Showing papers in "American Behavioral Scientist in 2008"
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TL;DR: How racism has been conceptualized, measured, and operationalized as a determinant of health in this body of research is reviewed, as well as the main findings, limitations, and future directions in this burgeoning field of study.
Abstract: In the early 1990s, the explicit examination of racism as a determinant of health has emerged as a novel area of research within the much broader and well-established literature on racial/ethnic disparities in health. This article reviews how racism has been conceptualized, measured, and operationalized as a determinant of health in this body of research, as well as the main findings, limitations, and future directions in this burgeoning field of study.
268 citations
TL;DR: Internet sex addiction typically involves viewing, downloading, and trading online pornography or engagement in adult fantasy role-play rooms as mentioned in this paper, and pornography is viewed as a gateway to pornography addiction.
Abstract: Internet sex addiction typically involves viewing, downloading, and trading online pornography or engagement in adult fantasy role-play rooms. Adult Web sites comprise the largest segment of electr...
204 citations
TL;DR: This article summarized findings on the effects of homelessness on children's mental health, health, developmental status, and academic achievement, concluding that poverty is associated with higher rates of problems among both homeless and low-income housed groups of children.
Abstract: Focusing on the central aim of many published studies involving homeless children in the United States, this article summarizes findings on the effects of homelessness on children's mental health, health, developmental status, and academic achievement. Researchers have repeatedly documented that poverty is associated with higher rates of problems among both homeless and low-income housed groups of children in comparison to children in the broader population. Although the majority of studies have found homeless children to evidence greater problems than low-income housed children, results are inconsistent. Factors that may account for these discrepant findings are discussed, and recommendations for additional research are offered.
202 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the ways in which high achieving African American male undergraduates gain, negotiate, and benefit from access to powerful social networks on predominantly white campuses, and found a clear nexus between campus leadership, active out-of-class engagement, and the acquisition of social capital.
Abstract: Equitable access to social mobility and advancement through education were among the intended outcomes of the Brown v. Board of Education case and related legislation. Despite this, scholars have illuminated the ways in which colleges, universities, and schools continually disadvantage African American male students. Although the evidence overwhelmingly confirms that many of the goals and promises of Brown remain unfulfilled, a different perspective is offered in this article. Specifically, ways in which high-achieving African American male undergraduates gain, negotiate, and benefit from access to powerful social networks on predominantly White campuses are presented herein. Findings from interviews with 32 high achievers at six large public research universities show a clear nexus between campus leadership, active out-of-class engagement, and the acquisition of social capital. The ways in which the participants leveraged their access to social networks and activated their social capital for goal actuali...
167 citations
TL;DR: In 2006, immigrants and their supporters participated in a series of marches in cities throughout the United States, and the enormous size and scale of the demonstrations were surprising to some observers, who saw the marches as a spontaneous outburst of frustration as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In 2006 immigrants and their supporters participated in a series of marches in cities throughout the United States. The enormous size and scale of the demonstrations were surprising to some observers, who saw the marches as a spontaneous outburst of frustration. This article argues the unprecedented turnout at the demonstrations should be seen not as a spontaneous outburst but in large part the result of long-standing cooperative efforts and networks of immigrant-serving nonprofit organizations. Immigrant-serving organizations were at the forefront of organizing public education campaigns, advocacy activities, and community mobilization efforts leading up to the demonstrations. Using Chicago and New York City as case studies, the article analyzes data from a survey of 498 nonprofit organizations conducted in 2005, just prior to the demonstrations. The authors show how a history of collaborations, organizational network ties, and the existing relations between organizations in key coalitions became the fou...
162 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors call for a macro-analytic theory of the effect of such migration and consider two alternate views: the care of children in the South involves a transfer of social capital from South to North, and the other involves a more fundamental erosion of the commons of the South by the markets of the North.
Abstract: More and more of the world's migrants are mothers who leave their families in the villages of the South to take up jobs caring for families in the North. Most current research on this trend focuses on the conditions of work that such migrant mothers face in the North or on the children she leaves in the South, understood as a rearrangement of roles in the family. Here, the authors call for a macro-analytic theory of the effect of such migration and consider two alternate views. According to one, the care of children in the South involves a transfer of “social capital” from South to North. According to the other, it involves a more fundamental erosion of the “commons” of the South by the markets of the North. The latter, the authors propose, best captures the full nature of this important hidden injury of global capitalism.
