Adolescents’ Educational Outcomes: Racial and Ethnic Variations in Peer Network Importance

Little attention has been paid to the role of peer social capital in the school context, especially as a predictor of adolescents’ academic outcomes. This study uses a nationally representative (N = 13,738, female = 51%), longitudinal sample and multilevel models to examine how peer networks impact educational achievement and attainment. Results reveal that, in addition to those factors typically associated with academic outcomes (e.g., school composition), two individual-level peer network measures, SES and heterogeneity, had significant effects. Although educational attainment was generally worse in low SES schools, for all ethnic groups higher attainment was associated with attending schools with higher concentrations of minority students. At the individual level, however, membership in integrated peer networks was negatively related to high school graduation for Asians, Latinos, and non-Hispanic whites, and to GPA for Asians and Latinos, as only African-American achievement increased in more racially/ethnically heterogeneous peer networks. Our results suggest that co-ethnic and co-racial peer friendship networks should not be viewed as obstacles to the educational accomplishments of today’s youth. In fact, in many cases the opposite was true, as results generally support the ethnic social capital hypothesis while providing little corroboration for oppositional culture theory. Results also suggest that co-racial and co-ethnic ties may mediate the negative effects of school choice, or more specifically of between-school socioeconomic segregation. Consequently, we conclude that school policies aimed at socioeconomic desegregation are likely to beneficially affect the academic outcomes of all race/ethnic groups

Racial Differences in the Relationship Between Infant Mortality and Socioeconomic Status

This study presents an ecological analysis of the relationship between infant mortality and economic status by race in metropolitan Ohio, using census data on mother\u27s residence and economic status determined by the percentage of low-income families living in each area. The analysis updates previous studies as white-non-white comparisons for total infant mortality are examined for the US censuses of 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000; and more detailed period- and broad cause-specific rates are presented for 2000. A pronounced inverse association is consistently found between income status and infant mortality for whites, while for non-whites this pattern first emerges in 1979-81, disappears during the 1980s and then returns more strongly during the 1990s. Similarly, the 2000 data reveal a consistent inverse pattern between income status and infant mortality for white and non-white neonatal and postneonatal death rates, as well as exogenous cause-specific death rates. It is concluded that low-income whites and non-whites have infant mortality rates substantially higher than the overall rate for the population. Policy implications are discussed

The Architectural Object as a Sociospatial System

Concerns with the social inadequacy of architecture and the movement towards user-centred design call for new perspectives and architectural visions that can help alleviate usability problems and make buildings more user-friendly and accommodating in supporting user operations. Accordingly, this study proposes the concept of the sociospatial system. This conceptualization is based on premises of the systems approach and a social science interpretation of the problem. We provide a foundation for relating spatial-material objects and sociocultural phenomena, for homogenizing different discipline perspectives, and for developing relational descriptions of the systems components. This allows the built environment to be represented in terms of the sociocultural organism that it accommodates. The elastic concept of the sociospatial system described herein can be used as a holistic framework for the study of sociospatial interactions; including facilities programming and design, where this way of thinking can facilitate a holistic interpretation of a wide array of considerations

Phenotyping and Adolescence-to-Adulthood Transitions Among Latinos

Phenotyping the system of prejudice and discrimination, which gives preference to European physical characteristics and devalues those of Amerindians, Africans, and Asians, affects the lives of many Latinos in the United States. This study examines the impact of phenotyping on academic and employment outcomes among Latino adolescents/young adults. Outcomes examined include the odds of graduating from high school, finding full-time employment after completing high school, and attending college. Socioeconomic status (measured at individual and school levels), family structure, quality of parent–child relationships, immigrant generational status, and other measures are included as controls. Multilevel modeling and logistic regression are utilized as analytical tools. Results indicate that, among Latinos, light skin and blue eyes are associated with better academic outcomes than having dark skin and brown eyes, while those with darker skin enter the labor market earlier than their light-skinned co-ethnics

Sob a sombra de Carmen Miranda e do carnaval: brasileiras em Los Angeles Under the shadow of Carmen Miranda and carnival: brazilian women in Los Angeles

Neste artigo, analiso como brasileiras de classes média e média alta em Los Angeles lidam com o fenômeno da exotização das suas imagens. Observo que, embora originalmente articuladas a partir de Hollywood (Carmen Miranda) nos limites da hierarquia entre as nações e do colonialismo, essas imagens são hoje alimentadas e recriadas também pelos próprios brasileiros. Uma das idéias centrais que defendo aqui é que embora tais imagens inicialmente restrinjam a ação das brasileiras, uma vez que sempre impõem o diálogo com os seus conteúdos, elas não o fazem permanentemente, ou seja, no processo de integração há espaço para a negociação de outras imagens e conteúdos e isto depende de fatores que vão além da exotização em si.<br>This article discusses how middle and upper-middle class Brazilian women deal with their exoticized images in Los Angeles. It points out that although originally articulated from Hollywood (Carmen Miranda), within the limits of the hierarchy of nations and colonialism, today these images are also fed and recreated by Brazilians. One of the central ideas presented is that, despite constraining the movements and actions of the women, imposing on them the need to dialogue with their content, these exotic images do not do it permanently. In other words, in the process of integration, there is always room for negotiation of other images and contents that depend on factor other than exoticization itself