Reviews

Abstract

Michelle DeMars reviews The Indispensable Academic Librarian: Teaching and Collaborating for Change; Norma Durian reviews The Library Outreach Casebook; Trina Boykin Nolen reviews Licensing Digital Content: A Practical Guide for Librarians, Third Edition.     

“Men never cry”: Teaching Mormon Manhood in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We examine the ways Mormon leaders establish “what it means to be a man” for their followers. Based on content analysis of over 40 years of archival material, we analyze how Mormon leaders represent manhood as the ability to signify control over self and others as well as an inability to be controlled. Specifically, we demonstrate how these representations stress controlling the self, emotional and sexual expression, and others while emphasizing the development of self-reliance and independence from others’ control. We draw out implications for understanding (1) how religious leaders create ideal notions of manhood, (2) what the religious interpretations of secular constructions of manhood are, and (3) how these relate to the reproduction of gender inequalities.     

Do single mothers in the United States use the Earned Income Tax Credit to reduce unsecured debt?

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable credit for low-income workers mainly targeted at families with children. This study uses the Survey of Income and Program Participation’s topical modules on Assets and Liabilities to examine associations between the EITC expansions during the early 1990s and the unsecured debt of the households of single mothers. We use two difference-in-differences comparisons over the study period 1988–1999, first comparing single mothers to single childless women, and then comparing single mothers with two or more children to single mothers with exactly one child. In both cases we find that the EITC expansions are associated with a relative decline in the unsecured debt of affected households of single mothers. While not direct evidence of a causal relationship, this is suggestive evidence that single mothers may have used part of their EITC to limit the growth of their unsecured debt during this period.     

A comparison of three methods of estimating the logistic regression coefficients

A Sampling experiment performed using data collected for a large clinical trial shows that the discriminant function estimates of the logistic regression coefficients for discrete variables may be severely biased. The simulations show that the mixed variable location model coefficient estimates have bias which is of the same magnitude as the bias in the coefficient estimates obtained using conditional maximum likelihood estimates but require about one-tenth of the computer time.     

Imaging: A Tool for Data Reduction

This article illustrates the use of high-resolution color graphic images obtained from raster terminals to reduce an immense amount of data into a few meaningful time series. The steps that were taken to achieve this data reduction and their appropriate images are given. The time series were analyzed using Box and Jenkins time series methods (see also McCleary and Hay 1980), and the results are discussed.     

Predictors of Change in Self-Reported Social Networks among Homeless Young People

This research investigates changes in social network size and composition of 351 homeless adolescents over three years. Findings show that network size decreases over time. Homeless youth with a conduct disorder begin street life with small networks that remain small over time. Caregiver abuse is associated with smaller emotional networks due to fewer home ties, especially to parents, and a more rapid loss of emotional home ties over time. Homeless youth with major depression start out with small networks, but are more likely to maintain network ties. Youth with substance abuse problems are more likely to maintain instrumental home ties. Finally, homeless adolescents tend to reconnect with their parents for instrumental aid and form romantic relationship that provide emotional support.     

Off‐farm Work among Rural Households: A Case Study in the Brazilian Amazon

This article analyzes off‐farm work among subsistence‐level farmers in the Santarém region of the Brazilian Amazon. We build on the literature on rural livelihoods in the Global South by exploring how the opportunity to work off the farm is embedded in social relationships. We additionally differentiate our analysis by type of off‐farm work, and examine how other characteristics such as human capital, the available labor supply, and access to infrastructure vary by work outcome. In general, the factors that contribute to more secure, relatively higher‐paying work differ from those important in understanding patterns of lower‐paying, daily wage work. We find that on‐farm social capital, measured as the presence of a co‐resident on the property who works off the farm, increases an individual's probability of working off the farm, but has a stronger effect for lower‐wage work. We also find that the farm owner's relationship to households on the farm property plays a significant role in predicting patterns of off‐farm work. These findings suggest that social capital plays an important role in providing access to employment and therefore to cash income, but that farm‐level social capital does not necessarily provide pathways to stable or high‐paying jobs outside agriculture.     

The Read Feed – Reviews

Trina Boykin Nolen reviews The Craft of Librarian Instruction: Using Acting Techniques to Create Your Teaching Presence; Elizabeth Parang reviews Encoding Space: Shaping Learning Environments That Unlock Human Potential.     

THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY, PREGNANCY RESOLUTION, AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

We apply criminological theories of social control to explore the relationships among adolescent pregnancy, pregnancy resolution, and juvenile delinquency. While most ever-pregnant girls have especially high rates of delinquent behavior, adolescent mothers exhibit delinquency levels no higher than those of their never-pregnant peers. Unlike adolescent females who end their pregnancies through abortion, those who keep their babies experience a dramatic reduction in both smoking and marijuana use. Our results suggest that among adolescent girls, the birth of a child has a strong trajectory-modifying effect. It serves as a mechanisms of social control and substantially reduces the likelihood of delinquent behavior.