An Exploratory Study of Domains of Parenting Concern among Mothers Who Are Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors

This study conducted an exploratory factor analysis and initial validation of Ruscio’s (2001) parenting attitudes questionnaire, which assessed parenting concerns among child sexual abuse survivors. Child sexual abuse survivor mothers (N = 60) reported on their abuse experiences and completed the parenting attitudes questionnaire, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and subscales of the Parenting Stress Index and the Parent–Child Relationship Inventory. Three primary factors emerged: (a) concerns regarding the child’s sexuality and safety, (b) boundary disturbances within the child–survivor relationship, and (c) lack of energy for parenting due to recovery issues. Concerns about safety and sexuality and lack of energy for parenting were robust predictors of parenting outcomes. Assessment of such concerns may facilitate discussion of the balance between recovery work and parenting challenges.     

Sexual Risk-Taking among High-Risk Urban Women with and without Histories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Mediating Effects of Contextual Factors

This study investigated the mechanisms of risk for urban women at high risk for HIV with and without childhood sexual abuse histories. Childhood sexual abuse survivors reported more unprotected intercourse and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The association of STI locus of control with frequency of unprotected sex was fully mediated by being intoxicated during sex and engaging in sex work, whereas the association between relational control and unprotected sex was not mediated by contextual factors for the childhood sexual abuse group. The mechanisms of risk are different for those with divergent childhood sexual abuse histories and thus interventions should be developed to educate women with a history of childhood sexual abuse about ways to avoid revictimization, particularly within a context of poverty, prostitution, and drug use.     

Capacity Building Contributions of Short-Term International Volunteers

Previous research suggests that international volunteer service may have both positive and negative effects on host organizations. Applying a capacity-building perspective, this study uses semistructured interviews to ask staff in hosting organizations to identify the main outcomes of short-term volunteer service. These views were compared with perspectives of staff from matched organizations that do not host international volunteers. Findings suggest that international volunteers may increase organizational capacity by supplying extra hands, providing technical and professional skills, contributing tangible resources, and enhancing intercultural understanding. Volunteers may also challenge organizations as they absorb staff time and resources. Staff members from both types of organizations identify individual and institutional variables that may affect the quality of these outcomes, including volunteers' language capacity and the intensity of the service placement.     

Rethinking Affect in Education From a Societal-Historical Perspective: The Case of Mathematics Anxiety

Affect tends to be treated in educational research as a factor external to, but influencing, cognition. This is so even in those approaches that ally themselves with cultural-historical approaches that denounce the separation of affect and intellect. In this study, the authors use the case of mathematics anxiety to exhibit and exemplify the ways in which affect tends to be theorized. The authors then present the radical alternative that L. S. Vygotsky initially proposed and that was further developed by scholars that advanced his idea of unit analysis. There are several consequences for the measurement of affect and its relations to other dimensions of activity.     

Critical Perspectives on Hate Speech: The Centrality of ‘Dialogic Listening’

This article examines the study of listening as a cognitive process tied to memory and information processing. In examining the study of listening as a cognitive process, the authors discuss creating a theory of listening and the progress of that endeavor. Finally, they address whether or not researchers can create a theory about any concept as abstract as cognitive process or listening.     

Extending the Conceptualization of Listening Fidelity

An exploration of variables potentially related to Listening Fidelity (LF) was conducted through two separate studies. Study 1 indicated that when the potential fidelity of the stimulus message was varied as a function of the number of words and time length, the message with lowest potential fidelity produced significantly lower LF than either the moderate or high potential LF message versions. The moderate potential fidelity message produced the more normal score distribution although not significantly different LF scores than the high potential message. Differences in LF were not indicated as a function of participant sex, gender, or listening style. Study 2 found that LF and two of the three internal scoring components of LF were significantly correlated with four of five dimensions of the Watson Barker Listening Test. Continued emphasis on developing alternative cognitions and exploring listener confidence, cognitive complexity, and the specific function and relationship of LF with listening outcomes were recommended.     

A Factor Analytic Study of Four Listening Tests

This paper describes the nature and assessment of an interactive videodisc instructional program on listening. The program is available to other educational institutions seeking to expand cost-effective listening instruction to students. Formative evaluations indicate that students enjoyed the Level III interactive multimedia instruction (IMI). Results of a dummy variable regression analysis indicate that students receiving IMI in listening achieved significantly higher immediate cognitive test scores and listening gain scores than did students in the control group. Regression analysis indicated no significant effect of reported GPA, year in school, previous listening instruction, or time-on-task on listening test gain scores of the IMI treatment group. However, significant effects on cognitive test scores were found for reported GPA, previous listening instruction, time-on-task, and senior versus non-senior standing.     

Ethnographic Film as Exchange

This paper discusses how film impacts on the relationship between researchers/filmmakers and their collaborators in the field. Film can function as a gift that strengthens reciprocal relationships and it is a medium that facilitates dialogue and intercultural exchange. The author argues that film has great potential for eliciting cultural differences and enhancing intercultural communication as people relate to the same visual material from their different perspectives more easily than in the case of written text. Through ‘feedback’ and the ‘parallax effect’ film contributes to a reflective space both for the researchers and their local collaborators. Local collaborators often have different stakes in the film and the filmmakers may find themselves in the role of circumstantial activists with only limited control over the film's use and impact once it is produced.     

Difficulty in seeking information about health care quality and costs: The field of dreams fallacy

While government agencies and health organizations have increased efforts to provide online information about health care quality and costs, we know little about whether individuals seek out or understand this information. Using results from a Louisiana telephone survey (N = 1030), we examine intent to use a website devoted to information about health care quality and costs and self-reported difficulty in finding this information. Intent to use a website is driven primarily by prior Internet use while difficulty in learning about health care quality is associated with greater choice in health care providers and dissatisfaction with current care.     

Microcredit Self-Help Groups for Widowed and Abandoned Women in South India: Do They Help?

ABSTRACT

Results are presented from a study on a microcredit program with self-help groups implemented for widowed and abandoned women in Tamil Nadu shortly after the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Data were collected from 109 participants measuring the women's investment patterns, loan amounts, demographics, and overall well-being (psychological, economic, communal, and familial). Results indicate that loan amounts and investment patterns were not significantly related to the women's well-being. Length of group participation and having children were negatively related to the women's well-being. These findings are discussed in relation to social and cultural contexts. Suggestions for programs for this population of vulnerable women and other marginalized groups are proposed.