Damned if They Flee,Doomed if They Don’t: Narratives of Runaway Adolescent Females from Rural India

Within the cultural context of rural India that emphasizes familial roles for women, this qualitative study explored the experiences of adolescent females who run away from their family homes. Ten adolescent females from rural areas or small towns of Gujarat, India were individually interviewed while they temporarily resided in an institution, along with six members of the institution staff. Throughout childhood, participants described experiencing differential attention and care to domestic violence and abuse within their families. In the context of this life-long mistreatment, the immediate trigger for the decision to flee was family disapproval of the romantic partners that adolescent females had chosen for themselves. Each of the females eloped with the male romantic partner, which led to severe opposition from their families, including explicit threats of endangering their or their partners’ lives, in turn, destroying the promise of a better life that the girls likely sought through escape. Prevention and intervention approaches are needed that promote community change and provide adaptive options for adolescent girls in distress.     

Twenty-first century cyborgs: cosmetic surgery and aesthetic nationalism in Colombia

Abstract

In this article, I explore the institutional and symbolic construction of aesthetic nationalism in Colombia around a fetishization of women’s surgically exaggerated breasts and buttocks. While political scientists have focused almost exclusively on the internet and social media, other technological advancements have altered the relationships between state and society, public and private, and bodies and national inclusion. Combined with the transnational flow of ideas, goods, and people and a political economy that embraces cosmetic surgeries as a development model, this intersectional analysis suggests that aesthetic nationalism in Colombia has recentered the female body in the practice of nationalism, communicating political information, belonging, and power. Based on archival research, direct observation, and elite interviews, I argue that cosmetic interventions play a key role in conferring citizenship rights and defining the borders of the political community. This study contributes to our understanding of how intersectionality can help explain the ways in which technology shapes national body politics, disrupts conventional modes of political communication and representation, and positions the body at the center of contemporary citizenship practices.     

Relationship Between Dissociative and Medically Unexplained Symptoms in Men and Women Reporting Childhood Sexual Abuse

The relationship between the dissociative and somatic symptoms in a clinical sample of 216 women and 35 men survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) was examined. Symptom patterns were measured by the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Somatization Scale of the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R), and the Hypochondriasis, Hysteria, Health Concerns, and Harris–Lingoes Somatic Complaints Scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. Somatization and dissociation were related, but not at a great enough magnitude to suggest that somatic symptoms as a generic category are an integral component of dissociation. With the exception of one of the measures of somatization, the SCL-90-R somatization scale, no significant differences were found between men and women CSA survivors in symptom levels. However, the relationship between somatization and dissociation was stronger in women than in men. The findings of this study should be considered preliminary and interpreted with considerable caution, since the scales used probably are of limited validity.     

Participation for What? A Policy-motivated Approach to Political Activism

Normatively and intuitively, we conceive of political participation as an integral component of democratic policymaking. However, research on participation generally does not include policy considerations as part of individuals’ decisions to engage in activism. I offer an opportunity model of participation that begins to study how policy goals shape individual participation and how aggregate participation shapes policymaking. The central argument is that individuals’ policy goals allow them to recognize those moments when it is most efficient and/or effective to take action. Examining black participation from 1980 to 1994, I show that black Americans are more likely to participate when they face external threats, are embedded in social networks, and have greater access to policymakers. Most importantly, the recognition of these opportunities varies according to individuals’ resources. This research moves beyond the discussion of who participates to address the equally fundamental question: participation for what?     

Engagement processes in model programs for community reentry from prison for people with serious mental illness

Linking prisoners with mental illness with treatment following release is critical to preventing recidivism, but little research exists to inform efforts to engage them effectively. This presentation compares the engagement process in two model programs, each representing an evidence-based practice for mental health which has been adapted to the context of prison reentry. One model, Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT), emphasizes a long-term wrap-around approach that seeks to maximize continuity of care by concentrating all services within one interdisciplinary team; the other, Critical Time Intervention (CTI), is a time-limited intervention that promotes linkages to outside services and bolsters natural support systems. To compare engagement practices, we analyze data from two qualitative studies, each conducted in a newly developed treatment program serving prisoners with mental illness being discharged from prisons to urban communities. Findings show that the working relationship in reentry services exhibits unique features and is furthered in both programs by the use of practitioner strategies of engagement, including tangible assistance, methods of interacting with consumers, and encouragement of service use via third parties such as families and parole officers. Nevertheless, each program exhibited distinct cultures and rituals of reentry that were associated with fundamental differences in philosophy and differences in resources available to each program.     

Macrostructural Opportunity and Violent Crime: The Impact of Social Structure on Inter- and Intra-Racial Violence

Researchers have examined the correlates of inter-group relationships, relying heavily on Blau’s (The American Journal of Sociology, 83, 26–54, 1977) macrostructural opportunity theory. The results of these studies have given mixed support for the relationship between social structure and inter-racial violence. This study builds on existing research on inter-group violence by examining what social structural correlates may influence intra- and inter-group violence using the macrostructural opportunity theory as a guiding framework. Data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System as well as the American Community Survey are utilized to construct a large sample of counties across the United States. The findings provide mixed support for Blau’s hypotheses, with heterogeneity and segregation showing some effects on inter-group violence, while racial inequality remains largely a non-significant predictor.

     

How does psychopathy relate to humor and laughter? Dispositions toward ridicule and being laughed at, the sense of humor, and psychopathic personality traits

This scoping study examines the relation of the sense of humor and three dispositions toward ridicule and being laughed at to psychopathic personality traits. Based on self-reports from 233 adults, psychopathic personality traits were robustly related to enjoying laughing at others, which most strongly related to a manipulative/impulsive lifestyle and callousness. Higher psychopathic traits correlated with bad mood and it existed independently from the ability of laughing at oneself. While overall psychopathic personality traits existed independently from the sense of humor, the facet of superficial charm yielded a robust positive relation. Higher joy in being laughed at also correlated with higher expressions in superficial charm and grandiosity while fearing to be laughed at went along with higher expressions in a manipulative life-style. Thus, the psychopathic personality trait could be well described in its relation to humor and laughter. Implications of the findings are highlighted and discussed with respect to the current literature.