Multiracial Church Attendance and Support for Same‐Sex Romantic and Family Relationships

Research has found that attending a racially diverse congregation promotes more favorable attitudes toward interracial dating, marriage, and adoption, but does participation in an integrated faith community promote tolerance toward other non‐traditional romantic and family forms? This study examines the relationship between involvement in a racially diverse congregation and support for same‐sex romantic and family relationships. Data are taken from the 2005 Baylor Religion Survey. I fit logistic regression models to estimate the effect of attending a multiracial church on support for homosexuality, same‐sex marriage, and same‐sex adoption, net of sociodemographic and religious controls. Results indicate that persons who attend churches where between 25 and 75 percent of attendees are of another race are more likely to support gay sex, marriage, and adoption compared with those who attend more racially homogenous churches. This relationship generally holds when models are estimated for evangelicals and mainline Protestants separately, but not for Catholics. Findings suggest a link between religion‐based racial prejudice and heterosexism/homophobia and that increased exposure to racial diversity may promote a general tolerance toward non‐traditional romantic couples and families.     

Unravelling Cultural Constructions in Social Work Education: Journeying Toward Cultural Competence

Cultural understanding is often so deeply internalised it is difficult to know when and how values, beliefs and traditions were learned and even whether the ingrained messages carried from the past remain relevant in the present. Finding creative and culturally inclusive ways for students to unravel the origins of their own cultural constructions evolved into an assignment for a family course in social work education at the University of Otago, New Zealand. The student group were distance taught, mature students, most of whom were working in social service settings. Students self‐selected into groups and were asked to research, analyse and present their understanding of the influence of a culturally specific and influential myth, legend or fairytale. A key requirement was that this occurred within the context of working with families. Students were required to examine how the messages from well known ‘stories’ are perpetuated and how these then influence social work practice. This method of assessment was monitored and evaluated in terms of the students' experiences along with the learning outcomes for the course. It is the rationale, the process, and evaluation of this assignment that will be discussed in this paper.     

Racial composition of social settings,interracial friendship,and whites’ attitudes toward interracial marriage

This study examines the effect that the racial composition of neighborhoods, workplaces, congregations, and friendships has on whites’ attitudes toward interracial marriage with blacks, Latinos, and Asians. Utilizing survey data drawn from a national probability sample, ordered logit regression models are estimated in order to (1) determine the effect of the racial composition of neighborhoods, workplaces, and congregations on white intermarriage attitudes, net of sociodemographic and ideological controls and (2) test for a mediating effect of interracial friendship. Greater presence of blacks, Latinos, or Asians in neighborhoods and congregations of whites predicts favorable attitudes among whites toward interracial marriage with each respective racial group. A higher proportion of Latinos in the workplace also predicts support for racial exogamy with Latinos. Many of these effects, however, are reduced when interracial friendship is included in models, suggesting that the effect of interracial contact on intermarriage attitudes is mediated by whether or not whites develop interracial friendships within settings of cross-race interaction.     

Factors impacting the knowing-doing gap in sexual harassment training

We examined the gaps between research-based sexual harassment training practices human resource (HR) managers believe their organization should use and the practices their organizations actually use (knowing-doing gaps). We studied individual (attitudes about academics) and organizational predictors (senior management support, managerial rewards, and organizational resources) of gaps at the pre-training, training design and delivery, and post-training stages. Organizational factors generally reduced gaps at the pre-training and post-training stages, while the individual factor marginally increased the gap at the pre-training stage. The knowing-doing gap for training design and delivery practices was not predicted by any of the individual or organizational variables.     

Vacant lot soil degradation and mowing frequency shape communities of belowground invertebrates and urban spontaneous vegetation

Urban Ecosystems - Vacant land in legacy cities is increasingly recognized as a resource to support biodiversity and improve the quality of life for residents. However, the capacity for vacant lot...     

Litigant participation and success in water rights cases in the Western States

Over the years, many decisions concerning the rights to water resources have been addressed in state legislatures and federal courts; however, the majority of decisions concerning the conflicting demands over water have been addressed in state courts. This study examines the body of water rights cases heard in state supreme courts of the eleven Western states and focus on litigant participation and success. The data set includes all the water rights cases decided between 1972 and 2008 in the eleven western state high courts (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). The study explores the propensity of different types of litigants to initiate water rights cases at the state supreme court level, and also examines litigation patterns to determine which litigants are the targets of these appeals. Galanter's (1974) party capability theory is used to help explain patterns of litigant success.     

The transitional impacts of material and service offshoring

The recent expansion of offshoring intermediate services has given rise to public fears and a possible pullback from a liberal trading system. Modeling and estimating intermediate offshoring is complicated since the shock is further down the production process. This paper incorporates the necessary transmission mechanisms into a data-intensive CGE model for the State of Colorado to estimate the current and future impacts of continuing a liberal trade policy for offshoring intermediates. The results indicate that while the overall effects of offshoring are small and positive, the future directions of service offshoring are projected to cause sizable domestic job destruction and displacement. Policies may have to be implemented to retrain domestic workers who face job loss or even consider curtailing future offshoring opportunities.     

Essay/Comment. Instruments of ‘Instant’ Change? A Question of Timing

Much current writing and a good deal of training in family therapy tends to focus on ways of intervening that can assist, facilitate, and hasten change. Less attention tends to be given to an equally important question: “WHEN is the right moment for this particular intervention?” The expert and gifted therapists who are the writers and teachers have generally acquired exquisite skills in timing (including assessment). Their writing tends to take these skills for granted and more attention tends to be given to the instruments to be used than to the question of timing. Some training in timing may be possible. At least some extended reflection on the question of timing may increase the dialogue around the use of powerful interventions which, if introduced rashly, can alienate clients, and even at times bring the field of family therapy into some disrepute.     

Is a “Christian America” a More Patriarchal America? Religion,Politics, and Traditionalist Gender Ideology

Recent research shows that Americans who adhere to Christian nationalism—an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life—tend to hold authoritarian and exclusionary attitudes, particularly regarding ethno‐racial minorities and nontraditional family forms. Such findings suggest a fundamental connection between Christian nationalism and rigid symbolic boundaries, which would likely extend to Americans’ understanding of gender roles. Drawing on notions connecting religious nationalism with defenses of patriarchal norms and utilizing a recent national, random sample of American adults, the current study examines the link between contemporary Christian nationalism and traditionalist gender ideologies. Our analyses reveal that Christian nationalism is the strongest predictor of holding a more traditionalist gender ideology, even after taking into account a host of political and religious characteristics. Moreover, the relationship between Christian nationalism and gender traditionalism holds across religious traditions, including more gender‐egalitarian groups like Mainline Protestants and even the unaffiliated. We conclude by highlighting the implications of these findings for understanding contemporary populist support for Donald Trump, which previous studies have shown is undergirded by both Christian nationalism and sexism.