Community-Engaged Neighborhood Revitalization and Empowerment: Busy Streets Theory in Action

Busy streets theory predicts that engaging residents in physical revitalization of neighborhoods will facilitate community empowerment through the development of sense of community, social cohesion, collective efficacy, social capital, and behavioral action. Establishing safe environments fosters positive street activity, which reinforces neighborhood social relationships. A community-engaged approach to crime prevention through environmental design (CE-CPTED) is one promising approach to creating busy streets because it engages residents in collaborative interactions to promote safer environments. Yet, few researchers have studied how CE-CPTED may be associated with busy streets. We interviewed 18 residents and stakeholders implementing CE-CPTED in Flint, Michigan. We studied three neighborhoods with different levels of resident control over CE-CPTED. Participants described how CE-CPTED implementation affected their neighborhood. Participants from all three neighborhoods reported that CE-CPTED was associated with positive street activity, sense of community, and collective efficacy. Participants from neighborhoods with higher resident control of CE-CPTED reported more social capital and behavioral action than those from neighborhoods with less resident control. Our findings support busy streets theory: Community engagement in neighborhood improvement enhanced community empowerment. CE-CPTED that combines physical revitalization with resident engagement and control creates a potent synergy for promoting safe and healthy neighborhoods.     

Illness disclosure and mental health among women with HIV/AIDS

The current study examines two contrasting models of the relationship between illness disclosure and mental health among an ethnically‐diverse group of women with HIV/AIDS. In the first, and commonly accepted model, illness disclosure predicts enhanced mental health status. In the second or alternate model, based on the stigmatization that accompanies HIV/AIDS infection, illness disclosure predicts poorer mental health. We also explore an alternate interpretation for this second model, namely that the mental health status of participants is predictive of their levels of disclosure. A total of 176 women from three major ethnic groups were interviewed and assessed during the baseline visit for a comprehensive longitudinal study. Results showed that these women constituted a highly‐disclosed population; over one‐third of them had disclosed their HIV status to their entire social networks. Contrary to expectation, disclosure was unrelated to mental health among the African‐American (n = 72) and European‐American (n = 47) women. Among the Latina women (n = 57), however, greater disclosure was related to higher levels of depression, psychological distress, and reported pain. Regression analyses controlling for age, education, and illness severity showed that disclosure makes a small but independent contribution to the prediction of mental health status. Thus, among the Latinas, the data were consistent with both the stigma model and the hypothesis that greater distress predicts wider disclosure. General patterns of disclosure are described and possible explanations for the inconsistent relationships found between disclosure and mental health among the three ethnic groups are considered. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Factors Affecting HIV Contraceptive Decision-Making Among Women

We examined contraceptive decision-making among African American, Latina, and European American women ages 18–50 years. Logistic regressions examined relationships between demographic and religious factors, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), reasons for sex, and contraceptive decision-making. Women who were older, single, African American, used pregnancy prevention, and had histories of STDs and unintended pregnancies made contraceptive decisions alone. Older and African American women were more likely to choose no contraception. Among contraceptive users, African Americans used effective methods of pregnancy, but not disease, prevention. Women with STD histories, and younger, more educated women were more likely to use methods that prevent against both pregnancy and disease. Theoretical implications about contraceptive choices among ethnically diverse women are discussed.     

Intact retention in acute alcohol amnesia

Research on alcohol amnesia has focused on memory processes that are disrupted during intoxication. The present experiment examined the possibility that certain memory processes might be resistant to the amnesic effects of alcohol. Intoxicated and sober subjects studied a list of 29 words. They were then given one of three different retention tests: free recall, identification of degraded words based on the procedure used by Warrington and Weiskrantz (1970), and yes/no recognition. As expected, free recall was significantly impaired by alcohol intoxication. In contrast, in the identification test, intoxicated subjects benefited to the same degree as sober subjects from prior exposure to the items. The two groups did not differ in immediate recognition memory. The results of the free-recall and identification tasks are similar to findings with chronic amnesic patients and suggest that perceptual fluency is not affected by alcohol, whereas elaborative processes supporting recall are particularly sensitive to disruption during intoxication. The failure to find recognition impairment at the level of intoxication used in this study distinguishes temporary alcohol amnesia from chronic amnesia.     

Absolutely tasty: an examination of predicates of personal taste and faultless disagreement

Debates about the semantics and pragmatics of predicates of personal taste (PPT) have largely centered on contextualist and relativist proposals. In this paper, I argue in favor of an alternative, absolutist analysis of PPT. Theorists such as Max Kölbel and Peter Lasersohn have argued that we should dismiss absolutism (also called realism or invariantism) due to its inability to accommodate the possibility of faultless disagreement involving PPT. My aim in the paper is to show how the absolutist can in fact accommodate this possibility by drawing on an account of faultless disagreement that improves upon a recent proposal due to Karl Schafer. In amending Schafer’s proposal, I put forward an empirically informed view of our beliefs regarding matters of personal taste, as well as an account of our assertions concerning such matters. I also argue that absolutists should take disagreement about these matters to be conative, rather than doxastic, in nature. The anticipated result is an independently compelling account of faultless disagreement about matters of personal taste that fits naturally with absolutism.