Evaluating Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia as a Mediator of Relations between Minority Stress and Depressive Symptoms Among Sexual Minorities

Compared with heterosexuals, those with sexual minority identities (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual) are at significantly greater risk of psychopathology, including depression—the most common mental health disorder in the general population. A large body of research suggests that disparities in depression between heterosexuals and sexual minority groups are due, at least in part, to minority stress. Minority stress includes stressors unique to minority groups, such as marginalization and discrimination based on race or sexual identity. To date, most work demonstrating associations between minority stress and depression has used retrospective self- reports of minority stress exposure, so little is known about acute effects of minority stress exposure on physiological functions. In this study, I examine the potential moderating or mediating effect of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)—the high frequency component of heart rate variability associated with breathing—on associations between minority stress and symptoms of depression. Heterosexual (n = 43; 62.5% women) and sexual minority (n = 24; 59.3% women) college students viewed films designed to induce minority stress and completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Results indicated no differences in RSA reactivity or BDI scores between heterosexuals and sexual minority group members.No embargoAcademic Major: Psycholog

Relative group size and minority school success: the role of intergroup friendship and discrimination experiences

From an intergroup relations perspective, relative group size is associated with the quantity and quality of intergroup contact: more positive contact (i.e., intergroup friendship) supports, and negative contact (i.e., experienced discrimination) hampers, minority identity, and school success. Accordingly, we examined intergroup contact as the process through which perceived relative proportions of minority and majority students in school affected minority success (i.e., school performance, satisfaction, and self-efficacy). Turkish minorities (N = 1,060) were compared in four Austrian and Belgian cities which differ in their typical school ethnic composition. Across cities, minority experiences of intergroup contact fully mediated the impact of perceived relative group size on school success. As expected, higher minority presence impaired school success through restricting intergroup friendship and increasing experienced discrimination. The association between minority presence and discrimination was curvilinear, however, so that schools where minority students predominated offered some protection from discrimination. To conclude, the comparative findings reveal positive and negative intergroup contact as key processes that jointly explain when and how higher proportions of minority students affect school success

Final Report: Anchorage Disproportionate Minority Contact Study

This project examined disproportionate minority contact in Anchorage, Alaska. It was designed to provide a more nuanced understanding of disproportionate minority contact at the referral stage (when law enforcement officers refer youth to the Alaska Division of Juvenile Justice). To do so, we relied on community involvement and utilized different statistical techniques to examine the geography and development of disproportionate minority contact. Researchers partnered with practitioners from the Anchorage Disproportionate Minority Contact Initiative to structure the research process and to interpret and disseminate results. Geographic analyses were conducted to examine where the highest levels of disproportionate minority contact were occurring and longitudinal analyses were conducted to examine at what age disproportionate minority contact began. These analyses provided an understanding of disproportionate minority contact that was obscured when examining relative rate indices. Geographic analyses, for example, revealed high levels of disproportionate minority contact for Pacific youth (a group that would have traditionally been ignored because of its ‘small population’). Longitudinal analyses revealed that disproportionate minority contact began at age 13. Although relative rate indices are useful to identify broad patterns in disproportionate minority contact, they are less useful to drive action. We overcame this limitation with strong community partnerships and different statistical methods for disproportionate minority contact research. In the end, practitioners and researchers used data and research to develop strategic plans to reduce disproportionate minority contact.National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Grant No. 2005-IJ-CX-0013I. Disproportionate Minority Contact Table 1. Summary of National Relative Rate Indices, 2005 Figure 1. National Relative Rate Indices for Arrest Stage: 1990-2005 Figure 2. National Relative Rate Indices for Referral Stage: 1990-2005 Table 2. Summary of Relative Rate Indices for FY05 Table 3. Relative Rate Indices by Race Table 4. Relative Rate Indices by Race, Gender, and Type of Referral / II. Community Involvement Table 5. Strategies and Objectives for Anchorage DMC Initiative / III. Geography of Disproportionate Minority Contact Figure 3. Census Tracts in Municipality of Anchorage Table 6. Composition of Census Tracts by Race Figure 4. EB Rates of Referral by Race Table 7. EB Rates of Referral by Race Figure 5. Relative EB Rate Indices by Race Table 8. Distribution of Relative EB Rate Indices by Race Table 9. Descriptive Statistics for Relative EB Rate Indices by Race Figure 6. Minority Group with Highest Relative EB Rate Index / IV. Development of Disproportionate Minority Contact Table 10. Total Number of Charges for Anchorage Cohort, Age 10-17 Table 11. Age at First Charge for Anchorage Cohort Table 12. Racial Composition of Cohort and Population At-Risk Table 13. Bayesian Information Criterion Statistics Table 14. Predicted Average Referral Rates Table 15. Characteristics of Developmental Trajectories Figure 7. Predicted Average Referral Rates: Five-Group Model Table 16. Demographic Composition of Developmental Trajectories Figure 8. Predicted Group Membership Probabilities by Rac

Minorities and Venture Capital: A New Wave in American Business

Based on a survey and analysis of minority-oriented venture capital funds, assesses minority-owned businesses' access to venture capital, rates of return, the investment mix among industries, sources of funds, and outlook for minority-oriented investment

Colored minority games

We study the behavior of simple models for financial markets with widely spread frequency either in the trading activity of agents or in the occurrence of basic events. The generic picture of a phase transition between information efficient and inefficient markets still persists even when agents trade on widely spread time-scales. We derive analytically the dependence of the critical threshold on the distribution of time-scales. We also address the issue of market efficiency as a function of frequency. In an inefficient market we find that the size of arbitrage opportunities is inversely proportional to the frequency of the events on which they occur. Greatest asymmetries in market outcomes are concentrated on the most rare events. The practical limits of the applications of these ideas to real markets are discussed in a specific example.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Claiming spaces: Maori (indigenous persons) making the invalid valid

Identity is a shifting paradigm because of the constant movement between identities throughout our lives, depending on the context within which we are identifying ourselves. Once we identify, we place ourselves within a certain construct. When positioning within identity labels, multiplicitous experiences of marginalisation need to be accounted for in clarifying identity frameworks. Barile (2000) asserts that it is the multiple minority status of persons of minority ethnic identity with disabilities that positions them into multiple minority discriminatory experiences with greater limitations and discrimination than those with a single minority status identity. Barile (2000) also asserts that it challenges ethnic minority people with disabilities who work collectively and as a group where they are forced to work as individuals, often in isolation from their ethnic and cultural communities

Educational achievement and ethnicity in compulsory schooling

This paper analyzes the evolution of the attainment gap between white British born and ethnic minority pupils throughout compulsory schooling, from the age of 5 to 16. At the start of school, pupils from most ethnic groups substantially lag behind White British pupils, but these gaps decline for all groups throughout primary and secondary school. Language is the single most important factor why most ethnic minority pupils improve relative to White British pupils. Although poverty explains part of the differences in levels, it cannot explain why ethnic minority pupils gain relative to or even overtake White British pupils. All ethnic minority groups initially attend worse performing schools than White British pupils. However, more than 20 percent of the subsequent relative improvement can be attributed to ethnic minority pupils moving up to better schools relative to White British pupils. Finally, our results suggest the possibility that the relative improvement of ethnic minority pupils may be related to teacher incentives to concentrate attention on particular pupils, caused by the publication of school league tables at the end of secondary school