The Role of Sociopolitical Attitudes and Civic Education in the Civic Engagement of Black Youth

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108311/1/jora12117.pd

Elevated Depressive Symptoms In A Community Sample Of African-Americans And Whites

This study examined demographic and psychosocial correlates of elevated depressive symptoms among African-Americans and Whites from comparable socioeconomic and neighborhood backgrounds. 851 African-Americans and 597 Whites from adjacent census tracts were interviewed using previously validated indicators of depressive symptoms, social support, religious practices and various demographic characteristics. More Whites than African-Americans reported elevated depressive symptoms and the groups also differed on several demographic variables and psychosocial variables. Employment, marital status and age were salient demographic covariates for African Americans, while income was for Whites. For both groups, social support and church attendance were inversely associated with depressive symptoms. Prayer was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Future research should explore within racial/ethnic group variations in depressive symptoms. Insights also are needed into possible changes over time in the relationship between religious variables and depressive symptoms, and how social support limits depressive symptoms in diverse populations

It'S In My Hood: Understanding African American Boys’ Perception Of Safety In Their Neighborhoods

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117555/1/jcop21768.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117555/2/jcop21768_am.pd

Considering multiple levels of influence on adjustment in school: Ethnic- racial public regard, peer socialization, and social- emotional learning practices

Adolescence represents a developmental period of marked increase in the development of ethnic- racial identity (ERI) and the importance and influence of friends. Moreover, scores of studies have revealed that ERI and friendships are influential factors in many different academic and psychosocial outcomes for adolescents. However, the development of these relations between ERI, friendships, and academic and psychosocial adjustment do not occur in a vacuum. One context that likely shapes these relations is the classroom. In the current study, we investigated how ERI and peer socialization were related to academic and social efficacy over time, and how perceptions of social- emotional learning (SEL) practices in the classroom moderated these relations among 586 American middle school youth. Our analysis tested these hypothesized effects, controlling for potentially confounding the effects of friend selection. Results indicated that more positive ethnic- racial public regard predicted gains in students- perceived social efficacy with teachers but not their perceived social efficacy with peers or academic efficacy. In the assessment of peer socialization effects, youth became increasingly similar to their peers in regard to academic efficacy, social efficacy with peers, and social efficacy with teachers over time. Moderation analyses indicated that perceptions of greater exposure to SEL practices reduced students- susceptibility to their friends- influence in social efficacy with teachers. Together, these results highlight the unique and combined impact of ERI, peer influence, and SEL in the development of adolescents- social efficacy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168533/1/sode12501.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168533/2/sode12501_am.pd

Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa

Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11th International Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.Peer reviewe