143 citations
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TL;DR: The authors argue that for immigrant families processes of political learning and mobilization also occur in the reverse: younger family members can use English language skills and differential access to political information to inform and mobilize parents, and show how intergenerational communication and interaction can increase a whole family's political engagement by pooling different information sources and networks: from schools and new technologies among teens, and from workplaces, churches, and ethnic media among parents.
Abstract: Up to a million children and teenagers participated in the 2006 immigrant rights marches. Why do young people engage in protest politics, and how are they mobilized into such activities? A longstanding literature on political socialization suggests that young people learn from their parents, acquiring political attitudes and interests from older generations. This article argues that for immigrant families processes of political learning and mobilization also occur in the reverse: Younger family members can use English language skills and differential access to political information to inform and mobilize parents. The authors make the case for a model of bidirectional political socialization and show how intergenerational communication and interaction can increase a whole family's political engagement by pooling different information sources and networks: from schools and new technologies among teens, and from workplaces, churches, and ethnic media among parents. We build our argument on 79 in-depth interv...
134 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe how prospective entrants to the academy make their way up the steep educational pyramid by way of their experiences in the real world and their experiences at the top of the pyramid.
Abstract: Colleges and universities could be seen as being at the apex of a steep educational pyramid Prospective entrants to the academy make their way up the pyramid by way of their experiences in element
115 citations
TL;DR: Beyond Brown: New Approaches to Addressing Inequities in education for African American Males as mentioned in this paper addresses not only a major void in the research literature, but serves as a catalyst for better understanding the educational plight and its social implications for black males throughout the United States.
Abstract: This special theme issue, Beyond Brown: New Approaches to Addressing Inequities in Education for African American Males, addresses not only a major void in the research literature, but serves as a catalyst for better understanding the educational plight and its social implications for African American males throughout the United States. The editors of this special issue assembled some of America's best and brightest social scientists and researchers to examine the contemporary experiences of African American males in education, as well as to offer new approaches to addressing these educational and societal issues. To this end, the contributors were asked to use the monumental court decision as a point of departure and move beyond Brown to examine the constellation of variables that may explain the general condition for African American males in education.
105 citations
TL;DR: In 2006, up to a million children and teenagers participated in the 2006 immigrant rights marches, and why young people engage in protest politics, and how are they mobilized into such activities as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Up to a million children and teenagers participated in the 2006 immigrant rights marches. Why do young people engage in protest politics, and how are they mobilized into such activities? A longstan...
102 citations
TL;DR: The authors discusses the media as a system of racialization and proposes to challenge this system as a method of social justice and social change, arguing that these popular representations of African American women and men are mostly unchallenged by larger society and the African American community.
Abstract: Historically, the media perpetuate ideas about race and ethnicity that place African American women at a clear disadvantage. Beginning with the welfare queen image during the Reagan administration and moving to the porno chick represented in current videos, society views a daily discourse on race, gender, and class that continues to reproduce dominant and distorted views of African American womanhood and sexuality. The overabundance of this portrayal in popular culture raises serious implications associated with linking sexual promiscuity to the nature and identity of African American women. These popular representations of African American women and men are mostly unchallenged by larger society and the African American community. This article discusses the media as a system of racialization and proposes to challenge this system as a method of social justice and social change.
TL;DR: Using critical race theory as the theoretical framework, the authors focused on these students' perceptions of school counselors and their attitudes toward school counseling services, and the findings of individual interviews and biographical questionnaires conducted with 10 African American males in special education.
Abstract: Drawing on a larger study, this article is based on the findings of individual interviews and biographical questionnaires conducted with 10 African American males in special education. These students attended two low-performing, urban high schools located in the midwestern part of the United States. Using critical race theory as the theoretical framework, this article focuses on these students' perceptions of school counselors and their attitudes toward school counseling services. Implications, based on the findings, are given to school counselors.
TL;DR: The phenomenon and practice of blogging offers a rich environment from which to look at the psychology of the Internet as discussed by the authors, which can serve as a lens to observe the way in which people currently use digital technologies and, in return, transform some of the traditional cultural norms.
Abstract: The phenomenon and practice of blogging offers a rich environment from which to look at the psychology of the Internet. By using blogging as a lens, researchers can see that many predictions and findings of early Internet research on social and psychological features of computer-mediated communication have held true, whereas others are not as true, and that the psychology of the Internet is very much a sense of the one and the many, the individual and the collective, the personal and the political. Blogs illustrate the fusion of key elements of human desire—to express one's identity, create community, structure one's past and present experiences—with the main technological features of 21st century digital communication. Blogs can serve as a lens to observe the way in which people currently use digital technologies and, in return, transform some of the traditional cultural norms—such as those between the public and the private.
