Showing papers on "Disadvantaged published in 2015"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a comprehensive, descriptive analysis of the inequitable distribution of both input and output measures of teacher quality across various indicators of student disadvantage across all school districts in Washington State.
Abstract: Policymakers aiming to close the well-documented achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students have increasingly turned their attention to issues of teacher quality. A number of studies have demonstrated that teachers are inequitably distributed across student subgroups by input measures, like experience and qualifications, as well as output measures, like value-added estimates of teacher performance, but these tend to focus on either individual measures of teacher quality or particular school districts. In this study, we present a comprehensive, descriptive analysis of the inequitable distribution of both input and output measures of teacher quality across various indicators of student disadvantage across all school districts in Washington State. We demonstrate that in elementary school, middle school, and high school classrooms, virtually every measure of teacher quality we examine—experience, licensure exam scores, and value added—is inequitably distributed across every indicator of stu...
266 citations
18 Apr 2015
TL;DR: The results of a participatory-design based workshop are described to investigate the perception and feasibility of finding temporary employment and sharing spare resources using sharing-economy applications among the unemployed or those struggling financially.
Abstract: The digital-sharing economy presents opportunities for individuals to find temporary employment, generate extra income, increase reciprocity, enhance social interaction, and access resources not otherwise attainable. Although the sharing economy is profitable, little is known about its use among the unemployed or those struggling financially. This paper describes the results of a participatory-design based workshop to investigate the perception and feasibility of finding temporary employment and sharing spare resources using sharing-economy applications. Specifically, this study included 20 individuals seeking employment in a U.S. city suffering economic decline. We identify success factors of the digital-sharing economy to these populations, identify shortcomings and propose mitigation strategies based on prior research related to trust, social capital and theories of collective efficacy. Finally, we contribute new principles that may foster collaborative consumption within this population and identify new concepts for practical employment applications among these populations.
254 citations
Book•
22 Jun 2015TL;DR: In addition, women in particular are disadvantaged by the boundary-crossing (for instance, between home and work, paid work and unpaid work), new pressures around identity-making and self-presentation, as well as continuing difficulties related to sexism and the need to manage parenting responsibilities alongside earning as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Inequalities within the cultural and creative industries (CCI) have been insufficiently explored. International research across a range of industries reveals gendered patterns of disadvantage and exclusion which are, unsurprisingly, further complicated by divisions of class, and also disability and race and ethnicity. These persistent inequalities are amplified by the precariousness, informality and requirements for flexibility which are widely noted features of contemporary creative employment. In addition, women in particular are disadvantaged by the boundary-crossing (for instance, between home and work, paid work and unpaid work) and new pressures around identity-making and self-presentation, as well as continuing difficulties related to sexism and the need to manage parenting responsibilities alongside earning. This article introduces a new collection which explores these issues, marking the significance of gender for an understanding of creative labour in the neoliberal economy.
186 citations
TL;DR: This paper analyzed career survival models and interaction effects between gender and different measures of social capital and information openness and found that female actors have a higher risk of career failure than do their male colleagues when affiliated in cohesive networks, but women have better survival chances when embedded in open, diverse structures.
Abstract: That social capital matters is an established fact in the social sciences. Less clear, however, is how different forms of social capital affect gender disadvantages in career advancement. Focusing on a project-based type of labor market, namely the U.S. film industry, this study argues that women suffer a “closure penalty” and face severe career disadvantages when collaborating in cohesive teams. At the same time, gender disadvantages are reduced for women who build social capital in open networks with higher degrees of diversity and information flow. Using large-scale longitudinal data on career profiles of about one million performances by 97,657 film actors in 369,099 film productions between the years 1929 and 2010, I analyze career survival models and interaction effects between gender and different measures of social capital and information openness. Findings reveal that female actors have a higher risk of career failure than do their male colleagues when affiliated in cohesive networks, but women have better survival chances when embedded in open, diverse structures. This study contributes to the understanding of how and what type of social capital can be either a beneficial resource for otherwise disadvantaged groups or a constraining mechanism that intensifies gender differences in career advancement.
