The Use of Research in the Seattle and Jefferson County Desegregation Cases: Connecting Social Science and the Law

On June 28, 2007, a plurality of the United States Supreme Court held that two public school desegregation plans, which relied in part on racial classifications, violated the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This article provides an overview of the cases and discusses the ways in which examples of social science research were used and interpreted by Justices on both sides of the issue. We also describe some differences in perspective between social scientific and legal traditions and offer insights about connections between these perspectives in this and future work.     

Parental Caregivers' Desires for Lifetime Assistance Planning for Future Supports for Their Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Future life planning is a growing concern among families with children with disabilities. This article presents a needs assessment evaluating feasibility of a new model for future life planning for family caregivers, Lifetime Assistance, which will provide ongoing planning and monitoring for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Using surveys informed by a series of focus groups, data were gathered from older and younger parents in one midwestern state regarding the potential program. Study results indicate that respondents did not feel the current system of support was adequate for planning for their child's future, nor sufficient for monitoring the quality of life for their children in the future. Although almost all families had identified a person to support their family members when they were no longer able to do so, parental caregivers overwhelmingly identified the need for the Lifetime Assistance program and many were willing to pay for this service themselves.     

An Exploratory Study of the Effects of Teacher Attractiveness on Undergraduates' Perceptions of Teacher–Student Sexual Involvement

This study explored whether the attractiveness of a teacher affected perceptions of teacher sexual misconduct. Respondents (120 female and 108 male undergraduates) read scenarios depicting teacher sexual misconduct varied by gender dyad (male teacher–female student and female teacher–male student) and two levels of attractiveness (very attractive or ordinary looking). The attractiveness of the teacher had little impact on respondents' perceptions. Significant interactions emerged on most variables between respondent gender and gender dyad. Specifically, male respondents tended to view the female teacher–male student dyad as less negative than the male teacher–female student dyad. Female respondents generally did not make a distinction based on the gender dyad.     

Knowledge Regarding Hymens and the Sex Education of Parents

The objective of this study was to ascertain beliefs and knowledge of pediatricians and parents regarding the hymen and to evaluate parental and pediatrician attitudes regarding sex education by pediatricians. Surveys were distributed anonymously to parents and pediatricians. Survey questions included knowledge of the female hymen and questions regarding attitudes toward sexual health education. There was a statistically significant difference in mean knowledge scores between pediatricians and parents regarding the hymen (3.7 versus 1.3; p < 0.0001). Almost two-thirds of pediatricians (63%) felt comfortable providing sexual health education directly to their patients, but only 41% felt comfortable educating parents. Pediatricians and parents demonstrate knowledge gaps about the hymen.     

Delivering LGBT-sensitive substance use treatment to sexual minority women

Abstract

Epidemiologic studies have consistently found elevated rates of alcohol and other substance use among sexual minority women (SMW), and despite calls for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-specific” services and culturally tailored interventions, few such services exist. This study involved qualitative interviews with directors from substance use treatment programs (N?=?10) about how they addressed the needs of SMW. Strategies implemented primarily focused on creating a safe and welcoming environment for sexual minority clients. Findings highlight challenges involved in meeting the treatment needs of SMW and provide guidance to researchers and service providers on how to improve the quality of care for them.     

“Lizzie Do You Mind”: Gertrude Stein's Laws of Genre in Blood on the Dining-Room Floor

Against previous critics’ readings of Stein's Blood on the Dining-Room Floor as a failed attempt at the hard-boiled genre, this article argues for the many ways in which the novel re-writes the gothic/domestic detective story in a brilliant tour de force that frames all that is un-natural about heteronormative Victorian family life while offering a lesbian alternative. In Stein's subversive and serious play with the forms and conventions of popular fiction, her positive invocations of Lizzie Borden as textual witness, her wide-reaching references to lesbian relationships in other of her works, and, finally, her virtuosic use of silence, Stein writes a profound critique of the patriarchal family through a radical unmaking of a thoroughly domestic literary form.     

Supporting Birth Parents in Adoption: A Couple Treatment Approach

Adoption yields benefits to most participants in the adoption triad; however, relinquishing a child is often a profound loss in birth parents’ lives. Although existing research suggests treatment considerations, there is a need for a comprehensive, systemic treatment approach to best support birth parents. This article proposes a couple treatment approach that incorporates suggestions from the birth parent literature with emotionally focused couple therapy, an empirically supported therapy model. The approach comprehensively addresses the needs of birth parents by punctuating couple strengths and resources, empowering couples, addressing the emotional experience of relinquishment, and acknowledging the contextual influences and consequences of relinquishment.     

The value of conducting door-to-door surveys

This paper argues that door-to-door surveys are a valuable tool for collecting information about health and the environment in urban areas in a manner consistent with community-based participatory research principles. We describe in detail how a door-to-door survey on food shopping and physical activity was conducted with the primary food shopper in 514 households on 30 randomly selected blocks in West and Southwest Philadelphia over seven weeks during the summer of 2010. We identify the elements of our door-to-door protocol that had benefits for the quality of the data collected, flow of data collection, the perceived safety of interviewers and residents, and that informed subsequent phases of this multimethod four-year study of urban food and physical activity environments. We conclude that door-to-door surveys are appropriate and valuable in certain research contexts, when spending time in a community, conducting observations and building relationships are central to the goals and success of a study.     

Estimating the Longitudinal Association Between Adolescent Sexual Behavior and Exposure to Sexual Media Content

The purpose of this study is to estimate the association between adolescent sexual behavior and exposure to sexual media content. A three-wave, longitudinal survey sample (N = 506) of 14- to 16-year-olds at baseline is analyzed using growth curves. Growth trajectories are linear for sexual behavior but not for exposure to sexual media content. The signs of the exposure slopes are not uniformly positive: Hispanic and African American respondents show declines of exposure to sexual media content over the age range investigated here. Although changes in exposure to sex content are highly associated with changes in sexual behavior among Whites, there is little or no association between changes in these variables among Blacks.     

Identifying the Causal Pathways from Religiosity to Delayed Adolescent Sexual Behavior

This study used the Integrative Model as a framework to examine whether religiosity delays onset of coitus among a longitudinal sample of virgins, and investigated the causal pathways of this relationship. In addition, this study examined the behavioral beliefs about the consequences of engaging in sex, which distinguishes between youth who vary in level of religiosity. A further analysis was also conducted to examine whether religiosity offers protective effects in terms of progression toward sexual intercourse on a sexual behavior index. The sexual behavior index assumes a progressive nature of sexual behaviors, and includes the following seven behaviors: kissing, having breasts touched (touching for boys), genital touching, receiving oral sex, vaginal intercourse, giving oral sex, and receiving (or giving) anal sex. Religiosity at baseline was negatively associated with sexual debut one year later. This relationship was mediated through attitudes toward personally engaging in sexual intercourse. Religiosity at baseline was also negatively associated with scores on the sexual behavior index one year later. These results suggest that religiosity offers protective effects for both coital and noncoital sexual behaviors.