Connecting and Strengthening Young Aboriginal Men: A Family Wellbeing Pilot Study

A significant proportion of young people in Australia are currently not being engaged in school and other social systems. This article presents the results of a mixed-methods study of a pilot Family Wellbeing intervention designed to enhance the social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) of young Aboriginal men and improve engagement in education, employment, and other social participation. A questionnaire incorporating the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and respondent self-assessment SEWB questions was administered to program participants pre and post intervention (N = 30) and qualitative data were collected from program organisers (N = 6). The results suggest that the Family Wellbeing intervention has the capacity to make a marked contribution to the SEWB of young Aboriginal men; participants experienced strong improvement in capacity to manage relationships, engagement in education and employment, and mental and physical health. The factors that enabled the program to be adapted to the target group and setting are documented.     

Realistic Free-Spins Features Increase Preference for Slot Machines

Despite increasing research into how the structural characteristics of slot machines influence gambling behaviour there have been no experimental investigations into the effect of free-spins bonus features—a structural characteristic that is commonly central to the design of slot machines. This series of three experiments investigated the free-spins feature using slot machine simulations to determine whether participants allocate more wagers to a machine with free spins, and, which components of free-spins features drive this preference. In each experiment, participants were exposed to two computer-simulated slot machines—one with a free-spins feature or similar bonus feature and one without. Participants then completed a testing phase where they could freely switch between the two machines. In Experiment 1, participants did not prefer the machine with a simple free-spins feature. In Experiment 2 the free-spins feature incorporated additional elements such as sounds, animations, and an increased win frequency; participants preferred to gamble on this machine. The Experiment 3 “bonus feature” machine resembled the free spins machine in Experiment 2 except spins were not free; participants showed a clear preference for this machine also. These findings indicate that (1) free-spins features have a major influence over machine choice and (2) the “freeness” of the free-spins bonus features is not an important driver of preference, contrary to self-report and interview research with gamblers.     

Positioning urban rivers within urban ecology

Rivers are important components of many urban systems, and research into urban rivers is increasing internationally, both in scope and intensity. As an introduction to a special section on urban rivers, this short article briefly highlights some key trends in urban river research based on a survey of published articles from Web of Knowledge, before summarising the contributions made by the special section papers. In particular, there has been a general increase in work on urban rivers since the 1990s, with a more dramatic increase from 2001. Most published research has concentrated on water quality and its wider environmental implications; ecologically, many studies have focused on autecology, community ecology or river restoration/rehabilitation, with the main emphasis on macroinvertebrates or fish. Geographically, most studies have taken place in North America (mainly the US) and Asia (mainly China). In the large majority of cases research has been on relatively small rivers within urbanised catchments rather than large, heavily urbanised systems within major towns or cities. Given the wide range of topics and studies relating to urban river research, a detailed meta-analysis of the urban river ecology literature would be a useful endeavour. The six papers included in the special section of this issue provide a sample of some of key and emerging themes within recent urban river research, and originate from a session on the understanding and management of urban rivers held at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Meeting in 2010, at Imperial College London.     

Stemming retail leakage with a sense of community: Leveraging the links between communal ties and shopping decisions

Retail business development is a broad goal for both private business interests as well as local policymakers, yet the goal of retail opportunities for local residents themselves is often seen as secondary. This paper considers the argument that retail opportunities and sense of community are in fact linked in important ways, links that reinforce the social fabric of a community and/or neighborhood. The paper first briefly reviews the inherent linkages between retail shopping and local development patterns, and then considers the sense of community in the context of Garfield County in western Colorado. Based on the key questions derived from this background, we formally test the inter-relationship between local retail spending and sense of community from detailed survey data, then more broadly consider the factors that critically shape a locality's “sense of community.” These findings shape several important policy implications.     

Why Are Socially Anxious Adolescents Rejected by Peers? The Role of Subject‐Group Similarity Characteristics

This study addressed the role of actual and perceived similarity in peer rejection of socially anxious adolescents. Videotapes of 20 high and 20 low socially anxious adolescents (13–17 years old) giving a speech were rated by groups of unfamiliar peers with regard to perceived similarity and desire for future interaction (lower scores indicating rejection). Actual similarity between speakers and observers regarding social anxiety and gender was also taken into account. Findings showed that high socially anxious students were more rejected and that perceived but not actual similarity between peer observers and speakers (partly) mediated rejection.     

Examining the association between Medicaid coverage and preterm births using 2010–2013 National Vital Statistics Birth Data

Reducing the number of preterm births is a high public health priority in the U.S. Preterm birth, affecting an estimated 380,000 infants annually, is a leading cause of infant mortality and morbidity and is associated with individual and systemic characteristics. Preterm birth is estimated to cost society $26 billion annually. Despite an elevated financial burden caused by preterm birth, very little is known about who bears these costs. This study seeks to understand the relationship between Medicaid and private insurance payment for preterm birth, using multiple years of vital statistics data, which for the first time since 2010 include information on payment source. The nationwide data cover births that occur in all settings, including non-hospital settings, and many maternal characteristics not available in other datasets, improving upon previous analyses. These data can be used to promote better Medicaid coverage of interventions known to be effective in reducing preterm births.     

Work,parenting and gender: the care–work negotiations of three couple relationships in the UK

Changes globally mean that there are now record numbers of mothers in paid employment and a reported prevalence of involved fathering. This poses challenges to mothers and fathers as they negotiate care–work practices within their relationships. Focusing on interviews with three heterosexual couples (taken from a wider UK qualitative project on working parents), the paper considers care–work negotiations of three couples, against a backdrop of debates about intensive mothering and involved fathering. It aims to consider different configurations of work and care within three different couple relationships. We found that power within the relationships was negotiated along differential axis of gender and working status (full- or part-time paid work). We present qualitatively rich insights into these negotiations. Framed by a critical discursive psychological approach, we call on other researchers to think critically about dominant discourses and practices of working, caring and parenting, pointedly how couples situated around the world operationalise these discourses in talking about themselves as worker and carers.     

The Socio‐Economic Determinants of HIV/AIDS Infection Rates in Lesotho,Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe

Using data from the Demographic and Health Survey, this article analyses the relationship between HIV status and the socio‐economic and demographic characteristics of adults in Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. It constructs the risk profile of the average adult, computes the values of age, education and wealth where the estimated probability of infection assumes its highest value, and determines the percentage of adults for whom these three factors are positively correlated with that probability. It finds that in all four countries: (i) the probability of being HIV‐positive is higher for women than for men; (ii) the likelihood of infection is higher for urban than for rural residents; and (iii) there is an inverted‐U relationship between age and HIV status. Also that, unlike gender, rural/urban residence and age, the relationship between the probability of infection and wealth, education and marital status varies by country. The results provide support for country‐specific and more targeted HIV policies and programmes.