A Note on the Dimensionality of Quality of Life Scales: An Illustration with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)

A case is made that measures used in quality of life and happiness research will be essentially unidimensional: inherently tapping minor dimensions. This is illustrated using Diener’s Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). It is shown that the SWLS does not meet the standard of strict unidimensionality, but that the interpretation of the total scale score is not compromised because the additional dimensions are relatively minor. In the context of the example, a multi-step strategy is described that allows researchers to test for essential unidimensionality. Throughout the article, essential unidimensionality is contrasted with the received view of strict unidimensionality and confirmatory factor analysis methods.

Building relational possibilities: theoretical roots of infant mental health practice in the case of Alycia

The practice of infant mental health (IMH) has evolved from a combination of theoretical frameworks focused upon early relationships and the complex interplay between individuals and their internal and external worlds. The main components of IMH practice: developmental guidance; emotional support; parent–infant psychotherapy; concrete support; and advocacy, demonstrate a connection between psychoanalytic theoretical frameworks and social work values and forms the basis of practice for IMH therapeutic programmes. This paper will trace the theoretical roots of IMH practice and utilise a clinical case example to illustrate the ways in which insights from object relational, self psychological and attachment theories are integrated into IMH home visiting practices.     

The relation of social support, connectedness, and collective self-esteem to the psychological well-being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth

The present study extended the research on the mental health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth by testing the relationship of social support, social connectedness, and collective self-esteem to psychological well-being in a sample of 218 LGB youth. Perceived social support significantly predicted psychological well-being subscales; social connectedness and collective self-esteem contributed significantly to the psychological well-being of the LGB participants when controlling for perceived social support. Age moderated the relations between several of the social and psychological well-being variables. Results of the study suggest that helping professionals working with LGB youth consider assessment of the youth's sense of connectedness to those around him/her and esteem related to LGB group membership in addition to assessing general social support.     

Contraceptive use patterns across teens’ sexual relationships: The role of relationships,partners, and sexual histories

By using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine how adolescent relationship characteristics, partner attributes, and sexual relationship histories are associated with contraceptive use and consistency, incorporating random effects to control for respondent-level unobserved heterogeneity. Analyses show that teens' contraceptive use patterns vary across relationships. Teens with more-homogamous partners, with more-intimate relationships, and who communicate about contraception before sex have greater odds of contraceptive use and/or consistency. Teens in romantic relationships, and who are older when engaging in sex for the first time, have greater odds of ever using contraceptives but reduced odds of always using contraceptives. Teens continue habits from previous relationships: teens with experience practicing contraceptive consistency and females who previously have used hormonal contraceptive methods are better able to maintain consistency in subsequent relationships. Also, relationship and partner characteristics are less important for females who previously used hormonal methods.     

Do Expectations Make the Difference? A Look at the Effect of Educational Expectations and Academic Performance on Enrollment in Post-Secondary Education

Despite the belief that education is the great equalizer in American society, previous research has shown that the promises of educational accomplishments have not extended equally across racial/ethnic groups as minorities are less likely to matriculate to post-secondary education. Using data from the second follow-up and base year of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, we examine the impact of GPA and students’ expectations on the probability of post-secondary enrollment. Specifically, we assess the impact of low achievement on the probability of post-secondary enrollment across racial/ethnic groups. We find that low achievement acts as less of a barrier to post-secondary enrollment for minority students compared with their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Moreover, students with high expectations and low achievement experienced higher probabilities of post-secondary enrollment than students with low expectations and high achievement. Given that minority students are said to have higher expectations, we examine whether the interaction of expectations and achievement varies across racial/ethnic groups. While we did not uncover racial/ethnic differences for low-achieving students with high expectations, our findings suggest that expectations help propel all low-achieving students with high expectations into post-secondary enrollment. This study moves beyond the traditional black/white differences by including a number of racial/ethnic groups.     

Rapid response to a college outbreak of meningococcal serogroup B disease: Nation's first widespread use of bivalent rLP2086 vaccine

Objective: To outline the reasoning behind use of bivalent rLP2086 in a Rhode Island college meningococcal B disease outbreak, highlighting the timeline from outbreak declaration to vaccination clinic, emphasizing that these two time points are <3 days apart. Participants: Staff, faculty, and students at College X eligible for vaccination. Methods: An outbreak response was initiated, advantages/disadvantages of available MenB vaccines were discussed, and a vaccination clinic was coordinated. Results: Bivalent rLP2086 was chosen as the vaccination intervention. We achieved a 94% coverage rate for the first dose. To date, this intervention has prevented further cases of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B disease at College X. Conclusions: The close, efficient collaboration of public health stakeholders and College X led 94% of the eligible population to be safely vaccinated with at least one dose of bivalent rLP2086. This outbreak marked the first time bivalent rLP2086 was effectively used as an intervention response.     

Caught between the orientalist–occidentalist polemic: gender mainstreaming as feminist transformation or neocolonial subversion?*

Here we provide a critical reading of gender mainstreaming as a potential emancipatory force that has been co-opted within orientalist–occidentalist polemics. This remains a critical period in the “mainstreaming” debate, where feminist reappropriation is necessary to repoliticize the concept and reorient development sector focus from tokenistic inclusivity to social transformation. We consider two sides of the debate. In the first scenario, the requirement for gender mainstreaming in international development discourse has not only failed to address its original feminist goals, but has become (or remained) an extension of orientalist, neocolonial projects to control and “civilize” developing economies. Here, a putative concern for gender equality in development is used as a means to distinguish between the modern, civilized One and the colonial, traditional Other. In the second scenario, gender mainstreaming is held up as all that these “othered” occidentalist forces stand against; an exemplar of the inappropriate imposition of “western” moralistic paradigms in non-western contexts. Ultimately, the co-optation of gendered discourses in development through these orientalist–occidentalist polemics serves to obfuscate the continued depoliticization of mainstreaming. A critical question remains: can gender mainstreaming ever transcend this discursive impasse and reassert its feminist transformatory potential?     

Technology-Based Interventions and Trainings to Reduce the Escalation and Impact of Alcohol Problems

There has been a rapid increase in the development of technological innovations to reduce the escalation and impact of alcohol problems among adolescents and adults. Technology-based interventions offer the possibility of reaching individuals who otherwise might not seek treatment, (e.g., those in remote areas, those not perceiving a need for treatment, or others who might resist treatment). This article describes 4 case examples of technology-based interventions for risky drinking: (a) a freely available and interactive Web site that provides individualized feedback and information on risky drinking patterns; (b) a brief intervention for adolescents that provides individualized feedback to teens regarding their alcohol use; (c) a computer-delivered screening and brief intervention for alcohol use among pregnant women; and (d) a simulation program for training social workers in screening and brief intervention. These case examples highlight how technology could have a role in addressing the Alcohol Misuse Grand Challenge.