The medicalization of women's sexual pain

The medicalization of women's sexual problems under the overall rubric of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) has been thoroughly critiqued by feminist scholars, health practitioners, and sex therapists. However, there has been much less commentary on the medicalization of women's sexual pain-currently, a subset of an official FSD diagnosis. This article critically examines interdisciplinary understandings and ways of addressing sexual pain. It analyzes these frameworks in relation to feminist theories on medicalization, heteronormativity, and the reciprocal relationship between these two processes. We argue that many women who experience sexual pain have been eager for medicalization as a path to minimizing pain during sexual activity and reinstating normative heterosexual practices and identities. These goals have been lobbied for by patient advocacy groups and noted by professionals in the field. Although there are some clear benefits to this case for medicalization, there are also theoretical, personal, and political costs. Guided by a growing body of feminist theoretical and qualitative, empirical research on this topic, as well as the first author's personal experience of sexual pain, this article highlights some alternatives to medicalization and makes suggestions for change.     

Unexpecting age

This essay argues that how we view our own old age is highly influenced by socially pervasive, though never explicit, expectations regarding old age as a generic category. I idenfiy four key expectations - the right to an old age; the idea that being old means being endowed with certain (positive or negative) characteristics; the fragmented relationship between the phases of life; and the assumption of the a-social nature of the aging process - and explore the sometimes contradictory ways in which these impact upon our own journeys through the life course.     

Perceptions of Academic Achievement and Educational Opportunities Among Black and African American Youth

Research focusing on disparities in academic achievement among Black, African American, and other youth has largely examined differences in quantitative risk and protective factors associated with levels of achievement. Few interpretive studies of academic achievement by race or ethnicity have considered how the context of young people’s lives impact their perceptions of academic performance. Furthermore, the lived experiences of Black and African American youth have rarely been considered. This study examined perceptions of academic achievement among a sample of Black and African American elementary and middle school students living in four public housing neighborhoods in a Western US city. Twenty-five Black and African American youth participated in the study. Fourteen youth were in grades 4 and 5, and 11 youth were in grades 6, 7, or 8. Sixty-four percent of participants (n?=?16) were male and 36% (n?=?9) were female. Four themes emerged regarding participants’ perceptions of academic achievement: (1) (in)equity and the internalization of messages; (2) teachers as gatekeepers; (3) family and community factors promoting and inhibiting academic success; and (4) cultural considerations—language, stereotypes, and difference. Implications for improving academic outcomes and reducing the achievement gap among Black, African American, and other students are noted.     

Stakeholder perspectives on integrated services for people who experience chronic homelessness

This article concerns a SAMHSA-funded service intervention, Pathways to Independence, that combined the use of SAMHSA’s SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery approach to facilitating disability entitlement claims with financial management classes, mental health assessment and referral, and access to employment and housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness. The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of this form of service delivery and the benefits and challenges of the program model from the perspective of those who experienced it. Focus groups were conducted with a total of 17 program stakeholders, including program participants, program staff, collaborating case management staff of the parent agency, and a landlord and an employer, with questions to each regarding the program and its impact. Focus groups were analyzed through independent coding followed by discussion to reach consensus on key themes. Five themes were identified across the groups: (a) the importance of relationships, (b) staff specialization and provision of individualized services, (c) an orientation to outcomes, (d) comprehensiveness of services and facilitation of connections to community resources, and (e) systems challenges. The Pathways to Independence program provides a working model for integrated employment, entitlement assessment and application, housing, and behavioral health treatment for persons experiencing chronic homelessness.     

Identifying and Measuring Racial Profiling by the Police

Over the past decade, public concern about racial profiling and racially disparate treatment of drivers during routine traffic stops has become a critical issue facing law enforcement. Racial disparities in traffic stops, citations and searches impose serious costs on minority citizens and can strain relationships between community members and the police. Over the past decade, researchers, police administrators and legal advocates have employed various methodologies to measure whether or not, and under what conditions, racial profiling exists. Despite a proliferation of research on the subject, many questions about how to best measure racial profiling remain unanswered. This study provides an overview of the problem of racial profiling and discusses the strengths and limitations of the most common research strategies that have been used to identify and measure the prevalence of the problem.     

Health-Promoting Influences of the Family on Late Adolescent Functioning

This study examined whether potentially modifiable health-promoting family factors during mid-adolescence (age 15) predicted adaptive functioning in late adolescence (age 18) among members of a working-class community cohort. Family factors included feeling valued in the family, cohesion, and social support. Late adolescent outcomes covered developmentally salient areas: academic functioning; mental health; suicidal behavior; and social, psychological, and behavioral functioning. Our findings demonstrate that a positive adolescent family milieu is related to both adaptive outcomes and a reduced likelihood of serious difficulties, including mental and behavior problems. Although each hypothesized health-promoting factor was significantly associated with multiple areas of age 18 functioning, the patterns of association differed by type of family factor. Taken together, results suggest that the family remains an important social context during mid-adolescence and that to be most effective programs designed by practitioners aimed at strengthening families should target multiple features of the family environment.     

Investigating the economic and demographic determinants of sporting participation in England

We provide a detailed statistical investigation into the economic and demographic factors that determine sporting participation in England. Using data from the 1997 health survey of England we fit random-effects probit models that take into account unobservable household preferences for sporting activities, as well as the economic and demographic characteristics of respondents. Our main results from the multivariate analysis are that sporting participation is positively related to household income, the educated participate in sports to a greater extent than the uneducated, there is no evidence of regional differentials in sporting participation and household preferences play an important role in the decision to participate in sports.     

Analyzing multivariate longitudinal binary data: A generalized estimating equations approach

The authors consider regression analysis for binary data collected repeatedly over time on members of numerous small clusters of individuals sharing a common random effect that induces dependence among them. They propose a mixed model that can accommodate both these structural and longitudinal dependencies. They estimate the parameters of the model consistently and efficiently using generalized estimating equations. They show through simulations that their approach yields significant gains in mean squared error when estimating the random effects variance and the longitudinal correlations, while providing estimates of the fixed effects that are just as precise as under a generalized penalized quasi‐likelihood approach. Their method is illustrated using smoking prevention data.     

Young Mother (in the) Hood: Gang Girls' Negotiation of New Identities

This article examines the experiences of young women in street gangs who become mothers. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 65 young women in the San Francisco, CA, Bay Area, we examine their narratives about the transition to motherhood. In particular, we focus on the ways these young women negotiate femininities and attempt to reconcile their identities as young mothers and gang girls-both stigmatized identities. For many of the young women, motherhood entails a retreat from the street and a renewed emphasis on time spent in the home. While many receive (financial and childcare) support from their families, this also often means a diminution of the autonomy they experienced while more heavily involved in the gang. Issues of respect and respectability remain important for the young women, but the dimensions on which these are based change.