Spatial inequality and poverty among American children

National-level statistics often mask extreme spatial differentiation in child poverty. Using county-level data from the 1990 US decennial census summary tape file, we show that child poverty is distributed unevenly over geographic space. Child poverty is concentrated in counties in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and the southern black belt. Child poverty rates are strongly influenced by the local industrial composition (e.g., agriculture and manufacturing), but the effects are largely indirect, operating primarily through reduced employment opportunities among adult workers. High county unemployment and underemployment rates contribute directly to children's economic deprivation, as well as indirectly by undermining the formation and stability of two-parent families. Our results highlight existing spatial differentiation and inequality in children's economic well-being, and provide a point of departure for additional research on the geography of child poverty.     

Improving Australian Residential Aged Care Facilities: A Review of Minor Refurbishment Elements

The objective of this study is to identify elements pertaining to minor refurbishments of residential aged care facilities. A narrative review of relevant publications was conducted. Inductive content analysis was used to categorize coded data into major or minor refurbishment or staff practices. Further analysis identified minor refurbishment domains. There were 14 major refurbishment, seven minor refurbishment and two staff practices domains established. The minor refurbishment elements (n?=?7) identified were lighting, furniture, color and contrast, wayfinding, noise, signage, and flooring. Assessing these elements would assist residential aged care providers to prioritize the provision of minor improvements to the environment for residents.     

Hollywood power brokers: Gender and racial inequality in talent agencies

As the US labour market shifts towards project‐based, contractual and contingent work, the importance of intermediary brokerage organizations will continue to grow. In this article, I use Joan Acker's theory of gendered organizations to examine Hollywood talent agencies as one case of these powerful intermediary organizations. The power structures, promotion process, mentoring networks and discourses described by the talent agents I interviewed privilege white men. The agents interviewed for this study described their top management as being overwhelmingly composed of men, they discussed the patrimonial systems of mentorship and exclusive male networks that advantage white men, and talked about colleagues and clients in ways that valorized elite masculinity and disparaged femininity. Thus, the organizational structures and culture of these talent agencies collectively create an environment that reproduces itself, encouraging white men to join and persist, and presenting barriers to women and racial minority men. Although the focus of this article is on Hollywood talent agencies, the findings from this research help explain how inequality is reproduced in the non‐traditional work arrangements that characterize the new economy.     

Partner Violence Victimization Among Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,Transgender, and Queer Youth: Associations Among Risk Factors

Literature shows that youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) experience high rates of victimization across various contexts, though there is little research specific to partner violence victimization. Given the deleterious effects of partner violence seen in both youth generally and LGBTQ adults, it is imperative to investigate partner violence among LGBTQ youth. The authors investigated the prevalence of partner violence among a community sample of LGBTQ youth (N = 140) and examined potential correlates of said violence. Approximately half of the participants had ever experienced some form of partner violence. Rates of ever experiencing partner violence were approximately 2.5 times higher for youth who had binge drank in the past month or ever experienced familial abuse and nearly three times higher for youth who had experienced an episode of homelessness in the past year. Implications for professionals who serve LGBTQ youth are discussed.     

Home Environment,But Not Socioeconomic Status,is Linked to Differences in Early Phonetic Perception Ability

Infants perceptually tune to the phonemes of their native languages in the first year of life, thereby losing the ability to discriminate non‐native phonemes. Infants who perceptually tune earlier have been shown to develop stronger language skills later in childhood. We hypothesized that socioeconomic disparities, which have been associated with differences in the quality and quantity of language in the home, would contribute to individual differences in phonetic discrimination. Seventy‐five infants were assessed on measures of phonetic discrimination at 9 months, on the quality of the home environment at 15 months, and on language abilities at both ages. Phonetic discrimination did not vary according to socioeconomic status (SES), but was significantly associated with the quality of the home environment. This association persisted when controlling for 9‐month expressive language abilities, rendering it less likely that infants with better expressive language skills were simply engendering higher quality home interactions. This suggests that infants from linguistically richer home environments may be more tuned to their native language and therefore less able to discriminate non‐native contrasts at 9 months relative to infants whose home environments are less responsive. These findings indicate that home language environments may be more critical than SES in contributing to early language perception, with possible implications for language development more broadly.     

Human Sexuality Education in Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Programs

Given the likelihood that marriage and family therapists will encounter clients with sexual concerns, it is important to know how graduate training programs are preparing future clinicians to work with this domain of life. Sixty‐nine marriage and family therapy (MFT) program directors completed an online survey to examine how sexual health education is integrated into graduate training programs. Findings indicate that while the majority of program directors value sexuality curriculum, and most programs require at least one course in this area, there are barriers to privileging sex topics in MFT graduate programs. Barriers include few MFT faculties with expertise in human sexuality and marginalized sexual health topics. Implications for training MFT graduate students and their work with future clients are discussed.     

‘Determined to breastfeed’: A case study of exclusive breastfeeding using interpretative phenomenological analysis

Background

Given the significant benefits of breastfeeding, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend exclusive breastfeeding for six months. Despite numerous strategies aimed at increasing the percentage of babies who are exclusively breastfed, Australia currently has one of the lowest six-month exclusive breastfeeding rates in the developed world. Notably, most research focuses on the early postnatal period (birth-two months) yet the largest decline in exclusive breastfeeding rates is observed between two and six months.

Implementing Dementia-Friendly Land Use Planning: An Evaluation of Current Literature and Financial Implications for Greenfield Development in Suburban Canada

The number of people with dementia worldwide will reach 115.4 million by 2050. This accelerating crisis has sparked research on how to design neighbourhoods for those with early dementia, and how to empower them through built environment changes to remain in their community for as long as possible. There are numerous benefits for persons with dementia who continue access to their neighbourhood: physical activity, sense of dignity, social interaction, autonomy and psychological wellbeing. In this paper, I examine 17 recommendations (urban design and land use strategies) identified as ‘dementia-friendly’, within dementia design and planning literature. Each is then examined against the planning frameworks for a mid-size suburban municipality in Ontario and assessed for its financial impact on a base case subdivision using pro forma analysis. The effect on the financial return for a developer was minimal, demonstrating that establishing these recommendations as policy is viable, through regulation and incentives.     

Does Centrality Moderate the Relation Between Skin Tone Satisfaction and Psychological Adjustment for Latinx Blacks and Non-Latinx Blacks?

Few studies have examined the similarities and differences between individuals from across the African diaspora in terms of racial identity and skin tone a