TL;DR: This paper explored the ways in which young people across Canada attempt to exit street life and found that there are several interrelated dimensions to the exiting process including contemplation, motivation to change, securing help, transitioning from the street, changing daily routine, and redefining one's sense of self.
Abstract: This article explores the ways in which young people across Canada attempt to exit street life. Through semistructured interviews with 128 young people and 50 service providers in six Canadian cities, the goal of the research was to identify the strategies and challenges of street exiting to inform service providers and policy makers as to the complexities and struggles involved in young people's experiences with street disengagement. Findings suggest that there are several interrelated dimensions to the exiting process including contemplation, motivation to change, securing help, transitioning from the street, changing daily routine, and redefining one's sense of self.
TL;DR: In this paper, the psychological importance of the mass media for modern terrorism, the media tactics of terrorists, and the challenges they present to media organizations and governments are discussed. But the authors focus on the use of the Internet by modern terrorists and the rhetoric of terrorist Web sites based on 8-year-long monitoring of terrorist presence on the Internet and the analysis of more than 5,000 terrorist web sites.
Abstract: The growing use and manipulation of modern communications by terrorist organizations have led communication and terrorism scholars to reconceptualize modern terrorism within the framework of symbolic communication theory. Some applied the theater-of-terror metaphor to examine modern terrorism as an attempt to communicate messages through the use of orchestrated violence. This article examines the psychological importance of the mass media for modern terrorism, the media tactics of terrorists, and the challenges they present to media organizations and governments. Special attention is given to the use of the Internet by modern terrorists and the rhetoric of terrorist Web sites based on 8-year-long monitoring of terrorist presence on the Internet and the analysis of more than 5,000 terrorist Web sites. Finally, the article concludes with various responses of modern democratic societies to the challenge poised by media-oriented and media-savvy terrorists.
TL;DR: It is proposed that supportive housing provides a valuable but hitherto underused opportunity to support children's psychosocial functioning.
Abstract: Shelter-based studies have documented risks to homeless children's development, but scant information is available about children residing in family supportive housing, a key strategy for preventing long-term homelessness. This study assessed the psychosocial and health status of 454 formerly homeless children living with their families in 17 supportive housing communities. Findings indicated that children had good access to physical health care. However, children faced significant psychosocial risks and manifested behavioral, emotional, and school challenges. Housing agencies lacked infrastructure or expertise in children's mental health. The authors propose that supportive housing provides a valuable but hitherto underused opportunity to support children's psychosocial functioning.
TL;DR: The authors reviewed discussions and case studies of indigenous peoples, especially American Indians (Lakota, Navajo, and Wampanoag), the Zapatista movement, Latin American examples (Mapuche, Guarani, and Miskito), the Adevasi in India, and the Maori, adding short sketches of Kurds in the Middle East, Pashtun in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and cases from Africa and southeast Asia to develop a general indigenous model, including social systems of decision making, economic distribution, land tenure system, and community relations.
Abstract: This article reviews discussions and case studies of indigenous peoples, especially American Indians (Lakota, Navajo, and Wampanoag), the Zapatista movement, Latin American examples (Mapuche, Guarani, and Miskito), the Adevasi in India, and the Maori, adding short sketches of Kurds in the Middle East, Pashtun in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and cases from Africa and southeast Asia to develop a general indigenous model, including social systems of decision making, economic distribution, land tenure system, and community relations. The authors present two such models, one on indigenous revitalization and another on the resistance to state domination and the forces of globalization, especially in respect to neoliberalism, and then the authors make an applied analysis toward indigenous peoples' struggles globally.
TL;DR: Common behavioral health issues facing homeless youth are reviewed and collective wisdom on effective treatments and services for this vulnerable population of young adults is assessed.
Abstract: Young adults (ages 18-24) are especially vulnerable to homelessness in the United States, and those experiencing homelessness exhibit high prevalence for many kinds of abuse and negative health outcomes. This article reviews common behavioral health issues facing homeless youth and assesses collective wisdom on effective treatments and services for this vulnerable population. On the whole, the research remains focused on individual-level risk and protective factors and service use patterns and preferences, which detracts from the structural issues that have shaped these individuals' experiences in the first place and are key to resolving them.
TL;DR: In this paper, the impacts generated by the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the social development, health, and culture of the Pehuenche Indians in Alto Bio Bio, Chile are investigated.
