Parental Relationship Quality and Stereotypic Role Endorsement as Predictors of Marriage Attitudes of African Americans

Bernasha M. Anderson Loyola University Chicago PARENTAL RELATIONSHIP QUALITY AND STEREOTYPIC ROLE ENDORSEMENT AS PREDICTORS OF MARRIAGE ATTITUDES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS As the marriage rate of African Americans continues to decline, concern has been expressed about the stability of the African American family system among members of the community. There is currently a dearth of studies examining marriage attitudes among African Americans in the counseling psychology literature. The current study sought to expand the existing scholarship by exploring parental relationship quality and stereotypic role endorsement as predictors of African American women and men\u27s marriage attitudes. Additionally, gender was examined as a moderator. Participants (n = 140) completed three measures including the Parental Marital Conflict Scale (Wang, 2004), the Marital Attitude Scale (Shi, 2009), and the Stereotypic Roles of Black Women Scale (Thomas, Witherspoon, & Speight, 2004). Findings indicated that parental conflict and stereotypic role endorsement do not predict marriage attitudes of African American women and men. Support for gender as a moderator was not found as the current sample contained a dearth of African American male-identified participants. Age emerged as a statistically significant predictor of marriage beliefs. As such, younger participants reported more favorable marriage attitudes compared to older participants who reported less favorable marital beliefs. Gender differences were also found. Women reported greater endorsement of the Mammy and Superwoman stereotypic roles compared to men. Implications for clinical practice, suggestions for future research, and study limitations are discussed

A heterozygous variant in the human cardiac miR-133 gene, MIR133A2, alters miRNA duplex processing and strand abundance

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression. Sequential cleavage of miRNA precursors results in a ~22 nucleotide duplex of which one strand, the mature miRNA, is typically loaded into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) while the passenger strand is degraded. Very little is known about how genetic variation might affect miRNA biogenesis and function. RESULTS We re-sequenced the MIR1-1, MIR1-2, MIR133A1, MIR133A2, and MIR133B genes, that encode the cardiac-enriched miRNAs, miR-1 and miR-133, in 120 individuals with familial atrial fibrillation and identified 10 variants, including a novel 79T > C MIR133A2 substitution. This variant lies within the duplex at the 3' end of the mature strand, miR-133a-3p, and is predicted to prevent base-pairing and weaken thermostability at this site, favoring incorporation of the passenger strand, miR-133a-5p, into RISC. Genomic DNA fragments containing miR-133a-2 precursor sequences with 79T and 79C alleles were transfected into HeLa cells. On Northern blotting the 79T allele showed strong expression of miR-133a-3p with weak expression of miR-133a-5p. In contrast, the 79C allele had no effect on miR-133a-3p but there was a significant increase (mean 3.6-fold) in miR-133a-5p levels. Deep sequencing of small RNA libraries prepared from normal human and murine atria confirmed that nearly all the mature miR-133a was comprised of miR-133a-3p and that levels of miR-133a-5p were very low. A number of isomiRs with variations at 5' and 3' ends were identified for both miR-133a-3p and miR-133a-5p, with 2 predominant miR-133a-3p isomiRs and one predominant miR-133a-5p isomiR. Bioinformatics analyses indicate that the major miR-133a-3p and 5p isomiRs have numerous predicted target mRNAs, only a few of which are in common. CONCLUSIONS Multiple miR-133a isomiRs with potential different mRNA target profiles are present in the atrium in humans and mice. We identified a human 79T > C MIR133A2 variant that alters miRNA processing and results in accumulation of the miR-133a-5p strand that is usually degraded

“Listen and Let It Flow”: A Researcher and Participant Reflect on the Qualitative Research Experience

Ethnographic research involves prolonged and often personal interaction between the researcher and research participants. This paper is a collaboration between a social work researcher and a research participant who became acquainted through the researcher’s ethnographic fieldwork for her dissertation. Despite differing in numerous and significant ways, not the least of which are age, class, education, and race, the two women developed a quasi-friendship after the researcher exited the field–a time when many researcher-participant relationships wane or terminate entirely. The two recorded and transcribed a series of informal conversations wherein they reflected on their experiences in the research process. Of particular salience is the research participant’s perspective of the immaterial benefits she experienced through her participation in the research and her perception of the qualities of a “good” qualitative researcher: one who approaches listening as a practice and cultivates relationships with participants slowly and naturally. The authors’ reflections indicate that participants may be able to offer valuable feedback on the research experience, and researchers might use participants’ unique perspectives to alter their research approach and/or techniques

