“Your Kids or Your Job”: Navigating Low Wage Work and Parenting in Contexts of Poverty

Contexts of poverty seem to magnify vulnerabilities in mothers, especially women who have few resources for coping and little support in parenting. Adding to the challenges of poverty are government mandates to move women off of welfare into the workforce. Focusing on the experiences of four mothers who moved from welfare into the low-wage workforce and then back to unemployment, this study offers a description of how these mothers and their adolescent children navigate and make sense of low-wage work, family life, and cumulative disadvantage

Comparison of the obturation density of gutta percha using cold lateral condensation and varying continuous wave of condensation techniques

This study compared the density of gutta percha when using cold lateral condensation (CLC) and continuous wave of condensation (CWC) under varying temperature and plugger depths. Seventy acrylic blocks were instrumented. The blocks were weighed and assigned to seven groups. Group 1 was obturated with CLC. The remaining six groups were obturated with CWC. Groups 2-4 were obturated by advancing the plugger to 3 mm short of the working length at 100°C, 200°C, and 300°C, respectively, and then backfilled. In groups 5-7 the plugger was advanced to 5 mm short of working length. The blocks were weighed again after obturation. Data were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA and Tukey\u27s tests. Results indicated a significantly greater density of gutta percha when using CWC compared to CLC and when the plugger was advanced to 3 mm short of working length (p.05)

Wounds and writing : building trauma-informed approaches to writing pedagogy.

This dissertation builds a trauma-informed approach to writing pedagogy informed by writing studies scholarship about trauma and inclusive pedagogy, clinical social work literature on trauma-informed care, and interviews with nine current University of Louisville writing faculty about their experiences academically supporting distressed students. I identify three central touchstones—“students are coddled,” “teacher’s aren’t therapists,” and “institutions don’t support trauma-informed teaching”—in scholarly and public debates regarding what to do about student trauma/distress in higher education. After exploring the valid concerns and misconceptions underpinning these touchstones, I illustrate how clinical research offers a way forward to help writing instructors develop more complex understandings of and responses to trauma’s impact on their classrooms. I conclude by describing six criteria that define Trauma-Informed Writing Pedagogy (TIWP), an approach to writing instruction that faculty and administrators can adapt to their own teaching styles and contexts. Appendix 2 describes TIWP in detail, offering suggestions, resources, and other materials. This instructional approach has important implications for fostering inclusive pedagogies and responding to mental health crises across college campuses

A Longitudinal Study of Parental Anti-Substance-Use Socialization for Early Adolescents’ Substance Use Behaviors

The present study examines the role of communication in shaping norms and behaviors with significant personal and societal consequences. Based on primary socialization theory and the general theory of family communication, parental anti-substance-use socialization processes were hypothesized to influence early adolescents’ substance use norms and behaviors. Using longitudinal data (N =1,059), the results revealed that parent-adolescent prevention communication about substance use in the media and parental anti-substance-use injunctive norms were positively associated with early adolescents’ personal anti-substance-use norms, which, in turn, led to decreases in recent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. It was also found that family expressiveness and structural traditionalism positively related to the hypothesized association between parental socialization processes and early adolescents’ norms and behaviors

“Applied” Aspects of the Drug Resistance Strategies Project

This paper discusses the applied aspects of our Drug Resistance Strategies Project. We argue that a new definitional distinction is needed to expand the notion of “applied” from the traditional notion of utilizing theory, which we call “applied.1”, in order to consider theory-grounded, theory testing and theory developing applied research. We label this new definition “applied.2” research. We then explain that our descriptive work describing the social processes of adolescent substance use, identity and use, and drug norms, as well as the subsequent development and dissemination of our keepin’ it REAL middle school substance use curriculum are examples of “applied.1” work. In the “applied.2” realm, we include our theory testing (e.g., tests of multiculturalism, narrative and performance theories, the Focus Theory of Norms) and theory-developing (e.g., parent-child communication, cultural grounding) research as well our new directions in theory development (e.g., adaptation processes). We conclude with a call for space in the discipline for “applied.2” work that builds and tests theory through application to significant social issues that contribute to our communities. We note obstacles in departmental and scholarly norms but express optimism about the prospects for “applied.2” research in the future of communication research

Narrative Means to Preventative Ends: A Narrative Engagement Framework For Designing Prevention Interventions

This article describes a Narrative Engagement Framework (NEF) for guiding communication-based prevention efforts. This framework suggests that personal narratives have distinctive capabilities in prevention. The article discusses the concept of narrative, links narrative to prevention, and discusses the central role of youth in developing narrative interventions. As illustration, the authors describe how the NEF is applied in the keepin\u27 it REAL adolescent drug prevention curriculum, pose theoretical directions, and offer suggestions for future work in prevention communication

More than Just Openness: Developing and Validating a Measure of Targeted Parent-Child Communication about Alcohol

Research addressing parent-child communication on the topic of alcohol use relies heavily on assessing frequency of discussions and general assessments of openness in parent-child communication, ignoring the complexity of this communication phenomenon. This study adds to the literature by articulating a conceptualization and developing a measurement of parent-child communication—targeted parent-child communication about alcohol—and comparing the efficacy of targeted parent-child communication about alcohol in predicting positive expectancies of alcohol use and recent alcohol use. The predictive power of general openness in parent-child communication and frequency of communication about alcohol also were assessed. Students in 5th and 6th grade (N = 1407) from 29 public schools completed surveys. Targeted parent-child communication about alcohol was negatively associated with both outcomes. Frequency and general openness were only negatively associated with positive expectancies regarding alcohol. Implications of these findings for the etiology and prevention of substance use are discussed

Coming to the New D.A.R.E.: A Preliminary Test of the Officer-Taught Elementary keepin’ it REAL Curriculum

The present study reports a preliminary evaluation of D.A.R.E.’s new elementary school keepin’ it REAL substance abuse prevention program. Given the widespread dissemination of D.A.R.E., this evaluation, even though of short term effects, has important implications for national prevention efforts. The new prevention curriculum teaches social and emotional competencies such as decision making and resistance skills. Social and emotional competencies and other risk factors were examined among students (N = 943) in 26 classrooms, 13 classrooms in the treatment condition (n = 359) and 13 classrooms in the control condition (n = 584) using a quasi-experimental matched group design. Pretest comparisons of treatment and control groups were completed, along with attrition analyses, and hierarchical logistic and linear regressions were computed to assess the intervention. The results revealed that the intervention produced significant effects on preventative factors such as the likelihood of resisting peer pressure, increased responsible decision making knowledge and decision-making skills, and confidence in being able to explain why they would refuse offers of cigarettes. The results of this study suggest that D.A.R.E.’s elementary keepin’ it REAL program has promise as a social and emotional learning (SEL) based prevention program

Written in Stone

John Peter Zenger, Elijah Lovejoy, Gordon Parks, Walter Winchell and Katherine Graham were five famous journalists who impacted the industry in enduring ways. Whether writers, publishers or a photographer, these storytellers have had their stories told countless times over many years. This project seeks to combine journalistic research with a personal experiment in creative writing. Each chapter consists of story about one of the journalists, told either from their own perspective or someone else’s. Each piece should be considered historical fiction — not nonfiction — but the overall message and basic facts are true. Each story is different but reflects an overarching theme — that notable journalism often requires personal sacrifices and can even result in destroying the journalist. Still, it is evident that these five great people dealt with the sacrifice because of passion for their industry