Immigrant Latino Families Saving Against Great Odds: The Case of CSAs and the Prosperity Kids Program

Children’s savings account programs are interventions that seek to engage disadvantaged children and their families in early college saving, cultivate college-saver identities, and reduce disparities in educational and economic outcomes. Existing research has revealed positive effects of CSAs on children’s outcomes, but questions remain about how and for whom CSAs facilitate these outcomes. This study uses account data from 493 accountholders and findings from interviews with 50 participants to examine asset accumulation and savings experiences among mostly low income, Latino families in New Mexico’s Prosperity Kids CSA program. One-third of the families made a deposit into their child’s account designated as “savers” with a median total contribution of $123 and a median account balance, including initial seed deposit, of $345. Longer duration of program enrollment and fewer number of unexcused absences predicted savers status. Qualitative findings highlight emerging college-saver identities, viewed through the framework of identity-based motivation, understood to include salience, normalization of difficulty, and group congruence. Qualitative interview data further suggest that initial seed money, deposit incentives, and withdrawal restrictions were important influences on participants’ saving. These findings suggest CSA features that may encourage positive savings outcomes for economically disadvantaged households and, then, that may have implications for future CSA policy development.     

Risk Factors for Gambling Problems: An Analysis by Gender

Differences in problem gambling rates between males and females suggest that associated risk factors vary by gender. Previous combined analyses of male and female gambling may have obscured these distinctions. This study aimed to develop separate risk factor models for gambling problems for males and for females, and identify gender-based similarities and differences. It analysed data from the largest prevalence study in Victoria Australia (N = 15,000). Analyses determined factors differentiating non-problem from at-risk gamblers separately for women and men, then compared genders using interaction terms. Separate multivariate analyses determined significant results when controlling for all others. Variables included demographics, gambling behaviour, gambling motivations, money management, and mental and physical health. Significant predictors of at-risk status amongst female gamblers included: 18–24 years old, not speaking English at home, living in a group household, unemployed or not in the workforce, gambling on private betting, electronic gaming machines (EGMs), scratch tickets or bingo, and gambling for reasons other than social reasons, to win money or for general entertainment. For males, risk factors included: 18–24 years old, not speaking English at home, low education, living in a group household, unemployed or not in the workforce, gambling on EGMs, table games, races, sports or lotteries, and gambling for reasons other than social reasons, to win money or for general entertainment. High risk groups requiring appropriate interventions comprise young adults, especially males; middle-aged female EGM gamblers; non-English speaking populations; frequent EGM, table games, race and sports gamblers; and gamblers motivated by escape.     

Development and Evaluation of a Web-Based Clinician Training Program for a Family-Focused Depression Preventive Intervention

This study evaluated the acceptability, feasibility, and satisfaction associated with a newly developed online clinician training program for the Family Talk preventive intervention, both alone and together with a redesigned, shortened, face-to-face component. Fifty-eight predominately in-home therapy clinicians participated in the study. Results indicated that clinician participants found the online training to be enjoyable and comprehensive, and they reported that the most beneficial training package involved the combination of web-based and in-person training. This combined training could efficiently cover necessary didactic material online while also delivering important clinical skill practice and in-person discussion. Exceptions, limitations, and important future research questions are discussed.     

Third-Person Effect,Religiosity and Support for Censorship of Satirical Religious Cartoons

The violent attack on the staff of Charlie Hebdo and an earlier plot to kill cartoonists from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the issue of censorship of satirical religious cartoons to avoid potential retaliatory violence from those offended by the cartoons. With third-person effect (TPE) as the theoretical underpinning, this study examined the relationship among TPE, religiosity, and support for censorship of religious satirical cartoons. Data were collected in May 2015. A national sample of participants (N=374) was acquired through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The results show that individuals with a higher degree of religiosity are more likely to support censorship of satirical religious cartoons, and though TPE is not positively correlated to support for censorship, respondents’ perception of the effect of the cartoons on themselves may indicate an increased propensity for supporting censorship.     

The Self-Employment of Men and Women: What are their Motivations?

Do men and women carry different motivations for entering self-employment? Earlier researchers have suggested that, as primary care givers for children and families, women face a more stringent time constraint relative to men. Thus, where men see self-employment as a chance for greater financial opportunity, women see a chance to take work that allows more time at home. This paper investigates this hypothesis using unique data that allow analysis of individual self-employment as a function of traditional economic and demographic variables as well as variables that partially capture individuals’ opinions and perceptions of pecuniary and nonpecuniary aspects of entrepreneurism. Results suggest that men who choose self-employment are influenced principally by pecuniary concerns, while women are influenced principally by family concerns and by the opinions of their family, friends, and peers.     

