Overcoming: A Concept Analysis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86851/1/j.1744-6198.2011.00227.x.pd

A Trivers-Willard Effect in Contemporary Humans: Male-Biased Sex Ratios among Billionaires

BACKGROUND: Natural selection should favour the ability of mothers to adjust the sex ratio of offspring in relation to the offspring's potential reproductive success. In polygynous species, mothers in good condition would be advantaged by giving birth to more sons. While studies on mammals in general provide support for the hypothesis, studies on humans provide particularly inconsistent results, possibly because the assumptions of the model do not apply. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we take a subset of humans in very good condition: the Forbe's billionaire list. First, we test if the assumptions of the model apply, and show that mothers leave more grandchildren through their sons than through their daughters. We then show that billionaires have 60% sons, which is significantly different from the general population, consistent with our hypothesis. However, women who themselves are billionaires have fewer sons than women having children with billionaires, suggesting that maternal testosterone does not explain the observed variation. Furthermore, paternal masculinity as indexed by achievement, could not explain the variation, since there was no variation in sex ratio between self-made or inherited billionaires. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Humans in the highest economic bracket leave more grandchildren through sons than through daughters. Therefore, adaptive variation in sex ratios is expected, and human mothers in the highest economic bracket do give birth to more sons, suggesting similar sex ratio manipulation as seen in other mammals

Locality, Environment and Law: The Case of Town and Village Greens

In this paper we explore one type of commons - town and village greens - which are an important feature of the rural and, increasingly, the urban, English landscape. Greens are an ancient form of commons, but they are increasingly recognised as having contemporary significance, particularly because of their potential to act as a reservoir for natural resources and their enjoyment. They are, in other words, emerging out of a 'feudal box'. We focus on the fact that town and village greens are recognised in law by their association with a group of people defined by their physical proximity to the land which is to be registered. Although this does not in itself constitute a community, the law requires for the registration of land as a town or village green a certain degree of organisation and self-selection and this has in the past fostered both a sense of subjective belief in 'belonging', as well as exclusion (the rights of local people being potentially 'diluted' by the use of the land by those from outside the locality). As well as helping to produce and recognise community and community identity, then, commons may simultaneously produce the conditions for disassociation and exclusion. In this context, we consider how law defines and upholds notions of locality, and also the ways in which an increasingly powerful environmental discourse might be seen to challenge the primacy given to locality as a way of defining and creating greens and, more generally, the practical effects of this on how decisions are made about preserving these spaces as 'common'. We consider the scope of the public trust doctrine as providing an example of how law is capable of accommodating ideas of shared nature and natural resources, in this case providing a form of public ownership over natural resources. Whilst our analysis is rooted firmly in the law relating to town and village greens in England and Wales, this body of law displays certain important features more broadly applicable to a range of other types of common land, and raises more general issues about how law supports certain interests in land, often to the exclusion of others

Application of the Minority Stress Theory: Understanding the Mental Health of Undocumented Latinx Immigrants

This paper applies the Minority Stress framework to data collected from an ongoing community- based participatory research project with health and social service agencies in Southeast Michigan. We examine the stressors and coping strategies employed by undocumented Latinx immigrants and their families to manage immigration- related stress. We conducted in- depth interviews with 23 immigrant clients at Federally Qualified Health Care Centers (FQHC) in Southeast Michigan and 28 in- depth interviews with staff at two FQHC’s and a non- profit agency serving immigrants. Findings suggest that immigrants face heightened anxiety and adverse mental health outcomes because of unique minority identity- related stressors created by a growing anti- immigrant social environment. Chronic stress experienced stems from restrictive immigration policies, anti- immigrant rhetoric in the media and by political leaders, fear of deportation, discriminatory events, concealment, and internalized anti- immigrant sentiment. Though identity can be an important effect modifier in the stress process, social isolation in the immigrant community has heightened the impact of stress and impeded coping strategies. These stressors have resulted in distrust in community resources, uncertainty about future health benefits, delayed medical care, and adverse mental health outcomes. Findings provide a framework for understanding the unique stressors experienced by immigrants and strategies for interventions by social service agencies.HighlightsMental health disparities affecting undocumented Latinx immigrants.Novel application of Minority Stress Theory to a marginalized population.Effect of current sociopolitical climate on Latinx immigrants and their families.Stressors at multiple levels affecting undocumented Latinx immigrant populations and their families.Community- based participatory approaches to public health research and practice.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163941/1/ajcp12455_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163941/2/ajcp12455.pd