How Resource Dynamics Explain Accumulating Developmental and Health Disparities for Teen Parents’ Children

This study examines the puzzle of disparities experienced by U.S. teen parents’ young children, whose health and development increasingly lag behind those of peers while their parents are simultaneously experiencing socioeconomic improvements. Using the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (2001–2007; N ≈ 8,600), we assess four dynamic patterns in socioeconomic resources that might account for these growing developmental and health disparities throughout early childhood and then test them in multilevel growth curve models. Persistently low socioeconomic resources constituted the strongest explanation, given that consistently low income, maternal education, and assets fully or partially account for growth in cognitive, behavioral, and health disparities experienced by teen parents’ children from infancy through kindergarten. That is, although teen parents gained socioeconomic resources over time, those resources remained relatively low, and the duration of exposure to limited resources explains observed growing disparities. Results suggest that policy interventions addressing the time dynamics of low socioeconomic resources in a household, in terms of both duration and developmental timing, are promising for reducing disparities experienced by teen parents’ children.     

Playing safe: Media coverage of child sexual abuse prevention strategies

This paper examines the media coverage of preventing child sexual abuse. It draws on a content analysis of all press and TV news coverage about child sexual abuse that appeared in the UK during a complete 12-month period. The findings demonstrate that the bulk of the coverage was case-based, for example focusing on the Orkney case. There was very little opportunity for broader discussion of general issues of concern, including how sexual assaults against children might be prevented. The coverage of ‘prevention’ which did exist drew on a very narrow range of debates and was disproportionately concerned with abuse outside the home (abductions by strangers, or abuse within institutions such as schools or children's homes). Discussions about prevention were dominated by reactive news stories generated by particular ‘scandals’. The coverage was also largely drawn from a small constituency of official source agencies (such as government officials, court proceedings and police statements). There were few attempts to address the broader social conditions which might facilitate or inhibit sexual violence or to examine explicitly political analyses of the problem. The paper argues for a more diverse discussion about ways of preventing sexual violence against children, especially assaults by fathers, uncles, brothers and friends of the family. This demands close attention to the ways in which the mass media operate, as well as the priorities of source agencies. The paper points to factors within news production practices which both obstruct and facilitate debate about prevention and concludes by suggesting strategies to promote this issue as a vital part of the public agenda.     

Medcamp's Effect on Junior High School Students' Medical Career Self-Efficacy

Medcamp, a 3-day problem-based career intervention for students entering the 9th grade, implemented each of the 4 antecedents for self-efficacy. Ten boys and 35 girls participated in Medcamp; of these, 35 completed and returned the Medical Career Self-Efficacy Scales (developed by the authors for their study) both at the beginning and at the end of the program. Three scales measured specific self-efficacy (tasks students had performed during Medcamp), related self-efficacy (other tasks students would complete by the second year of medical school), and general self-efficacy (included lifestyle variables and study habits). Results demonstrated significant increases in self-efficacy on all 3 scales.     

The influence of cooperative programs on union-management relations,flexibility, and other labor relations outcomes

There has been considerable interest recently in joint union-management committees as a means of promoting union-management cooperation. At the same time, many unionized firms have been experimenting with quality of worklife and other workplace-level programs aimed at the average employee in the bargaining unit. Survey data were obtained concerning firms’ actual experiences with these programs with regard to union officer-management relations, grievances and the ability to resolve them informally, labor flexibility, absenteeism, and turnover. There is no indication that the workplace-level programs impede union-management cooperation. Instead, they generally have positive effects on the union-management relations outcomes examined, although those effects generally are smaller than those of the joint committees.     

Union loyalty antecedents: A justice perspective

Using a justice perspective, this study investigates the relationship between union instrumentality and union loyalty in terms of union ability to address both outcome-based and process-based membership concerns. The results of hierarchical regression analysis using a sample of 451 train crew members from four railroads showed that member satisfaction with outcome-based concerns (i.e., pay, time spent away from home, safety climate) did not significantly affect union loyalty, but that member satisfaction with process-based concerns (i.e., effectiveness of the grievance procedure and satisfaction with communication from national union leaders) was significantly related to union loyalty. Moreover, process-based concerns explained additional variance in union loyalty beyond that accounted for by outcome-based concerns. Results are discussed in light of the justice and human resource literatures.     

The effect of welfare eligibility on the labor force participation of women of Mexican origin in California

The relationship between AFDC, Food Stamp, and Medi-Cal Program eligibility, on the one hand, and labor force participation, on the other, was analyzed by comparing the labor force participation rates of women of Mexican origin who were fully eligible for these programs with those of less eligible women. Marital status, husband's income, and legal residence in the United States were used to define levels of program eligibility for this sample. The effects of education, English fluency, age, the number and ages of children, and the number of other adults in the household (excluding the mother and spouse) were controlled in logistic regression procedures. The results of the multivariate analyses show that AFDC, food stamps, and Medi-Cal combined inhibit the labor force participation of unmarried mothers. There is no evidence, however, that food stamps and Medi-Cal influence the labor force participation of married mothers. Earnings information on this sample of California women indicate that welfare benefits for unmarried mothers are highly competitive with net earnings, primarily because of the cost childcare. The data imply that free or subsidized childcare would increase labor force participation and reduce AFDC enrollment.