Intimate Partner Violence,Minority Stress,and Sexual Risk-Taking Among U.S. Men Who Have Sex With Men

This article examines the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among a national sample of Internet-recruited U.S. men who have sex with men (MSM) (n = 1,575), and associations between reporting of IPV, minority stress, and sexual risk-taking. Five outcomes are examined: experiences of physical and sexual violence, perpetration of physical and sexual violence, and unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) at last sexual encounter. MSM who reported experiencing more homophobic discrimination and internalized homophobia were more likely to report experiences of IPV. The results point to the need for prevention messages to address the external and internal stressors that influence both violence and sexual risk among MSM.     

“Service” Municipal Administration as Part of the Development of Youth Entrepreneurship in Russia

The study offers a development of the social technologies of “service” municipal administration. The consumers’ opinions should be taken into consideration when determining the nomenclature and standards of their provision, which include the quality parameters that the consumers consider important. In addition, “service” relations imply the assessment of consumer satisfaction with the services and the correction of services based on the results of the assessment. Since this interaction implies communication between the municipal administration body and service users, it is necessary to focus on communicative technologies that are capable of providing a full cycle of service development and improvement for young entrepreneurs. Communications should help determine the expectations associated with a service, raise awareness thereof, and involve young people in the decisions related to the provision of services.     

Developing community leadership through the arts in Southside Virginia: Social networks, civic identity and civic change

This paper describes a strategy designed to catalyse a processof civic dialogue and social learning in an economically distressedsection of Virginia typically referred to as Southside or theDan River Region. The model underpinning this initiative employsthe arts and a grassroots leadership programme simultaneouslyto encourage a broad-scale civic conversation concerning thepast and potential future of the principal communities locatedin the Southside region. The combination of broad participationand development of an effective leadership cadre at the grassrootslevel should encourage the creation of robust community problemsolving coalitions across the region. The initiative aims toengender specific forms of locally driven community-based problem-solvingcoalitions: those that emphasize inclusiveness and value thefull participation of historically disenfranchised individuals.The project also employs non-traditional forums to promote creativedialogue and to encourage reflection among the broader citizenryon the significance and possible character of a new and regionalidentity.     

The functional patterns of adolescent mothers leaving foster care: Results from a cluster analysis

Few studies have explored the outcomes of adolescent mothers leaving foster care, especially using person‐oriented methods. The current study employed a cluster analysis to identify unique patterns of functioning among adolescent mothers aged 19 (n = 777). Data from the National Youth in Transition Database and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System were utilized. Findings revealed five subpopulations characterized by distinct constellations of outcomes at age 19. The largest group (43%) exhibited competent functioning across all the domains studied—its members were connected to school and/or employment and did not experience homelessness, substance abuse referrals, or incarceration during the past 2 years (i.e., “resilient”). A relatively small group (12%) exhibited challenges across all the above‐referenced domains, whereas the remaining groups presented challenges in some domains, but not in others. Follow‐up analyses revealed that adolescent mothers classified as resilient at age 19 had the lowest rates of congregate care placements and the highest rates of nonrelative foster care placements at age 17. Moreover, they had lower placement instability and higher rates of extended foster care as compared with members of the other clusters. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.     

Enrolment in Mathematics and Physics at The Advanced Level in Secondary School Among Two Generations of Highly Skilled Immigrants

This research focuses on enrolment in advanced level Mathematics and Physics in secondary school among first and second generations of Former Soviet Union immigrants and third generation Israeli‐born Jews. The article made use of the Israeli Ministry of Education's database, which includes data on all students who finished their secondary education with a matriculation certificate in 2013. Our findings show the advantage of enrolment in Physics, which is perceived as the most difficult subject, among FSU immigrant students compared to the third generation of Israeli‐born students. This advantage may be explained by their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)‐related cultural capital. However, first‐generation FSU students were less likely to be enrolled in advanced‐level Mathematics compared to third‐generation Jews. These findings may emphasize the role of the Israeli education system as a gatekeeper in entering more prestigious Mathematics.     

A Theoretical Comparison of Relational Maintenance and Closeness as Mediators of Family Communication Patterns in Parent-Child Relationships

This investigation sought to elaborate Koerner and Fitzpatrick’s theory of family communication by testing two theoretical models of family communication patterns (FCP), child-to-parent inclusion of the other in the self (IOS), and relational maintenance. Participants included 374 young adults recruited from two universities in different regions of the United States. Results best supported a model positioning maintenance as a mediator of the association between FCP and IOS, as compared to an alternative model with IOS as a mediator of the association between FCP and maintenance. These findings extend Koerner and Fitzpatrick’s theory by highlighting communication as the means by which overarching family schemas influence relationship-specific schemas; additionally, they commend the self-expansion model as a useful theoretical approach to relational maintenance behavior in family contexts.     

NGO Hybridisation as an Outcome of HIV Services Delivery in Global Fund-Supported Programmes in Ukraine

Ukraine has one of the world’s fastest growing HIV rates and was one of the largest recipients of funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF). Doctoral research recently completed by the author investigates the conduct and practice of international and national nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) as Principal Recipients of GF grants in Ukraine from 2004 to 2012. The study aimed to understand how NGO-based services were implemented in the context of a state-owned health care system. An ethnographic enquiry including 50 participant interviews was conducted in three oblasts in Ukraine, and in its capital, Kyiv, between 2011 and 2013. The paper is based on a doctoral research and presents some of the findings that emerged from the analysis. The author argues that the accent on NGO-run services promoted by GF has rendered the original grass roots, community-based NGOs, to be undermined or replaced by ‘quasi’, hybrid NGOs created by health officials and AIDS centres head doctors. The outcome of such hybridization is a weakened civil society that is dependent on external funding and is unable to genuinely represent their communities.     

Living history,undoing linearity: memory‐work as a research method in the social sciences

If we accept that social research is not simply a matter of representation, but involves actively intervening in and constructing our current social and political conditions, we are then presented with a set of problems about representation and intervention. The methodology, memory‐work, is introduced here as one specifically developed for the purposes of undertaking politically engaged social research. In this paper, I describe the rationale and method of memory‐work, emphasizing the ways in which it involves undoing the subject of linear, causal, biographical narratives and a notion of the subject as collectively constituted. I elucidate the method by drawing on an example from research about HIV subjectification in which the notion of individual responsibility arose as a problem for memory‐workers—it simultaneously enables and constrains actively working on oneself and one's world. Discussing this research leads to a consideration of the ways in which the methodology needs to be adapted to reflect the specific concerns of one's time and place. I conclude with a discussion of the important but limited notion of history entailed in the original conception of memory‐work.     

Child welfare privatization: quantitative indicators and policy issues

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the development of safety, permanency, and child well-being indicators by using administrative data sets as well as by using these indicators as tools for evaluating Florida's Community-Based Care (CBC) initiative. Longitudinal data from 37 counties including 4 counties that implemented community-based care were examined in this study. The results of the study indicated that the overall performance of CBC counties is at least as good as the performance of their comparison run by the state counties. The findings that emerged from this study may provide important lessons for developing a performance measurement system in the child welfare field.