Suicide Attempts by Adolescent Latinas: An Exploratory Study of Individual and Family Correlates

Epidemiological data show high rates of suicide attempts among adolescent Latinas. Few studies have addressed the psychosocial, cultural and family correlates of suicide attempts among this age group of a rapidly growing population. The authors studied 31 adolescent Hispanic females who were receiving mental health services; 14 girls had attempted suicide in the previous five years and 17 had never attempted suicide. The two groups of girls did not differ significantly with respect to demographic profiles, levels of depression, family type, acculturation, or self-esteem. However, as hypothesized, the mutuality between girls and their mothers was lower among suicide attempters. Maladaptive coping skills of withdrawal and wishful thinking were more commonly used by attempters, and non-attempters used emotional regulation and problem-solving more frequently. Findings are discussed within the context of the empirical and theoretical literature and implications for practice are considered.     

Is Tattooing a Risk Factor for Adolescents’ Criminal Behavior? Empirical Evidence from an Administrative Data Set of Juvenile Detainees in Taiwan

Juvenile crime affects not only the victims of the crime but also the delinquents’ future. How to prevent adolescent criminal behavior has become an important public policy issue. This study contributes to this interesting issue by examining the relationship between tattooing and adolescents’ criminal behavior. In particular, this study investigates whether or not having a tattoo/tattoos is connected to the incidence of various criminal activities, including: larceny, robbery, fraud, assault, drug use, and homicide. A unique sample of 973 juvenile detainees drawn from the administrative profiles in Taiwan and the coarsened exact matching method were utilized. Results show that compared to their nontattooed counterparts, tattooed juvenile detainees were significantly more likely to commit fraud, assault, drug abuse, and homicide by 3%, 13%, 9%, and 9%, respectively. In contrast, tattooing was not significantly associated with larceny or robbery. From a policy perspective, given the significant link between tattooing and criminal behavior, the presence of a tattoo in adolescents may serve as a valuable indicator regarding adolescents’ high probability of committing crimes.     

江苏省独生子女生育意愿分析—基于江苏省群众生育意愿和生育行为调查

本文基于2006-2007年江苏省“生育意愿与生育行为研究调查”调查数据,对江苏省独生子女育龄妇女的理想子女数、理想子女性别蛄构和生育第一孩的理想年龄进行了定量描述扣二分类多元逻辑斯蒂回归分析。结果表明：随着年龄组的减小,独生子女理想生育子女数逐渐减少,其中理想子女数为一孩的比例逐渐增加而理想子女数为二弦的比例逐渐减少,理想子女数为三孩及以上的情况几乎不存在;对理想子女性别无所谓的比例逐渐增加。理想子女性别为一男一女的比例逐渐减少,理想子女性别为一个女孩的比例高于理想性别为一个男孩的比例;生育第一弦的理想年龄在逐渐增加。受教育水平和生育经历等因素对独生子女理想子女数为二胎以及对生育的子女有明确性别期待具有显著影响。独生子女的生育意愿没有因为她们是独生子女而具有单一的模式。而是多样化的、因人而异。并受到各种因素的影响。当考虑她们的意愿和行为时应当充分认识到这一点,不应当把她们作为一个简单的整体来对待。     

The academic attitudes of American teenagers, 1990–2002: Cohort and gender effects on math achievement

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, I compare the academic attitudes of high school students from Generation X and the Millennial Generation. I then analyze the effects these attitudes have on mathematics achievement test scores. Compared to the earlier group, students in the later cohort were less likely to indicate academic reasons for attending school and largely perceived their friends as being less engaged academically. Students in both cohorts whose friends held academic values experienced an increase in math scores. The more students in the earlier cohort disagreed that they came to school for academic reasons, the more their math scores decreased; this relationship did not appear for the later cohort. Females in each cohort showed stronger academic attitudes than males; additionally, believing that popularity was important was associated with lower test scores for females, but not males, in the Millennial cohort.     

