IDENTITY DILEMMAS OF CHRONICALLY ILL MEN

Chronic illness frequently comes to men suddenly with immediate intensity, severity, and uncertainty. Because men contract more serious and life-threatening chronic illnesses than women, experiencing illness causes men different identity dilemmas. This paper explores men's identity dilemmas by studying how men experience chronic illnesses and by looking at how assumptions about masculinity affected their identity. The paper explores four major processes: (1) awakening to death after a lifethreatening crisis, (2) accommodating to uncertainty as men realize that the crisis has lasting consequences for their lives, (3) defining illness and disability and (4) preserving self to maintain a sense of coherence while experiencing loss and change. The data are derived from forty in-depth formal interviews of twenty men, informal interviews with these men, and an extensive collection of published and unpublished personal accounts. The data were analyzed through the strategies of grounded theory.     

The impact of unionization,right-to-work laws,and female labor force participation on earnings inequality across states

This study examines the effect of unionization, right-to-work laws, and participation of women in the labor force on income inequality. Two distinct models are developed using 1970 and 1980 census data on the 50 states in the U.S. First, an income inequality model is specified as a beta distribution of the second kind to estimate Gini measures of income inequality. Second, these Gini estimates are used in a simultaneous equations model. The 1970 results indicate that higher unionization rates decreased inequality while right-to-work laws increased inequality. In 1980, the measure of inequality was lower in states with higher female labor force participation. We thank an unknown referee and the editor for comments and criticisms that greatly improved the paper. The usual caveat applies.     

African American Women's Self-Concept: Implications for Career Decisions and Career Counseling

The multiple self-referent model (Brown-Collins & Sussewell, 1986) provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the personal, social, and historical aspects of self-concept formation in African American women and has important implications for understanding the complexity of career development issues for Black women. Excerpts from recorded interviews and autobiographical writings of four well-known African American women provide examples of the basic components of this model. Suggested interventions for career counseling with Black female clients are discussed.     

Prevalence and characteristics of sexual violence victimization among U.S. adults, 2001-2003

This article provides the most recent U.S. prevalence estimates of forced sex and unwanted sexual activity. Results of a national telephone survey conducted in 2001-2003 indicate that 1 in 59 U.S. adults (2.7 million women and 978,000 men) experienced unwanted sexual activity in the 12 months preceding the survey and that 1 in 15 U.S. adults (11.7 million women and 2.1 million men) have been forced to have sex during their lifetime. There were 60.4% of females and 69.2% of males who were 17 years old or younger at the time the first forced sex occurred. This study provides an update to the National Violence Against Women Survey with more recent national data. Findings suggest that victimization rates have remained consistent since the 1990s. These findings suggest that a continued effort toward primary prevention of sexual violence, particularly rape of children and adolescents, is needed.     

Pearls and pitfalls in evaluating a Student Assistance Program: a five-year case study

This article presents data from a five-year evaluation-research case study of a large urban schools district's internal Student Assistance Program (SAP). The district employed specially trained and licensed school-based counselors to implement an internal SAP expanded to include tertiary prevention, and modeled after an employee assistance program established for adults. From the population of more than 10,000 students who received some type of program assistance for at-risk behaviors, a stratified random sample of 2,238 cases, over a five year period, were reviewed. Results indicate a statistically significant decline (p < .05) in students' drug use and a significant improvement in internal locus of control occurred each year. While not statistically significant, the average number of student discipline referrals was less than the year prior to program admission; however, there was no significant change in academic performance. A significant correlation between students' drug use and the amount of time in program, the type of assistance received, and the student's custody status was also found.     

Young people’s perceptions of power and influence as a basis for understanding contemporary citizenship

Persistent simplistic binary discourses of young people’s citizenship portray them either as civically deficit and disengaged citizens or the creators of new democratic modes and approaches. This paper draws on field research with two groups of young people in Australia to better recognise the nuance of young people’s experiences of citizenship, power and influence. The study investigated the extent to which different groups of young people believe that they have the power to influence society; the ways in which they seek this influence; the current barriers to their influence; and what would enable them to have greater influence. Our analysis in this paper draws on Lukes’ concepts of power [2005. Power: A Radical View. 2nd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan] and Arvanitakis’ framework of citizenship engagement and empowerment [in Arvanitakis, J., and E. Sidoti. 2011. “The Politics of Change: Where to for Young People and Politics.” In Their Own Hands: Can Young People Change Australia?, edited by L. Walsh and R. Black, 11–20. Melbourne: ACER Press], but also builds on an emerging scholarship concerned with the geographic dimensions of young people’s citizenship engagement and action, as well as with the affective, relational and temporal dimensions of this engagement and action. Our findings suggest that power works in different ways to both constrain and liberate young people as citizens – sometimes at the same time. The paper concludes with an argument for the continuing need to understand young people’s lived and located experiences of engagement, power and influence in more nuanced and sophisticated ways. This includes reframing the discussion about young people’s experiences in terms of the nature of their democratic engagement and action rather than simply their citizenship.