160 citations
26 Oct 2015
TL;DR: Education opportunity in Australia 2015: Who succeeds and who misses out is one of the most comprehensive data studies undertaken into Australia’s education and training system and uses an index of educational opportunity to measure how many students are on track and missing out at important developmental milestones.
Abstract: Executive summary An enduring view of Australia is of a fair and egalitarian place in which opportunities exist for all to get ahead and succeed in building secure futures. Education is viewed as one of the main vehicles through which this happens. But to what extent is this true of modern Australia? To what extent are the benefits of success available to all? Educational opportunity in Australia 2015: Who succeeds and who misses out is one of the most comprehensive data studies undertaken into Australia’s education and training system. Prepared by the Centre for International Research on Education Systems (CIRES) for the Mitchell Institute, this study draws together information on the opportunities being provided to young Australians as they negotiate the various stages of education and training and attempt to establish themselves in the workforce during their transition to adulthood. The findings are presented as an index of educational opportunity which measures how many students are on track and missing out at important developmental milestones, as well as who catches up and slips behind. Four milestones are used, constructed as an index of opportunity. For the early years the milestone is the proportion of children who are developmentally ready at the point of entry to school, as measured across five domains: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills. For the middle years it is the proportion of Year 7 students who meet or exceed international proficiency standards in academic skills. For the senior school years it is the proportion of young people who have completed school and attained a Year 12 certificate or equivalent. For early adulthood it is the percentage of 24-year-olds who are fully engaged in education, training or work. At each milestone most young people are succeeding but some are missing out – insufficiently prepared to take on the challenges of the following stages of their lives. For those missing out at any one milestone, some make up ground and move back on track, while others succeeding at some points fall behind at others, for various reasons. The results show the proportions succeeding and missing out at each stage (our best estimates, based on available data). They show about six in 10 or more of all children starting school get through early and middle childhood with the kinds of academic and social skills needed for later success. The same proportions complete school and are fully engaged in education or work by their mid-20s. For this large group of young Australians, school works well and they succeed across all stages. They make the most of the opportunities our education and training system provides. Some children begin school not developmentally ready and remain behind across all stages. Our estimate is that this affects up to 10 per cent of the population. Between entry to school and Year 7 one in 10 remain behind. Roughly this number are behind at the beginning of secondary school and do not complete Year 12 or equivalent, and the same proportion remains marginalised at age 24, not able to secure full-time work or be in study or training. This proportion misses out across all stages and is not gaining the preparation needed to take up later opportunities in life. Helping young people who are falling behind to catch up and take advantage of opportunities over later stages is no easy task, because they are disproportionately likely to be from disadvantaged backgrounds. Success at each stage varies by indigenous status, language background, region and gender, and markedly by the socio-economic status (SES) of students. But what we learn from the patterns is that young people who are missing out can recover and gain ground. Being behind at any point need not be a life sentence, even for the disadvantaged, though even here the chances of recovery and of gaining ground are still in favour of students from more advantaged backgrounds. The most advantaged learners are not only less likely to fall below expected standards in the first place but more likely to catch up again if they do. Learning about what predicts success and failure requires information about experiences during each of the main stages of education and training. To do this, we use a number of indicators that reflect the experiences of young Australians leading up to each milestone. They include information on student engagement, academic achievement, attendance, participation, and progress. This important information on the quality of educational experiences helps build an understanding of the factors associated with success and failure.
158 citations
TL;DR: It is found that people with disabilities were worse off than people without disabilities in regard to informal and formal networks, social support and self-rated health status, and that inequalities were greatest for people with intellectual and psychological impairments.
147 citations
TL;DR: The concept and causal mechanisms of bureaucratic representation in the context of schools remain largely unfamiliar to education researchers as discussed by the authors, although scholars in those fields long ago recognized that the public school system is a large bureaucracy with diverse street-level bureaucrats (teachers) and clients (students and parents).
Abstract: Bureaucratic representation—the idea that a governmental organization is better situated to serve its clients when its employee composition reflects that of its client population—has received considerable scholarly attention in the study of public institutions in the fields of political science and public administration. In a wide variety of settings, this research has demonstrated important connections between the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of the public sector workforce and how different groups—particularly traditionally underserved groups—interact with street-level bureaucrats and benefit from public services. Although scholars in those fields long ago recognized that the public school system is a large bureaucracy with diverse street-level bureaucrats (teachers) and clients (students and parents) and thus began studying bureaucratic representation in the context of schools, the concept and the causal mechanisms it hypothesizes remain largely unfamiliar to education researchers. This articl...
