Globalization, the Welfare State and Young People Leaving State Out-of-Home Care

Some theories of globalization argue that it is producing a uniform reduction in social spending, while others claim that global influences are mediated by specific national factors. This article argues that the emergence of support for young people leaving state out-of-home care in almost all developed countries provides further evidence for the mediation thesis. Using Australia as a case study, attention is drawn to the commonality of poor outcomes for many care leavers, the different legislative and policy responses to these needs in a range of welfare states, and the role played by local and global researchers and policy advocates in bringing these needs to public and political attention.     

A Multistate Life Table Analysis of Union Regimes in the United States: Trends and Racial Differentials, 1970–2002

We estimate trends and racial differentials in marriage, cohabitation, union formation and dissolution (union regimes) for the period 1970–2002 in the United States. These estimates are based on an innovative application of multistate life table analysis to pooled survey data. Our analysis demonstrates (1) a dramatic increase in the lifetime proportions of transitions from never-married, divorced or widowed to cohabiting; (2) a substantial decrease in the stability of cohabiting unions; (3) a dramatic increase in mean ages at cohabiting after divorce and widowhood; (4) a substantial decrease in direct transition from never-married to married; (5) a significant decrease in the overall lifetime proportion of ever marrying and re-marrying in the 1970s to 1980s but a relatively stable pattern in the 1990s to 2000–2002; and (6) a substantial decrease in the lifetime proportion of transition from cohabiting to marriage. We also present, for the first time, comparable evidence on differentials in union regimes between four racial groups.     

Estimating the transmission probability of human immunodeficiency virus in injecting drug users in Thailand

We estimate the transmission probability for the human immunodeficiency virus from seroconversion data of a cohort of injecting drug users (IDUs) in Thailand. The transmission probability model developed accounts for interval censoring and incorporates each IDU's reported frequency of needle sharing and injecting acts. Using maximum likelihood methods, the per needle sharing act transmission probability estimate between infectious and susceptible IDUs is 0.008. The effects of covariates, disease dynamics, mismeasured exposure information and the uncertainty of the disease prevalence on the transmission probability estimate are considered.     

Chains and networks,territories and scales: towards a relational framework for analysing the global economy

A vast and continually expanding literature on economic globalization continues to generate a miasma of conflicting viewpoints and alternative discourses. This article argues that any understanding of the global economy must be sensitive to four considerations: (a) conceptual categories and labels carry with them the discursive power to shape material processes; (b) multiple scales of analysis must be incorporated in recognition of the contemporary ‘relativization of scale’; (c) no single institutional or organizational locus of analysis should be privileged; and (d) extrapolations from specific case studies and instances must be treated with caution, but this should not preclude the option of discussing the global economy, and power relations within it, as a structural whole. This paper advocates a network methodology as a potential framework to incorporate these concerns. Such a methodology requires us to identify actors in networks, their ongoing relations and the structural outcomes of these relations. Networks thus become the foundational unit of analysis for our understanding of the global economy, rather than individuals, firms or nation states. In presenting this argument we critically examine two examples of network methodology that have been used to provide frameworks for analysing the global economy: global commodity chains and actor‐network theory. We suggest that while they fall short of fulfilling the promise of a network methodology in some respects, they do provide indications of the utility of such a methodology as a basis for understanding the global economy.     

Relations Between Women's Depressive Symptoms and Perceptions of Infant Distress Signals Varying in Pitch

Fifteen nondepressed, 15 moderately depressed, and 15 severely depressed women rated tape‐recordings of a newborn infant's hunger cry digitally altered to increase in fundamental frequency in 100 Hz increments. Cries were rated on 4 perceptual (e.g., arousing‐not arousing) and 6 caregiving rating scale items (e.g., cuddle, feed) used in previous studies (Zeskind, 1983). Analyses of variance showed that, as cry pitch increased, cries were rated as more arousing, aversive, urgent, and sick sounding. Highest pitched cries received highest levels of caregiving interventions. Severely depressed women rated cries as less perceptually salient and less likely to elicit active caregiving responses. Interaction effects showed that severely depressed women were least responsive to highest pitched cries. These results suggest that women's depression may alter perceptions of infant distress signals, especially at times of greater infant distress.     

Creating Stable Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities in the United States: A Model for the Future

We examine fourteen stable, racially and ethnically diverse communities in nine US cities to understand what produces such communities. These communities in the context of the US experience of increased, multiracial, and multiethnic diversity in the early twenty-first century can serve as a policy model as both the US and European nations look ahead toward more diverse societies. After providing a brief history of US segregation patterns, we provide an analysis of factors related to stable diversity. We found two types of diversity. Diversity-by-direction communities, which are more likely to be black:white communities, consciously worked to preserve diversity through an array of community-based efforts. Diverse-by-circumstance communities, which are more likely to be multiracial, multiethnic communities with significant immigrant populations, have been faced with an unplanned diversity, which they are now working to preserve. Among the characteristics of stable diverse communities are the presence of: social seams linking different groups, community organizations involved in preserving diversity, public discussion of values of what produces 'good' community, and distinctive physical or environmental characteristics that continue to attract new residents.     

Aftermath of tragic events: the development and use of community support meetings on a university campus

Colleges and universities need to be prepared to address the psychological impact of tragedies on their campuses. In this article, the author describes the development and successful implementation of campus postvention services in the aftermath of college student deaths by suicide as well as by natural and accidental causes. The program has been well received and has gone a long way toward helping the campus community come together and heal after these types of tragedies. College officials adapted the program to address issues related to troubling national and international events as well local incidents, such as suicide attempts and students' loss of housing through fires. The author provides specific instructions so that readers can replicate the program on their own campuses, and additional materials are available upon request.