Meaning of Political Controversy in the Classroom: A Dialogue Across The Podium

The abstract value of academic freedom is enjoyed (or not) in concrete settings, as interactional and emergent experiences. We examine classroom political controversy in our experiences, understandings, and values, using grounded theory methods and collective autoethnography by a team of five teachers and students. Our data were generated through electronic and face‐to‐face dialogues. Our analysis, guided by a symbolic interactionist and constructionist framework, yields a picture of Controversy in Action, whereby we navigate Barriers to Open Discussion and Costs of Controversy. Results highlight insights into taken‐for‐granted meanings unexamined in day‐to‐day classroom interaction. We attend to the relevance of the local context in which our classrooms are embedded and the interactional, meaning creating work that goes on in those classrooms, as we negotiate controversy.     

Back to Normal: Gender and Disaster

Our earlier studies of Hurricane Andrew focused on the destruction of everyday life during the crisis itself and the reconstruction of a taken-for-granted world during the recovery period; this paper examines the significance of gender in these processes. The abrupt loss of taken-for-granted reality occasioned by the storm involved only a slight and momentary disruption of gender roles. The resilience of these roles can be understood only if gender is seen as a property of social organization that shapes not only interactional expectations and pressures, but also cultural and institutional processes, as well as bodily experiences.     

Stress and tobacco use among African-American adolescents: the buffering effect of cultural factors

Tobacco is a leading contributor to morbidity and mortality and a primary reason for health disparities among African Americans. In this study we explore the role of stress in smoking and cultural factors that protect against stress among African-American adolescents. Our sample consisted of 239 youth who were recruited into the study while enrolled in 8th and 12th grade. Measures of risk factors (stress, school transition stress, and community disorganization), moderator or protective factors (religious support and intergenerational connections), and 30-day tobacco use were collected. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. Intergenerational connections moderated the effect of stress on past 30-day tobacco use. Religious support moderated the effect of neighborhood disorganization on past 30-day tobacco use. Religious support also moderated the effect of stress on past 30-day tobacco use. The findings have implications for prevention efforts to consider religious beliefs and practices and also to link youth with supportive adults in their community.     

Living with Dementia: Lay Definitions of Alzheimer's Disease among African American Caregivers and Sufferers

While the medical world aggressively pursues scientific knowledge about Alzheimer's disease, sufferers and caregivers live with this ailment, not as patients, but as people going about their lives, needing and providing care. This article reports explanations of Alzheimer's from the perspectives of African American family caregivers and sufferers. Data were collected from thirty‐six families using participant observation and focus group interviews. Although caregivers sought and used medical expertise, their explanations of Alzheimer's were not only nonmedical, but not necessarily explanations of illness per se. Alzheimer's was presented instead as a way of being, predominantly characterized by views of the sufferer as childlike and by issues of continuity/discontinuity, though some saw Alzheimer's as part of a larger picture.     

An Examination of Influences on Body Dissatisfaction Among Asian American College Females: Do Family,Media, or Peers Play a Role?

Abstract

Objective: The etiology of body dissatisfaction and its correlates (eg, disordered eating) among ethnic minorities is generally unknown. The purpose of this study was to replicate the tripartite model of influence in an Asian American college female sample in order to examine this relationship. Participants: Participants were 80 undergraduate Asian American females between the ages of 18 and 25. Methods: Participants completed a survey that included the Tripartite Influence Scale, Body Parts Satisfaction Scale, and Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire–3. Results: Mediation analyses indicated that thin-ideal internalization fully mediated the relationship between media influence and body dissatisfaction and partially mediated the relationship between peer influence and body dissatisfaction. Family influence did not significantly predict body dissatisfaction. Conclusions: Asian American college females experience body dissatisfaction through mechanisms that have not been examined in detail. These factors must be considered when creating targeted health promotion strategies and developing best practices for eating disorder assessment and treatment protocols at university health centers.     

