Racial Stereotypes and Asian American Youth Paradox

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Asian Americans are simultaneously stereotyped as a perpetual foreigner and a model minority. This cross-sectional study of 308 Filipino American youth (mean age...     

Young Adult Unemployment and Later Depression and Anxiety: Does Childhood Neighborhood Matter?

Young adulthood represents a developmental period with disproportionately heightened risk of losing a job. Young adult unemployment has been linked to increased mental health problems, at least in the short term. However, their possible long-term impacts, often referred as “scarring effects,” have been understudied, possibly underestimating the magnitude of mental health burden that young adult unemployment generates. This longitudinal study examined whether duration of unemployment during young adulthood is associated with later mental health disorders, after accounting for mental and behavioral health problems in childhood. Furthermore, the current study investigated whether childhood neighborhood characteristics affect this association and if so, in what specific functional ways. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of developmental outcomes in a community sample in Seattle. Data collection began in 1985 when study participants were elementary students and involved yearly assessments in childhood and adolescence (ages 10–16) and then biennial or triennial assessments (ages 18–39; N?=?677 at age 39; 47% European American, 26% African American, 22% Asian American, and 5% Native American; 49% female). The current study findings suggest that duration of unemployment across young adulthood increased mental health problems at age 39, regardless of gender. Childhood neighborhood characteristics, particularly their positive aspect, exerted independent impacts on adult mental health problems beyond unemployment experiences across young adulthood. The current findings indicate a needed shift in service profiles for unemployed young adults—a comprehensive approach that not only facilitates reemployment but also addresses mental health needs to help them to cope with job loss. Further, the present study findings suggest that childhood neighborhoods, particularly positive features such as positive neighborhood involvement, may represent concrete and malleable prevention targets that can curb mental health problems early in life.

     

NETWORK REGULATION: THE MANY FACES OF ACCESS

Telecommunications regulation has experienced a fundamentalshift from rate regulation to increased reliance on compelledaccess, perhaps best exemplified by the Telecommunications Actof 1996's imposition of no fewer than four new access requirements.Unfortunately, each access requirement is governed by a separateset of rules for determining both the scope and the price ofaccess. The resulting ad hoc regime has created difficult definitionalproblems and opportunities for regulatory arbitrage. In thisarticle we propose a system inspired by the discipline of mathematicsknown as graph theory that integrates all of the different formsof access into a single analytical framework. This system separatesdifferent access regimes into five categories: (1) retail access,(2) wholesale access, (3) interconnection access, (4) platformaccess, and (5) unbundled access. It also provides insightsinto how each type of access complicates the already difficultproblems of network configuration and management and introducesinefficient biases into decisions about network capacity anddesign. The approach we propose also provides insights intothe transaction cost implications of the different types ofaccess. Drawing on the Coasean theory of the firm, our approachexamines the tradeoffs between internal governance costs andthe external transaction costs of providing access to offera theory of network boundaries. This framework shows how accessregulation distorts networks' natural boundaries and providesa basis for evaluating whether private ordering through marketswould lead to more efficient network design.     

“My Kids,They Safe.”: Lived Experiences of Parents Receiving Child Neglect Allegations

Abstract

This study aims to explore parents’ lived experiences of receiving child neglect allegations and how they make sense of these experiences. The sample consists of parents who participated in a family preservation program following allegations of child neglect. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings suggest that parents resist neglect allegations, both by denial and minimization, partly due to their lack of clear understanding of what constitutes child neglect. Further, parents in this study tended to be reactive to meanings ascribed to the label of child neglect rather than the allegations per se. They seemed to experience internal conflict between their positive evaluations of their own parenting and what their neglect allegations might imply about their parenting. Parents also experienced emotional distress, such as concern about social stigma and fear of losing their parental rights, as they tried to make sense of their current situations. Suggested implications for practice include exploring parents’ subjective understanding of their allegations and considering their unique familial and sociocultural contexts from the outset of their involvement with child protective services (CPS) in order to build a collaborative working alliance.     

Simplified Direct PCR Method for Reference Buccal Samples Using a Non-FTA Card by Omitting the Pretreatment Step

When using non-FTA cards in commercial multiplex STR kits for direct PCR, pretreatment steps with specific buffers are recommended. Here, we designed a rapid direct PCR method utilizing a non-FTA card, Oral Cell Sampling Kit, by omitting the pretreatment step involving Prep-n-Go™ Buffer, and it showed compatibility with the GlobalFiler™ Express PCR Amplification Kit, GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification Kit, and PowerPlex^® Fusion system. To optimize the PCR conditions, we tested the method with different final PCR volumes and cycles. Finally, we conducted a performance test using 50 Korean buccal samples and confirmed the high performance of the method, detecting more than 90% of the samples with full profiles when using GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification Kit and PowerPlex^® Fusion system at 29 cycles in a 10 μL final PCR volume. Thus, we report a simple direct PCR set-up to analyze reference samples collected using a non-FTA card manufactured in Korea.     