128 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the equity distribution of public transport for three separate disadvantaged cohorts including elderly residents, low-income households and no-car households for Perth, Western Australia.
128 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the physiological, psychological, social and spiritual impacts of social tourism on older people's wellbeing and revealed that social tourism presents older individuals with occasions for escape, respite, companionship, and reminiscence and for renegotiation of self-identity following spousal bereavement.
125 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the experiences in a large urban school district following the introduction of a universal screening program for second grade students to study the hypothesis that low income and minority students are underrepresented in gifted education programs.
Abstract: Low income and minority students are under-represented in gifted education programs. One explanation for this pattern is that the usual process for identifying gifted students, through parent and teacher referrals, systematically misses many potentially qualified disadvantaged students. We use the experiences in a large urban school district following the introduction of a universal screening program for second grade students to study this hypothesis. With no change in the standards for gifted eligibility the screening program led to large increases in the fractions of economically disadvantaged students and minorities placed in gifted programs. Comparisons of the newly identified gifted students with those who would have been placed in the absence of screening show that blacks and Hispanics, free/reduced price lunch participants, English language learners, and girls are all systematically "under-referred" in the traditional parent/teacher referral system.
112 citations
TL;DR: The STSA is a structured preschool practice that exemplifies child-centered, play-based, and constructivist approaches in early childhood education, and that can operate as a curriculum module in conjunction with a variety of different preschool curricula.
12 Jun 2015
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a book to all the inquisitive, informal, nontraditional, and educationally disadvantaged learners around the world who can benefit from innovative learning alternatives and options.
Abstract: “To all the inquisitive, informal, nontraditional, and educationally disadvantaged learners around the world who can benefit from innovative learning alternatives and options. May this book help open a few new doors and windows for you.”
DOI•
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: In this paper, the demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of children and their parents are described and the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children from their less disadvantaged counterparts.
Abstract: Children under 18 years represent 23 percent of the population, but they comprise 33 percent of all people in poverty.1 Among all children, 44 percent live in low-income families and approximately one in every five (22 percent) live in poor families. Being a child in a low-income or poor family does not happen by chance. Parental education and employment, race/ethnicity, and other factors are associated with children experiencing economic insecurity. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of children and their parents. It highlights the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children from their less disadvantaged counterparts.
TL;DR: Mailed invitations, and follow-up, from health professionals was an effective method of recruiting disadvantaged smokers into a trial of an exercise intervention to aid smoking reduction, and recruitment via community outreach approaches was largely ineffective.
Abstract: Research is needed on what influences recruitment to smoking reduction trials, and how to increase their reach. The present study aimed to i) assess the feasibility of recruiting a disadvantaged population, ii) examine the effects of recruitment methods on participant characteristics, iii) identify resource requirements for different recruitment methods, and iv) to qualitatively assess the acceptability of recruitment. This was done as part of a pilot two-arm trial of the effectiveness of a novel behavioral support intervention focused on increasing physical activity and reducing smoking, among disadvantaged smokers not wishing to quit. Smokers were recruited through mailed invitations from three primary care practices (62 participants) and one National Health Stop Smoking Service (SSS) database (31 participants). Six other participants were recruited via a variety of other community-based approaches. Data were collected through questionnaires, field notes, work sampling, and databases. Chi-squared and t-tests were used to compare baseline characteristics of participants. We randomized between 5.1 and 11.1% of those invited through primary care and SSS, with associated researcher time to recruit one participant varying from 18 to 157 minutes depending on time and intensity invested.Only six participants were recruited through a wide variety of other community-based approaches, with an associated researcher time of 469 minutes to recruit one participant. Targets for recruiting a disadvantaged population were met, with 91% of the sample in social classes C2 to E (NRS social grades, UK), and 41% indicating mental health problems. Those recruited from SSS were more likely to respond to an initial letter, had used cessation aids before, and had attempted to quit in the past year. Overall, initial responders were more likely to be physically active than those who were recruited via follow-up telephone calls. No other demographics or behaviour characteristics were associated with recruitment approach or intensity of effort. Qualitative feedback indicated that participants had been attracted by the prospect of support that focused on smoking reduction rather than abrupt quitting. Mailed invitations, and follow-up, from health professionals was an effective method of recruiting disadvantaged smokers into a trial of an exercise intervention to aid smoking reduction. Recruitment via community outreach approaches was largely ineffective. ISRCTN identifier: 13837944
, registered on 6 July 2010
TL;DR: The authors examined the effect of race-neutral, color-blind language on students' perceptions of their academic abilities and potential to achieve success in STEM disciplines and in graduate education, and found that white faculty members often engage with students from a "colorblind perspective" and used race neutral, colorblind language to describe their students as inferior, less prepared, and less interested in pursuing research and graduate studies.
