Trajectories of Internalized Heterosexism among Young Men Who have Sex with Men

Minority stress, or the unique stressors encountered by sexual minorities, has a significant impact on the mental health and well-being of this population. One minority stressor, internalized heterosexism, refers to incorporating stigma against sexual minorities into one’s self-concept as a product of social bias. This minority stressor has been consistently related to worse mental health in sexual minorities. We evaluated experiences of internalized heterosexism longitudinally, over 24 months, in a sample of 450 young men who have sex with men (YMSM; age range?=?16–20 years old at baseline). Latent class growth analyses revealed three classes: individuals with low-decreasing internalized heterosexism (57.1%), medium-stable internalized heterosexism (37.3%), and high-stable internalized heterosexism (5.6%). Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that some racial/ethnic minorities, non-gay identified individuals (i.e., bisexual/other), and individuals with less femininity and greater masculinity were significantly more likely to be in the medium- and high-stable internalized heterosexism classes. Higher victimization, as well as lower gay/bisexual community involvement, peer support, and outness predicted membership in the medium-stable internalized heterosexism class (relative to the low-decreasing class). Further, higher past 6-month victimization and lower outness were also predictive of high-stable internalized heterosexism class membership (relative to the low-decreasing class). These findings reveal that there is not a single trajectory of internalized heterosexism—the degree to which it changes differs across men and depends on demographic characteristics and interpersonal experiences. Furthermore, the results indicate interpersonal targets for future work aimed at promoting positive identity development and decreased internalized heterosexism for sexual minority youth.     

Counting the Cost: A Critical Evaluation of the Australian National Broadband Network Roll-Out under the Rudd/Gillard Governments

A nascent literature has examined recent controversial policy initiatives by the Australian Government using insights from the literature on public policy evaluation. Scholars have considered inter alia the Mineral Resources Rent Tax, the Home Insulation Program, the Green Loans Program, the Building the Education Revolution and the macroeconomic stimulus package after the global financial crisis. The present paper adds to this literature by considering the National Broadband Network (NBN). The costs of implementing the NBN are examined and the paper attempts to draw some broader public policy ‘lessons‘ to inform future public policy making both in Australia and elsewhere.     

Chalk and Cheese: A Comparative Analysis of Local Government Reform Processes in New South Wales and Victoria

A substantial empirical literature exists on the consequences of local government reform programs. However, much less effort has been directed at examining how reform processes affect the outcomes of reform programs and little work has been invested in the comparative analysis of local government reform processes. To address this neglect in the literature, this article provides a comparative analysis of the contemporary municipal reform initiatives in the New South Wales and Victorian state local government systems. It is argued that the much more deliberative and inclusive Victorian approach represents a superior approach to the hurried “top-down” New South Wales method.     

A Critique of Alexy’s Claim to Correctness

This article offers an overview of the difficulties in Robert Alexy’s idea of law’s “claim to correctness.” The inquiry takes us deep into the nature of simple communication, back out to what it means to have a theory about the nature of law, and also in the direction of wondering about the interaction of legal theory and practical reasoning—reasoning about how we should best act. The article offers reasons to question whether law in fact makes claims, at least in any straightforward sense. Even if one brackets that matter, there are reasons to raise doubts about what is in fact implicit in the act of lawmaking. At one level, an act of lawmaking does implicitly assert the authority to act in that way. Whether it also implies that the content of the action is morally good, or at least not clearly morally bad, is, at a minimum, a harder question.     

Sexuality Related Social Support Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (“LGB”) youth may face significant stressors related to their sexual orientation. Few studies, however, have examined youth’s experiences of support for coping with these stressors. The current study compared LGB youth’s perceptions of support for sexuality stress to their support for other types of problems. The links between sexuality stress, sexuality support, and emotional distress were also examined. Ninety-eight LGB youth (ages 18–21, 33% female) rated support from family, heterosexual friends, and sexual minority friends for dealing with problems related, and not related, to their sexuality. From family and heterosexual friends, support for sexuality stress was less available than support for other stressors. Sexual minority friends provided the highest levels of sexuality support. In regression analyses, higher levels of sexuality support related to decreased emotional distress and buffered against the negative effects of sexuality stress on emotional distress. Sexuality support, although less available than other types of support, may be especially relevant to mental health among LGB youth.     

