Mothering and Peer Associations Mediate Cumulative Risk Effects for Latino Youth

The present study examined whether positive parenting and deviant peer associations mediated the relations between a cumulative risk composite comprising financial strain, neighborhood problems, and maternal psychological distress and subsequent youth adjustment problems. Drawn from the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study, the sample consisted of 449 economically disadvantaged Latino families. Structural equation modeling showed that after controlling for baseline levels of youth adjustment problems, cumulative risk, assessed when adolescents were 10 to 14 years old, was directly and indirectly predictive of youths’ deviant peer associations 16 months later, through mother’s positive parenting. Deviant peer associations, in turn, were proximally associated with youth externalizing and internalizing problems. Findings underscore the role of mothers and peers in Latino youth adjustment problems.     

Suicide in Adolescent American Indians: Preventative Social Work Programs

Suicide is a leading social problem among the adolescent American Indian community. This literature review examines the demographics of American Indian adolescents who attempt suicide, along with the effects it has on the entire family/community. This paper describes various programs used to address individuals, while correlating them to specific use within the American Indian population. The authors look at the effectiveness of the Adolescent Suicide Prevention Project, American Indian Life Skills Development Curriculum, and Zuni Life Skills Development, along with the draw-backs associated with the implementation of each program. The importance of incorporating culturally specific programs and addressing the issue at a community level in an attempt to enhance the well-being of at-risk American Indian Adolescents is emphasized.     

Drug War Politics: Governing Culture Through Prohibition,Intoxicants as Customary Practice and the Challenge of Drug Normalisation

This article on the American administration’s war on drugs policy uses an interdisciplinary approach to assess the assumptions of drug prohibition. It applies a historical and contemporary analysis to the issue of drugs in society. It will explore new ways of thinking about drug war politics, aiming to address drugs as a source of political state repression. American foreign policy has sought to use the war on drugs to reduce human suffering; but instead, the age of prohibition has brought financial opportunities for criminal syndicates and clandestine political operations and causes. I will seek to show that prohibition faces serious challenges as a result of changes in contemporary culture and communication. I will argue that prohibition has been concerned with more than drug control and through drug war policy, it has wider ambitions to govern culture through prohibition. The paper explores the growth of drug normalisation and questions whether drugs can be understood as a customary practice across social groups in different communities and asks to what extent the United Nations policy of ‘cultural sensitivity’ can fit alongside an aggressive war on drugs policy.     

Having the Last Word,but Losing the Culture Wars: Mainstream Press Coverage of a Canceled Evangelical Benediction

This study examines how mainstream news media reported the withdrawal of a popular pastor from the 2013 Obama inaugural ceremony. Louie Giglio was originally chosen for a role in the event but relinquished his position when focus was placed on a sermon he once delivered about homosexuality. Analysis of framing and sourcing of the stories raises serious questions about the role media played in reporting about this skirmish, which is clearly part of the larger culture wars.     

Slavery and freedom in South Africa

The Shaping of South African Society, 1652–1840. By RICHARD ELPHICK and HERMANN GILIOMEE. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman, 1989. Second Edition. xix, 623 pp.

The Slave Question: Liberty and Property in South Africa. By R.L. WATSON. Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1990. xi, 274 pp.     

The functional IME: A linkage of expertise across the disability continuum

Disability assessment remains a significant challenge especially in welfare systems like workers' compensation and disability insurance. Many of today's managed care strategies do not impact on the seminal issue of return to gainful employment. Employers, insurers, attorneys and case managers routinely request independent medical examinations (IMEs) as a means of determining degree of disability, functional limitations, work restrictions and "estimated" physical capacities. However, this approach is limited because physicians are not trained in the functional model of disability assessment. IMEs address pathology and impairments which represent a portion of the disability continuum described by the World Health Organization, Nagi, Guccione and others [e.g. pathology-impairment-disability-handicap]. Functional capacity evaluations or FCEs are often performed by physical and occupational therapists who are trained in a function-based model of disability assessment. Unlike an IME physician who completes "Estimated Physical Capacities", therapists measure actual physical functioning. The value of both IMEs and FCEs can be enhanced through a "functional IME" that combines both models; medical-based examination and a function-based disability evaluation. This combination enhances the assessment of the relationship of pathology to impairment and impairment to disability status especially, in musculoskeletal disorders which tend to drive costs in workers' compensation.     

