Risky Sexual Behavior: A Race-specific Social Consequence of Obesity

Scant attention has been given to the consequence of actual weight status for adolescents’ sexual wellbeing. In this article, we investigate the race-specific connection between obesity and risky sexual behavior among adolescent girls. Propensity scores and radius matching are used to analyze a sample of 340 adolescents aged 16–17 who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Young Adult Survey in 2000 or 2002. Nearly even numbers of these participants identified as white and black (183 and 157, respectively). We find that compared to their non-obese white peers, obese white adolescent girls exhibit higher rates of multiple sex partners and sex with older partners, and are also less likely to use condoms. None of these factors are significantly related to high BMI within the black sample. These findings indicate that the negative social consequences of obesity extend beyond future economic and marriage outcomes to adolescent white women’s sexual outcomes. They also highlight the importance of context: the implications of being obese during adolescence depend on cultural meanings of obesity.     

Development of a fast, simple profiling method for sample screening using high resolution melting (HRM) of STRs

A screening assay has been developed to provide preliminary individualization of crime scene samples thus eliminating expensive, time-consuming short tandem repeat (STR) profiling of nonprobative samples. High resolution melting performed in a real-time PCR instrument is used to detect the slight melting differences between the length and sequence variations of 22 forensic STRs. Three STRs (vWA, D18S51, THO1) were chosen to develop an assay which was optimized for Mg++ concentration, annealing/extension time/temperature, assay volume, and bovine serum albumin addition. The assay was tested for reproducibility, uniformity for genotype, melting profile consistency, effects of inhibitors, and mixture effects. The assay could be used to determine DNA concentration when a standard curve is run simultaneously. Calculations of costs show that the assay can save significant time and money for a crime with many samples or suspects.     

Extending the General Theory of Crime to “The East:” Low Self-Control in Japanese Late Adolescents

This study examined the measurement of low self-control as well as the low self-control-deviance relationship in a sample of N = 335 Japanese late adolescents. Participants completed the Grasmick et al. low self-control instrument and the Normative Deviance Scale (NDS). Findings indicated that the low self-control measure was a valid and reliable indicator of low self-control among male and female Japanese late adolescents and that it was multi-dimensional. Furthermore, the study provided evidence that low self-control was consistently related to diverse measures of deviance, ranging from trivial to more serious norm-violating behaviors (e.g., assault). Finally, in a series of comparisons of partial unstandardized regression coefficients between Japanese and U.S. late adolescents, the study found that the low self-control-deviance relationship was invariant across all measures of deviance with the exception of alcohol use. Findings are discussed in terms of their importance for cross-cultural/cross-national predictions made by the General Theory of Crime.     

Determinants of peer social status: Contributions of physical appearance,reputation, and behavior

The purpose of the present study was to determine behavioral correlates of social status and the relative importance of physical appearance, reputation, and current behavior in the assignment of social status by peers. Sixty-eight children identified as either popular, rejected, or neglected by peers were photographed individually and were videotaped during school lunch for 10 six-minute segments each. In a second sample of children those identified as popular, rejected, or neglected by their peers either viewed selected videotapes or photographs of same-age and same-sex children who were popular, rejected, or neglected, and categorized the viewed child as to his/her social competence. The bids of popular children were more likely to be clear, elicit attention, and continue beyond a simple bid-response sequence than were those of rejected or neglected children. The photographs and videotapes of both popular and neglected children were rated more positively than were those of rejected children.This paper is based, in part, on a presentation made at the Southeastern Conference on Human Development, April 1986.Received Ph.D. in Psychology from Georgia State University in 1980. Primary research interests are social competence development, peer relations, and mother-child attachment.     

Family processes and adolescent adjustment in intact and remarried families

This study examines whether family processes that predict positive and negative developmental outcomes are the same in intact and remarried families. Surveys were administered to 758 tenth graders from intact families and 95 from stepfather families. Measures of cohesion, democratic decision-making style, permissiveness, and conflict were used to predict self-rated depression, worry, and self-esteem. Remarried and intact families provide similar family environments for permissiveness and democratic decision making. Remarried families are more conflictual and less cohesive than intact families. In both family types, conflict had negative effects, and cohesion and democratic decision-making had positive effects on adolescents' adjustment. In remarried families, but not intact, permissiveness was related to higher self-esteem.Received Ph.D in developmental psychology from The University of Michigan. Research interests include family influences on adolescent identity development and the effects of divorce and remarriage on adolescent adjustment.Received M.S. in child clinical psychology from Pennsylvania State University. Research interests include family processes in stepfamilies and the impact of family structure on adolescent development.     

Appraisal of methods to evaluate farmer field schools

The need to increase agricultural sustainability has induced the government of India to promote the adoption of integrated pest management (IPM). An evaluation of cotton-based conventional and IPM farming systems was conducted in India (2002–2004). The farmers managing the IPM farms had participated in discovery-based ecological training, namely Farmer Field Schools (FFS). The evaluation included five impact areas: (1) the ecological footprint and (2) occupational hazard of cotton production; and the effects of IPM adoption on (3) labour allocation; (4) management practices; and (5) livelihoods. The analysis showed that a mix of approaches increased the depth and the relevance of the findings. Participatory and conventional methods were complementary. The study also revealed different impacts on the livelihoods of women and men, and wealthy and poor farmers, and demonstrated that the value of the experience can be captured also in terms of the farmers' own frames of reference. The evaluation process consumed considerable resources, indicating that proper budgetary allocations need to be made.     

The elevated risk for non-lethal post-separation violence in Canada: a comparison of separated, divorced, and married women

The purpose of the study was to shed light on the potentially differing dynamics of violence against separated and divorced women by their ex-husbands and violence against married women by their current husbands. Using a nationally representative sample of 7,369 heterosexual women from Cycle 13 of Statistics Canada's General Social Survey, available risk markers were examined in the context of a nested ecological framework. Separated women reported nine times the prevalence of violence and divorced women reported about four times the prevalence of violence compared with married women. The strongest predictors of violence against married women, namely, patriarchal domination, sexual jealousy, and possessiveness, were not significant predictors of violence against separated and divorced women. This suggested that post-separation violence is a complex phenomenon the dynamics of which can be affected by much more than domination and ownership.