Couples’ Communication About Financial Uncertainty Following the Great Recession and its Association with Stress,Mental Health and Divorce Proneness

Economic uncertainty is typically stressful and conflict-inducing for couples. The findings from the current study, however, suggest that economic uncertainty can also strengthen marriages. The sample included 82 Latino and Caucasian married couples. The couples engaged in a stressful conversation about their economic uncertainty in the wake of the Great Recession. Many of the couples were resilient and even grew from their experiences with the recession. The couples’ resilience and risk when talking about financial uncertainty and stress were revealed in four communicative pathways: unifying, thriving, pragmatic and at-risk. These communicative patterns predicted self-reported and physiological stress, mental health indices and divorce proneness. In general, unified/thriving couples had higher levels of psychological well-being and less self-reported stress, anxiety, and divorce proneness compared to pragmatic and at-risk couples.     

Explaining ethnic polarization over attitudes towards minority rights in Eastern Europe: A multilevel analysis

This paper examines divisions between majority and minority ethnic groups over attitudes towards minority rights in 13 East European societies. Using national sample surveys and multilevel models, we test the effectiveness of competing explanations of ethnic polarization in attitudes towards minority rights, as well as regional and cross-national differences in levels of polarization. We find that, at the individual level, indicators of ‘social distance’ (inter-marriage and social interaction) account most effectively for the extent of ethnic polarization. However, regional and cross-national variations in polarization between majority and minority groups are explained most effectively by cultural (linguistic and religious) differences. These findings accord with research in the West, indicating the importance of cultural differences as a source of ethnic polarization, while offering little support for theories focusing on economic and structural factors or the size of minority groups. They also suggest the likely sources of difficulties for democratic consolidation in ethnically divided post-communist societies.     

Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Queer People's Perceptions of the Criminal Justice System: Implications for Social Services

Previous literature has found historically marginalized groups report more negative perceptions of the criminal justice system and lower levels of procedural justice, which then influences their mental health and their willingness to report crimes. While previous research on procedural justice has focused mostly on racial and ethnic minority groups, it is hypothesized that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals would also report negative experiences of the criminal justice system. The current study utilized focus groups with 16 participants who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ), with ages ranging from 26 to 35 years (M = 30.5 years, SD = 3.5). Participants were asked open-ended questions about how they felt about various aspects of the criminal justice system (e.g., police officers, courts, legal processes, etc.). Through the consensual qualitative research (CQR) process, researchers identified five domains that influenced participants’ experiences of the criminal justice system: (a) gender presentation, (b) influences of intersectional identities, (c) systemic and political issues, (d) experiences of discrimination, and (e) help-seeking behaviors and the criminal justice system. Implications for social services are discussed.     

Socio-political,cultural and economic preferences and behaviour of the social and cultural specialists and the technocrats. Social class or education?

Do the social and cultural specialists differ from the technocrats and other social classes with respect to their socio-political, cultural and economic preferences and behaviour? If they do, is this attributable to their level and field of education? The social and cultural specialists are assumed to form ?new’ social class and the technocrats ?old’ social class. A typical social class should differentiate itself with respect to moral attitudes, socio-political behaviour and lifestyle forms. To reveal whether these assumed classes are indeed typical classes, we have studied a variety of socio-political, cultural and economic preferences and behaviour of members of these social classes using the Family Survey of the Dutch Population (FSDP) 1992, 1998, 2000 and 2003. To unravel the net differences between the social and cultural specialists and the technocrats, we controlled for the field of study, the level of education and background factors. Taking these control factors into consideration, the social and cultural specialists differentiate themselves substantially from the technocrats in their socio-political and especially economic preferences and behaviour. With respect to their cultural preferences and behaviour, they do not differ significantly from the technocrats.     

Maternal influences on effortful control in adolescence: Developmental pathways to externalizing behaviors

Adolescents' effortful control is subject to numerous maternal influences. Specifically, a mother's own effortful control is associated with her child's effortful control. However, maternal substance use, psychopathology, and stress within the parenting role may also lead to poor effortful control for their child. Poor effortful control during adolescence can subsequently contribute to a variety of negative outcomes, including externalizing behaviors. A sample of 460 adolescents (47% female, 59.3% Non‐Hispanic Caucasian) was selected from a longitudinal, multigenerational study. The goal was to examine maternal effortful control, substance use, psychopathology, and stress in their offspring's childhood (M_age = 6.27) and their influence on their children's effortful control in early adolescence (M_age = 12.21) and the subsequent effect of effortful control on adolescents’ externalizing behavior (M_age = 13.53). Maternal effortful control (measured via conscientiousness) and psychopathology were associated with adolescent effortful control, which was associated with externalizing behavior a year later. Additionally, there was a significant indirect association between maternal effortful control and adolescent externalizing behaviors via adolescent effortful control. Thus, adolescent effortful control is associated with maternal effortful control but also subject to specific maternal risk factors in childhood. These results inform potential maternal strategies for promoting positive developmental outcomes in adolescents.     

The Family Team at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program: an integrated approach to care in outreach settings

Since 1986, the Family Team at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program has implemented an integrated, inter-professional, team-based model of care to serve families experiencing homelessness. The Family Team employs key strategies delineated by the well-established Health Care for the Homeless model, which emphasizes the importance of outreach medicine and a case management “one-stop shop approach”. We include an account of a specific case where the Family Team’s unique model helped a refugee family in Massachusetts access medical and social services otherwise more difficult to obtain. The Family Team’s onsite presence in the hotel-shelter and the team-based approach facilitated diagnosis of and successful treatment for cervical cancer in a mother of eight children. This case report suggests that the Health Care for the Homeless model of care should be more widely adopted in order to best serve homeless families.

Abbreviations: Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP); Emergency Assistance (EA); Health Care for the Homeless (HCH); Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)     

Joint physical custody and neighborhood friendships in middle childhood

Almost half of first marriages end in divorce, which in turn may produce joint physical custody arrangements. Seen by many states to be in the best interest of the child, joint physical custody is increasingly common. Yet much is unknown about its consequences for children. This article considers how joint physical custody arrangements affect children’s neighborhood friendships, an important component of child well-being because of their contributions to social and cognitive development. Thirteen parents and 17 children (aged 5–11) in 10 families, selected via convenience and snowball sampling, participated in semistructured interviews. The findings suggest that joint physical custody arrangements do not imperil children’s neighborhood friendships; indeed, most children and parents interviewed voiced contentment in this area.     

Embodying the breach: (In)securitization and ethnographic engagement in the US

In this commentary, the author offers three related perspectives regarding (in)securitization: first, an overview of ongoing discussions taking place among US‐based ethnographers of colour about the effects of surveillance on ethnography; second, an example of the impact that (in)securitization may have on the researcher/researched relationship in contemporary ethnographic research; and third, an extension of Garfinkel’s notion of the “breach” within the current sociopolitical context. Throughout this essay, the author calls for a greater sense of connection to and solidarity with those “vulnerable subjects” that we engage with ethnographically.