Abstract: In this critical multisite case study we examined the concept of colorblind mentoring. Using Bonilla-Silva’s Colorblind Racism Frames, we sought to understand White faculty members’ perspectives on their mentoring of Students of Color. The findings revealed that White faculty members often engage with students from a “colorblind perspective.” Their use of race-neutral, colorblind language (avoiding racial terms but implying them) allowed White faculty members to describe their students as academically inferior, less prepared, and less interested in pursuing research and graduate studies while potentially ignoring structural causes. Faculty perceptions of students may influence the way Students of Color perceive their academic abilities and potential to achieve success in STEM disciplines and in graduate education.
TL;DR: Results provide robust evidence that individuals from disadvantaged neighborhoods bear a stigma that influences their prospects in economic exchanges, and reveal that residence in a disadvantaged neighborhood not only affects individuals through mechanisms involving economic resources, institutional quality, and social networks but also affects residents through the perceptions of others.
Abstract: The hypothesis of neighborhood stigma predicts that individuals who reside in areas known for high crime, poverty, disorder, and/or racial isolation embody the negative characteristics attributed to their communities and experience suspicion and mistrust in their interactions with strangers. This article provides an experimental test of whether neighborhood stigma affects individuals in one domain of social life: economic transactions. To evaluate the neighborhood stigma hypothesis, this study adopts an audit design in a locally organized, online classified market, using advertisements for used iPhones and randomly manipulating the neighborhood of the seller. The primary outcome under study is the number of responses generated by sellers from disadvantaged relative to advantaged neighborhoods. Advertisements from disadvantaged neighborhoods received significantly fewer responses than advertisements from advantaged neighborhoods. Results provide robust evidence that individuals from disadvantaged neighborhoods bear a stigma that influences their prospects in economic exchanges. The stigma is greater for advertisements originating from disadvantaged neighborhoods where the majority of residents are black. This evidence reveals that residence in a disadvantaged neighborhood not only affects individuals through mechanisms involving economic resources, institutional quality, and social networks but also affects residents through the perceptions of others.
TL;DR: The authors argued that the power of numbers and implicitly shared interests can, in themselves, go a long way towards improving outcomes for the disadvantaged, although a conscious recognition and collective articulation of shared interests could further enhance effectiveness.
Abstract: Is solidarity and a collective articulation of interests a necessary condition for the socially disadvantaged to have a voice in institutions of local governance, as some commentators argue? Or can their inclusion in sufficient numbers equally serve this purpose, as implied in the global lobbying for quotas? Also, by what process can numbers transform into solidarity? And how can the impact of inclusion in local institutions move beyond the local? Answers to these questions would be relevant in many contexts, not least in emerging global debates on the social and solidarity economy (SSE). This paper argues that the power of numbers and implicitly shared interests can, in themselves, go a long way towards improving outcomes for the disadvantaged, although a conscious recognition and collective articulation of shared interests can further enhance effectiveness. The shift from implicitly shared interests to their collective expression, however, will require a concerted engagement with intra-group dynamics an...
TL;DR: This paper proposed that the impact of going to school on a given skill depends on the quality of the instructional regime a child will experience at school compared with the quality the child would receive if not at school.
