2009–2010 Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Coverage Among College Students From 8 Universities in North Carolina

Abstract

Objective: The authors sought to describe the 2009–2010 seasonal influenza vaccine coverage of college students. Participants: A total of 4,090 college students from 8 North Carolina universities participated in a confidential, Web-based survey in October–November 2009. Methods: Associations between self-reported 2009–2010 seasonal influenza vaccination and demographic characteristics, campus activities, parental education, and e-mail usage were assessed by bivariate analyses and by a mixed-effects model adjusting for clustering by university. Results: Overall, 20% of students (range 14%–30% by university) reported receiving 2009–2010 seasonal influenza vaccine. Being a freshman, attending a private university, having a college-educated parent, and participating in academic clubs/honor societies predicted receipt of influenza vaccine in the mixed-effects model. Conclusions: The self-reported 2009–2010 influenza vaccine coverage was one-quarter of the 2020 Healthy People goal (80%) for healthy persons 18 to 64 years of age. College campuses have the opportunity to enhance influenza vaccine coverage among its diverse student populations.     

Frailty in self-neglecting older adults: A secondary analysis

ABSTRACT

Self-neglect (SN) and frailty in older adults is associated with increased disability and mortality. Despite these commonalities, there have been no studies objectively assessing frailty in older adults who SN. This secondary analysis classified frailty in N = 37 older adults with Adult Protective Services validated SN using the Fried Frailty Phenotype (FFP) of weight loss, weakness, exhaustion, activity level, and walking speed. Overall, 3% were classified as robust, 62% as prefrail, and 35% as frail. Most (72%) were overweight/obese, with clinically significant decreases in activity level (60%) and walking speed (97%). Compared to the original FFP population, older adults who SN exhibit important differences in frailty phenotypes, and finding that the largest percentage of older adults who SN were prefrail may indicate a critical opportunity for intervening in this population to reduce future functional decline and mortality.     

Institutional Care for Elders in Rural China

The long-term care (LTC) literature has been generally associated with industrialized countries. However, LTC needs are increasing in the developing world at a rate that far exceeds than experienced by industrialized countries. Using China as a case study, the purpose of this report is to provide an example of an emerging institutional care system for rural elders in a rapidly developing country. It covers two major domains of the system: service delivery and financing. The report presents several main issues involved in the development of institutional care for elders and discusses relevant policy implications.     

El Miedo y El Hambre: Understanding the Familial,Social, and Educational Realities of Undocumented Latino Families in North Central Indiana

This study explored how different ecological factors, within and outside the family, affected the educational success of the children of undocumented families. The sample consisted of 63 immigrant Latino parents (40 families) who resided in North Central Indiana. This study utilized an ethnographic research design. Findings demonstrated that immigration laws were affecting the educational success of the children of undocumented families. Most parents expressed lack of familiarity of the American educational system and that they had culture and language barriers. Findings also demonstrated that undocumented families were adapting to their realities, as a result of the resiliency in their families and communities. Implications for practice and future research were provided.     

Teenagers' reported interaction with grandparents: Exploring the extent of alienation

The perceived significance of grandparents in the lives of teenagers was explored. A sample of 225 predominately working class adolescents aged 13–18 years (X=15.48; SD=2.54) responded to a survey instrument that assessed the nature of their voluntary interaction with grandparents. Results challenged the assumption that teenagers view grandparents as playing confidant and companion roles in their lives. Adolescents were found to share regularly a variety of recreational activities with grandparents and expressed positive feelings about spending leisure time with grandparents. Findings also suggested that the onset of adolescence may result in a positive change in the nature of the grandchild-grandparent relationship. Future research was suggested which views the family as a system and explores the role parents play in determining the quality of teenagers' relations with grandparents.Mary Dellmann-Jenkins is Assistant Professor of Individual and Family Studies and Gerontology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. Dr. Dellmann-Jenkins earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Diane Papalia is Professor of Child and Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She holds a Ph.D. from West Virginia University at Morgantown. Both authors are currently involved in research in the area of older adult's psychological and social functioning. Martha Lopez collected the data for the study. She is currently a high school home economics teacher.     

Relationships between work–family dynamics and parenting experiences: a dyadic analysis of dual-earner couples

Research on the work–family interface has not consistently addressed how the positive and negative features of work–family dynamics relate to the experience of parenting, and still fewer studies have explored these interrelationships using dyads. This investigation addressed this gap by examining the extent to which mothers’ and fathers’ reports of work–family conflict and enrichment in?uenced their own and their spouse’s parenting experiences. Each member of 346 dual-earner couples in Portugal completed measures of work–family conflict (WFC) and work–family enrichment (WFE), along with measures of parenting attitudes and competencies. Dyadic analysis revealed that WFC and WFE affected the quality of parenting attitudes and competencies differently in men and women. Also, a differential pattern of crossover effects between partners was found, particularly with respect to the effect of mothers’ work–family dynamics on fathers’ parenting experience. For women, while only one significant partner effect was observed (from fathers’ WFC to mothers’ increased relational frustration), four partner effects were found in men’s parenting experience (from mothers’ WFC to fathers’ increased relational frustration, reduced sense of competence and reduced attachment; and from mothers’ WFE to fathers’ increased involvement). Further implications of these findings for advancing understanding of the impact of work–family dynamics on intrafamily relationships are discussed.     

The Collateral Consequences of Prisonization: Racial Sorting,Carceral Identity,and Community Criminalization

In this paper, I employ analyses of the collateral consequences of mass incarceration to consider how high‐incarceration communities are impacted by socializing processes instilled in the prison. Collateral consequences researchers have found that neighborhoods with high rates of incarceration suffer cumulative disadvantage, intensified policing, and the criminalization of residents. But overlooked in this literature is how socializing processes that are institutionalized in the prison shape the criminalization of community residents as gang‐involved. For example, I argue that the fallout of sorting imprisoned Latinos into gang‐associated groups has been the emergence of prison‐based Norteña/o, Sureña/o, and Bulldog identities in criminalized Chicana/o neighborhoods, complicating the implications mass incarceration has for marginalized communities of color. The geographic concentration of both mass incarceration and its collateral consequences not only directs aggressive policing into these residential spaces but also structures a relationship between prison and neighborhood that reinforces the recognition of community members as criminal. The appearance of Norteña/o, Sureña/o, and Bulldog identities in Latina/o neighborhoods represents some of the unanticipated consequences mass incarceration has for high‐incarceration communities, both in terms of the exportation of prison culture to the street and in terms of the extension of the prison's ability to define and construct criminality.