School anxiety and depression among immigrant youth in America: Differences by region of birth and language proficiency

This study sought to examine school anxiety and depression by parents’ immigrant status and identify differences by region of birth and language proficiency. Data were used from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten Cohort, a nationally representative and longitudinal study of students in the United States. The analytic sample included 6,156 youth. Linear regression models predicted school anxiety and depression of American eighth grade students from English proficiency and parents’ region of birth. Controlling for demographic covariates, there was no significant difference in school anxiety or depression between youth with American‐born parents and those with parents born in any major world region. With the inclusion of an interaction between language proficiency and region of birth, children with limited English proficiency from Europe (B = 2.86, 95% CI = 2.16, 3.55), Central America (B = 1.52, 95% CI = 0.73, 2.31), Asia (B = 1.48, 95% CI = 0.55, 2.40), and South America (B = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.08, 1.61) had significantly heightened school anxiety compared to native‐English speakers with native‐born parents. When considering sources of school anxiety, it was revealed that over 60% of these youth worried about doing well in school. Future research should explore interventions to increase English proficiency and ease school‐related stress among children of immigrants.     

The Legal Trial And/In Documentary Film

This article proposes to extend the work of law and film scholars, such as Carol Clover and Jennifer Mnookin, by looking at how juridically themed documentary films use the legal trial as both a platform and a structuring device to contest the evidentiary value of testimony, bear witness to the performance of law in our culture and engage in a social debate about flaws in contemporary jurisprudence. Because non-fiction film – with its presumed indexical relationship to reality and its attendant claims to authenticity – is often seen as having a privileged relationship to truth, the ethical and epistemological stakes of these visual representations are heightened. Consequently, the expectations we bring to the juridical documentary (in terms of its truth-telling responsibilities) make it a particularly loaded space for analysing the ethical and epistemological responsibilities of documentary representation as well as for revealing truths about the legal process and the ordering of a just society. Thinking through the ways in which contemporary trial documentaries differently approach the question of their subjects' guilt allows us to reflect on how the juridical documentary refracts the legal trial's own truth claims. These documentary films demonstrate that, while the documentary and the legal trial might share an epistemological affinity based on shared principles of evidence, narrative and argument, the way in which the trial itself is thematized as both a discourse and a practical purveyor of justice in documentary influences how we come to understand the law in action.     

Do Workplace Gender Transitions Make Gender Trouble?

This article examines what happens when an employee makes the transition from one recognized gender category to another and remains in the same job. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with transmen and transwomen in Texas and California, we illustrate how a new social gender identity is interactionally achieved in these open workplace transitions. While transgender people often are represented as purposefully adopting hyper‐feminine or masculine gender identities post‐transition, we find that our respondents strive to craft alternative femininities and masculinities. However, regardless of their personal gender ideologies, their men and women co‐workers often enlist their transitioning colleague into gender rituals designed to repatriate them into a rigid gender binary. This enlistment limits the political possibilities of making gender trouble in the workplace, as transgender people have little leeway for resistance if they wish to maintain job security and friendly workplace relationships.     

Nano Risk Analysis: Advancing the Science for Nanomaterials Risk Management

Scientists, activists, industry, and governments have raised concerns about health and environmental risks of nanoscale materials. The Society for Risk Analysis convened experts in September 2008 in Washington, DC to deliberate on issues relating to the unique attributes of nanoscale materials that raise novel concerns about health risks. This article reports on the overall themes and findings of the workshop, uncovering the underlying issues for each of these topics that become recurring themes. The attributes of nanoscale particles and other nanomaterials that present novel issues for risk analysis are evaluated in a risk analysis framework, identifying challenges and opportunities for risk analysts and others seeking to assess and manage the risks from emerging nanoscale materials and nanotechnologies. Workshop deliberations and recommendations for advancing the risk analysis and management of nanotechnologies are presented.     