Abstract: Does experience in school increase or reduce social inequality in skills? Sociologists have long debated this question. Drawing from the counterfactual account of causality, we propose that the impact of going to school on a given skill depends on the quality of the instructional regime a child will experience at school compared with the quality of the instructional regime the child would receive if not at school. Children vary in their benefit from new instruction, and current skill increases this benefit. We hypothesize that the expansion of free, universal schooling promotes social equality in part by equalizing access to school, but also because disadvantaged children benefit more from access. However, we predict that this equalizing effect will be more pronounced for younger children than for older children. To test these hypotheses, we review empirical evidence regarding the impact of (a) increasing access to universal kindergarten and preschool, (b) interrupting schooling with the summer recess, (c...
TL;DR: This paper investigated how positive contact with members of the advantaged group shapes action strategies to cope with disadvantage and found that friendship contact with Anglo-Whites was overall negatively associated with interest in collective action.
Abstract: A current debate surrounds the issue of whether prejudice-reducing interventions such as intergroup contact may reduce resistance to unequal intergroup relations among disadvantaged groups. Addressing this question, this research investigates how positive contact with members of the advantaged group shapes action strategies to cope with disadvantage. Using survey data from a sample of Latino Americans (N = 112), structural equation modeling revealed that friendship contact with Anglo-Whites was overall negatively associated with interest in collective action. This relation was due to both reduced identification with the disadvantaged group and positive attitudes toward the advantaged group, which predicted reduced anger about inequality. Contact was also positively associated with an individual mobility orientation, a relation which was explained through increased perceived permeability. Individual mobility orientation did not, however, predict reduced motivation for collective action. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for societal change and novel directions for future research are discussed.
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the role of parents and their role in diverging destinies of rich and poor children and understand what motivates parents to invest in their children, which can have a major impact on the design of policies to reduce inequality in children's skill development.
Abstract: Children face very different chances of getting ahead in life depending on the circumstances of their birth. Parenting and its role in the diverging destinies of rich and poor children are discussed in this chapter. Inequality begins at home. It develops from the myriad differences in the ways advantaged and disadvantaged parents interact with their children. Traditional policy interventions fail to attack the root cause of achievement gaps. To equalize the playing field, governments may need to invest in parents so parents can better invest in their children. Unfortunately, large-scale parenting interventions typically yield modest effect sizes at best and often do not even change children’s skills in the long term. Understanding what motivates parents to invest in their children could have a major impact on the design of policies to reduce inequality in children’s skill development. Insights from the field of behavioral economics can inform this question.
TL;DR: It is argued that public health initiatives should be located in the dynamics of a living present, tailored to the particular, localised spatio-temporal perspectives and material circumstances in which people live, and attention to local rather than future horizons is revealed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors distinguish between historicising and spatialising aspirations, taking up Appadurai's notion of navigational capacity as a way of advancing greater agency for disadvantaged groups.
Abstract: This paper reports on a recent study of aspirations for higher education by secondary school students from disadvantaged backgrounds in regional Australia. At the same time, it goes in search of explanations that transcend a Bourdieuian account of aspirations as produced by and reproductive of cultural histories and dominance, given the apparent inadequacy of these accounts in redressing disadvantage. To this end the authors distinguish between historicising and spatialising aspirations, taking up Appadurai’s notion of navigational capacity as a way of advancing greater agency for disadvantaged groups. Data from the research inform the analysis, including the mediation of students’ desired futures by their perception of what is possible given their differentiated locations and access to resources. It is concluded that while this spatial turn in theorising aspiration has potential for changing the terms of recognition internal to disadvantaged communities, there remain structural limits on change ‘from below’.
TL;DR: The impacts of home and school socio‐economic status (SES) from application to selection in an undergraduate medical degree is examined to explain why those from backgrounds of low SES may be disadvantaged.
Abstract: Context
The lack of representation of people from low socio-economic and socio-educational backgrounds in the medical profession is of growing concern and yet research investigating the problem typically studies recruitment and selection in isolation. This study examines the impacts of home and school socio-economic status (SES) from application to selection in an undergraduate medical degree. Socio-cognitive career theory and stereotype bias are used to explain why those from backgrounds of low SES may be disadvantaged, especially if they are female.
