The effects of teenage childbearing on the short- and long-term health behaviors of mothers

A national sample of US teenagers combined with a complementary sample of US adults are used to examine the effects of teenage childbearing on health behaviors by comparing female siblings in both the teenage sample and a sample of adults. Additionally, miscarriage information available in the teenage sample is used to form comparison groups. Unlike previous estimates of the effects of teenage childbearing on health behaviors, the results using these US samples and research designs suggest that teenage childbearing has negligible effects on several measures of unhealthy behaviors for mothers and may be protective for drug use and binge drinking.     

Self-perceived origins of attitudes toward homosexuality

Undergraduate students (N = 417) at a large southern university responded to open-ended questions designed to assess self-perceived origins of attitudes toward homosexuality and circumstances that may prompt a shift in attitudes. Inductively coded responses pointed to a positive correlation between attitudes toward homosexuality and experience interacting with gay men or lesbians; this is discussed in the context of Allport's (1954 ) contact hypothesis and Herek's (1984 , 1986 ) theory of functional attitudes. Implications are discussed for education and intervention efforts aimed at facilitating understanding and tolerance of gay men and lesbians.     

The moderating role of social support in Karasek's job strain model

The potential stressfulness of an event may depend on how it is appraised by the individual, although up to now there have been no longitudinal studies on the relationship between lay beliefs concerning work stress and perceived strain. This longitudinal study examines how lay theories of work stress at baseline were related to perceived mental strain at follow up. The present paper builds on an earlier study (Furnham, ), using a longitudinal design and a much larger population of the British workforce (N=2270). Lay beliefs were assessed by a scale consisting of 36 items. Factor analysis gave a solution with five factors on perceived causes and four factors of perceived alleviation of work stress. Linear multiple regression analysis revealed significant relations between lay beliefs of work stress at baseline and perceived mental strain as well as job stress 14 months later. The effect sizes were small but of a similar magnitude to those that have been found, for example, in occupational stress-reducing interventions. A problem with the factor analytic approach was the discrepancies between the factor solutions and the relative importance of the perceived causes of work stress. The results from the study suggest that subjective beliefs about work stress merits further analysis as potentially mediating between ‘objective’ working conditions and stress outcomes.     

Expert and Layperson Perceptions of Ecosystem Risk

This research examines and compares perceptions held by laypeople and ecologists about risks to ecosystems, particularly risk from global climate change (GCC). A survey elicited perceptions of 31 risk characteristics for 13 GCC and 12 non-GCC risks to ecosystems. Factor analysis was used to examine the structure of layperson and expert risk perceptions. Both experts and laypeople tend to perceive GCC risks to ecosystems as less avoidable and more acceptable than risks from other causes. Compared to laypeople's perceptions, though, experts perceived GCC risks to have slightly lower impacts, be less avoidable, more acceptable, and less understandable than non-GCC risks to ecosystems. These findings may help guide efforts to communicate with laypeople about ecological risks from climate change.     

Growing health disparities for persons who are aging with intellectual and developmental disabilities: the social work linchpin

Similar to the general population, adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are living into their 70s and beyond. Health care disparities have been well-documented for this vulnerable and underserved population. Social workers are often responsible for assessment, coordination of care, and negotiation of needed services for people with IDD. This article explores the challenges facing social workers in meeting the growing health and social needs of aging adults with IDD and their families. Trends in social work practice and gaps in education are discussed as they relate to addressing and reducing current health disparities.     

Expanding Carceral Markets: Detention Facilities,ICE Contracts,and the Financial Interests of Punitive Immigration Policy

On the night of November 8, 2016, once election results showed an almost certain presidential victory for Donald Trump, private prison stock values increased. Trump’s harsh anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric, followed by his attempted crackdown on sanctuary cities (and immigrants more generally), had the potential to expand the carceral market to greater shares of undocumented immigrants. We develop a theory of carceral market expansion, arguing that private actors seek to expand carceral markets—for profit—just as in any other market. This paper examines whether private companies, like Core Civic and GEO, that contract with Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to operate detention facilities exert influence over federal immigration legislation in the 113th and 114th Congresses. Specifically, we examine (1) whether campaign donations made by private prison companies and other contractors to legislators (carceral lobbying hypothesis), and (2) having a privately owned or managed ICE detention facility in a legislator’s district (carceral representation hypothesis) increases the probability that legislators will co-sponsor more harsh immigration legislation in the U.S. states. We find strong support for the carceral representation hypothesis but limited to no support for the carceral lobbying hypothesis. Implications are discussed.     

Substance Use,the Social Bond,and Delinquency*

This research integrated elements from the drugs‐delinquency field with life course criminology to examine the reciprocal relationship between substance use and delinquency during adolescence. Data from three waves of the National Youth Survey were used to examine research hypotheses. Findings indicate that there were significant direct and indirect effects. There was evidence of stability in both behaviors, prior substance use predicted future substance use and prior delinquency predicted future delinquency. In addition, prior substance use predicted future delinquency and prior delinquency predicted future substance use. This was due, in part, to the significant indirect connections in the relationship between substance use and delinquency. It appears that substance use and delinquency weaken the social bond, which leads to continued substance use and delinquency.     

The Effect of Negative Campaign Advertising on Vote Choice: The Mediating Influence of Gender*

Objective. Some studies of negative campaign advertising's impact argue that a backlash or “boomerang effect” exists. However, the appropriate conceptualization of a boomerang effect might not be an immediate backlash against the sponsor but a delayed response that comes after repeated exposure to negative campaign advertisements. Method. We conducted an experiment using a variation of the pretest‐posttest control group design in which treatment groups were exposed to varying numbers of negative campaign advertisements. Results. There is a parabolic effect of repeated exposure to negative advertisements that is gender specific. Among women, the sponsor initially benefits from an enhanced image but suffers a decline in image when the voters become overexposed to negative advertisements. Conclusion. A reconceptualization of the “boomerang effect” of negative campaign advertising is in order.     

Developing selves: photography,Cold War science and ‘backwards’ people in the Peruvian Andes, 1951–1966

This article explores how social science applications of photography employed in the early 1950s to both understand and change so-called ‘backwards’ people became entangled with, and drew momentum from, the geopolitical concerns of the early Cold War. Specifically, I address the employment of photography in the Cornell-Peru Project in the Andean community of Vicos, a decade-long research experiment combining development anthropology and fashionable modernisation theory emanating out of the behavioural sciences. In addition to development activities that were to serve as the catalysts of change (agricultural improvement, health and education), researchers at Vicos were at pains to uncover and validate the inner ‘predispositions’ towards change and modernity they hoped were lurking inside villagers. Reflecting Cold War priorities and concerns, researchers sought to locate a particular developing indigenous subject – one closer to liberal capitalism (and its values of self-reliance and individualism) and away from communal nature of indigenous society that too strongly resembled Soviet models of development and collectivisation. Along with an arsenal of other psychological projective tests, researchers hoped the camera’s lens would reveal this change through such subtle cues as the rearrangement of home interiors and modifications in dress, style and comportment, as well as the development of visual literacy. Following the photographic work of famed photographer and formative visual anthropologist, John Collier, Jr., during a year at Vicos, this article ultimately explores the limitations of the behavioural sciences’ hopeful uses of photography.