Prevalence of unprotected sex and HIV‐antibody testing among gay,lesbian, and bisexual youth

Prevalence of unprotected sex and HIV‐antibody testing were examined in a sample of Southern gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth (n = 117). In addition, a new measure was tested in terms of its ability to distinguish youth who obtain HIV‐antibody testing from those who do not. Data were collected at a conference for these youth, as well as at a Gay and Lesbian Community Center in a Southeastern metropolitan area. Youth reported engaging in a wide range of risk behaviors, yet less than one half had been tested for HIV. Factor analysis was conducted for the new measure, which assessed beliefs about HIV testing in youth, and each factor was significantly different for youth who had been tested compared to those who had not. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth were at high risk for HIV infection and were often untested for HIV antibodies.     

Correlates of the contraceptive behavior of adolescents/young adults

Pregnancy among adolescents/young adults continues at epidemic levels despite widespread concern regarding its social and psychological consequences. Cognitive psychologists point out that active decisions and behaviors such as those involved in effective contraception are facilitated or inhibited by any of a number of relevant attitudes and beliefs. The present investigation examined several such cognitive variables. Specifically, the following hypotheses were tested: Among adolescents/young adults, the use of effective contraception would be positively related to (a) the number of known cases of unwanted pregnancy of which subjects were directly aware, and (b) sexual guilt. A sample of 147 sexually active single college students aged 18–19 provided information relevant to these hypotheses. Analyses indicated that contraceptive behavior was unrelated to the number of unwanted pregnancies of which subjects were aware, but was substantially and significantly associated with sexual guilt, even when the possibility of pregnancy was precluded. The nature and implications of these findings are explored.     

Of apes and men (including females!)

Two hundred seventy‐five undergraduate single women were surveyed to investigate whether a continuum of premarital sexual pressure exists. Participants were asked if they were pressured into 21 different sexual behaviors. For each behavior, they responded to forced‐choice questions about the stage of dating at which the pressure occurred and the type of pressure most often experienced. Over 50% of the participants reported being pressured into kissing, breast and genital manipulation, and oral contact with their partners' genitals. Further, participants were likely to be pressured into kissing and some forms of fondling while casually dating; and masturbation, oral genital contact, and intercourse while seriously dating. Guttman analysis supports the existence of a four‐step continuum of sexual pressure from persistent physical attempts, to positive statements, to threats of force, to the use of force.     

Examining Familial-Based Academic Success Factors in Urban High School Students: The Case of Puerto Rican Female High Achievers

ABSTRACT

This article works to dispel the myth that Puerto Rican female urban high school students living in poverty are not capable of performing at high academic levels. This article attempts to counteract these beliefs by describing the four success factors that seven Puerto Rican female high school students attribute to their high academic achievement. These success factors are: (1) religiosity and extracurricular activities as sources of social capital, (2) affirming and maintaining a Puerto Rican identity, (3) maternal influences on students' academic achievement and, (4) the potential for caring teachers and other school staff to influence high academic achievement. Finally, our findings suggest that opportunities for Latinas and other youth of color are still inequitably structured in large, comprehensive high schools. Hence, we argue that schools must continue to bridge the large gap between themselves and the families/communities they serve and utilize the funds of knowledge and social capital that their students already bring to school.     

汉英日语中颜色词“红”“青（蓝）”“绿”的感情隐喻考察

汉语、英语、日语中的色彩词“红”“青（蓝）”“绿”都有丰富的感情隐喻。由于人类有着许多共同的生理现象,从而使得颜色词在不同的语言中存在相同的隐喻;同时又由于文化的差异,这些颜色词在各语言中也有各自独特的隐喻,这里通过对比分析,以揭示它们所具有的共性和个性。     

Cartoons and AIDS: Safer Sex,HIV, and AIDS in Ralf König's Comics

Ralf König is the best-selling author of comic book novels, and his stories of gay men coming to terms with contemporary society have resonated with hundreds of thousands of German readers and film-goers. König's characters, like the author himself, have great difficulty adhering to the demand that condoms be used. The article describes how König develops this theme through a variety of works from 1985 through 1999, and analyzes the intertwined relationships among the author, his characters, and the society that is both portrayed in his works and that reads his works.     

The mathematics of sex and marriage,revisited

We analyze the problem of modeling marriages in a two‐sex model of population dynamics. We first deal with the problem of incomplete and inconsistent census data and then use a simulator to compare the performance of a variety of marriage functions in modeling births and couples during the ten‐year period between consecutive U.S. censuses. Unlike most empirical methods for comparing marriage functions based on goodness of fit, the differences in the projections of the various functions in our method are of the same magnitude (or even smaller) than the errors between the projected and real data. We observe that for the population of the United States, the harmonic mean function frequently found and used in the literature is a quite poor performer when compared with many other functions in the family we use.     

生育水平、性别偏好和出生性别比——兼论出生性别比的监测方法

本研究以马-冯-陈模型为定性基础,认为一定人口的出生性别比并非固定不变,而是受到生育水平的影响。当无性别偏好时,生育水平主要通过改变不同孩次占出生人口比例的方式影响出生性别比;当有性别偏好时,生育水平既影响不同孩次占总出生人口的比例,又影响不同孩次的出生性别比,从而对总出生性别比产生影响。对于没有性别偏好和性别选择行为的人口,生育水平变化是引起出生性别比波动的主要原因。有性别选择行为时,生育水平变化对出生性别比的影响较小,性别选择行为是出生性别比异常的主要原因。监测以"曾生子女孩次和性别次序"为条件划分的人群,可以有效而便捷地判断出生性别比变化趋势。     

Sexual Messages in Black and White: A discourse analysis of Essence and Cosmo

The research presented employed critical discourse analysis to examine advice columns on sex and women's sexual freedom as expressed in two popular women's magazines, Essence and Cosmopolitan, over a three-year period. Essence has a Black female audience, Cosmo a predominantly White female audience. Critical discourse analysis is concerned with language as a primary force for the production and reproduction of ideology and belief systems that come to be accepted as common sense. The study asked whether and to what extent sex talk in these two magazines mirrored tenets of sexual liberation as set forth by “second-wave feminism.” Findings showed that while both magazines reinforced women's right to sexual pleasure and to ask for what they wanted, Essence came closest to mirroring the tenets of women's liberation by advocating women's right to say no to men's bad behavior and to be their own persons. By contrast, Cosmo advised women to be innovative in exciting and keeping their men and to be more flexible in managing men's less than desirable behavior.     

Challenges of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in India Need for Legislative Reforms in Partnership with the Social-Work Profession

This article examines the challenges of commercial sexual exploitation of children in India, ranging from the traditional religion-sanctioned commercial sexual exploitation of children, to child trafficking for brothel-based prostitution, to the recent trends in child-sex tourism. It then reviews India's legislation to deal with these problems. Identifying the gaps, the article concludes with recommendations for a child rights-based comprehensive legislation for child protection and the role of the social-work profession to support such legislation.