategies, and worst to coercion to use condoms. Further, responses given by a subset of participants indicated that use of negotiation tactics involving coercion to use condoms may result in negative or angry reactions. Response to strategies may vary with the value of the relationship as viewed by the target of negotiation. Implications for HIV prevention efforts are discussed.     

A qualitative study of intimate partner violence universal screening by family therapy interns: implications for practice, research, training, and supervision

Although a few family therapy researchers and clinicians have urged universal screening for intimate partner violence (IPV), how screening is implemented-and, in particular, client and therapist response to screening-is vaguely defined and largely untested. This qualitative study examined the dilemmas experienced by couples and family therapy interns when implementing universal screening for IPV in an outpatient clinic setting. Twenty-two graduate students in a COAMFTE-accredited program were interviewed using qualitative research methods grounded in phenomenology. Three domains, 7 main themes, and 26 subthemes were identified. The three domains that emerged in this study include (a) therapist practice of universal screening, (b) client response to universal screening, and (c) therapist response to universal screening. Implications for practice, research, training, and supervision are discussed.     

Weight loss practices and body weight perceptions among US college students

OBJECTIVE: The authors assessed associations between body weight perception and weight loss strategies. PARTICIPANTS: They randomly selected male and female college students (N = 38,204). METHODS: The authors conducted a secondary data analysis of the rates of weight loss strategies and body weight perception among students who completed the National College Health Assessment survey. RESULTS: Half of respondents (50%) were trying to lose weight, although only 28% of students were overweight or obese. Also, 12% of respondents had inaccurate body weight perception. Women and men with inaccurate body weight perception were significantly more likely to engage in inappropriate weight loss strategies than were those with accurate body weight perception. Of all students attempting to lose weight, 38% used both diet and exercise. CONCLUSIONS: These data show that college students are interested in weight loss and that body weight perception plays an important role in the desire to lose weight.     

The Impact of Social Desirability Biases on Self-Report Among College Student and Problem Gamblers

The impacts of two types of social desirability bias, self-deceptive enhancement (SDE) and impression management (IM), were examined on self-reports of gambling problems, measured by the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), and recent gambling behavior, as measured by the Timeline Followback (TLFB) method, in a sample of college students (N = 191), and a sample of treatment-seeking problem gamblers (N = 49). Consistent with our expectations, IM was negatively associated with SOGS scores in both samples. IM was most highly correlated with SOGS scores among treatment-seeking participants (r = −.44, p < .01). Substantial numbers of participants in both samples had high enough IM scores as to call into question the validity of their self-report gambling data, according to published interpretive guidelines. With respect to SDE, we had predicted that it would be positively related to gambling behaviors and gambling-related problems, but found that SDE was inversely related to SOGS scores in both samples. Very little evidence was found for social desirability effects on TLFB scores. Thus, preliminary evidence was obtained that self-report data on gambling problems, but not on gambling behavior (frequency of gambling and amount of time and money spent), may be susceptible to the effects of impression management in both college students and treatment-seeking gamblers.     

Is Maternal and Child Health Service use a Causal Gateway to Subsequent Contraceptive use?: A Multi-Country Study

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between MCH service utilization and contraceptive use in five countries: Bolivia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Morocco, and Tanzania. The analysis is carried out at the level of the individual woman, with contraceptive-use status modeled as a function of: (1) the availability, quality, and packaging of MCH and family planning services; (2) community- and individual-level determinants of health service and contraceptive use; and (3) intensity of prior MCH service use. Data for the analysis comes from DHS data on women of reproductive age linked with data from service-availability surveys. We use full-information, maximum-likelihood regression techniques to control for the effects of unobserved heterogeneity that might otherwise bias our estimates. In three of the five countries (Morocco, Guatemala, and Indonesia) the results of the analysis suggest that the intensity of MCH service use is positively associated with subsequent contraceptive use among women, even after controlling for observed and unobserved individual- and community-level factors. This result lends support to the proposition that, at least in the context of these three countries, the intensity of MCH service per se use does have a “causal” impact on subsequent contraceptive use, even after controlling for factors that “predispose” sample women to use health care services.     

Legal Status and the Stability of Coresidential Unions

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, we examine the effect of the legal status of coresidential unions on the likelihood of dissolution. We find that legal unions are much more stable than nonlegal unions. In addition, current legal status is more important for predicting stability of union than is legal status at the initiation of the union. We also find that the effect of current legal status remains constant over various durations of unions and that legalizing a nonlegal union has little effect beyond that expected on the basis of a occupying a particular legal status.