Are Population and Land Use Changes Perceived as Threats to Sense of Place in the New West? A Multilevel Modeling Approach

The Intermountain West's rapid changes in population growth and land use may be welcome to some, but others perceive such changes as threats to sense of place. The objective of this study is to assess whether New West and Old West contextual variables predict how agricultural landowners view threats to agricultural lifestyles and sense of place. We analyze survey data collected from 2,270 agricultural landowners in Colorado and Wyoming utilizing a multilevel regression model (MLM). We posit that this analytical approach is effective for evaluating hierarchal New West or Old West economic configurations that may otherwise be difficult to observe. Our study specifically examines whether population pressures threaten agricultural lifestyles in the amenity‐based New West or in Old West economic regimes with proclivity toward large‐scale agricultural production. Our results show that landowners in farming‐dependent counties and in high‐amenity areas express greater concern than other landowners surveyed about increases in population growth that could threaten an agricultural way of life. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these perceptions relate to whether individuals reside in New West or Old West counties. In summary, some of the contextual variables of New West and Old West economic structures predict whether individuals perceive population growth and land use changes as threats to sense of place.     

Call Home? Mobile Phones and Contacts With Mother in 24 Countries

This article explores how the diffusion of mobile phones is associated with communication between adult children and their mothers. The article analyzes 2001 International Social Survey Program data from 24 countries (N = 12,313) combined with the country‐level data on the prevalence of mobile phones. Net of individual‐level predictors and country wealth, adult children who resided in countries with high prevalence of mobile phones contacted their mothers more frequently. High prevalence of mobile phones was also associated with larger differences in maternal contact by gender and smaller differences by education. These findings suggest that any impact of new communication technology on intergenerational relations is complex.     

Early and Middle Adolescents' Reasoning About Moral and Personal Concerns in Opposite‐sex Interactions

This study examined how adolescents coordinate personal and moral concerns in reasoning about opposite‐sex interactions. Sixty‐four early and middle adolescents (Ms = 12.74, 16.05 years) were individually interviewed about two hypothetical situations involving opposite‐sex interactions (commenting on appearance, initiating a date), presented in four conditions that varied the salience of personal vs. moral concerns. Overall, participants viewed opposite‐sex interactions as harmless and acceptable in personal conditions, but as moral concerns became more salient, they were viewed more negatively, as less contingent on the target's response, and as entailing humiliation, coercion, and victimization. Age differences occurred primarily in reasoning about conditions entailing mixed‐personal and moral concerns. Implications for adolescents' understanding of harassment and victimization are discussed.     

A Journal of Family Social Work conversation with Monica McGoldrick,LCSW

Monica McGoldrick and Judith Siegel converse about Monica’s decision to become a social worker, her interest in families, key people who influenced her along the way, and the inspiration for her work on ethnicity in family therapy.     

Countertransference risks when women treat women

Certain female patients deal with issues of sexuality, reproduction, aggression, and dependence in ways which may generate intense reactions in their female therapists. We will describe the range of responses we experienced while treating various women in an acute psychiatric inpatient setting. A surprising finding was that not only our problematic responses, but also our effective solutions, have often occurred unconsciously.A shorter version of this paper was presented at the California Chapter NASW Conference on April 7, 1989.     

Secularization, Differentiation, and the Function of Religious Value Orientations

The term "secularization," when its referent is social institutions and value-norm complexes, is viewed as an instance of differentiation. However, the process of differentiation has both structural and functional components. Confusion in the debate over the nature and extent of secularization in American society arises from the fact that there is disagreement over the functions of religion in a differentiated social setting. A typology of meanings of "secularization" is developed by focusing on this functional component of the differentiation process. This typology, combined with a specification of the various meanings of "religion," is utilized to pinpoint specific areas of disagreement in the debate over secularization. Suggestions are made on ways to empirically resolve the controversy.