Families,Resources, and Suicide: Combined Effects on Mortality

Important resources from family support systems, employment, and educational attainment inhibit the risk of death. Independently, these factors are particularly salient for suicide, but how they combine to affect mortality is less clear. Analyses of National Health Interview Survey data from 1986 to 2004 (N = 935,802), prospectively linked to mortality through 2006 (including 1,238 suicides), reveals a process of compensation in the way work status and family combine to affect adult suicide: Individuals who are not working experience more suicide defense from more protective family support systems than do working adults. But a process of reinforcement occurs in the combination of education and family: More education associates with more protection from the family than does less education. The findings demonstrate how families and resources combine to affect mortality in unique ways.     

Raccoon use of the urban matrix in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, Maryland

The raccoon is often considered a synanthropic species; however, most urban research on this species has been restricted to urban parks or green spaces. Little is known about the persistence of synanthropic characteristics in the raccoon within the urban matrix. We examined density, den selection, home range size, habitat selection, and survival for adult raccoons (Procyon lotor) during summer (June?CAugust) and autumn (September?CNovember) in two residential neighborhoods, Linthicum located inland, and Riviera Beach on a peninsula in the Potomac river, in Southern Maryland. Den site selection varied by gender (P?=?0.0002) and study site (P?=?0.052), and study site interacted with gender (P?=?0.0063), with female raccoons denning preferentially on the ground and male raccoons in human structures in Riviera Beach while in Linthicum females denned preferentially in trees and males avoided human structures. Seasonal home range size was larger for males (P?<?0.0001) than females at both sites. Habitat selection varied at different hierarchical levels, and between gender, season and site. Intersite differences in habitat selection were apparent at the second order and third order scale. Aquatic and urban habitat was ranked high and woodland consistently lowest in second order scale at Riviera Beach while urban habitat was consistently ranked lowest at Linthicum where woodland ranked highest. Between the hierarchal scales (2nd and 3rd order) a difference in habitat selection occurred at Linthicum only where urban habitats ranked lowest at 3rd order. The differences in patterns of habitat selection we observed between two urban sites at different hierarchical scales suggest that resource selection is dependent upon the specific characteristics of the site and that raccoons exhibit variable responses to changes in landscape features. Finally, male survival tended to be lower (P?=?0.079) than female survival in both study sites. Our results reveal that raccoons can continue to exhibit synanthropic characteristics within the urban matrix even in areas with little natural habitat. This ability to adjust to different levels of development allows the raccoon to occur throughout most parts of the urban landscape, which has important management implications for human-raccoon conflicts and disease management.     

What schools are doing around career development: implications for policy and practice

This article describes the role that schools are playing in supporting career development for young people. It examines the history of career-related programming in schools, including school-to-work programs, career and technical education, the college and career readiness movement, and current school reform initiatives. This understanding of schools' history, roles, opportunities, and constraints can help practitioners and policymakers think about how to build a system that supports youth development.     

Attachment Change in the Beginning Stages of Therapy: Examining Change Trajectories for Avoidance and Anxiety

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of self‐reported attachment change (avoidance and anxiety) in the context of six sessions of couple therapy designed to emphasize both therapist‐centered and couple‐centered (i.e., enactment‐based) clinical process during the beginning stages of therapy. A total of 48 couples with at least one partner who reported clinically significant relationship dissatisfaction participated in this study. Findings confirmed that some couples experience positive attachment‐related change (anxiety or avoidance), while also identifying a subset of individuals who may not experience optimal levels of attachment‐related change. In addition, findings point toward both differences and similarities between change trajectories for avoidance and anxiety. Finally, there was evidence that socio‐demographic factors may be associated with attachment change.     

Why Do Immigrants and Refugees Give Back to Their Communities and What can We Learn from Their Civic Engagement?

Each year thousands of immigrants and refugees begin their lives in new places, speaking new languages, and facing new challenges. Challenges include access to health/mental care, education, transportation, and employment. Researchers and practitioners frequently focus on challenges of newcomers and their deficits in meeting needs for self-sufficiency. This study explores newcomers’ giving back and emphasizes an untapped reservoir of strength and capacity. Based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 54 immigrants and refugees, themes identified include (1) a desire to maintain ethnic identity and connection; (2) ethnic community as an extension of family; (3) a sense of duty and obligation; and (4) measure of achieved success. Researchers and practitioners should shift their view to recognize the strengths and capacities of newcomers who give back to their communities.     

Whites’ Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy: Are Multiracial Individuals a Source of Group Threat or Intergroup Contact?

This study uses multilevel modeling with data from the 2010 U.S. Census and the Pew Research Center’s 2006 and 2011 surveys to examine the relationship between the relative size of the multiracial population, specifically mixed-race whites, in metropolitan areas and the immigration attitudes of native-born non-Hispanic whites. The results indicate that whites who live in metropolitan areas with higher percentages of mixed-race whites are more likely to hold comparatively immigrant-friendly attitudes in general and specifically toward immigration levels, taxes, and employment, supporting contact theory. With increases in the multiracial population, whites are likely to adopt a more complex conception of race over time, leading to context-specific and topic-centered attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy.     

Gender, Race, and Perception of Environmental Health Risks

This paper reports the results of a national survey in which perceptions of environmental health risks were measured for 1275 white and 214 nonwhite persons. The results showed that white women perceived risks to be much higher than did white men, a result that is consistent with previous studies. However, this gender difference was not true of nonwhite women and men, whose perceptions of risk were quite similar. Most striking was the finding that white males tended to differ from everyone else in their attitudes and perceptions–on average, they perceived risks as much smaller and much more acceptable than did other people. These results suggest that sociopolitical factors such as power, status, alienation, and trust are strong determiners of people's perception and acceptance of risks.     

Who Holds the Stakes? A Case Study of Stakeholder Identification at Two Nuclear Weapons Production Sites

Traditional risk assessments, including those involving the United States Department of Energy (USDOE), are often criticized for producing useless or noncredible management responses because they did not meaningfully involve the public. The first step to involve the public is to identify appropriate active participants (stakeholders). This study was done to understand the processes used to identify stakeholders to serve on advisory boards established at the two largest remediation sites in the United States: the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The Hanford stakeholder identification process produced an interest-based board whereas the Savannah River Site strategy produced population-based representation. The basic goals of the stakeholder advisory groups were similar. However, different processes were used to identify the participants for the groups in part because of distinctly different social and cultural conditions in the areas affected by the operations of the two facilities, and in part because of the different level of trust of the USDOE and their contractors at Hanford compared with Savannah River. The discussion analyzes their different needs and potential for successful citizen participation.