Potential Positive and Negative Consequences of Coresidence for Teen Mothers and their Children in Adult-Supervised Households

In 1996, part of the creation of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) required minor teen parents to live in an adult-supervised household in order to receive cash assistance. This literature review discusses the positive and negative consequences of coresidence. Research has suggested that coresidence may be beneficial for the educational and financial success of teen mothers. However, there is some evidence that coresiding teen mothers have poorer parenting skills than teen mothers who do not coreside. Implications for policy implementation are discussed. Case managers should be aware of the possible risks of coresidence and weigh these risks against potential benefits. In addition, families of teen mothers, especially grandmothers, should be included in programming and interventions in order to provide positive living environments for teen mothers and their children.     

宗教慈善大有可为——写在《关于鼓励和规范宗教界从事公益慈善活动的意见》发布之际

《关于鼓励和规范宗教界从事公益慈善活动的意见》是国家宗教局今年会同相关部门发布的一个重要政策性文件.作为该文件起草和发布的参与者,作者在本文中重点阐述制定和发布该文件的目的,文件制定过程中的体会,对文件若干主要内容的理解和认识.     

Biology is destiny only if we ignore it

Problems of sustainability and survivability are best met not with moralizing but with policies that take advantage of our increasingly understood evolved human psychology. This knowledge helps us understand why our problems recur, and why we need not expect them to have permanent solutions. What is needed is an evolutionary praxis. It is possible, for example, to create policies that work around our tendencies to hierarchize and to form into ethnocentric and mutually hostile groups. Although in many ways there may be a mismatch between our evolved human nature and contemporary society, the fact that it is we who construct our environments must reduce the extent of mismatch.     

Preventing HIV infection among injecting drug users: Intuitive and counter-intuitive findings

The disease now called AIDS was first reported among injecting drug users in 1981. This article reviews the last 15 years of research on preventing HIV infection and AIDS among injecting drug users. Many of the findings were surprising in the context of previous understandings of the illicit injection of psychoactive drugs—both with respect to the much-larger-than-expected size of the epidemic and the much-greater-than-expected potential for behavior change among drug injectors (IDU). The research is reviewed within a framework of eight issues: the importance of the problem in the United States, the global diffusion of injecting drug use, the global diffusion of HIV among IDUs, potential rapid spread of HIV among IDUs, risk reduction among IDUs, community-level prevention, syringe exchange programs, and developing a public-health perspective on psychoactive drug use.     

Attitudes of learner drivers toward safety at level crossings: Do they change after a 360° video-based educational intervention?

In light of the growing number of level crossing accidents and the limited prevention programmes, this study examined relationships among attitudes toward traffic rules, impulsiveness, and behavioural intentions at level crossings. It explored the behavioural effects of an educational programme newly developed within the framework of the Croatian national safety project “Implementation of measures to improve the safety of the most vulnerable traffic participants at level crossings“. The programme aimed to change risky attitudes and behavioural intentions of learner drivers at level crossings. It consists of a safety lecture accompanied by pictures, videos and the exposition to a 3D virtual reality film shot at a real level crossing, which allows the participant to experience, from the driver’s perspective, safe and risky crossings. The programme was implemented in 11 driving schools. First, 285 participants (62.8% men) answered a questionnaire measuring safety attitudes toward traffic and impulsiveness, then they attended a lecture and participated in the virtual reality experience. Finally, they answered a questionnaire measuring planned future behaviour at level crossings. The results showed that attitudes toward level crossing risk significantly predicted intended driving behaviour at level crossings. Furthermore, the 360° video-based educational intervention altered the relationships connecting attitudes toward level crossings and risky driving behaviour at level crossings. The practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Influence of values,attitudes towards transport modes and companions on travel behavior

The design and implementation of transport policies to promote active transport requires a deep comprehension of the factors that influence travel behavior. In this context, psychological factors and social interactions play an important role in explaining travel-related decisions. Even though, the importance of psychosocial variables in travel behavior research has been widely recognized during recent years, there is a lack of understanding of how these factors interact. This paper aims to better understand the interrelationships between values, attitudes towards transport modes and a subset of the social network composed by habitual trips and activities companions. For this purpose, a theoretical framework is proposed which posits all the possible relationships among these factors. In order to test this conceptual framework, two Structural Equation Models are estimated considering attitudes towards active transport (bike and walking), using a dataset from a web-based survey developed for the MINERVA project in Valencia (Spain). The data is composed by 404 respondents who provided valid information regarding all the variables of the study. Results confirm the hierarchical value-attitude-behavior structure while several effects are also found directly between values and attitudes. For instance, individuals who attach more importance to Stimulation and Achievement values are higher active transport user, while values traditionally associated with car use are no longer maintaining this relation. Besides that, positive attitudes towards walking and cycling are strongly associated with a higher use of active transport, and also seem to discourage the use of motorized modes. Several characteristics of companions affects personal values and active travel and less influence is found on attitudes. These findings are useful to develop transport policies and campaigns to promote sustainable transport, such as the design of strategies in the context of Travel Behavior Change Programs. Limitations of this research include several aspects related to online surveys, for instance, sample size and underrepresentation of individuals over 55 years.     

