Disparities in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Mental Health Services in the U.S.

This is one of a series of five papers outlining the particular domains and dimensions of inequality where new research may yield a better understanding of responses to this growing issue.Mental health is recognized as a central determinant of individual well-being, family relationships, and engagement in society, yet there are considerable variations in mental health and mental health care according to race and ethnicity among youth in the U.S.In their report, Margarita Alegría and colleagues investigate disparities in mental health and mental health services for minority youth. Taking a developmental perspective, the authors explore four areas that may give rise to inequalities in mental health outcomes, highlight specific protective factors and barriers to care, and, finally, outline an agenda for future research

Rural Byzantine landscapes and societies :new approaches to characterisation and analysi

PhD ThesisLandscapes are intricate, complex and multi-layered products of social dynamics and cultural practices within specific environments. Over the past decade researchers have advanced the study of the perceptions and experiences of past people by studying the organization of social space. The growing international recognition of landscape studies highlights the neglect of landscape in contemporary Byzantine studies. It is vital that Byzantine studies consider new approaches to the organisation of landscape and how it is experienced, in order to move beyond a dehumanised history reliant on the discussion of historically-recorded political events. This thesis addresses these issues, analysing space as an expression of social identity, and increasing our understanding of the interplay between Byzantine rural society and eastern Mediterranean landscapes. The heart of this thesis is a detailed historic analysis of the spatial composition of the landscapes of two contrasting case-studies, Pisidia (Turkey) and the Troodos Mountain foothills (Cyprus). To achieve this retrogressive landscape analysis and Historic Landscape Characterisation has been implemented. These modern techniques map the historic processes that shape the landscape. These methods are combined with the results of ceramic survey to provide further chronological definition to the historic landscape study. This is a unique and innovative methodology that has not been previously attempted in historic landscape analysis. This methodology draws on both high-quality research generated by international research teams (Sydney Cyprus Survey Project and Pisidia Survey Project) and original fieldwork by the author. This explores the relationships between Historic Landscape Character and the ceramics found within the landscape. The results of this thesis have revealed new historical landscape narratives, demonstrating how the combination of methodologies revealed a much richer history than each technique alone would provide. This detailed framework of the past allows a more comprehensive exploration of the influence of landscapes on the experience and perceptions of people in the past.Arts and Humanities Research Council, School of History, Classics and Archaeology and the Humanities and Social Studies Faculty of Newcastle Universit

Unmet Needs are Associated with Increased Stress and Poor Physical and Mental Health in Early Adulthood

Material hardship, such as not being able to pay bills, negatively affects both physical and mental health. This research brief examines how different types of material hardship (difficulty paying for food, bills, and health care) are associated with self-rated health, depression, sleep problems, and suicidal thoughts among U.S. young adults (ages 24-32)

Community-Based Research: Analysis of Outcomes for Learning and Social Change: An Introduction

Broadly defined, community-based research (CBR) is a process of conducting research that embraces and integrates the participation and local knowledge of people in communities and organizations with the goal of informing efforts to achieve social change. Although several publications on CBR exist, they primarily focus on processes, methods, and tools for developing and implementing CBR projects. This special issue of the Journal of Rural Social Sciences builds from that knowledge base, analyzes the outcomes of real-world CBR projects, and assesses learning outcomes for students, faculty, organizations, and community residents. This introduction to the special issue provides an overview of the academic and practical applications of community-based research that aim to achieve learning outcomes and social change for both university- and community-based partners. It includes a review of theoretical concepts and methodological approaches comprising CBR, followed by a summary of the articles in this issue

Does poor neighbourhood reputation create a neighbourhood effect on employment? The results of a field experiment in the UK

There are substantial variations in labour market outcomes between neighbourhoods. One potential partial explanation is that residents of some neighbourhoods face discrimination from employers. Although studies of deprived areas have recorded resident perceptions of discrimination by employers and negative employer perceptions of certain areas, until now there has been no direct evidence on whether employers treat job applicants differently by area of residence. This paper reports a unique experiment to test for a neighbourhood reputation effect involving 2001 applications to 667 real jobs by fictional candidates nominally resident in neighbourhoods with poor and bland reputations. The experiment found no statistically significant difference in employer treatment of applicants from these areas, indicating that people living in neighbourhoods with poor reputations did not face ‘postcode discrimination’ in the labour market, at the initial selection stage

Body Image Dissatisfaction: Responses Between Male and Female Exercisers and Non-Exercisers

