Experiencing emerging adulthood in the Netherlands

Emerging adulthood is recognized as a recent and developmentally distinct phase in the life-course, characterized as a period of identity exploration, of instability, being self-focused, feeling in-between, and an age of possibilities. To measure the subjective experience of emerging adulthood Reifman, Arnett, and Colwell developed the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA). While a series of studies demonstrated the applicability of the five dimensions of emerging adulthood and effectiveness of IDEA for measuring these in US samples, results from non-US samples revealed important cultural differences in how emerging adulthood is experienced. The current study tests the extent to which emerging adulthood is experienced by Dutch young people, and the relevance and validity of the IDEA for a general urban population sample from the Netherlands. We examined differences between socioeconomic and ethnic groups within this population. The results revealed that certain aspects of the Dutch emerging adulthood experience are different from the USA. In addition, there are small but significant differences between Dutch socioeconomic and ethnic groups in how this period of life is experienced. Economic and cultural explanations for these differences are discussed.     

The Influence of Value Orientations,Personal Beliefs,and Knowledge about Resource Extraction on Local Leaders' Positions on Shale Development

Unconventional shale oil and gas production plays a prominent role in boosting economic growth and stimulating wealth creation in many communities. However, because of potential social and environmental drawbacks, including a lack of affordable housing and groundwater contamination from drilling, unconventional shale development is highly contentious in many areas and has resulted in many community conflicts. Hydraulic fracturing, which is a specific technology utilized in unconventional shale development, has proved especially contentious because of concerns about its long‐term environmental consequences. Given the fast pace of shale development, coupled with the controversy that surrounds it, we seek to understand what factors affect a local government official's stance on shale development and hydraulic fracturing. To do this we draw from value‐belief‐norms theory while additionally examining knowledge and community‐level factors that can influence an official's position. In this study, we survey 308 local government officials across six shale plays in the United States to examine local officials' positions on shale development and hydraulic fracturing. We find that the more positively officials perceive the consequences of shale development, the less likely they are to support banning hydraulic fracturing. Additionally, we find that networks to other shale communities are positively associated with favoring a ban. Further, leaders with a bachelor's degree or higher are more likely to favor a ban than those with lower than a bachelor's degree.     

Disparities in Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Literacy and Vaccine Completion Among Asian American Pacific Islander Undergraduates: Implications for Cancer Health Equity

Abstract

Purpose: Low rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among young Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women need to be addressed, particularly given the high incidence of cervical cancer in this population. The current study aims to investigate predictors of HPV vaccination in young AAPI and non-Latina white (NLW) women. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted of a health survey administered to college-aged women (N = 2,270) at a large public university in the Midwest. Andersen's behavioral model of health services utilization guided the study theoretically, and hierarchical logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate research aim. Results: NLW women had a significantly higher rate of vaccine completion than AAPI women (NLW = 60.7%; AAPI = 38.6%). NLW women also scored higher on all 5 measures of HPV vaccine literacy than AAPI women. Both groups of undergraduate women reported that increasing age, knowledge about HPV, greater use of gynecological services, and knowing someone who had cancer were significant factors related to HPV vaccination completion. In the NLW group, father's income was also found to be a predictor of HPV vaccination completion. Conclusions: Rate and predictors of HPV vaccination completion vary between NLW and AAPI women. Greater promotion of HPV literacy and gynecological service use should be made to young AAPI women to increase their HPV uptake. Further research should examine sociocultural factors that could hinder or promote HPV vaccination in young AAPI women.     

The Regional Journal in Sociology: Recent Trends and Observations

We investigate the historical trajectories of several sociological journals published by regional associations, focusing our attention on one of the first regional journals published by the Pacific Sociological Association, Sociological Perspectives. We begin with a discussion of the journal’s origins and look at its professional and geographical development over time. Through a comparative-historical analysis of author affiliations of articles published in regional journals, we find geographic ties are important in shaping the early content of regional journals. However, as time passes, regional ties are stretched to include work from a broadening spectrum of regions and nations. So, while regional sociological journals do appear to maintain their original geographical connections, they also tend to expand their relative geographical influence over time.     

Costs of Not Getting to Know You: Lower Levels of Parental Reflective Functioning Confer Risk for Maternal Insensitivity and Insecure Infant Attachment

Parental reflective functioning (PRF) is a robust predictor of parenting sensitivity and secure infant attachment, but its assessment requires extensive resources, limiting its integration into research and clinical practice. The Mini‐Parent Reflective Functioning Interview (Mini‐PRFI) assesses the parent's capacity to mentalize for his/her 6‐month‐old infant (rated using the PRF coding system; Slade et al., 2004, PRF coding system and Slade REF, Unpublished protocol, New York, NY: The City University of New York). In the current study, we examined whether Mini‐PRFI scores were associated with theoretically related constructs; to establish a point of comparison, we evaluated links between Mini‐PRFI scores alongside RF assessed from the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Mother–infant dyads (N = 88) completed the AAI before the birth of the infant, the Mini‐PRFI and an interaction task (rated for insensitive parental behavior) when infants were 6 months old, as well as the Strange Situation Procedure when infants were 16 months old. Mini‐PRFI scores were strongly positively associated with AAI RF and negatively associated with maternal insensitivity. Mini‐PRFI scores predicted infant attachment organization (secure/insecure, organized/disorganized) at 16 months, and this effect was mediated by parenting insensitivity. These findings suggest that the Mini‐PRFI predicts theoretically related attachment constructs, demonstrating the promise of the Mini‐PRFI to increase the accessibility of interview‐based PRF measurements to clinicians and researchers.     

The economy of smiles: affect,labour and the contemporary deserving poor

This paper examines the affective dimensions of new forms of informal entrepreneurial work carried out in spaces of unemployment. Situating the analysis within contemporary scholarship on deservingness and on affect and labour, I shed light on the forms of entrepreneurial labour that rely upon affect‐driven economies of exchange underpinned by moral judgements of deservingness, value and worth. In particular, this paper draws on a multi‐city (Melbourne, London, San Francisco) study of homeless street press sellers (The Big Issue and Street Sheet) to explore the ways in which contemporary practices of charity and care are carried out through individualized market‐place exchanges. Sellers’ accounts of their work reveal how smiling and being (or looking) happy is a performative expectation that must be managed in the face of poverty and precarity.     

The impacts of welfare reform on federal assistance to persistently poor children

During the late twentieth century, the US social safety net was transformed to incentivize work by providing generous wage subsidies for low-income workers and reducing federal assistance to able-bodied unemployed adults. Following the transformation and during the economic boom of the 1990s, welfare rolls and annual poverty rates plummeted, especially for children. Despite the economic boom, there were still many persistently poor children living with parents who did not work, and little is known about how the reforms impacted these children's finances. In this paper we compare rates of persistent child poverty before and after the welfare reforms and examine how federal assistance received by persistently poor children changed as a result of the reforms. We find that federal assistance to persistently poor children declined following the reforms, but with divergent results depending on parental employment. While persistently poor children with employed parents benefited from increased income via the Earned Income Tax Credit, those with chronically unemployed parents did not and also experienced substantial reductions in cash welfare and food stamps. These findings demonstrate how persistently poor children fared financially in the years following the reforms and suggest possible implications for the current period of high unemployment.