Methods
Home and high school SES information for 2955 applicants and 202 medical students at one Australian medical school was related to application rates and performance on three selection tests (high school matriculation, the Undergraduate Medical and Health Sciences Admissions Test [UMAT] cognitive ability test, a multiple mini-interview) and academic performance in medical school. Interactions between gender and SES were assessed using moderated regression analyses.
Results
Applicants from backgrounds of low SES were under-represented. They were further disadvantaged at selection by the use of high school matriculation and cognitive ability tests, but not by the interview. They did not perform more poorly in medical school. Although females applied in greater numbers, a significant interaction between SES and gender indicated that female applicants of low SES were the most disadvantaged by the use of cognitive ability testing at selection. A targeted allowance of applicants from regions of low SES overcame this adverse impact to some extent.
Conclusions
Efforts to widen participation that focus on recruitment are insufficient when selection tests have adverse impacts on people from backgrounds of low SES. The addressing of low self-efficacy that arises from socio-cultural factors, together with reductions in stereotype threat, may reduce the current disadvantages imposed by SES in the medical profession.
TL;DR: In this article, a two-stage survey of young people in disadvantaged settings in three British cities was conducted to understand the relationship between young people's aspirations towards education and jobs, and the context in which they are formed.
Abstract: This paper aims to better understand the relationship between young people's aspirations towards education and jobs, and the context in which they are formed, especially to understand better the role of disadvantaged places in shaping young people's aspirations. Policy makers maintain that disadvantaged areas are associated with low aspirations and there is support for this position from academic work on neighbourhood effects and local labour markets, but evidence is slim. Using a two-stage survey of young people in disadvantaged settings in three British cities, the paper provides new data on the nature of young peoples’ aspirations, how they change during the teenage years, and how they relate to the places where they are growing up. The findings are that aspirations are very high and, overall, they do not appear to be depressed in relation to the jobs available in the labour market either by the neighbourhood context or by young people's perceptions of local labour markets. However, there are significa...
TL;DR: For instance, Hart and Risley as discussed by the authors found that children who did not have the benefits of rich verbal engagement early in life were more likely to be behind in cognitive and language skills in kindergarten and elementary school.
Abstract: Fifty years of research have documented a sobering reality: There are substantial differences among parents in how they engage and communicate with their children, and these differences impact the development of a child’s language and cognitive skills. Studies initiated during the War on Poverty first explored how parents’ verbal engagement with young children varied among families differing in education and income, or socioeconomic status (SES) [e.g. Bee, Van Egeren, Pytkowicz Streissguth, Nyman, & Leckie, 1969; Hess & Shipman, 1965; Schachter, 1979]. In their 1995 monograph Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children , Betty Hart and Todd Risley were the first to document huge disparities in the sheer amount of language that caregivers in different families directed to young children. Although they found substantial variability in child-directed speech within as well as between SES groups, the differences between children in advantaged and disadvantaged families were surprisingly large. They also found that those children who did not have the benefits of rich verbal engagement early in life were more likely to be behind in cognitive and language skills in kindergarten and elementary school. Hart and Risley’s [1995] discovery of a 30-million-word gap in language to children from higherand lower-SES backgrounds over the first three years of life is now widely cited in the popular press as well as in academic journals. But for more than a decade, this powerful study was essentially ignored. In the 1960s, claims that some learning difficulties in children from disadvantaged families could be linked to inadequate cognitive stimulation at home came to be known as the “cultural deficit” model [Riessman, 1962]. A fierce backlash emerged in the 1970s, rejecting this view as unsubstantiated by scientific evidence and as deeply disrespectful of minority parents in poverty whose use of language with children was grounded in cultural traditions of parenting different from those in more affluent mainstream families [Fernald & Weisleder, 2011]. Consistent with these criticisms, a dominant view in the field of language acquisition through the 1990s was that focusing on SES differences in speech
TL;DR: Findings indicate that a subset of African American youth from poor neighborhoods exhibits a profile of “skin-deep resilience” characterized by external successes combined with heightened internal physiological risk.
