Around the dial: Commercial radio and the production of popular music

Re-conceptualizing American commercial music radio as a pivotal site of culture production significantly advances the sociological study of popular music and culture. This project provides a radio-centered analysis of popular music production by examining radio\u27s role in the popular music industry at the programmer, station, market, and industry levels of analysis. Drawing on trade journalism and programmer interviews, the structural features of the radio industry, the operation of its music format system, and the work of radio programmers are systematically described. This account forms the basis for an analytical model of programming paradigms which seeks to explain variation among stations and programmers. In addition, the study uses quantitative data gathered from an original survey of radio programmers to examine how the industry structure and the adoption of programming paradigms influence music programming. The quantitative findings confirm the existence of distinct programming paradigms and their differential impact on levels of innovation and diversity in music programming. While music formats are found to constrain the music programming options of individual programmers, these parameters are negotiated differently by programmers adopting different programming paradigms. The study also reveals important distinctions between stations according to market size, and use of audience and music research data. Larger market stations rely more heavily on objective research and consequently produce more standardized music programming than those in smaller markets. The study demonstrates the importance of considering commercial music radio stations and programmers as relatively autonomous producers of popular music culture, and confirms the necessity of integrating the previously marginalized study of radio into the mainstream of popular music research

Unlocking the Black Box: A Multilevel Analysis of Preadolescent Children’s Coping

This random assignment experimental study examined the intersection of children’s coping and physiologic stress reactivity and recovery patterns in a sample of preadolescent boys and girls. A sample of 82 fourth-grade and fifth-grade (Mage = 10.59 years old) child–parent dyads participated in the present study. Children participated in the Trier Social Stress Test and were randomly assigned to one of two post–Trier Social Stress Test experimental coping conditions—behavioral distraction or cognitive avoidance. Children’s characteristic ways of coping were examined as moderators of the effect of experimental coping condition on cortisol reactivity and recovery patterns. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that children’s characteristic coping and experimental coping condition interacted to predict differential cortisol recovery patterns. Children who characteristically engaged in primary control engagement coping strategies were able to more quickly down-regulate salivary cortisol when primed to distract themselves than when primed to avoid, and vice versa. The opposite pattern was true for characteristic disengagement coping in the context of coping condition, suggesting that regulatory fit between children’s characteristic ways of coping and cues from their coping environment may lead to more and less adaptive physiologic recovery profiles. This study provides some of the first evidence that coping “gets under the skin” and that children’s characteristic ways of coping may constrain or enhance a child’s ability to make use of environmental coping resources

Reducing the Biological and Psychological Toxicity of Poverty‐related Stress: Initial Efficacy of the BaSICSIntervention for Early Adolescents

This proof‐of‐concept study tests the initial efficacy of the Building a Strong Identity and Coping Skills (BaSICS) intervention, a selective prevention of internalizing problems program for early adolescents exposed to high levels of poverty‐related stress. Eighty‐four early adolescents (Mage = 11.36 years) residing in very low‐income neighborhoods were randomized to receive the 16‐session intervention (n = 44) or to an assessment‐only control condition (n = 40). BaSICS teaches coping skills, social identity development, and collective social action to empower youth with the ability to connect with members of their communities and cope with poverty‐related stress in positive and collaborative ways. Pretest–posttest analyses showed that intervention adolescents acquired problem‐solving and cognitive‐restructuring skills and reduced their reliance on avoidant coping. In addition, HPA reactivity was significantly reduced in the intervention youth, but not controls. Finally, intervention youth\u27s internalizing and somatic symptoms as reported by both youth and their parents, showed significant reductions over time, whereas control youth had no such changes. Results provide strong support for this approach to strength‐building and symptom reduction in a population of early adolescents exposed to poverty‐related stress