Making the Lead: Article and Contextual Correlates of Front-Page Coverage within the Immigration-Crime Debate

Abstract

While an abundance of literature demonstrates that immigration is associated with lower rates of crime, public opinion expects the opposite. There remain many reasons for such incongruity, including crystalized political ideologies and structural barriers to assimilation. The current study examines another important dimension: media narratives among the most prominent immigration and crime news articles. Specifically, we explore how news outlets narratively describe or “frame” the link between immigration and crime and, in turn, how such frames influence the prominence of news stories. Using content analysis of over 3,800 articles from 2008 to 2012 geo-located and paired with a host of macro-level data, multi-level models reveal that (1) one-third of local stories describe immigration as crime-increasing; (2) articles that link immigration to rising rates of crime are more likely to appear on the front page of newspapers, as are stories describing immigration’s impact on the justice system or the rights of immigrants within it; and (3) articles published in places with lower rates of crime, higher median household incomes, and smaller foreign-born populations are more likely to feature on the front page. We conclude with implications for ongoing public policy debates and research on immigration and crime.     

The Emergence and the Effects of Therapeutic Factors in Groups

ABSTRACT

This article explores the emergence of therapeutic factors in domestic violence men's group, as well as their effects on participants and the group. The authors conducted semistructured interviews with 72 men from groups in Quebec, after their fourth session. Thirty-eight of these men were met again, following their 16th session. A critical incident technique permitted us to identify various therapeutic factors. Three key factors are discussed: imparting information, hope, and cohesion. The authors found different processes influencing their development, particularly the roles of the worker, other members, and the group as a whole. These factors helped members meet their objectives and by their interdependency also contributed to group development. The authors made links with mutual aid and identified implications for research and practice.     

A Note on Confidence Intervals for a Linear Function of Poisson Rates

We consider three interval estimators for linear functions of Poisson rates: a Wald interval, a t interval with Satterthwaite's degrees of freedom, and a Bayes interval using noninformative priors. The differences in these intervals are illustrated using data from the Crash Records Bureau of the Texas Department of Public Safety. We then investigate the relative performance of these intervals via a simulation study. This study demonstrates that the Wald interval performs poorly when expected counts are less than 5, while the interval based on the noninformative prior performs best. It also shows that the Bayes interval and the interval based on the t distribution perform comparably well for more moderate expected counts.     

Partially balanced incomplete block designs with two associate classes

We provide constructions of cyclic 2-class PBIBD's using cyclotomy in finite fields. Our results give theoretical explanations of the two sporadic examples given by Agrawal (1987).     

Mental health services: use and disparity among diverse college students

OBJECTIVE: In this empirical study, the authors examined (1) actual use of counseling for emotional problems and (2) the assumptions that ethnicity, sex, social class, and psychological distress are associated with disparities in use of counseling. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 1,773 diverse undergraduate students at an urban university. METHODS: The authors collected data via self-administered questionnaires between 1999 and 2005; they used a cross-sectional correlational research design, including analysis of variance statistical procedures. RESULTS: Students' level of counseling use (10%) was similar to that estimated for a national college sample. Students reporting higher levels of distress were more likely to use counseling; however, more than three-fourths of students who reported clinically significant levels of distress had not received counseling. CONCLUSIONS: The authors observed no disparities in use of mental health services in terms of sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.     

Youth Perspectives on Being Adopted from Foster Care by Lesbian and Gay Parents: Implications for Families and Adoption Professionals

ABSTRACT

This article presents findings from a qualitative study on the perspectives of youth who were adopted from the United States foster care system by lesbian and gay parents and includes focus group data from adopted persons and survey data from adoptive parents. This study fills a unique gap in the literature by hearing directly from the youth through focus groups. Findings indicated that children use a variety of strategies for sharing or not sharing that their parents are gay or lesbian and that many experience bullying and teasing that may be different than experienced by other children. The children adopted by lesbian and gay parents often perceive themselves as being more accepting of others, having more understanding of people, and being more compassionate toward people than those not raised by lesbian or gay parents. Suggestions are provided for training of adoption professionals and prospective families about the challenges and benefits for youth adopted by lesbian and gay parents.     

Southern Culture and Aggravated Assault: Exploring the Generality of the Southern Cultural of Violence

Numerous studies have investigated the Southern culture of violence (SCOV). In particular, prior analyses have focused on white argument-based homicide in rural areas, a context in which the SCOV should be most prominent. Initial analyses examined dichotomous regional indicators (South/non-South) and often neglected to control for structural disadvantage. Recent research developed a summary based measure of Southern cultural influence that consolidates regional, ethnic, and religious characteristics. Unfortunately, a lack of available data on the underlying circumstances of different forms of violence has hindered our ability to assess the generality of the Southern cultural tolerance of violence. The current study addresses this limitation by using NIBRS data to assess the influence of a composite measure of Southern culture on variation in white argument-based aggravated assault. Analyses of county-level data support the generalizability of the Southern cultural influence to non-lethal forms of argument-based violence.     

Ideal football culture: A cultural take on self‐determination theory

This paper discusses cultural psychology and psychological training in football (soccer). Self‐Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1980) has shown to be pragmatically successful in sport and suggests that being regulated by autonomous forms of motivation leads to better psychological outcomes. Cultural psychologists would be tempted to dismiss SDT because it is predicated on an a‐cultural approach to mind. It is possible to nurture a stronger and more effective team culture by reframing SDT in a cultural direction. As such, this paper outlines a cultural approach that reconceptualizes SDT in a way that retains the latter's pragmatic value while not approaching mind in a self‐contained individualist manner.     

Borrowing from the Rural to Help the Urban: Organic Farming Exemplars in Postsocialist China

This article examines an alternative food movement in China called exemplary agriculture. A key characteristic of the movement is its recuperation of legacies of state socialism including exemplary morality (leadership by example and the emulation of role models) and the pervasive urban/rural dichotomy (a dichotomy that privileges the urban over the rural economically, politically and culturally). Adopting practices derived from rural culture and putting a positive spin on them, movement protagonists promote alternative urban lifestyles they believe will improve the experience of city living and the malice of modernity. Drawing on ethnographic research across organic farms and farmers’ markets, this article examines some of the tensions revealed when these legacies of socialism interact with processes of globalisation such as consumer culture. It offers insights into the changing nature of activism in postsocialist China and how new economic classes are attempting to reconfigure the cultural and moral landscape of the city.