Abstract: A subset of African American youth who live in impoverished neighborhoods display resilient profiles academically and behaviorally. We hypothesized that this resilience might be "skin-deep," in that the ongoing efforts needed to achieve success might take a physiological toll on these youth. At age 19, 452 rural African American youth were assessed on broader contextual risk (neighborhood poverty) and external indicators of success (college attendance). One year later, participants were assessed on substance use and cumulative physiological risk (allostatic load). African American youth from more disadvantaged neighborhoods who attended college had lower levels of substance use, but higher levels of allostatic load compared to those from less disadvantaged neighborhoods who attended college, or to those who did not attend college. These findings indicate that a subset of African American youth from poor neighborhoods exhibits a profile of "skin-deep resilience," characterized by external successes combined with heightened internal physiological risk.
TL;DR: Whether social disadvantage is related to various aspects of personal network change is examined, as it is shown that socially disadvantaged groups--especially African Americans and people of low socioeconomic status (SES)--experience more unstable social environments and higher rates of turnover within their personal social networks.
Abstract: Objectives. Research sho ws that socially disadvantaged groups—especially African Americans and people of low socioeconomic status (SES)—experience more unstable social environments. I argue that this causes higher rates of turnover within their personal social networks. This is a particularly important issue among disadvantaged older adults, who may benefit from stable networks. This article, therefore, examines whether social disadvantage is related to various aspects of personal network change. Method. Social netw ork change was assessed using longitudinal egocentric network data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, a study of older adults conducted between 2005 and 2011. Data collection in Wave 2 included a technique for comparing respondents’ confidant network rosters between waves. Rates of network losses, deaths, and additions were modeled using multivariate Poisson regression. Results. African Americans and low-SES individuals lost more confidants—especially due to death—than did whites and college-educated respondents. African Americans also added more confidants than whites. However, neither African Americans nor low-SES individuals were able to match confidant losses with new additions to the extent that others did, resulting in higher levels of confidant network shrinkage. These trends are partly, but not entirely, explained by disadvantaged individuals’ poorer health and their greater risk of widowhood or marital dissolution. Discussion. Additional w ork is needed to shed light on the role played by race- and class-based segregation on group differences in social network turnover. Social gerontologists should examine the role these differences play in explaining the link between social disadvantage and important outcomes in later life, such as health decline.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify a range of cumulative barriers that limit children's access to services and illustrate how their experiences are shaped by ethnicity, social class and place, and they argue that migrant children's own social networks are relevant and they need to be analysed through a more individualised approach.
Abstract: For migrant children, moving to a new country is marked by excitement, anxiety and practical challenges in managing this significant transition. This paper draws upon the concepts of social capital and social networks to examine migrant children’s access to services post-migration. Using data from a qualitative study with Eastern European families in Scotland, we identify a range of cumulative barriers that limit children’s access to services and illustrate how their experiences are shaped by ethnicity, social class and place. The study shows that migrant children are often disadvantaged post-migration and develop their own mechanisms to mitigate the impact of migration on their lives. We argue that migrant children’s own social networks are relevant and they need to be analysed through a more individualised approach.
TL;DR: Results suggest that neighborhood poverty is directly related to lower levels of classroom quality, and lower gains in early literacy and math scores, and the need for policy initiatives to consider community characteristics as potential predictors of disparities in classroom quality and children's cognitive and social-emotional development in Head Start.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the ethnic identity formation of second-generation Turkish immigrant youth in Germany, with particular attention paid to the notion of reactive ethnicity, which emerges in reaction to social exclusion.
Abstract: The ethnic identity of second-generation immigrant youth has important implications for their association with, and integration in, receiving countries. This paper deals with the ethnic identity formation of second-generation Turkish immigrant youth in Germany, with particular attention paid to the notion of reactive ethnicity. While much of the literature discusses the ethnic retention of this specific group as unwillingness to integrate, this paper frames their ethnic identity formation as reactive ethnicity, which emerges in reaction to social exclusion. Utilizing a case study of Turkish students of disadvantaged schools, the article illustrates that reactive ethnicity is strongly linked to perceived discrimination and that it acquires characteristics of resistance when the dominant group denigrates and invalidates the immigrants' culture.