Sources of socialization for interpersonal trust: an exploration of low-income Black adolescents’ experiences

Much of the literature on interpersonal trust is quantitative in nature, using scales developed primarily with White middle-class and upper-class adults. To understand how another racial group of a different socioeconomic background and age views interpersonal trust, we considered the experiences of 22 low-income Black adolescents. The adolescents participated in a relationship education program and were interviewed about their interpersonal trust experiences. Results of a qualitative data analysis revealed that most adolescents defined interpersonal trust based on honesty and fidelity, with a particular emphasis on monogamy in romantic relationships. Adolescents identified direct messages from family members and personal relationship experiences as sources of socialization for interpersonal trust. Although some adolescents reported that the relationship education program enhanced their understanding of and willingness to trust, others maintained that trust can only be learned through personal experiences. Though the adolescents generally trusted family members, they experienced challenges trusting friends and romantic partners. Despite this, adolescents considered interpersonal trust a vital and a necessary part of romantic relationships. We discuss implications of the findings for relationship stability and satisfaction.     

Do Reports of Age and Circumstances of First Intercourse Differ in a Birth Cohort When Asked Seventeen Years Apart?

Conclusions about temporal changes in age and circumstances of first intercourse are generally derived from retrospective reports by people of various ages in cross-sectional studies, with an inherent assumption of no bias stemming from time since the event. We examined this assumption through repeated questions on age and circumstances of first heterosexual intercourse (FHI) at ages 21 and 38 in a birth cohort. Despite considerable movement in individual reports, there was no bias in reported age of FHI. However, a greater proportion of both men and women stated at the later assessment both partners had been equally willing (versus persuading or persuaded). The distribution of current views of the appropriateness of the timing did not differ markedly between assessments, although there were many individual changes. Reports of contraceptive usage were similar at the two assessments for men but differed among women, mainly through more reporting that they could not remember. These findings imply that among cohorts born in the 1970s, there is no bias in reports of age of FHI many years after the event, and views on the appropriateness of timing persist. However, time biases reports in favor of a more mutual willingness.     

Public Opposition to a Proposed Nuclear Waste Repository in Canada: An Investigation of Cultural and Economic Effects

Residents of four northern communities were surveyed about Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's proposal to site an underground repository for high-level nuclear waste somewhere in the Canadian Shield. Opposition to the repository was relatively strong in all communities, but was strongest among aboriginal respondents. Path analysis revealed that trust in nuclear regulators, faith in science and technology, and anticipated net costs were important mediators of this effect. Aboriginals were less trusting, exhibited less faith in science and technology, and perceived the costs associated with the repository to be higher than their nonaboriginal counterparts. No support was found for the hypothesis that, after controlling for aboriginal status, financially insecure individuals would display greater support for the nuclear waste repository than financially secure individuals. Policy implications for balancing perceived risks and siting needs are discussed.     

What to Learn from Near Misses: An Inductive Learning Approach to Credit Risk Assessment

This paper presents a new dimension of inductive learning for credit risk analysis based on the specific impact of Type I and Type II credit errors on the accuracy of the learning process. A Dynamic Updating Process is proposed to refine the credit granting decision over time and therefore improve the accuracy of the learning process. The new dimension is tested on credit files of small Belgian businesses. Results indicate an improvement of the learning process in terms of predictive accuracy, stability, and conceptual validity of the final decision tree.     

Commentary: Flawed Scientific-Evidence Standards Delay Diesel Regulations

Of 188 government-monitored air toxics, diesel particulate matter (DPM) causes seven times more cancer than all the other 187 air toxics combined, including benzene, lead, and mercury. Yet, DPM is the only air toxic not regulated more stringently under the Clean Air Act, as a hazardous air pollutant (HAP). One reason is that regulators use flawed standards of scientific evidence. The article argues (1) that DPM meets all six specified evidentiary criteria, any one of which is sufficient for HAP regulation and (2) that regulators’ standards of evidence for denying HAP status to DPM (no DPM unit-risk estimate, inadequate dose-response data, alleged weak mechanistic data) err logically and scientifically, set the evidence bar too high, delay regulation, and allow 21,000 avoidable DPM deaths annually in the U.S.     

The impact of social transformation on the non-government welfare sector and the social work profession

This article examines changes to non-government social welfare, their impact on service delivery and on the social work profession. To redress the legacy of the past and the consequent inequalities in social welfare, in the first decade of democracy the government allocated the bulk of its welfare resources to transforming the social security system at the expense of social service delivery. As a result, South Africa has a costly social security budget with social services on the brink of collapse, leaving social workers and other social service professionals with low morale in the face of the huge challenge of providing welfare services with scarce resources, especially in the non-government sector. Nevertheless, social work remains an important role player in social development. From its marginalised position in the first decade of democracy, in the second decade it is repositioning itself as a recognised contributor to reconstruction and development in South Africa.     

Leadership education for English language learners as transformative pedagogy

This qualitative case study investigates the transformative power of a leadership course designed for immigrant secondary school students learning English as an additional language with a social justice orientation. Course projects allowed the students to get involved in tutoring, present at a conference on intercultural education, deliver equity presentations and role model presentation skills for their peers by discussing topics such as Canadian culture, showcase their talents from their L1 cultures and give advice on how to integrate into the school and to lead activities to create school spirit by sharing music from their culture, running a ‘thank your teacher’ campaign, or taking the lead with an international humanitarian cause. The teacher’s plans and notes, course assignments, video footage of students presenting a conference workshop and monthly feedback forms were the data that allowed us to understand how transformative pedagogy was enacted by the teacher and experienced by the students in one Canadian secondary school with a very diverse student population.     

An age–period–cohort analysis of cancer incidence among the oldest old,Utah 1973–2002

We used age–period–cohort (APC) analyses to describe the simultaneous effects of age, period, and cohort on cancer incidence rates in an attempt to understand the population dynamics underlying their patterns among those aged 85+. Data from the Utah Cancer Registry (UCR), the US Census, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) programme were used to generate age-specific estimates of cancer incidence at ages 65–99 from 1973 to 2002 for Utah. Our results showed increasing cancer incidence rates up to the 85–89 age group followed by declines at ages 90–99 when not confounded by the separate influences of period and cohort effects. We found significant period and cohort effects, suggesting the role of environmental mechanisms in cancer incidence trends between the ages of 85 and 100.