The Queerness of the Drive

The view of sexuality Freud first proposed in the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality contains a discrepancy between the sexuality perverse and polymorphous described in the first two essays and the biologically directed, reproductive sexuality of the third essay. According to Jean Laplanche, the theorist of psychoanalysis who is Freud’s closest reader and translator, the discrepancy is due to two contradictory opinions Freud apparently held at different moments of his writing: one, that sexuality is exogenous, an effect of seduction by adults; two, that sexuality is endogenous, innate in the human biological organism. This article focuses on Laplanche’s elucidation of two aspects of sexuality present in each adult: an instinctual, hormonally based, and ultimately reproductive sexual impulse, which begins at puberty, and the drive-based sexual impulses first theorized by Freud as polymorphous-perverse infantile sexuality, which begin in infancy and continue to be active throughout the individual’s life. Laplanche’s rereading of Freud leads to a more complex understanding of sexuality as always deviant, in one way or another and to a greater or lesser degree, from the established social norms. So-called sexual deviance, therefore, is not a problem within the sexual but an issue within the social field.     

Greedy Institutions,Overwork, and Work‐Life Balance

Teresa Sullivan, President of the University of Virginia, offered her thoughts on “Greedy Institutions” and the work‐life balance in her AKD Distinguished Lecture at the August 2013 meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York City. We appreciate Dr. Sullivan's willingness to revise her address for publication in Sociological Inquiry. In the age of smart phones and 24/7 accountability, her thoughts on these issues—particularly at American universities—are timely and instructive.     

Newborn Body Perception: Sensitivity to Spatial Congruency

Studies on adults have demonstrated that the perception our own body can be manipulated by varying both temporal and spatial properties of multisensory information. While human newborns are capable of detecting the temporal synchrony of visuo‐tactile body‐related cues, it remains unknown whether they also utilise spatial information for body perception. Twenty newborns were presented with a video of an infant's face touched with a paintbrush, while their own face was touched either in the spatially congruent, or an incongruent, location. We found that newborns show a visual preference for spatially congruent synchronous events, supporting the view that newborns have a rudimentary sense of their own body.     

DO MERGERS REALLY REDUCE COSTS? EVIDENCE FROM HOSPITALS

In this paper, we compare potential and realized cost savings from hospital mergers. Our approach isolates changes in realized cost savings due to different output mixes from systematic changes due to time and also provides a measure of the potential cost savings due to scale economies. Our findings suggest that economies of scale are present for merging hospitals and they realize these cost savings immediately following a merger. However, we also show that over time, cost savings from the merger decrease and the proportion of hospitals experiencing positive cost savings declines.     

Trends in Late-Life Activity Limitations in the United States: An Update From Five National Surveys

This article updates trends from five national U.S. surveys to determine whether the prevalence of activity limitations among the older population continued to decline in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Findings across studies suggest that personal care and domestic activity limitations may have continued to decline for those ages 85 and older from 2000 to 2008, but generally were flat since 2000 for those ages 65–84. Modest increases were observed for the 55- to 64-year-old group approaching late life, although prevalence remained low for this age group. Inclusion of the institutional population is important for assessing trends among those ages 85 and older in particular.     

Marital Quality,Gender, and Markers of Inflammation in the MIDUS Cohort

Marital quality is an important factor for understanding the relationship between marriage and health. Low‐quality relationships may not have the same health benefits as high‐quality relationships. To understand the association between marital quality and health, we examined associations between two indicators of marital quality (marital support and marital strain) and two biomarkers of inflammation (interleukin‐6 and C‐reactive protein) among men and women in long‐term marriages using data from the Survey of Midlife in the United States (N = 542). Lower levels of spousal support were associated with higher levels of inflammation among women but not men. Higher levels of spousal strain were weakly and inconsistently associated with higher levels of inflammation among women and men; the effects were diminished with the addition of psychosocial and behavioral covariates. These findings suggest marital quality is an important predictor of inflammation, especially among women.     

A statewide introduction of trauma-informed care in a child welfare system

Most children in the care of the child welfare system have been exposed to multiple traumas in addition to the stressor of being removed from their home. Because the risk for mental health problems following exposure to trauma is high, a critical need exists to introduce trauma-informed practices into the child welfare system. The purpose of this study is to evaluate initial stages of a trauma-informed training program for the Arkansas Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS). In Phase 1, 102 (75%) of DCFS area directors and supervisors participated in 10 regional, two-day workshops modeled after the National Child and Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) trauma-informed training for child welfare. Pre- and post-training evaluations demonstrated significant improvements in participants' knowledge of trauma-informed practices. A three-month follow-up with directors and supervisors indicated that use of trauma-informed practices increased significantly and that such changes were correlated with pre- versus post-training improvement in knowledge. Most participants were able to partially implement action steps established at the time of training; however, a number of barriers were cited as preventing full implementation, including time constraints, heavy caseloads, lack of staff, and limited resources. Results are discussed in light of plans under way for Phase II training for all DCFS front-line staff.     

Tasks in Acceptance: Mothers of Lesbian Daughters

Eleven mothers were interviewed to explore their processes of coming to accept their lesbian daughters’ sexual orientation. Qualitative research analysis yielded five domains: (1) What stayed the same after the daughter's coming out, (2) What changed after the daughter's coming out, (3) Ongoing tasks in the acceptance process, (4) Resources identified and utilized, and (5) Emotional struggles. The mothers’ ongoing tasks in acceptance were: respecting their daughters’ processes of coming to terms with their sexuality, not being concerned with other people's judgments, advocating for their daughters and the GLBT population, and regarding their daughters’ sexual orientation as only one part of them.