Abstract: Can the private or public sector provide the conditions necessary to mitigate the impoverishment associated with relocation caused by induced development in indigenous communities? This article studies the impacts generated by the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the social development, health, and culture of the Pehuenche Indians in Alto Bio Bio, Chile. Dam construction resulted in the resettlement of 77 indigenous families from their ancestral lands to two new communities. The mitigation program has provided the affected families better material conditions, with a new house, potable water, and a sewage system. Unfortunately, the process does not contemplate the immaterial aspects, creating a situation of greater vulnerability and social exclusion. Among the impacts observed are the community's lack of self-determination, community atomization, irregular practice of traditional ceremonies, alcoholism, and a feeling of incapacity with respect to change.
TL;DR: Comparing formerly homeless children 55 months after shelter entry with housed peers, birth to 17, using mother- and child-reported health, mental health, community involvement, cognitive performance, and educational records found that child care and recent stressful events were as or more important than prior homelessness.
Abstract: To analyze long-term consequences of homelessness, the authors compared 388 formerly homeless children 55 months after shelter entry with 382 housed peers, birth to 17, using mother- and child-reported health, mental health, community involvement, cognitive performance, and educational records. Both groups scored below cognitive and achievement norms. Small group differences favored housed 4- to 6-year-olds on cognition and 4- to 10-year-olds on mental health only. Child care and recent stressful events, which were high, were as or more important than prior homelessness. Only children living with mothers were included, potentially biasing results. Policy implications are discussed.
TL;DR: The key variable is the incipient formation of global labor markets at the top and bottom of the economic system as discussed by the authors, where the transnational market for high-level managerial and professional talent across economic sectors, from finance to engineering, is increasingly shaped by public and private regulations.
Abstract: The key variable is the incipient formation of global labor markets at the top and bottom of the economic system. At the top there is the transnational market for high-level managerial and professional talent across economic sectors, from finance to engineering; this market is increasingly shaped by public and private regulations. At the bottom one finds an amalgamation of mostly informal flows, with the “global care chains” among the most visible ones. There are sites of complex intersection between these two markets. The two sites singled out for examining the formation of these labor circuits are the global city and a set of Global South countries subject to the international debt-financing regime that puts governments, firms, and households under enormous constraints to survive. Emigration and people trafficking now generate money flows that help governments, firms, and households survive. The focus is especially on lower labor circuits and their feminizing.
TL;DR: Findings show that perceived effects of avian flu news on the self resulted in taking action—seeking information aboutAvian flu and seeking out Tamiflu, however, findings further show that the third-person perception acted like a brake on taking such action.
Abstract: This study expands third-person effect research to health news coverage. It examines the perceptual and behavioral components of third-person effects. Moderator variables of third-person effects--knowledge and exposure to health news--are also examined. Using data from a survey of public opinion about the coverage of avian flu involving a probability sample of 1,107 college students in Taiwan, findings show that respondents tend to think the influence of avian flu news on others is greater than on themselves. Furthermore, exposure to avian flu news was found to narrow the self--other perceptual gap. Regarding the linkages between the third-person perception of avian news and behavioral responses to the perception, findings show that perceived effects of avian flu news on the self resulted in taking action--seeking information about avian flu and seeking out Tamiflu. However, findings further show that the third-person perception acted like a brake on taking such action.
TL;DR: This article examined data from the Worcester Family Research Project to determine whether homeless children (53 preschoolers and 69 school-age children) can be classified into subgroups based on measures of behavior problems, adaptive functioning, and achievement.
Abstract: Using a person-centered analytical approach, this article examines data from the Worcester Family Research Project to determine whether homeless children (53 preschoolers and 69 school-age children) can be classified into subgroups based on measures of behavior problems, adaptive functioning, and achievement. Cluster analyses revealed two clusters: higher functioning children (doing well across all three domains, n = 57) and lower functioning children (doing poorly across all three domains, n = 65). These results highlight that homeless children are not a homogeneous group, that a subgroup of children are doing well despite the stresses they face, and that services and policies perhaps ought to be more specifically targeted.
TL;DR: The authors argue that today's global capitalist system is maintained and structured within a global system of white supremacy, drawing on both historical and contemporary examples, and argue that groups of worke...
Abstract: Drawing on both historical and contemporary examples, the authors argue that today's global capitalist system is maintained and structured within a global system of White supremacy. Groups of worke...
