Latino Immigration,Interaction, and Homicide Victimization

As Latinos spread across the United States, many Americans have begun to fear that their arrival will spark an increase in crime. Unfortunately, early explanations of the immigration-crime link, which found that immigrants disorganized communities, focused on the experience of Eastern European immigrants. This article updates previous literature by focusing on the experience of Latino immigrants. I find that (1) Latino immigration is linked to crime only in new Latino destinations, (2) this link is mitigated by increased interaction among Latinos, and (3) Latino interaction lowers victimization regardless of destination.     

Social work through collaborative autoethnography

This paper discusses a research project involving five MA Social Work Students and one member of Social Work Academic Staff. Using narrative and taking a collaborative autoethnographical approach, this project highlights some of the feelings that students articulated following a 70-day placement experience. Findings include anxiety, powerlessness and frustration, together with growing confidence, recognition of their skills and a deeper understanding of the role of ‘self’ in social work. Raising issues of preparedness for practice placement, this paper has implications for both social work practice and social work education. Autoethnography (AE) is both a method of carrying out research and a methodology, specifically a qualitative methodology linked to ethnography and narrative inquiry. AE results in highly personalized narrative accounts of the researcher’s engagement with specific sociocultural contexts in the pursuit of knowing more about a phenomenon. Applying such a methodology to explore collaboratively issues of student lived experience of placement is a new and innovative use of this method.     

Understanding public support for punitive criminal sanctions: Psychological and sociological views of the “outlier” phenomenon

The present study compares the ability of selected psychological and sociological factors to predict the level of punitive criminal sanction supported by a community's residents. Personality characteristics, particularly those developed in the pioneering work of Adorno on authoritarianism, represented psychological influences; sociological views on punitive sanctions were drawn from the Durkheimian tradition of social condemnation, in which group norms are established by the general level of consensus about the perceived threat of a particular criminal act, or crime seriousness. Little support was found for the link between authoritarianism and specific sanctioning endorsements. The sociological concept of normative outliers, on the other hand, proved to be the much more useful construct.     

Some social characteristics of Indian immigrants to British Guiana

An analysis of the characteristics of a sample of East Indian indentured immigrants who entered British Guiana between 1865 and 1917 shows that the age, sex and caste characteristics of the immigrants are similar to those of East Indian migrants to other British colonies such as Fiji. The majority of the immigrants were Hindus belonging to the agricultural castes and on the basis of an analysis of recorded places of birth it is shown that approximately 85% of all immigrants originated in the United Provinces and Bihar.     

Assisted Living and the Aging Trajectory

ABSTRACT

Assisted living (AL) is a caregiving option between independent living and nursing home placement. This study explores women residents' experience of AL in four Midwestern facilities, using interview and field research methods. We found that most residents wanted to stay in AL rather than move to a nursing home; they looked backward nostalgically toward home, and complied with staff rules and directives in order to remain in place. In contrast to nursing homes, AL allows residents to experience continuities with self and home: a private room, some of their own belongings, and access to relationships and activities associated with self and home. Given the expanded lifespan and growing popularity of AL, it is becoming a new stage in the trajectory of women's aging.     

A comparison of college students’ perceptions of older and younger tattooed women

ABSTRACT

A randomly assigned sample of 376 college students responded to a survey involving a between-subjects 2 × 3 experiment designed to assess the impact of age (older versus younger) and tattoo status (i.e., no tattoo, feminine tattoo, or masculine tattoo) on three dependent measures: credibility, attractiveness, and promiscuity. Older and younger women are perceived differently depending on tattoo status. Not wearing a tattoo may lead to a more favorable perception of older women than wearing one, but wearing a feminine tattoo may engender a more favorable impression of older women than having a masculine tattoo. But not having a tattoo may not be as helpful for the perception of younger women as it is for older women. Also, while younger women may be rewarded for gender role transgression with respect to tattoo status, this is not so for older women.     

Regional cultures and health outcomes: Implications for performance measurement,public health and policy

The U.S. Medicare program now ties payment to health care providers based on their patients’ outcomes. This change comes as compilations of data on geographic variations in health outcomes and quality of care indicate patterns that appear to be deeply ingrained. This study explores whether cultural characteristics correlate with health outcomes such that quality indicators may be measuring something other than quality of care, and whether regional subcultures have a significant impact on public health. It concludes that two cultural dimensions, social capital and traditional/rational-secularism, which explain a sufficient proportion of outcome variations to cast doubt as to whether outcome measures capture provider quality. Correlations are explored between American regional subcultures identified by Joel Lieske and the variation in health outcomes. In a multidimensional analysis of Lieske's typology, results indicate that certain U.S. subpopulations have cultural advantages or disadvantages relating to health.     

The effects of crisis,cynicism about change,and value congruence on perceptions of authentic leadership and attributed charisma in the 2008 presidential election

The current study examines leadership in the context of the 2008 presidential election. Longitudinal data were collected across three regions of the United States to yield 414 responses. Perceptions of crisis were positively related to attributed charisma but not perceptions of authentic leadership. Value congruence moderated the relationship between cynicism and attributed charisma for Obama (but not for McCain) and between cynicism and perceptions of authentic leadership for McCain (but not for Obama). Attributed charisma was found to have augmenting effects over authenticity in predicting voting behavior. The contributions made to the charismatic, authentic, and crisis leadership literatures are discussed and directions for future research presented.     

Harmful Algal Blooms in South Carolina Residential and Golf Course Ponds

The South Carolina coastal zone is among the fastest growing areas in the U.S., and population epicenters are marked by dense brackish water pond (lagoon) coverage associated with housing complexes and golf courses. Surveillance efforts in 2001–2002 documented the widespread occurrence of several types of potentially or measurably toxic harmful algal blooms (HABs) in these ponds. These man-made retention ponds were constructed in order to serve as a buffer between developed areas and open estuaries or for aesthetic reasons. However, the combination of restricted tidal flow and nutrient and/or contaminant deposition creates a stimulatory environment for potential HAB formation. These discoveries introduce the need to consider mitigation measures to existing ponds and HAB preventive strategies for future pond construction.