Webs of empire: locating New Zealand's colonial past

This article reports on the views of non-medical interest groups about sterilization and intellectually disabled people in New Zealand. The rationale for undertaking a study in this sensitive area is presented. Notes about survey distribution method are included and participants’ responses outlined. The study found that a majority of participants agreed that intellectually disabled people should make their own decisions about reproductive capacity. Yet a clear tension between an overall endorsement of individual choice and a majority who also considered that sterilization could be warranted in at least some cases emerged from the data. Reasons for sterilization included: the best interests of intellectually disabled people and carers; concerns about sexual health/well-being; lack of sexual control; and concerns about sexual abuse. The extent of agreement with sterilization as a desirable practice for intellectually disabled boys/men was an unexpected finding. The article concludes with questions posed to promote further discussion.     

Empathy and drug use behaviors among African-American adolescents

The current study proposed that empathy may indirectly play a protective role for adolescents in drug use behaviors and that this relationship will be mediated by self-regulatory strategies found in drug refusal efficacy. We predict that empathy will be linked to prosocial behavior and aggression, though we do not believe that they will mediate the relationship between empathy and drug use. The sample included 498 African-American adolescents in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. The results of structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses. Empathy was significantly and positively associated with drug refusal efficacy and prosocial behavior. Empathy was negatively associated with aggression. Drug refusal efficacy was negatively related to past 30-day drug use, providing evidence for the fully mediating role of drug refusal self-efficacy on empathy and past 30-day drug use. Consistent with our predictions, aggression and prosocial behavior were not significantly associated with past 30-day drug use. These findings may be useful in the context of programming efforts for drug prevention.     

The moderating effects of culture on peer deviance and alcohol use among high-risk African-American Adolescents

African-American adolescents have lower rates of alcohol consumption than White youth. However, African-American youth suffer disproportionately more adverse social, mental, and physical health outcomes related to alcohol use. Affiliating with negative peers is a risk factor for alcohol initiation and consumption. Cultural variables have shown moderating effects against other risk factors for African-American youth and therefore were the focus of this study. Specifically, we tested whether three culturally-relevant variables, Africentric beliefs, religiosity, and ethnic identity were promotive or protective for alcohol initiation and use within the context of negative peer affiliations. The sample consisted of 114 at-risk African-American adolescents whose ages ranged from 13 to 20. Participants were administered a questionnaire with measures of alcohol initiation and use, peer risk behaviors, ethnic identity, Africentric beliefs, religiosity, and demographic items. Peer risk behaviors accounted for significant percentages of the variance in age of alcohol initiation, lifetime use, and current and heavy alcohol use after adjusting for age and gender. Cultural variables showed both promotive and protective effects. Africentric beliefs were promotive of delayed alcohol initiation, whereas both Africentrism and religiosity moderated peer risk behaviors effect on alcohol initiation. Africentric beliefs were also inversely related to lifetime alcohol use revealing a promotive effect. Moreover, there were significant protective effects of ethnic identity and religiosity on heavy alcohol consumption. One implication of these findings is that prevention programs that infuse cultural values and practices such as Africentrism, ethnic identity, and religiosity may delay alcohol initiation and reduce use especially for youth with high risk peers.     

“Jimmy Cap Before You Tap”: Developing Condom Use Messages for African American Women

This study examined which characteristics of persuasive communications are most effective in changing African American women’s condom use attitudes. Focus groups were convened with 40 African American women (M_age = 25.54, SD = 4.67) to assess their opinions on current effective strategies used to promote condom use among their peers. Participants discussed effective characteristics of messaging campaigns (i.e., source, message type, channel) and how these could be used in future prevention messages. Findings revealed that making messages that are fun, catchy, and informative, delivered frequently through social media, TV, or radio by a peer or celebrity would be perceived as most effective in changing young African American women’s attitudes. Other themes that emerged were that condom use is more strongly associated with pregnancy prevention than HIV prevention and that sexual partners were perceived to have negative condom use attitudes. Recommendations centered on increasing exposure of HIV prevention messages by placing messages on the Internet and including a funny phrase or jingle in the message so that it is easy to remember and could potentially serve as a conversation starter for discussing safe sex with partners.