Competing Frameworks in Planning for the Aged in the Growth Corridors of Melbourne

The Ageing in the Growth Corridors Project was initiated as a partnership between the University of Melbourne and the Department of Health in the Northwest Metropolitan Region of Melbourne, Australia. It involved a research team working with six project officers appointed to stimulate development in relation to an aging population in the sprawling outer metropolitan growth corridors. This article identifies the key lessons learned in terms of project implementation relating to attitudinal and structural barriers to the development of an age-friendly environment in areas of rapid urban growth. The findings illustrate some of the dilemmas raised by competing program conceptions, a dynamic and changing federal/state policy context, and local resource and strategic management constraints. The partnership with the university, nevertheless, provided a point of stability and continuity for the project officers in implementing their mandate.     

All Things Thrown and Wonderful,All Memories Great and Small

And the Lord God made them all. I went to Sunday school and like lots of other kids (though far from all) came to an age at which I simply stopped going. Nothing conscious about it, I don't think, it's just those sets of spaces stopped becoming; stopped like nothing physical can stop, like a car crashing into a wall and instead of rebounding being merely consumed in whole. I (re)member, in my naive teens (when is this? I do not know. Perhaps the time of the Iraq war, but maybe this was a different car journey) I once came out with the statement (which was not particularly naive especially) “I think God exists, how did we all get here otherwise”. Me, my sister that is two years older than me, my mum and dad, were on the road from Auchmuir Bridge towards Stirling around Loch Leven, the loch in Fife, Scotland, on which Mary Queen of Scots was held on an island. I have an image of a memory of going there as well. It is thus, however, that I (re)member the initiation into a different vision of the universe and everything. Yet it is a state clearly pleated bewilderingly. As an event it exists in what Deleuze and Guattari term a “rhizome, a burrow”, with “flights of escape” which have no beginnings or ends, mere initialities and finalities. 3 3 They talk of this in many places. See Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Felix , Anti‐Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia , ( London and New York : Continuum, 2004 ); Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Felix , Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature , Dana Polan trans., ( Minneapolis and London : University of Minnesota Press, 1986 ). For Deleuze alone also see Deleuze, Gilles , The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque , Tom Conley trans. ( London : The Athlone Press, 1993 ).
This is strange. It is not a polemic, nor does it have an explicit argument, except perhaps to ask the question that always dances on a pinhead – as Bohumil Hrabal once put it, “Pirouettes on a Postage Stamp” 4 4 Hrabal, Bohumil , Pirouettes on a Postage Stamp .
– is there any escape? I think I sang “All Things Bright and Beautiful” at my Gran's funeral, but it might have been something else. We stopped in the house of the priest and watched England lose the Cricket World Cup in 1999; they played in blue. That's how I (re)member the year of my Gran's funeral. The church I used to go to burned down. Arson, I think.     

The Intergenerational Continuity of Fathers' Absence in a Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Sample

Fathers' absence is a pattern that shows intergenerational continuity, most notably within disadvantaged populations. The process whereby this pattern is repeated across generations is not well understood. Using data from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, the authors investigated pathways between fathers' absence in 1 generation and the experience of fathers' absence by their children. The current sample included 386 socioeconomically at‐risk individuals across 2 waves of data collection: (a) when they were children and (b) when they were adults with their own children. Analyses based on structural equation modeling revealed that men whose fathers were absent when they were children were more likely to become absent fathers, and women whose fathers were absent when they were children were more likely to have children with absent partners. Indirect pathways between fathers' absence in 2 generations through aggression, education, and substance abuse were illustrated for women. These findings add to the literature suggesting that fathers' absence during childhood has intergenerational effects.     

What college students do not know: where are the gaps in sexual health knowledge?

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to understand the gaps in college students' knowledge regarding sexual health information. Participants: A sample of 242 participants enrolled in an introductory college course participated in this study in the Fall 2009 semester. Methods: Students participated in 1 of 2 brief interventions and wrote a response paper about their experience. The papers were analyzed using conventional content analysis for information that was new to participants by looking for key words that suggested learning took place. Results: The findings indicated that the majority of participants learned new information. Most learning occurred regarding sexually transmitted infections (ie, types, symptoms, prevalence, treatment, testing) and correct condom use. There were also demographic differences regarding reported new information. Conclusions: Findings can be used to develop future sex education programs for college students by providing college educators with an understanding of where students lack knowledge of sexual health.