Declining Return Migration From the United States to Mexico in the Late-2000s Recession: A Research Note

Researchers in the United States and Mexico have variously asserted that return migration from the United States to Mexico increased substantially, remained unchanged, or declined slightly in response to the 2008–2009 U.S. recession and fall 2008 global financial crisis. The present study addresses this debate using microdata from 2005 through 2009 from a large-scale, quarterly Mexican household survey, the National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE), after first validating the ENOE against return-migration estimates from a specialist demographic survey, the National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID). Declines in annual return-migration flows of up to a third between 2007 and 2009 were seen among the predominantly labor-migrant groups of male migrants and all 18- to 40-year-old migrants with less than a college education; and a decline in total return migration was seen in the fourth quarter of 2008 (immediately after the triggering of the global financial crisis) compared with the fourth quarter of 2007.     

Mexican American Parents' Involvement in Adolescents' Peer Relationships: Exploring the Role of Culture and Adolescents' Peer Experiences

This study examined the nature and correlates of Mexican American mothers' and fathers' involvement in adolescents' peer relationships along 4 dimensions: support, restriction, knowledge, and time spent with adolescents and peers. Mexican American adolescents and their parents in 220 families described their family relationships, cultural orientations/values, and experiences with adolescents' peers in home interviews. In addition, time-use data were collected during a series of 7 phone calls to measure parents' time spent with adolescents and peers and parents' knowledge of adolescents' daily experiences with peers. Multilevel models revealed connections between parents' involvement in adolescents' peer relationships and both parents' Mexican and Anglo orientations and familism values and adolescents' peer experiences (e.g., deviant peer affiliations, friends' ethnic orientation). Findings further revealed some evidence that parent and adolescent gender moderated the patterns, with mothers' (but not fathers') restrictions on peer relationships being associated with adolescents' deviant peer affiliations and parents placing greater restrictions on daughters' than on sons' peer relationships when they had more frequent deviant peer affiliations.     

Environmental resettlement and social dis/re-articulation in Inner Mongolia, China

The expanding use of resettlement as a tool for addressing environmental and poverty-related concerns in China calls for further research into its impacts on local populations. Our knowledge of the effects of such resettlement is very limited, particularly in relation to its social impacts. This paper examines the impoverishment risk of social disarticulation as it is experienced by resettlers in an Inner Mongolian environmental resettlement village—Wan Sheng village. We argue that social disarticulation as a risk of resettlement is by no means an inevitable downward spiral towards social oblivion and anomie. Resettlers, in this case at least, have recreated a living, functioning community that provides many aspects of support for its inhabitants. This is in spite of unfavourable construction and increased economic deprivation. It is the adaptive abilities of these resettlers that come to the fore in Wan Sheng, suggesting aspects of rearticulation and cohesion, and not simply disarticulation.

Rational Versus Communicative: Towards an Understanding of Spatial Planning Methods in German Planning Practice

This paper considers the use of planning methods in German planning practice against the background of the ‘communicative turn’. The debate about concepts of rationality in Germany as well as in other countries can be said to have resulted in the paradigm of communicative actor-oriented planning achieving at least the same standing as the analytical rationality of the classical expert-based planning model. The inconsistent use of the term method in research corresponds to empirical findings indicating that the term is used ambiguously in practice. Nonetheless, planning methods fulfil a number of functions in practice. The notion of a relatively clear division between ‘analytical-rational’ methods on the one hand and ‘communicative’ methods on the other hand was relativized by experimental investigations. The setting in which the methods are applied seems of more importance; even apparently ‘analytical-rational’ planning methods can be implemented in a more or less communicative fashion.     

What “likes” have got to do with it: Exposure to peers' alcohol-related posts and perceptions of injunctive drinking norms

Objective: Examine 1) whether observed social reinforcements (i.e., “likes”) received by peers' alcohol-related social media posts are related to first-year college students' perceptions of peer approval for risky drinking behaviors; and 2) whether associations are moderated by students' alcohol use status. Participants: First-year university students (N = 296) completed an online survey in September, 2014. Method: Participants reported their own alcohol use, friends' alcohol use, perceptions of the typical student's approval for risky drinking, and ranked 10 types of social media posts in terms of the relative numbers of “likes” received when posted by peers. Results: Observed social reinforcement (i.e., “likes”) for peers' alcohol-related posts predicted perceptions of peer approval for risky drinking behaviors among non-drinking students, but not drinking students. Conclusions: For first-year college students who have not yet initiated drinking, observing peers' alcohol-related posts to receive abundant “likes” may increase perceptions of peer approval for risky drinking.     

Fingerprint-based background checks for personal care workers: Stakeholder views of policy criteria

Decision makers face difficult choices when tasked with identifying and implementing appropriate mechanisms for protecting the elderly and other vulnerable adults from abuse. A pilot project involving fingerprint-based criminal history background checks for personal care workers in Michigan has supplied an opportunity to examine one such mechanism. In conjunction with the pilot project, we have conducted a stakeholder analysis with the aim of informing decision makers about stakeholder perceptions of standard policy criteria like effectiveness, efficiency, and equity. We employed focus groups and a Web-based survey to collect data from stakeholders. While stakeholders generally see fingerprint-based background checks for personal care workers as potentially effective and as a net benefit, they also point to a variety of contingencies. They also recognize difficulties and constraints for government involvement. This preliminary analysis provides solid foundational information for decision makers and for more extensive benefit–cost analysis.     

‘Widening cross-disciplinary research for mental health’: what is missing from the Research Councils UK mental health agenda?

This current issues article is a brief critical examination of the recent Research Councils UK agenda and call for cross-disciplinary research in mental health. Our argument is based on the fact that patient and public involvement (PPI) is the only involvement and influencing strategy for service users and survivors in the agenda. Service user and survivor research as a discipline in itself remains unacknowledged. We conclude that service user and survivor research is distinct and is different to PPI, and should be recognised in any mental health research agenda.