Introduction: Assuming a Critical Lens in Legal Studies: Reconciling Laws and Reality

Social justice and civil rights movements center on protecting and advancing the rights and interests of people across assumed and assigned identities, affinity groups, and socially constructed realities. They confront and demand reform and transformation of systems, structures, institutions, and laws that frustrate and foreclose social and racial justice. For the law to be relevant it must respond to shifting priorities and goals and to demands for change that emerge through and in response to these movements. The content and expression of law must be guided by inherent principles of equity, inclusion, and justice. Those currently in the legal profession and those preparing to enter it are engaging and learning the law during a syndemic, which is surfacing and intersecting with entrenched societal fissures and fault lines resulting from historic, pervasive, and continuing structural, systemic, and institutional inequality. The dynamic nature of the current reality shaped by a global pandemic, a racial reckoning, and unconscionable and unsustainable power, and resource inequities between people and communities urge us to reflect on the role of the law in creating, maintaining, and facilitating inequality. This moment also calls us to examine the responsibility of law to cure persisting inequality, to redress the injury it inflicts, and to curate a more equitable reality for all people

Diptera survey in human corpses in the north of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Aiming to verify the species associated with the decomposition process carried out by necrophagous insects in human bodies, 11 species of dipterans were collected in 10 distinct cadavers from April 2014 to March 2016, resulting in individuals of the families Calliphoridae (Calliphora lopesi (Mello, 1962), Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794), Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819), Hemilucilia segmentaria (Fabricius, 1805), Hemilucilia semidiaphana (Rondani, 1850), Lucilia cuprina (Wiedemann, 1830) and Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann, 1819)), Sarcophagidae (Peckia (Euboettcheria) australis (Fabricius, 1805) and Peckia (Sarcodexia) lambens (Wiedemann, 1830)), Muscidae (Muscidae sp.) and Stratiomyidae (Hermetia illucens (L. 1758)). Regarding the seasonality, dipterans were found in corpses in the four seasons, with distinct richness in each one. Dipterans were observed in corpses in all phases of decomposition (coloration, gaseous, colliquative and remains), the greater richness being verified in the gaseous phase. The data demonstrate differences in ecological succession, evidencing specialization of the insects found in relation to seasonality and the decomposition phase

Exploring a School-University Model for Professional Development with Classroom Staff: Teaching Trauma-Informed Approaches

Schools serving communities with high rates of poverty face the profound challenge of meeting the needs of students who are often exposed to significant family and environmental stressors and trauma. Classroom staff are vital members of schoolcommunities who often work closely with students with the highest needs, but they are typically not provided with professionaldevelopment opportunities to develop skills for social-emotional learning intervention. This study, conducted in three parts, describes (1) a needs assessment with classroom staff to determine their learning needs, (2) the development and implementation of a series ofprofessional development workshops that incorporated findings from the needs assessment, and (3) post-workshop surveys and focus groups to assess the impact of the workshops and identify ongoing professional development needs. Findings include themes of continuing concern regarding learning, school climate, and the need to address stress and trauma in students\u27 lives. Additionally, findings point to the workplace environment as creating barriers for classroom staff to implement new strategies and make use of the knowledge and skills gained in the workshops. Implications for building or enhancing a trauma-informed school community are discussed

A Comprehensive Analysis of Aquatic Programming at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