Program features and developmental experiences at a camp for youth with cancer

Purpose

The purpose of this case study was to explore how the program features of a camp for young people with cancer supported participants' developmental experiences.

Methods

This case study examined a one-week residential camp program near a large southern city. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 22 campers aged 8–14, 19 adult staff members (camp administrators, activity specialists, medical staff, and counselors), four junior counselors aged 18–20 who had previously attended the camp as a camper because they had cancer, and from participant observations. Reliability and validity assurances were met in multiple ways. A constant comparison approach to data analysis indicated consistent themes that converged on the research questions.

Results

Positive developmental experiences reported at camp by campers and staff included a) increased positive attitudes (sociability, perseverance and confidence, and gratitude and appreciation) and b) respite (experiencing freedom, and finding a balance between “just being a kid” and managing difficult cancer issues). The camp supported the aforementioned developmental experiences through several key program features. The program features reflected the themes of full accommodation (integrated and accessible facilities and activities, and opportunities to be physically active) and intentional programming (“a habitat of fun,” proximity to similar others, engaging activities, caring relationships, and opportunities to maintain connection).

Conclusions

The camp contained features that supported developmental experiences, which is especially important because youth with cancer are especially at risk of negative outcomes such as anxiety, depression, and isolation. Findings from this case study illustrate how social support can enhance psychological and physical well-being through the provision of supports for the basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence.     

Lights,camera, condoms! Assessing college men's attitudes toward condom use in pornography

ABSTRACT

Objective: Investigate male college students' attitudes toward actors' use of condoms in pornography. Participants: Two hundred thirteen undergraduate males attending a large, state-supported midwestern university in the fall semester, 2012. Methods: Using a Web-based procedure, participants completed questionnaires assessing their pornography use, sexual history characteristics, and their attitudes toward condom use by adult performers. Results: Factor analysis of the 11-item condom use attitudes questionnaire supported 2 distinct subscales: Condom Supportive Attitudes and Condom Critical Attitudes. Although participants typically agreed with statements supportive of condom use and generally disagreed with statements critical of condom use in pornography, gay men had significantly higher condom supportive subscale scores than did heterosexual men. Neither subscale was correlated with weekly viewing of pornography. Conclusions: Although some producers of adult films argue that actors wearing condoms will displease many viewers, current findings suggest that young men express support for use of condoms by pornographic film actors.     

Competing Values in Serving Older and Vulnerable Adults: Adult Protective Services,Mandated Reporting,and Domestic Violence Programs

State mandatory reporting statutes may directly or indirectly list domestic violence programs as among those that are mandated reporters of cases of suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of older individuals and those with disabilities. Domestic violence programs, however, may not consider themselves to be mandated reporters, because the responsibility of reporting abuse may be contrary to their programmatic philosophy. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, the potential conflict between domestic violence programs and Adult Protective Services about the issue of mandated reporting has created tension between these organizations as each entity continues interpreting the issues and policies of mandated reporting through its own lens. The authors draw out some of the reasons for the conflict as well as make recommendations for improving relationships between the two organizations, which will ultimately benefit vulnerable adults who are experiencing abuse.     

Modernization and Devolution: Delivering Services for Older People in Rural Areas of England and Wales

The modernization of public services, with its emphasis on managerialism, choice, co‐production and outcome focused service delivery, has been implemented to a certain extent in both England and Wales. Indeed, the welfare states in both countries share a great deal, particularly in relation to policy objectives and the expectations of citizens. Devolution has chiefly meant that the instruments used to deliver policy have separated, although it remains unclear whether this amounts to formal divergence. What is also unclear is to what extent have the experiences of those living within the policy environment in both countries separated or diverged? This article addresses this question using qualitative data composed of interviews with policy actors in six rural areas of England and Wales. By focusing on the discourses of people involved in modernizing and providing services for older people in rural areas, we bring out the impact of modernization for older people. What we show is that modernization engages both service users and the wider population who may one day become service users. But the emphasis on these groups unfolds in different ways in England and Wales. In England, where there has been a commitment to a customer citizen, policy at the local level has emphasized re‐enablement, community development and individual responsibility. In Wales, where modernization has focused on collaboration and citizenship, local policies have focused on service users, and on engagement with the voluntary sector. In effect, the policy environment provides a different context for the experience of ageing in both countries.