TL;DR: The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Brown v. Board of Education case was used as a point of reference to elaborate on the often divergent realities in education and sport for Black and White Americans as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Brown v. Board of Education case was used as a point of reference to elaborate on the often divergent realities in education and sport for Black and White Americans. The impetus to integrate sport and the movement to integrate educational institutions in America were two separate yet often paralleled phenomena. It is typically argued that efforts to integrate educational institutions were about ensuring equitable access and opportunity. Less so, due to moral principles, integration in sports was more about winning and generating revenue. Still today, race-related divergences are reflected in education and sport. The intent of this article is to reflect on America's education and sport histories (then) and highlight some present-day realities (now) as associated with the social construct of race, particularly for Black male students and athletes.
TL;DR: The effects of media violence are both real and strong and are confirmed by the careful reviews of research evidence by various scientific and professional organizations that are concerned with children's mental health and development.
Abstract: Fifty years of research on the effect of TV violence on children leads to the inescapable conclusion that viewing media violence is related to increases in aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviors. The changes in aggression are both short term and long term, and these changes may be mediated by neurological changes in the young viewer. The effects of media violence are both real and strong and are confirmed by the careful reviews of research evidence by various scientific and professional organizations that are concerned with children's mental health and development.
TL;DR: The authors found that levels of likelihood to vote can be predicted by the third-person effect, where individuals feel that others who are less knowledgeable or politically sophisticated than they are might be more likely to be persuaded by political advertising, they in turn would attempt to compensate for other's perceived ignorance by taking political action such as voting.
Abstract: This study found that levels of likelihood to vote can be predicted by the third-person effect. Unlike past studies that treated support for censorship as the main consequence of the third-person effect, this study is the first to examine the direct political implications of the process. A judgment task experiment of 340 individuals who were shown four ads from the 2004 Bush and Kerry campaigns yielded support for both the perceptual and behavioral hypotheses. The authors present paternalism as a theoretical rational for this occurrence. If individuals feel that others who are less knowledgeable or politically sophisticated than they are might be more likely to be persuaded by political advertising, they in turn would attempt to compensate for other's perceived ignorance by taking political action such as voting.
TL;DR: Two sets of rival hypotheses investigated in light of new communication technologies are reviewed: proposals regarding social isolation effects versus connection effects, and ideas about whether new technologies lead to group integration or group polarization.
Abstract: The recent emergence of new media, or better, new communication technologies, has afforded substantial commentary regarding societal effects, the latest chapter in a decades-old trend that rises and falls with each new communication technology. Whereas this article does not deny that the current generation of communication technologies differs from predecessors, it argues against the need for wholesale changes in theory to understand the effects of these technologies. New communication technologies do not fundamentally alter the theoretical bounds of human interaction; such interaction continues to be governed by basic human tendencies. What is perhaps most interesting about these new technologies is their ability to provide new or previously rare contexts for information expression and engagement. This article reviews two sets of rival hypotheses investigated in light of new communication technologies: proposals regarding social isolation effects versus connection effects, and ideas about whether new tec...
TL;DR: The authors examines the experience of the indigenous Palestinian Bedouin community in southern Israel, whose traditional lifestyle of land-based seminomadic pastoralism is being replaced by landless, labor force, government-planned urbanization.
Abstract: Indigenous peoples share a history of exclusion from the dominant society decision-making processes that directly affect them, including their displacement and relocation, development initiatives, and the process of urbanization. This article begins with a review of indigenous experiences of and responses to urbanization in a number of nation-states throughout the world. It then examines the experience of the indigenous Palestinian Bedouin community in southern Israel, whose traditional lifestyle of land-based seminomadic pastoralism is being replaced by landless, labor force, government-planned urbanization. Issues of key importance to that process are explored, including the historical political context and state-indigenous relations, the conflict over land, and the settler-colonial vision inherent in the conceptualization and implementation of the urban models. Finally, Bedouin responses and resistance to the government's urbanization program are discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine youth's motivations for creating street families, their organization and maintenance, and the role gender plays in adopting familial identities. And they highlight the unique nature of street families and implications for research, policy, and practice, including the need for involving peers in intervention efforts.
Abstract: Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 homeless youth, this study depicts a unique aspect of homeless youth street culture—the formation of “street families.” This article examines youth's motivations for creating street families, their organization and maintenance, and the role gender plays in adopting familial identities. Although many homeless adolescents come from dysfunctional families, street family members often recreate traditional family roles. Membership often mitigates the demands of street life, yet intragroup violence/victimization is common. The findings highlight the unique nature of street families and implications for research, policy, and practice, including the need for involving peers in intervention efforts.