Living a Deportation Threat: Anticipatory Stressors Confronted by Undocumented Mexican Immigrant Women

Previous sociological research shows that exposure to stress varies by individuals’ social statuses and is a central mechanism in producing mental health disparities. This line of research suggests that ethnoracial groups are more exposed to racial discrimination, thus negatively impacting their mental health. There has also been a growing literature showing how legal status impacts the mental health of immigrants and their families. However, the sociology of mental health and migration literature has largely remained disparate. This paper bridges these literatures to highlight how living a deportation threat manifests itself as an anticipatory stressor that negatively impacts undocumented Mexican migrant women’s access to resources, social relationships, and social roles. Based on 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews with undocumented Mexican immigrant women from Houston, Texas, my findings reveal living a deportation threat is a perpetual anticipatory stressor that intensifies the effects of avoiding authorities, family fragmentation, and economic uncertainty. I argue this anticipatory stressor transforms into a chronic stressor that undocumented Mexican women confront daily. By situating this study within an anti-immigrant social context, it highlights the social processes and mechanisms that exacerbate the stressors undocumented Mexican immigrant women confront.     

Deconstructing Immigrant Illegality: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Stress and Health Among Undocumented College Students

Research has established that being undocumented is a risk factor for mental and physical health conditions. Much of this work emphasizes undocumented immigrants’ chronic stress, yet key questions about pathways to health remain. The mere state of being undocumented is viewed as a general stressor, without considering actual levels of stress or identifying dimensions of documentation status that contribute to overall stress levels. Drawing on surveys and interviews with undocumented students at the University of California, we uncover the everyday manifestations of four dimensions of immigrant “illegality”: academic concerns, future concerns, financial concerns, and deportation concerns, and their association with reported stress levels and self-rated health. Survey data establish undocumented students’ high levels of stress and poorer health, in comparison to previous research on other national samples. In a structural equation model, we found academic and future concerns to be significantly associated with higher stress, which was in turn, associated with poorer self-rated health. Financial concerns were not associated with higher perceived stress but were directly associated with poorer self-rated health. Notably, deportation concerns did not have any significant independent associations with stress or health. We use our qualitative data to identify specific stressors embedded within these four dimensions. Our findings inform understandings of the health risks arising from documentation status.     

从权利角度看劳动关系与环境保护

中国在实现经济高速增长的同时,社会发展与环境保护的业绩却不能令人满意,其中一个重要环节就是忽视了发展中的权利诉求,包括劳动者的权益与广大公众的环境权益,导致这种局面既由于资本的逻辑惯性和社会力量的缺失,更有政府失灵的因素,因此,政府必须从经济主导型向公共服务型转变,认真对待权利,强化法律的有效性以推进社会公平与环境公正,引导全社会在通往法治的道路上实现劳动权与环境权.     

论作为一种元制度的社区

从宏观的社会制度结构角度看,社区是一种与市场、政府和企业等不同而并列的元制度类型,内含情感上相互依赖、经济上互惠互助、政治上权威自治的制度理念,是一种以相对封闭的关系网络为基础,以互助、互惠、合作、信任等为主要内容的社会资本规范,并以网络治理为主要的运行机制。社区建设的关键在于社区社会资本的形成,而社区社会资本主要产生于社区成员的日常互动,但政府的引导、企业的支持可以加快社区社会资本的形成。     

中国行政管理学研究状况的文献计量学分析

采用文献计量学方法从研究主题、研究方式、研究阶段三个角度对2001-2005年刊登在中国行政管理学4个重要刊物上的研究论文的内部结构所进行的分析发现,在行政管理学的研究主题上,行政职能、决策、改革、哲学、法治、人事、基层政权为主流研究领域;行政职能、行政决策、行政改革、国外行政研究和行政哲学等为一级主题的研究热点;公共服务、绩效评估、政府信用、服务型政府和非政府组织等为二级主题的研究热点.在研究方式上,中国行政管理学研究存在着经验研究与非经验研究、定性分析与定量分析的比例失调问题,但经验研究与定量分析方法正在得到越来越多的应用.在研究阶段上,所调查的研究论文多处于问题描述、问题诊断和对策分析阶段.     

论马克思哲学“现实个人”理论及其当代审视

现实个人是马克思哲学的理论核心,依据社会形态理论其生成史可以阐发为三种形态：群体形态的个人,独立形态的个人,自由形态的个人,三种形态的历史演绎构成了现实个人发展的内在逻辑。当代中国正处于市场经济条件下,人表现为以物为基础的独立形态的个人,人的物化状态不可避免。物化状态的积极作用在于它是对群体形态个人的扬弃,对自由形态个人的基奠;其消极作用在于人以“物”而非“人”作为价值尺度,物质利益驱动使人对有限资源展开竞争而形成人际矛盾,而这一矛盾是引发社会种种不和谐现象的主要原因。因此,解决人际矛盾、实现入际和谐是构建和谐社会的根本着力点,其实现的根本途径在于民主、法治、道德的实现。     

A flexible semiparametric transformation model for survival data

I suggest an extension of the semiparametric transformation model that specifies a time-varying regression structure for the transformation, and thus allows time-varying structure in the data. Special cases include a stratified version of the usual semiparametric transformation model. The model can be thought of as specifying a first order Taylor expansion of a completely flexible baseline. Large sample properties are derived and estimators of the asymptotic variances of the regression coefficients are given. The method is illustrated by a worked example and a small simulation study. A goodness of fit procedure for testing if the regression effects lead to a satisfactory fit is also suggested.     

Understanding and Using Mediators and Moderators

Mediation and moderation are two theories for refining and understanding a causal relationship. Empirical investigation of mediators and moderators requires an integrated research design rather than the data analyses driven approach often seen in the literature. This paper described the conceptual foundation, research design, data analysis, as well as inferences involved in a mediation and/or moderation investigation in both experimental and non-experimental (i.e., correlational) contexts. The essential distinctions between the investigation of mediators and moderators were summarized and juxtaposed in an example of a causal relationship between test difficulty and test anxiety. In addition, the more elaborate models, moderated mediation and mediated moderation, the use of structural equation models, and the problems with model misspecification were discussed conceptually.

Is the Study of Happiness a Worthy Scientific Pursuit?

This paper critiques the view that the study of happiness is not a worthy scientific pursuit. The happiness set point and hedonic treadmill theories denote the complexity of increasing happiness levels due to genetic limitations and adaptation, however, there is mounting evidence to suggest that with the use of appropriate measures and specific interventions aimed at fostering strengths and virtues, happiness can be increased. Furthermore, the benefits of investigating methods for increasing happiness include improvements in physical, psychological and social health and well-being. It is concluded that approaching human needs from a top down or holistic standpoint where individuals can use their strengths to overcome life’s challenges, is beneficial to health and well-being. Hence, the study of happiness is a worthy scientific pursuit.     

Education,Happiness and Wellbeing

Answers to the questions ‘Does education influence happiness and if so, how and how much?’ depend on how one defines and operationalizes ‘education’, ‘influences’ and ‘happiness’. A great variety of research scenarios may be constructed from our three essential variables. What public policies one ought to adopt and implement regarding the influence of education on happiness depends minimally on which of the great variety of research scenarios one adopts and maximally on lots of other things as well. My personal preference is for a robust definition of the three terms. Because human beings are complex organisms, an adequate construction of the idea of human wellbeing must also be complex. Therefore, any discipline-driven, reductionist definition that pyschologizes, medicalizes, economizes, geneticizes, socializes or politicizes the idea should be avoided.