External affairs and trusted family businesses: A research agenda

In the past two decades, the Journal of Public Affairs has solidified corporate public affairs as a legitimate leadership skillset vital to driving future business growth. Yet, more work at a persistently overlooked gap in the Journal, the intersection of public affairs and family businesses, might shed new light on thriving, trusted, and sustainable business practices. This paper examines the unique contributions of family businesses as trusted influencers. As one of the most prominent forms of business, worldwide, family businesses persistently enjoy unusually high levels of public trust while collectively employing millions of wage earners yet their contributions to corporate external affairs research ostensibly have been largely overlooked. These “silent” community and social influencers offer a potentially new perspective on effective public outreach given their persistent and unique trust advantage. Family business' trust-based capabilities can potentially bring new insights to understanding effective stakeholder engagement, credible communications, and issues management—the sweet spot of corporate public affairs functions. Future research opportunities based on relational- and locational- advantages of trusted family businesses are identified.     

North Korea’s Resurgence and China’s Rise: Implications for the Future of Northeast Asian Security

Today, Northeast Asia’s security situation is changing rapidly. North Korea is reviving and China’s power is growing at an alarming rate. While the U.S. continues to suffer diplomatically and militarily in the Middle East and from international terrorism, China’s and North Korea’s power is likely to futher increase, polarizing the Northeast Asian security structure, with South Korea, Japan (and Taiwan) all allied with the U.S. versus North Korea allied with China. The liberal democracies should pursue peace with North Korea and China to preclude the situation from aggravating, but should be ready in the longer term to meet, in diverse ways including strengthening their alliances, the challenges posed by rising powers.

Simultaneous analysis of d-3-methoxy-17-methylmorphinan and l-3-methoxy-17-methylmorphinan by high pressure liquid chromatography equipped with PDA

d-3-Methoxy-17-methylmorphinan (Dextromethorphan, DXM), which is a structural analog of morphine and codeine, has been widely used as a non-narcotic antitussive agent. It is a safe drug in therapeutic dose and does not produce analgesic effects, while its enantiomer, l-3-methoxy-17-methylmorphinan called levomethorphan (LXM) is a potent narcotic analgesic. DXM has been widely abused in Korea due to its hallucinogenic effect in large doses; therefore, the health authorities have regulated its use as a psychotropic agent since 2003. As its abuse has been serious, a possibility that DXM would be smuggled into Korea has also increased. Moreover, it has been suspected that there was the possibility of the adulteration or substitution of DXM with LXM due to their chemical similarities. Therefore, it was necessary for us to establish the enantiomeric separation of DXM and LXM. In this study, a liquid chromatographic method using a chiral column capable of separating stereoisomers of DXM as well as analyzing the major metabolites of DXM, 3-methoxymorphinan, 3-hydroxymorphinan, and 17-hydroxymethylmorphinan was developed. The validation of a method was studied through repeatability of retention times. Using this method, 32 confiscated DXM samples were analyzed to identify the enantiomers of DXM. As a result, DXM was detected in all samples and there was no evidence of the adulteration or substitution of DXM with LXM. Nevertheless, the stereochemical analysis of DXM and LXM is important not only to identify starting materials for illegal drug manufacture but also to understand the trends of abused drugs.     

Forensic evaluation and haplotypes of 19 Y-chromosomal STR loci in Koreans

In this study, 19 Y-specific STR loci (DYS19, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS388, DYS434, DYS435, DYS436, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS446, DYS449, and DYS464) were analyzed in 301 unrelated Korean males by three multiplex PCR systems. The haplotype diversity using the classical set of Y-STRs (DYS19, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, and DYS385; multiplex I) was 0.9963. For the same individuals, the haplotype diversity value using the new set of highly informative Y-STRs (DYS385, DYS446, DYS449, and DYS464; multiplex III) was 0.9989, while that using the combined set of Y-STRs by adding DYS388 to the previously studied DYS434, DYS435, DYS436, DYS437, DYS438, and DYS439 (multiplex II) was 0.9509. A total of 297 different haplotypes were identified using the 19 Y-STR markers, of which 293 were unique and 4 were found twice. The overall haplotype diversity was 0.9999. The evaluation of the information of selected markers by combination of each marker with the minimal haplotype showed that DYS434, DYS435, DYS436, DYS437, and DYS438 do not significantly contribute to increment of haplotype diversity. However, respective conjunction of DYS464, DYS449, and DYS446 with the minimal haplotype considerably increased the haplotype diversity. Especially, DYS464 is expected to be the most useful marker that can be included in the expanded minimal haplotype. These results including the haplotype data at 19 Y-STR loci in the present study would provide useful information in forensic practice in a Korean population.