The affective politics of policy making spaces: Gendered and racial embodiments of neoliberal deservingness and power in a city council meeting

Bringing together feminist works on affect, neoliberalism, and the racial dimensions of dependency discourse, this paper discusses affective politics in policy making spaces by examining a Durham (North Carolina, USA) City Council meeting. We focus on a 2017 Housing Needs Hearing where bodily gestures and speech acts were crucial parts of emotional interactions that defined, maintained, and challenged subject positions and power structures. We argue that embedded within legacies of racial and gender inequality, neoliberal sensibilities work through embodied emotional performances that impact policy conversations. Our analysis reveals how, despite progressive aspirations and accomplishments in Durham, the meeting's extractive set up perpetuates inequities by positioning those seeking assistance to prove their worth through a contradictory performance of desperation and self-actualization while enabling supporters of housing affordability, including city officials, to adopt the role of caring advocates. We find that a performance of pain and the rhetorical proof of self-responsibility opens up potential access to affordable housing and in doing so reveals both the limits and impact of a broken housing system. We thus extend analysis of the neoliberal condition of US housing inequality by deepening understanding of how neoliberal deservingness is embodied and shapes racialized, classed, and gendered subject positions.     

Understanding bike-sharing acceptability and expected usage patterns in the context of a small city novel to the concept: A story of ‘Greek Drama’

Developing initiatives that allow societies to embrace more sustainable travel behaviour patterns is a prerequisite for creating more livable urban futures. Bike-sharing, a measure designed to inspire modal shift from short car-trips, despite its recent exponential growth, is still understudied. This paper discusses a quantitative survey of 640 responses examining road users' attitudes towards bike-sharing and its possible introduction to Drama, a small Greek city resembling many others in terms of size, transport culture and socio-economic characteristics, which has never been exposed to a similar intervention. Most of the respondents recognised that bike-sharing is a mode with pro-environmental, cost-effective and health-improving qualities and the potential to promote a greener identity for the city. Evidence is provided that people would support a bike-sharing investment even in cases where the frequency of their current bicycle use and the regularity with which they intend to use an eventual scheme is low. Age, gender, the primary factor for modal choice, its perceived effectiveness in reducing traffic congestion and their usage expectations were all factors influencing the respondents’ acceptability of such an introduction. The lack of cycling infrastructure and road safety concerns were identified as possible usage barriers but the pro-social potential of bike-sharing combined with policy efforts to create a more pro-cycling culture could outweigh them. The present analysis suggests that bike-sharing can go beyond, what is typically regarded as its primary function, that of a last-mile solution for metropolitan areas, and be a publicly acceptable investment for smaller cities.     

The role of attitudes in perceptions of bicycle facilities: A latent-class regression approach

While many professionals support bicycling for transportation to reduce traffic congestion and improve public health, many potential cyclists see the risks from traffic injuries as a major barrier. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of bicycle facilities on perceptions of bikeability, and how these perceptions vary among different groups. Data comes from surveys (N = 2157) deployed in ten study neighborhoods as part of two research projects. Respondents were asked to rate a series of images of hypothetical roadways in terms of perceived comfort, perceived safety, and willingness to try bicycling. Latent-class regression was used to model these responses, with bicycle facility type and roadway characteristics as explanatory variables and sociodemographics and attitudinal factors (car preference, bike enjoyment, risk tolerance, and anti-exercise) as covariates for class membership. A recurring theme among the presented solutions is the emergence of two pro-bicycle classes - risk-embracing and risk-cautious - together with a pro-car class. Results indicate that the impact of protected bicycle facilities on perceptions are much higher for the pro-bike/risk-cautious group. The major implication of these findings is that there likely exists a sizeable segment of the population that, although perhaps just as interested in bicycling as the typical pro-bicycle class, is more cautious in their perceptions of comfort and safety. Those belonging to this subgroup generally view minimal facilities as much more unsafe and uncomfortable than their risk-accepting counterparts, but have comparable perceptions regarding high-quality protected bicycle facilities.