Is “Sexual Competence” at First Heterosexual Intercourse Associated With Subsequent Sexual Health Status?

The timing of first sexual intercourse is often defined in terms of chronological age, with particular focus on “early” first sex. Arguments can be made for a more nuanced concept of readiness and appropriateness of timing of first intercourse. Using data from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3), conducted in 2010–2012, this study examined whether a context-based measure of first intercourse—termed sexual competence—was associated with subsequent sexual health in a population-based sample of 17-to 24-year-olds residing in Britain (n = 2,784). Participants were classified as “sexually competent” at first intercourse if they reported the following four criteria: contraceptive protection, autonomy of decision (not due to external influences), that both partners were “equally willing,” and that it happened at the “right time.” A lack of sexual competence at first intercourse was independently associated with testing positive for human papillomavirus (HPV) at interview; low sexual function in the past year; and among women only, reported sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis ever; unplanned pregnancy in the past year; and having ever experienced nonvolitional sex. These findings provide empirical support for defining the nature of first intercourse with reference to contextual aspects of the experience, as opposed to a sole focus on chronological age at occurrence.     

Working in Complexity: Ethics and Boundaries in Community Work and Mental Health

While codes of ethical conduct are important, they do not always fit neatly in the organic community settings in which some workers engage. Professional standards from accrediting bodies are easy to sign up to, yet much more difficult to put into practice. Drawing upon community connection practice in recovery-oriented mental health work, this article names the professional boundary tensions peculiar to less structured fields of engagement. We suggest that for workers in these fields, there has been a disconnection between the theory, the experience, and the public discourse of professional boundaries. We argue that such disconnection can create uncertainty, anxiety, and secrecy, creating exactly those cultures we wish to avoid. Ultimately this leads to greater harm for vulnerable individuals, as well as the workers and organisations that serve them. The alternative is to engage in what we name a “risky conversation,” to expose this disconnect and engender a new type of professionalism.     

Exploring the role of fringe lenders in the lives of Queenslanders

The fringe lending sector in Australia has experienced considerable growth over the last decade. However, very little is known about the profile of the typical borrower or the typical lender – though much is assumed about the morality and motivation of both. Drawing upon findings from a pilot study conducted in Queensland during 2008–2009, we discuss the changing landscape of fringe lending in Australia before exploring how borrowers and lenders construct their respective motivations and actions. We conclude that the use of fringe lenders by low‐income Australians provides useful insights into the growth of fringe lending in Australia and the limitations of policy responses that are trapped in the regulation versus non‐regulation debate. We suggest that a more appropriate response must also consider the wider context of insufficient incomes to meet increased living costs. The policy debate needs to ensure that it acknowledges the complex demand and supply reasons for increasing demand for short term credit. The debate also needs to recognise that, in the absence of alternatives, fringe lending products will remain a prominent aspect of the financial management strategies of Australians living on low incomes.     

Natural relations: horses,knowledge, technology1

Maintaining the tensions and divisions between the human and non‐human, nature and culture has been a mainstay of Euro‐American thought. Drawing upon two studies of people's associations with horses, we examine how these divisions are being reworked in the social sciences as well in everyday life. We focus on how different ideas about ‘horses’, ‘horsemanship’ and how knowledge is acquired, accomplishes different social worlds. Specifically, what emerges in these differential discourses is that a paradox is put into play to make a distinction between traditional and contemporary ways of being in relation to nature and the animal; it is the paradox of what we want to refer to as ‘natural technologies’. We suggest that the paradox of ‘natural technologies’ is a proliferating feature of Euro‐American cultural life that troubles old divisions between nature and culture and propose that it indicates less about a politics of nature than a politics of culture. Specifically, we show that the preoccupation with bringing nature, and the non‐human, more into alignment with the human promotes ethics and equality as matters of lifestyle choice to the exclusion of very specific ideas about tradition, hierarchy, evolution and socialization.     

Taking Pressure Off Families: Child‐Care Subsidies Lessen Mothers’ Work‐Hour Problems

We use the Philadelphia Survey of Child Care and Work to model the effect of child‐care subsidies and other ecological demands and resources on the work hour, shift, and overtime problems of 191 low‐income urban mothers. Comparing subsidy applicants who do and do not receive cash payments for child care, we find that mothers who receive subsidies are 21% less likely to experience at least one work hour–related problem on the job. Our results suggest that child‐care subsidies do more than allow women to enter the labor force. Subsidies help make it easier for mothers in low‐wage labor both to comply with employer demands for additional work hours and to earn the needed wages that accompany them.     

Ambivalence and the paradoxes of grandparenting

This paper focuses on ‘normative talk’ about grandparenting. It is based on a secondary analysis of a study involving 46 interviews with grandparents. It identifies two main cultural norms of grandparenting that emerged from the data –‘being there’ and ‘not interfering’. There were very high levels of consensus in the study that these constituted what grandparents ‘should and should not’ do. However, these two norms can be contradictory, and are not easy to reconcile with the everyday realities of grandparenting. The study found that norms of parenting and also of self determination were also very important for the grandparents in the study. They had a keen sense of what being a ‘good parent’ (to their own adult children) should mean – especially in terms of allowing them to be independent – but this could sometimes conflict with their sense of responsibility to descendant generations of grandchildren. Using the concept of ambivalence and drawing on the accounts of grandparents in the study, the paper explores and offers an explanation for both the coexistence and conflict between different sets of norms, as well as for the remarkably high levels of consensus about ‘being there’ and ‘not interfering’. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the limitations of the data and the analysis, and with suggestions for the development of further work in this area.     

Book reviews

The Green City: Sustainable Homes, Sustainable Suburbs by Nicholas Low, Brendan Gleeson, Ray Green, Darko Radovich. Routledge, New York (published/distributed by University of New South Wales Press, Sydney). 2005. 247 p. NZ$59.95 (paperback). ISBN 0868406937.

More than Law and Order: Policing a Changing Society 1945–92 (The History of Policing in New Zealand, Vol. 5) by Susan Butterworth. University of Otago Press, Dunedin. 2005.348 p. NZ$49.95 (paperback). ISBN 1877276995.

New Rights New Zealand: Myths, Moralities and Markets by Dolores Janiewski and Paul Morris. Auckland University Press, Auckland. 2005. 206 p., NZ$34.99 (paperback). ISBN 1869403452.

Faith, Politics and Reconciliation: Catholicism and the Politics of Indigeneity by Dominic O'Sullivan. Huia, Adelaide. 2005. 296 p. NZ$44.99 (paperback). ISBN 1869691512.

Body Work: The Social Construction of Women's Body Image by Sylvia K. Blood. Routledge, London and New York. 2005. 149 p. NZ$61.95 (paperback). ISBN 0415272726.

The Word of a Woman ? Police, Rape and Beliefby Jan Jordan. Palgrave Macmil‐lan, Houndmills, Basingstoke and New York. 2004.267 p., NZ$172.95 (hardback). ISBN 1403921695.