Pollution, Prisons, and the Power of Women: Does Women\u27s Leadership in Government Decrease Emissions Caused by the Prison Industrial Complex?

Pollution caused by large corporations is the primary reason for environmental degradation and the prison industrial complex is no exception. The purpose of this study is to contextualize the carceral system and its relationship to climate change from a critical ecofeminist perspective. Critical ecofeminism contends that the patriarchal nature of capitalism forces women to generate forms of resistance against essentialist systems--which attributes to their broader understanding of environmental degradation and the oppression of marginalized identities. Using the Fact Sheet Archive on Women in State Legislatures (1997-2016) which reports the percentage of women-identified legislators and governors in the US, this study will explore whether or not the independent effect of mass incarceration emissions decreases when more women are represented in legislative bodies. This work is meant to contribute to growing bodies of knowledge concerning critical environment justice studies, racial capitalism, and other intersectional frameworks

Exploring College Student Identity among Young People with Foster Care Histories and Mental Health Challenges

Young adults with foster care histories experience unique barriers to success in postsecondary academic settings, including higher rates of mental health challenges. This study reports the perspectives of college students with foster care histories and self-identified mental health concerns (N = 18) about how these factors relate to their post-secondary academic experiences. Study participants describe managing their mental health amid other academic and life stressors, share their perspectives on campus-based support and help-seeking experiences, and highlight the need for acknowledgement of their foster care identities in conjunction with their developing college student identities. Participants make a case for programming to help with managing challenges related to overwhelming emotions in response to compounding stressors, balancing self-reliance with help-seeking when needed, and developing interpersonal relationships that reduce feelings of otherness in the campus context. Recommendations for improving student experiences include mental health services provided by people familiar with the lived experience of foster care, access to foster student-specific programs providing social, emotional, and academic support, and campus-wide efforts improve the conditions for academic success in the face of difficult personal histories and elevated mental health challenges

Exploring College Student Identity Among Young People With Foster Care Histories and Mental Health Challenges

For this study, researchers from Pathways Research and Training Center at Portland State University explored the perspectives of college students with foster care histories and self-identified mental health conditions. Researchers aimed to better understand how the relationship between students’ foster care identity and their newly forming student identities might impact academic success. We conducted interviews with students participating in the FUTURES intervention efficacy study, which evaluated the impact of a 9-month self-determination coaching program for students enrolled in their first two years of college at Portland State University, Portland Community College, or Mt. Hood Community College. Interview participants (N=18) were 72% female, 78% identified as non-white or mixed race, and 28% identified as LGBTQIA. The research team conducted thematic analysis of the interview transcripts by iteratively organizing inductive codes into broader themes and developing related findings. Four themes were developed related to the complexities of the foster student experience – including mental health challenges and other life stressors, and their impact on developing student identities in postsecondary education