Risk Characterization for Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is a broad term that encompasses materials, structures, or processes that utilize engineered nanomaterials, which can be defined as materials intentionally designed to have one or more dimensions between 1 and 100 nm. Historically, risk characterization has been viewed as the final phase of a risk assessment process that integrates hazard identification, dose‐response assessment, and exposure assessment. The novelty and diversity of materials, structures, and tools that are covered by above‐defined “nanotechnology” raise substantial methodological issues and pose significant challenges for each of these phases of risk assessment. These issues and challenges culminate in the risk characterization phase of the risk assessment process, and this article discusses several of these key issues and approaches to developing risk characterization results and their implications for risk management decision making that are specific to nanotechnology.     

Postdrinking sexual perceptions and behaviors toward another person: Alcohol expectancy set and gender differences

Based on research showing that alcohol expectancy and gender both play a role in sexual perceptions, we factorially crossed the apparent drinking status of yoked pairs consisting of a participant and a target person (a confederate posing as co‐participant). Alcohol expectancy interacted with gender in complex ways to influence sexual perceptions. We also found behavioral effects: men showed more erotic material to both male and female targets than women did. Men perceived the target as more sexually aroused by erotic material than women did. Men also showed more erotic material to drinking targets than to non‐drinking targets. Sexual perceptions and erotica‐showing behavior were correlated significantly and positively. We discuss these findings in terms of implications for postdrinking heterosexual encounters.     

Postdrinking sexual perceptions and behaviors toward another person: alcohol expectancy set and gender differences

Based on research showing that alcohol expectancy and gender both play a role in sexual perceptions, we factorially crossed the apparent drinking status of yoked pairs consisting of a participant and a target person (a confederate posing as co-participant). Alcohol expectancy interacted with gender in complex ways to influence sexual perceptions. We also found behavioral effects: Men showed more erotic material to both male and female targets than women did. Men perceived the target as more sexually aroused by erotic material than women did. Men also showed more erotic material to drinking targets than to non-drinking targets. Sexual perceptions and erotica showing behavior were correlated significantly and positively. These findings are discussed in terms of implications for postdrinking heterosexual encounters.     

Corporate Environmentalism and Organic Agriculture in Australia: The Case of Uncle Tobys1

Abstract Recent expansion in the organic food industry represents an increasing awareness amongst an array of actors of the implications of conventional agriculture. In particular, the organic agriculture movement has been driven by both organic producers and consumers concerned about the environmental implications of food production and the health effects associated with food consumption. The recent institutionalization of the organic movement in organic regulatory bodies and through the involvement of food companies has encapsulated other actors within this network. This paper looks specifically at Uncle Tobys, a producer of breakfast cereals, which joined this network when it decided to produce an organic breakfast cereal called “Organic Vita Brits.” The integration of this company has expanded the range of actors participating within the organic network and altered the relationships between them. The temporary involvement of Uncle Tobys in the organic food industry has also resulted in a shift in the construction of meaning of “organic.” The limited success, despite many efforts to appeal to green consumers, of Uncle Tobys within this network suggests that organic food remains a niche product, consumed by a minority of consumers.     

Gender Differences in Heterosexual College Students' Conceptualizations and Indicators of Sexual Consent: Implications for Contemporary Sexual Assault Prevention Education

Because sexual assault is often defined in terms of nonconsent, many prevention efforts focus on promoting the clear communication of consent as a mechanism to reduce assault. Yet little research has specifically examined how sexual consent is being conceptualized by heterosexual college students. In this study, 185 Midwestern U.S. college students provided responses to open-ended questions addressing how they define, communicate, and interpret sexual consent and nonconsent. The study aimed to assess how college students define and communicate consent, with particular attention to gender differences in consent. Results indicated no gender differences in defining consent. However, there were significant differences in how men and women indicated their own consent and nonconsent, with women reporting more verbal strategies than men and men reporting more nonverbal strategies than women, and in how they interpreted their partner's consent and nonconsent, with men relying more on nonverbal indicators of consent than women. Such gender differences may help to explain some misunderstandings or misinterpretations of consent or agreement to engage in sexual activity, which could partially contribute to the occurrence of acquaintance rape; thus, a better understanding of consent has important implications for developing sexual assault prevention initiatives.