湖北长阳县生育文化变迁原因解析

本文主要以湖北长阳县龙池村为个案研究对象,深刻解析生育文化发生变迁的原因：自然因素、社会运动、国家计划生育政策、经济因素、教育因素和家庭内部文化传承的内容、方式和方向的变化．从而揭示经济社会变迁和改革是促进传统生育文化逐渐走向现代生育文化的强大动力。     

Adolescents' perspectives on relationships with grandparents: The contribution of adolescent, grandparent, and parent–grandparent relationship variables

There is limited research on adolescent–grandparent relationships, especially from the adolescent perspective and on large-scale samples. The study examined the associations between the adolescent–grandparent relationship (i.e., importance of, emotional closeness to, and respect for grandparents' views) and the characteristics of the adolescent, grandparent, and parent–grandparent relationship, as well as the interactions between several of these factors. It was based on a representative sample of 1478 students aged 11–16 from England and Wales who completed a structured questionnaire. Results supported the position that grandparents are a significant factor in the lives of adolescents. Findings of hierarchical regression analyses showed that more frequent contact, greater grandparent involvement, and better parent–grandparent relationships predicted adolescents' reports on higher levels of emotional closeness to, importance of, and respect for their closest grandparent's views. The interactions consistently emphasized the role of parents as gatekeepers of intergenerational exchange.     

Experiences of adolescent mothers in Costa Rica and the role of parental support

ABSTRACT

Adolescent pregnancy is often thought of as a social problem, one that can cause the adolescent mother hardship, including poverty, low-educational attainment, and housing instability. Although much research has been conducted about adolescent pregnancy in the developed world, less has considered adolescent pregnancy in the developing world. This qualitative study focuses on women who were impoverished in Costa Rica who had been pregnant in adolescence. The goal of the study was to gain a better understanding of the lived experiences of the mothers, as well as the kinds of support they received during and after the pregnancy. The research sample consisted of 22 female participants who were impoverished and had experienced an unintended pregnancy in adolescence. The key finding from this study was that parental support was the most important factor in mitigating adolescent experiences of stress and negative feelings about their choices related to the pregnancy. The study has implications for the understanding of the experiences of women who are vulnerable with respect to adolescent pregnancies in Latin America and for Latina migrants to the United States.     

Impact of support networks for breastfeeding: A multicentre study

Background

The rates of breastfeeding worldwide are slowly improving since 1996. Europe is still trailing behind the global breastfeeding incidence and prevalence rates. Thus, breastfeeding promotion, protection, prolongation and support have become an important challenge as breastfeeding sharply decreases in the first six months of life.

Ethnic ingroup friendships in schools: Testing the by-product hypothesis in England,Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden

This study set out to examine to what extent ethnic ingroup friendship in secondary school classes are a by-product of cultural and socioeconomic ingroup friendship. Based on homophily theory, we expected similar opinions, leisure activities, religion, risk behaviour and socioeconomic factors to (partly) explain ethnic ingroup preferences. Multilevel p₂ models on 13,272 pupils in 625 secondary school classes in England, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden showed that adolescents tend to have friends similar in ethnicity, cultural and socioeconomic characteristics. We find no evidence, however, that ethnic homophily is explained by cultural and socioeconomic homophily.     

青少年自杀现象与社会工作介入策略

青少年自杀现象已成为备受关注的社会问题。自杀意念率较高、明显的性别与地域差异、低龄化趋向、易受感染性、冲动性、原因的阶段性是其特点。导致青少年自杀有认知偏差、青春期内在冲突、不良个性特征与心理疾病等个体原因,有家庭结构残缺、关系不融洽及教养方式不当等家庭因素,有学业压力、教师素质、同伴影响的学校因素,同时与社会文化、现代传媒不良影响有关。社会工作介入的策略包括：倡导生命教育及形成预防机制以预防,采用区分对待、安抚陪伴、初次评估及支持系统的建构以干预。