This article provides a comprehensive examination of aquatic programming at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HBCUs consist of public, private, 2-year, and 4-year institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Historically, HBCUs provided descendants of the enslaved access to higher education opportunities (Brown, Donahoo, & Bertrand, 2001). HBCUs now serve a more diverse community and the core focus remains on inclusion, social justice, diversity, empowerment, leadership, and cultural competence (Kennedy, 2012; Rawlins, 2018). Consequently, HBCUs may provide an ideal environment to address aquatic activity and the drowning disparity in the African American community. In the current study, researchers sent a survey to 102 HBCUs to better assess the prevalence of aquatics programming at these institutions. Approximately 38 percent of the HBCUs responded to the survey. The results of this study indicate that there is inconsistent institutional knowledge about competitive and non-competitive swimming programs from the past to the present. However, 31 percent of participants reported offering swim classes to members of the campus community. Additionally, 51 percent of participants reported offering swim courses for college credit. Most importantly, 49 percent of participants indicated a desire to build or expand aquatics programming. The drowning disparity is a result of a cycle that includes historical barriers that denied many African Americans’ access to aquatic facilities and programming (Anderson, 2017). Identifying aquatics programming at HBCUs is a critical step to addressing the drowning disparity

A Comprehensive Analysis of Aquatic Programming at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

This article provides a comprehensive examination of aquatic programming at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HBCUs consist of public, private, 2-year, and 4-year institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Historically, HBCUs provided descendants of the enslaved access to higher education opportunities (Brown, Donahoo, & Bertrand, 2001). HBCUs now serve a more diverse community and the core focus remains on inclusion, social justice, diversity, empowerment, leadership, and cultural competence (Kennedy, 2012; Rawlins, 2018). Consequently, HBCUs may provide an ideal environment to address aquatic activity and the drowning disparity in the African American community. In the current study, researchers sent a survey to 102 HBCUs to better assess the prevalence of aquatics programming at these institutions. Approximately 38 percent of the HBCUs responded to the survey. The results of this study indicate that there is inconsistent institutional knowledge about competitive and non-competitive swimming programs from the past to the present. However, 31 percent of participants reported offering swim classes to members of the campus community. Additionally, 51 percent of participants reported offering swim courses for college credit. Most importantly, 49 percent of participants indicated a desire to build or expand aquatics programming. The drowning disparity is a result of a cycle that includes historical barriers that denied many African Americans’ access to aquatic facilities and programming (Anderson, 2017). Identifying aquatics programming at HBCUs is a critical step to addressing the drowning disparity

Exploring the Millennial’s Work Meaning and Job Engagement Experience: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study

The millennial generation is now most of the workforce population. This generation’s engagement behaviors, expectations, and mindsets differ from those of other generations, and directly impact organizational performance. Despite existing generalizations about Millennials, there is a gap in the literature relative to how this generation experiences meaning and engagement in the workplace. The overarching research question was developed to broaden the understanding of the work experiences across this cohort, and further inform solutions that affect Millennials’ meaning and engagement with their jobs. To address this transcendental phenomenological study’s research problem and purpose, qualitative data were collected from multiple sources of evidence including semistructured interviews, an engagement survey, and current literature. This study was framed using the concept of engagement and meaningful work across generational cohorts as defined by Khan, Hoole and Bonnema. The results of the data analysis revealed 6 themes that characterized meaningful work for Millennials: (a) making an impact, (b) displaying value for reward, (c) enjoying work/fun, (d) contentment with work team, (e) having a support system, and (f) physical/mental/creative exertion. The data analysis also revealed 12 themes that characterized Millennials’ engagement: (a) connection, (b) collaboration, (c) team focused, (d) direction, (e) tools, (f) limited distractions, (g) fun, (h) communication, (i) trust, (j) openness, (k) creativity, and (l) mentoring. Business leaders can use the results of this study to promote positive social change by developing policies and processes that improve Millennials’ engagement in meaningful work and enhance future business outcomes

We Just Treat Everyone the Same : LGBTQ Aquatic Management Strategies, Barriers and Implementation

This study examined the management of aquatic venues in a number of areas (facilities, programming, human resource management, marketing, policies) as it pertains to LGBTQ participants and participation. The study utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 aquatic managers to examine steps that are currently being taken (or lack thereof) when it comes to creating environments that are perceived to be open, or closed, to LGBTQ participants. A grounded theory-based process of data collection and analysis resulted in emergent themes. These themes included: (a) gendered spaces, (b) non-aquatic initiatives, (c) staff knowledgeability, (d) departmental and organizational mission, (e) aquatic-specific programming and regulations and (f) barriers to inclusion. Management strategies around these emergent themes are discussed, with implications for aquatic managers regarding the creating of inclusive environments for LGBTQ participant populations