Space and place in an Urban Landscape: Learning from children's views of their social worlds

In this paper, I examine photos made by children as one part of a three‐year, ethnographic study of childhoods in different communities in California. Within this study, the children's photographs—and their talk about these and other images—illuminate distinctions between the urban spaces that outsiders might notice from particular urban places meaningful to children themselves. These images and commentaries reveal some of the ways in which the children's urban experiences are shaped by social class, gender, ethnicity, immigration, and racialization. They also confirm the importance of social relationships for the meanings that children attach to the urban landscapes in which they live.     

Biological control of Pacific mites and Willamette mites in San Joaquin Valley vineyards: part III. Role of tydeid mites

Summary In the absence of spider mites, tydeids (Pronematus anconai Baker andPronematus ubiquitus [Mc Gregor]) may serve as alternate prey to maintain good numbers of the predatory mite,Metaseiulus occidentalis (Nesbitt) (Acarina, Phytoseiidae), late in the season. This late-season predator and alternate prey relationship is necessary to stabilize Pacific mite populations and perpetuate balance in San Joaquin Valley vineyards. Thriving laboratory colonies of tydeids were reared on a diet of windblown pollens, including cattail pollen (Typha sp., Typhaceae) and bottlebrush pollen (Melaleuca sp., Myrtaceae).M. occidentalis was successfully reared on a diet of tydeids and ovipositing predator females were obtained. In addition, pollen dusted on grapevines significantly increased both tydeid and indirectlyM. occidentalis populations late in the season. These studies suggest that artificially disseminating cattail pollen or manipulating good pollen producing flora in and around vineyards may be used to correct situations where Pacific mites have become serious pests. This study was supported by grant No. GB-7322 toC. B. Hyffaker by the National Science Foundation.     

Trauma symptoms, sexual behaviors, and substance abuse: correlates of childhood sexual abuse and HIV risks among men who have sex with men

Childhood sexual abuse is associated with high-risk sexual behavior in men who have sex with men. This study examined psychological and behavioral correlates of HIV risk behavior associated with childhood sexual abuse in a sample of men who have sex with men. Men attending a large gay pride event (N = 647) completed anonymous surveys that assessed demographic characteristics, childhood sexual abuse history, symptoms of dissociation and trauma-related anxiety, borderline personality characteristics, substance use, and sexual risk behavior. Results indicated that men who have a history of childhood sexual abuse were more likely to: engage in high-risk sexual behavior (i.e., unprotected receptive anal intercourse), trade sex for money or drugs, report being HIV positive, and experience non-sexual relationship violence. Results of this study extend previous research to show that men who have sex with men and who have a history of child sexual abuse are more likely to be at high risk for HIV infection.     

An historical document analysis of the introduction of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative into the Australian setting

Background

Breastfeeding has many known benefits yet its support across Australian health systems was suboptimal throughout the 20th Century. The World Health Organization launched a global health promotion strategy to help create a ‘breastfeeding culture’. Research on the programme has revealed multiple barriers since implementation.

Women's desire for the kaleidoscope of authenticity,balance and challenge: A multi‐method study of female health workers’ careers

Improved health care and increased life expectancy have extended working lives and changed the nature of work for many women. The aim of this research is to explore women's kaleidoscope career intentions of authenticity, balance and challenge, and understand the impact of life roles on their career choices. The research comprises two studies. In Study 1, interviews with 14 female hospital pharmacists demonstrate how their desire to increase non‐work life roles while caring for ageing parents has influence over their career choices. In Study 2, a survey of 178 female direct care workers confirms life roles’ impact on their kaleidoscope career intentions. Findings demonstrate that different life roles strongly influence women's career choices in a number of ways, primarily their desire to increase their leisure and engagement with activities outside work. In later life, carer responsibilities play an influential role in female career choices, particularly those related to eldercare. Finally, kaleidoscope career intentions may be influenced by life roles. These findings have considerable implications for both the expansion of careers and gender theory, and development of public and business policies aimed at attracting and retaining human resources.     

Determining the skills for child protection practice: emerging from the quagmire!

This paper, the second in a series of two, presents and analyses the results of an extended literature review undertaken for a Master's dissertation, the purpose of which was to establish the evidence base for the learning and teaching of skills for child protection practice. The review, discussed in the previous paper, was carried out in two stages. An initial search yielded a very small number of studies of direct relevance but they provided the trigger and the key words for a second search. Many potentially useful areas had to be omitted from the second stage because of limited resources, but the two stages in the search generated large amounts of material, much of which was indirectly relevant to child protection practice. The review did not achieve the original aim of determining skills that are identified through research and other evidence as being essential for child protection practice, but it was possible to draw some conclusions. For example, evidence was found of the importance of a range of communication skills, whether these be child focused, carer focused or inter‐professional. Skills in managing conflict and challenge were found to be crucial, with the importance of role clarification being acknowledged. There was some evidence of the use of decision‐making skills and problem‐solving skills, but little research that explored procedural skills. This paper reports on gaps in the literature identified by the review, and indicates where further research would be beneficial. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preconception Motivation and Pregnancy Wantedness: Pathways to Toddler Attachment Security

This research was designed to increase our understanding of how the motivational antecedents to childbearing and emotional responses to pregnancy affect the subsequent attachment bond of a toddler to his or her mother. Using a sample of 1,364 mothers and their newborns from the Study of Early Child Care, we tested a mother‐child influence framework hypothesized to mediate between the mother's preconception motivation and pregnancy wantedness and her child's security of attachment at 24 months. Almost all elements of the mediational sequence were confirmed in a structural equation model. We observed 2 unmediated pathways to attachment security, 1 from preconception motivation and 1 from parenting stress during infancy, and suggest interpretations of these unexpected pathways.     

Indexicality and experience: Exploring the meanings of /aw/‐monophthongization in Pittsburgh1

In this paper we test the hypothesis that monophthongal /aw/ is semiotically associated with local identity in Pittsburgh. We compare results of an experimental task that directly elicits participants' sense of the indexical value of /aw/‐monophthongization with the occurrence of this variant in the same people's speech. People who hear monophthongal /aw/ as an index of localness are unlikely to have this feature in their own speech, and many of the people who do monophthongize /aw/ do not associate this variant with localness. Exploring how four of these participants talk about this feature and its meanings, we show that the indexical meanings of speech features can vary widely within a community, and we illustrate the danger of confusing the meaning assigned by hearers to a linguistic form with the meaning users would assign to it. We suggest that a phenomenological approach, attending to the multiplicity and indeterminacy of indexical relations and to how such relations arise historically and in lived experience, can lead to a more nuanced account of the distribution of social meanings of variant forms than can studies of perception or production alone.     

One-year outcomes from the CASAWORKS for Families intervention for substance-abusing women on welfare

AIM: To evaluate the effectiveness of a multiservice intervention designed to move substance-abusing women on welfare to sobriety and self-sufficiency by addressing their substance abuse, domestic violence, employment, and basic needs. DESIGN: A field evaluation with repeated measures at 6 and 12 months on an intent-to-treat sample of 529 women conducted in 11 selected sites across the country. There were significant improvements shown in substance use and family and social functioning by the 6-month point, and additional improvements in employment by the 12-month point. By 12 months, more than 46% were abstinent from alcohol and other drugs, and 30% were employed at least part-time. There were only modest improvements shown in the medical and psychiatric status of these women. These preliminary findings suggest that site-level interagency coordination and program-level case management were associated with improvements in the targeted areas as predicted by the model. Future work will require a more closely specified, manual-guided form of the intervention plus the inclusion of control groups and cost measures to fully evaluate the cost benefits from the final form of the intervention.