Shared Services in Australian Local Government: Rationale, Alternative Models and Empirical Evidence

Widespread enthusiasm amongst Australian policy elites for structural reform in local government has evaporated as disappointing outcomes of council amalgamation programs became evident. As a consequence, emphasis has now shifted towards shared serviced models as a means of enhancing service provision and reducing costs. However, a disturbing feature of the current debate on shared services has been the absence of a well-articulated economic and political rationale for this form of service delivery, a lack of analysis of alternative models of shared service provision and a neglect of available empirical evidence. This article seeks to remedy these deficiencies by considering the analytical foundations of shared local services, conducting a review of alternative models as vehicles for shared services and evaluating available empirical evidence.     

On the Other Side of the Curtain: A Reassessment of Non-Elite Human Rights Experiences and Values in Poland

In this paper, I explore the formation of human rights attitudes among what I call the “silent majority” in the post-communist countries of Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. This is the large, diverse group of people never directly confronted with harsh methods of repression under communism. I argue here that the foundations for conceptualizing human rights are based on the degree and saliency of exposure to rights violations and that, for many citizens of Central and Eastern Europe, life behind the “iron curtain” is associated with relatively fewer rights violations than life after the iron curtain’s fall. Comparative personal experiences will play a key role in explaining how these citizens conceptualize human rights. I test this argument by applying it to the cases of Poland, where I conducted a total of 68 randomly selected non-elite interviews in an effort to probe for key factors defining individuals’ conceptions of human rights.

Willingness to Remain Friends and Attend School with Lesbian and Gay Peers: Relational Expressions of Prejudice Among Heterosexual Youth

In this study, heterosexual students’ willingness to remain friends with peers who disclose that they are gay or lesbian and their willingness to attend schools that include gay and lesbian students were examined among two large middle school and high school samples (Sample 1: n = 20,509; 50.7% girls; Sample 2: n = 16,917; 50.2% girls). Boys were less willing than girls to remain friends or attend schools with gay and lesbian peers, as were students in earlier grades than were students in later grades. Further, there was small, yet significant, variability in these scores across schools. Greater racial diversity within the school partially accounted for this school-level variability; students in more racially diverse schools reported greater willingness to remain friends and attend school with gay and lesbian peers. Findings suggest that while intervention programs must continue to address blatant and overt physical aggression against sexual minority youth, there is also a significant need for programming to address the more subtle expressions of sexual prejudice that contribute to unwelcoming and unsafe school climates.     

Weight Perception, Substance Use, and Disordered Eating Behaviors: Comparing Normal Weight and Overweight High-School Students

Disordered eating behaviors and substance use are two risk factors for the development of serious psychopathology and health concerns in adulthood. Despite the negative outcomes associated with these risky behaviors, few studies have examined potential associations between these risk factors as they occur during adolescence. The importance of accurate or inaccurate weight perception among adolescents has received increased interest given documented associations with nutritional beliefs and weight management strategies. This study examined the associations among the perceptions of weight and substance use with disordered eating behaviors among a diverse sample of normal weight and overweight adolescent males and females. Data came from the 2007 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The sample consisted of 11,103 adolescents (53.4% female; 44% Caucasian, 21% African American; 13% Hispanic; age responses ranged from 12 and under to 18 and over), with 31.5% meeting criteria for being either at-risk for obesity or already obese (i.e., overweight). As hypothesized, overestimation of weight among normal weight adolescents and accurate perceptions of weight among overweight adolescents were associated with higher rates of disordered eating behaviors. In normal weight adolescents, use of all three substances (tobacco, binge drinking, and cocaine) was associated with each disordered eating behavior. In contrast, findings revealed differences for overweight adolescents between the type of substance use and disordered eating behavior. Post hoc analyses revealed that gender moderated some of these relationships among overweight individuals. Implications for the development and implementation of secondary prevention programs aimed at reducing disordered eating behaviors, substance use, and obesity risk among normal and overweight adolescents are considered.