Emotion Situation Knowledge in Elementary School: Models of Longitudinal Growth and Preschool Correlates

We examined individual differences in developmental trajectories of emotion situation knowledge (ESK), at three time points throughout elementary school in a sample of children from economically disadvantaged families. Results showed that ESK and the subscales of joy, fear, anger, shame and interest exhibited positive growth from the first to the fifth grade, whereas scores on the sad subscale declined slightly. Preschool verbal ability predicted first grade scores for joy, fear, and anger, and growth in scores for shame across time. Preschool negative emotional intensity predicted slower growth in overall ESK and the anger and shame subscales. Taken together, these results broaden our basic knowledge of how children's use of situational cues to infer others' emotions develops in middle and late childhood.     

Feminism,Abortion and Disability: Irreconcilable differences?

There has been considerable discussion of the political allegiance between the feminist and disability movements, but the question of abortion remains a thorny one. Disability rights advocates have been keen to demonstrate that it is possible to believe in a woman's right to sovereignty over the body and, yet, be opposed to the selective abortion of an impaired foetus--discribing the latter as a form of 'weak' eugenics. The aim of this paper is to show that, whilst there may be some points of agreement between the feminist and disability movements on the question of abortion, there exist fundamental and irreconcilable differences.     

Race/Ethnic Differences in the Marital Expectations of Adolescents: The Role of Romantic Relationships

I use a sample of 12,973 adolescents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine race/ethnic differences in perception of the likelihood of marriage in adulthood and the role of heterosexual romantic relationship experience in explaining this difference. Compared to adolescents from other race/ethnic backgrounds, White adolescents are more likely to date and are especially more likely than Black adolescents to participate in serious romantic relationships that increase marital expectations. Although the type of current or recent relationship is associated with marital expectations, they do not explain the observed race/ethnic gap in these expectations. Overall, the results suggest that these adolescent romantic experiences likely play only a small role in determining differential marital expectations.     

The economic consequences of the dissolution of cohabiting unions

Although the economic effects of divorce have been well studied, a similar exploration of cohabitation has not been conducted. For this analysis, we use a sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 2,372) documenting changes in economic well‐being at the end of a cohabiting relationship and comparing these results to a sample of divorced respondents. After dissolution, formerly cohabiting men's economic standing declines moderately, whereas formerly cohabiting women's declines much more precipitously, leaving a substantial proportion of women in poverty. This effect is particularly pronounced for African American and Hispanic women. Though the end of the relationship does reinforce gender stratification, it is also an “equalizer” between married and cohabiting women, leaving them in strikingly similar economic positions.     

The Development of Specialized Processing of Own‐Race Faces in Infancy

In this study, we examined developmental changes in infants' processing of own‐ versus other‐race faces. Caucasian American 8‐month‐olds (Experiment 1) and 4‐month‐olds (Experiment 2) were tested in a habituation‐switch procedure designed to assess holistic (attending to the relationship between internal and external features of the face) versus featural (attending to individual features of the face) processing of faces. Eight‐month‐olds demonstrated holistic processing of upright own‐race (Caucasian) faces, but featural processing of upright other‐race (African) faces. Inverted faces were processed featurally, regardless of ethnicity. Four‐month‐olds, however, demonstrated holistic processing of both Caucasian and African upright faces. These results demonstrate that infants' processing of own‐ versus other‐race faces becomes specialized between 4 and 8 months.     

Cultural Valorization and African American Literary History: Reconstructing the Canon

The determinants of and variations in processes of cultural valorization are of increasing interest to sociologists. In the case of high-culture literary texts, the central evaluation process takes place through canon formation. We explore the mechanisms of canon formation and of cultural valorization processes more generally by analyzing the critical history of Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Published in 1937 to lukewarm reviews, the novel is currently considered a core canonical text. We specify three processes involved in the reconstruction of Hurston's novel and in the establishment of the African American literary canon: (1) the application of new evaluative criteria, (2) the reconstruction of textual meaning through newly available interpretative strategies, and (3) changes in the institutional and organizational environment that allowed new claims on high-status critical positions to be made by those previously outside the literary hierarchy. The implications of this study for theoretical models of cultural valorization in sociology are considered.     

The Role of Mother–Child Joint Play in the Early Development of Children's Conduct Problems: A Longitudinal Observational Study

This observational study examined the relationship between mother–child spontaneous joint play and the development of conduct problems in preschoolers, using a short‐term longitudinal design. The sample consisted of 60 children showing a range of levels of conduct problems, recruited at their third birthday through community health services in low SES areas. Spontaneous joint play and other mother–child activities were coded from naturalistic, unstructured observations in the home. Amount of time spent in joint play at age 3 predicted individual improvement in conduct problems at age 4, and importantly, this association was independent of initial level of child conduct problems and hyperactivity, social class, maternal depression, and frequency of negative mother–child interactions. The amount of time the child spent unoccupied and not interacting with mother independently predicted worsening conduct scores over time. However, time spent in other activities, including joint conversation and solitary play did not predict change in conduct scores over time. The results suggest that positive and proactive parenting processes such as joint play may make a unique contribution to the very early development of conduct problems, independent of other risk factors. There was no evidence that this association was mediated by child factors such as hyperactivity and poor attention skills.     

My home, your workplace: people with physical disability negotiate their sexual health without crossing professional boundaries

This paper aims to describe research that examined the views of people with physical disability, living in Australia, of their sexual well-being needs from their own perspective. We explored the impact their sexual well-being needs had on their relationships with professional carers. A social model of disability was used to understand how sexual well-being is facilitated or denied in community care. We also explored whether clients' sexual well-being needs could be met without carers or clients 'crossing the line'. Our findings indicate the multiple ways that 'professional boundaries' were negotiated between clients and professional carers. The data show that the location of the 'line' changed, depending on a range of personal, social, economic and environmental factors. The data also show a gap between the sexual well-being needs of people living with a physical disability and the level of support provided at the social and organisational levels. Suggestions are made for research and practice directions.