From bias to coverage: What explains how news organizations treat social movements

Why do newspapers cover social movement actors, and why is this coverage sometimes favorable? Early scholarship saw the news media mainly as a source of data on collective action, and sought to ascertain its biases, but scholarship has increasingly focused directly on why movements gain coverage, especially coverage that can advance their goals. To understand why and how newspapers cover movement actors, we start with the insight that movements rely on the news media for many reasons, but their coverage is largely in the control of news institutions. In this review, we focus on perspectives that specify 3‐way interactions between the characteristics of newspapers, social movement actors, and the social and political contexts, but we begin with how news media institutions are organized. We conclude with suggestions for future research that take advantage of the digital revolution of the last generation.     

Maternal Social Coaching Quality Interrupts the Development of Relational Aggression During Early Childhood

Previous research has shown that parents of socially competent young children provide them with elaborative, explicit, appropriate, and emotion‐laden advice about peer interactions. The current study analyzed mothers' conversations with preschoolers (N = 175; 52 percent female; M age = 52 months, SD = 7 months) about peer conflicts involving relational aggression. Conversations were coded for maternal elaboration, emotion references, and discussion of norm violations. Information about relational and physical aggression was collected from teachers at two assessments approximately 12 months apart for a subsample of 136 children. Regression analyses, controlling for physical aggression, showed that average and high levels of effective coaching operated as a protective factor against stable high levels of relational aggression. Theoretical and practical implications for our understanding of the early development of relational aggression are discussed.     

Scandals in the White House: An Organizational Explanation*

The Watergate scandal involving the president's personal staff brought forth numerous analyses and explanations. Most analyses located the cause of the scandal in the psychology of Richard Nixon, the breakdown of institutional arrangements, or a societal tolerance for corruption. The author, however, argues that Watergate was but one of many staff incidents that undermined presidential power and that the persistence of such phenomena requires a sociological explanation. The author argues that deviant staff behaviors are a direct consequence of the organizational structure of personal staffs, and that such behaviors derive paradoxically from the characteristics that make staffs useful to chief executives. The argument is elaborated through an analysis of publicized scandals and disruptive staff practices of presidential staffs since Franklin Roosevelt's administration.     

The association between comorbidity and outcome in pathological gambling: a prospective follow-up of recent quitters

A naturalistic sample of pathological gamblers (N = 101) who recently quit gambling was followed prospectively for a year (follow-up rate 80%). Lifetime mood disorders were identified in 61% of participants and 73% and 48% had lifetime alcohol use and drug use disorders, respectively. Current prevalence rates, however, were much lower. Current mood disorders were found for 20% and 7% had a current alcohol disorder and 7% a current drug use disorder. Age of onset for substance use disorders was earlier than gambling disorders but mood disorders were equally likely to predate or follow gambling disorders. Lifetime mood disorder was associated with a longer time to achieve 3 months of stable abstinence. Participants who were currently in treatment or attending Gamblers Anonymous and the small number of participants with current alcohol disorders were also more likely to achieve abstinence earlier. The results underscore the importance of increasing our understanding of the role of comorbid disorders in the recovery process from gambling problems.     

Risky behaviour: a new framework for understanding why young people take risks

Theories of youth risk taking range from the realist to the sociocultural. Much of this theorising, particularly in the field of epidemiology, has been strongly influenced by the Health Belief Framework. More recently, attention has shifted to understanding how young people perceive risk and what makes some of them resilient to risk taking. In this article we develop a framework that brings together diverse theoretical perspectives on youth risk taking. We draw on lessons from across the social science disciplines to inform a conceptual framework incorporating the broad context and internal processes of young people's decisions to take risks. Our Youth Risk Interpretation Framework (Y-RIF) has been developed from insights gained during an ethnographic study conducted in South Africa (Graham, Lauren, 2012. Understanding risk in the everyday identity-work of young people on the East Rand of Johannesburg. Doctoral Thesis. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg.). We argue that our framework is useful, as it offers new ways of understanding why some young people take risks while others are more cautious. It could be used to inform youth behaviour surveillance research and interventions. However, it will need to be rigorously tested.     

Immigrant employment and earnings growth in Canada and the USA: evidence from longitudinal data

We study the short-term trajectories of employment, hours worked, and real wages of immigrants in Canada and the USA using nationally representative longitudinal datasets covering 1996–2008. Models with person fixed effects show that, on average, immigrant men in Canada do not experience any relative growth in these three outcomes compared to men born in Canada. Immigrant men in the USA, on the other hand, experience positive annual growth in all three domains relative to US-born men. This difference is largely on account of low-educated immigrant men, who experience faster or longer periods of relative growth in employment and wages in the USA than in Canada. We further compare longitudinal and cross-sectional trajectories and find that the latter over-estimate wage growth of earlier arrivals, presumably reflecting selective return migration.     

Telling their story of homelessness: voices of Victoria’s Tent City

In a climate of reduced access to affordable and appropriate housing, tent cities have emerged as a unique solution to homelessness. Conducted with a semi-structured interview schedule, this qualitative study presents the findings of research conducted at Tent City, Victoria in 2016. Using snowball sampling, 12 residents of Tent City participated in research that revealed four themes for analysis: (1) push and pull motivations to join the encampment; (2) the role of services in resident’s lives; (3) residents’ experiences with the outside community; and (4) Tent City as a home community. Push factors included substance abuse, mental health problems, unemployment, family problems while pull factors included lack of affordable and appropriate housing, loss of housing, and personal issues. Residents’ experiences with services were generally negative with social/health services being considered inadequate, housing options overly restrictive and controlling. The outside community was considered hostile and uninformed as the workings of Tent City and the benefits it provided. Importantly, Tent City provided both a psychological and functional sense of community for residents. While the directions for future research are many, further examination of the broader sociopolitical context in which tent cities emerge could be examined. As well, the themes identified here could be explored further in terms of how existing services could be restructured to better respond to the needs of homeless persons.     

Women's Engagement in Pubic Hair Removal: Motivations and Associated Factors

Objectives: To examine the relationship between women's pubic hair removal (PHR) and genital satisfaction and explore whether attitudes toward, and personal consumption of, pornography are associated with women's engagement in PHR. Methods: Data were collected by online survey from women (N = 152) who were then categorized into groups based on the prevalence and extent of PHR during the previous 4 weeks. Groups were compared on demographic, background, and behavioral variables. Results: Eighty-three percent of respondents reported PHR in the previous 4 weeks and 40% of respondents removed all their pubic hair. Women who were younger, White, and were more satisfied with their genitals were more likely to engage in PHR. Of these, being younger, not having a degree, reporting less positive attitudes toward erotica, and 3 reasons for PHR predicted extensive PHR over limited removal. Conclusions: Findings provide insights into the reasons for, and extent of, PHR among women and factors associated with the practice. The possible influences of partners' preferences for genital hair removal by women and partners' consumption of pornography are important areas for future research.