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(3): 249-257, 2016.Body image dissatisfaction (BID) is defined as the difference between actual and desired image. Body image or BID is subject to high levels of societal pressure and discrepancies are frequent between actual and desired image. This study examined BID among male exercisers (ME), female exercisers (FE), male non-exercisers (MNE) and female non-exercisers (FNE). Further, the potential relationship of personal BID on individual’s beliefs regarding what their peers’ perceptions would be was examined. College-aged men (n = 169) and women (n = 246) used the Stunkard scale to self-assess body image. Participants labeled a) which silhouette they felt accurately represents their body, b) which silhouette they would like to be, c) which silhouette reflects other women’s perception of them and d) which silhouette reflects other men’s perception of them. ANOVA detected a significant difference among groups. Follow up tests revealed less dissatisfaction (score closer to zero) (p \u3c 0.05) for ME (-0.09 + 1.15) than MNE (0.61 + 1.36), FE (0.87 + 0.92) and FNE (1.13 + 1.09) and, less BID for MNE vs. FNE. Specific correlations for anticipated perceptions of male and female peers ranged from 0.05 to 0.27. Current results confirm ME desires to be larger (i.e. muscular) while MNE and females regardless of exercise status desire to be smaller. Although limited by a narrow range of dissatisfaction score, the current study suggests personal body image perceptions are not meaningfully related to what individuals anticipate their peers will think of them

Rainbow Free Colorings and Rainbow Numbers for x−y=z2x-y=z^2

An exact r-coloring of a set $S$ is a surjective function $c:S \rightarrow \{1, 2, \ldots,r\}$. A rainbow solution to an equation over $S$ is a solution such that all components are a different color. We prove that every 3-coloring of $\mathbb{N}$ with an upper density greater than $(4^s-1)/(3 \cdot 4^s)$ contains a rainbow solution to $x-y=z^k$. The rainbow number for an equation in the set $S$ is the smallest integer $r$ such that every exact $r$-coloring has a rainbow solution. We compute the rainbow numbers of $\mathbb{Z}_p$ for the equation $x-y=z^k$, where $p$ is prime and $k\geq 2$

Understanding welfare conditionality in the context of a generational habitus: A qualitative study of older citizens in England.

In many welfare states, 'austerity' policies have ignited debates about the fairness and cost-effectiveness of universal welfare benefits, with benefits received by older citizens a particular topic of concern. Empirical studies suggest that conditionality generates problems of access and uptake but, to date, there has been little research on how different conditions of entitlement are understood by older citizens. This study drew on interviews with 29 older citizens from three areas of England to explore how eligibility for and uptake of different kinds of welfare benefits were understood. In interviews, current entitlement was understood in relation to a generational habitus, in which 'our generation' was framed as sharing cohort experiences, and moral orientations to self-reliance, hard work and struggle. Entitlement to some welfare benefits was taken for granted as a reward owed by the state to its citizens for hard-earned lives. State transfers such as pensions, free travel and fuel subsidies were congruent with a nationalised generational habitus, and fostered recognition, self-worth and the sense of a generation as a collective. In contrast, transfers contingent on economic or need-based conditionality were more explicitly framed as 'benefits', and negatively associated with vulnerability and moral contestation. Uptake was therefore often incompatible with their generational habitus. Calls for introducing further conditionality to benefits for older adults are often based on claims that this will increase fairness and equality. Our analysis suggests, however, that introducing conditionality has the potential to promote inequality and foster differentiation and division, within the older population and between generations.This work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)’s School for Public Health Research (SPHR).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2015.06.00

A model of how targeted and universal welfare entitlements impact on material, psycho-social and structural determinants of health in older adults.

A growing body of research attests to the impact of welfare regimes on health and health equity. However, the mechanisms that link different kinds of welfare entitlement to health outcomes are less well understood. This study analysed the accounts of 29 older adults in England to delineate how the form of entitlement to welfare and other resources (specifically, whether this was understood as a universal entitlement or as targeted to those in need) impacts on the determinants of health. Mechanisms directly affecting access to material resources (through deterring uptake of benefits) have been well documented, but those that operate through psychosocial and more structural pathways less so, in part because they are more challenging to identify. Entitlement that was understood collectively, or as arising from financial or other contributions to a social body, had positive impacts on wellbeing beyond material gains, including facilitating access to important health determinants: social contact, recognition and integration. Entitlement understood as targeted in terms of individualised concepts of need or vulnerability deterred access to material resources, but also fostered debate about legitimacy, thus contributing to negative impacts on individual wellbeing and the public health through the erosion of social integration. This has important implications for both policy and evaluation. Calls to target welfare benefits at those in most need emphasise direct material pathways to health impact. We suggest a model for considering policy change and evaluation which also takes into account how psychosocial and structural pathways are affected by the nature of entitlement