Black River United: how football frames the relationship between younger and older men in a rural Jamaican community

Internationally, football is increasingly employed as a key development tool focussed on young men. ‘Sports-as-development’ initiatives have proliferated since the United Nation’s ‘Year of Sports’ in 2005 and the amateur football field offers a critique of such initiatives and points towards the need to situate them within specific historical, social, and sporting contexts. This thesis considers the implications for ‘sports-as-development’, suggesting that football provides avenues for both social mobility and also economic exploitation. Black River is a small town on the south coast of Jamaica. Each weekday evening on a farmer’s field a team of educated, middle-aged men with well-respected careers plays football against a team of younger men with limited formal education and few employment prospects. The thesis examines the embodiment and enactment of wealth and age among football players. It explores the background to these matches, and looks at how they shape and affect the players away from the field. Also, I investigate the ramifications of support for the English Premier League in relation to men’s experiences of migration. In particular, I am concerned with the questions: ‘why do these two groups play football against one another?’; and ‘what happens when they do?’. Data collection methods included informal interviewing, long-term engagement on the football field, and participation in the lives of research participants and observation of their social interactions in bars and on street corners. The thesis investigates the historical and social background to inequalities between older and younger competitors and the trajectories of these disparities across the town. Football in this context provides an informal apprenticeship and mediation of inter-generational conflict whilst situating players more broadly within global hierarchies of wealth and potential

A descriptive social and health profile of a community sample of adults and adolescents with Asperger syndrome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Little is known about the health and social profile of adolescents and adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) living in the community. We conducted a study to describe the living, employment and psycho-social situation of a community sample of forty two adults and adolescents with AS, and to describe these indivdiuals' experiences of accessing health services and taking medication.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Most respondents (including those over eighteen years of age) lived at home with their parents. Most had trouble reading and responding to other people's feelings, and coping with unexpected changes. Difficulties with life skills, such as cleaning, washing and hygiene were prevalent. The majority of respondents were socially isolated and a large minority had been sexually or financially exploited. Almost all respondents had been bullied. Mental health problems such as anxiety or depression were common. 30% of respondents said that they regularly became violent and hit other people and 15% had attempted suicide. More positively, the majority of respondents felt that they could access health services if they had a health problem.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study suggest a relatively poor social and health profile for many people with Asperger syndrome living in the community, with high levels of social problems and social exclusion, and difficulties managing day to day tasks such as washing and cleaning; these findings support the results of other studies that have examined psycho-social functioning in this group.</p

Possible evidence for a fall in the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive developmental disorder with age?

A survey was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive developmental disorder (HFPDD) in a community sample of teenagers and adults aged 13 and above in the city of Sheffield, UK. 112 possible and definite cases were found, of whom 65 (57%) had a previous diagnosis. The detected prevalence of possible or definite HFPDD was found to be 0.24 per 1000 of the population of Sheffield city aged 13 or over, but the prevalence by year of age fell from a maximum of 1.1 per 1000 in the group aged 13 to 14 years old (1 young adult in every 900 in this age group) to 0.03 per 1000 in the over 60s (1 person in every 38500 in this age group). The results of this study are preliminary and need follow-up investigation in larger studies. We suggest several explanations for the findings, including reduced willingness to participate in a study as people get older, increased ascertainment in younger people, and increased mortality. Another contributory factor might be that the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive development disorder may decline with age. This raises the possibility that AS symptoms might become subclinical in adulthood in a proportion of people with HFPDD

Vybz Kartel—’British Love (Anything 4 You)‘

In this article, I reflect on the importance of the dancehall song 'British Love (Anything 4 You)' released by Vybz Kartel in Jamaica in 2011. While undertaking ethnographic fieldwork with football players in Black River, a rural community on the South Coast of Jamaica, I received the nickname 'World Boss,' one of Vybz Kartel's nicknames. In this piece, I think through the importance of the song and the nickname for reflecting on power inequalities in Jamaica, and situated within global hierarchies

Is clumsiness a marker for Asperger syndrome?

Although Asperger syndrome (AS) has been included in the ICD-10 as a distinct category within the pervasive developmental disorders, it is still unclear to what extent it differs from normal-intelligence autism (high-functioning autism; HFA). Persons with AS are said to be particularly clumsy. To test the hypothesis that clumsiness can reliably distinguish AS from autism, the present authors compared 11 patients with AS (ICD-10; 10 males; mean age, 13–6 years; mean IQ, 98) with nine patients with HFA (ICD-10/DSM-III-R; eight males; mean age, 12–9 years; mean IQ, 84). Clumsiness was assessed by the Bruininks-Oseretsky test. Both groups showed problems with coordination and the distribution of standard scores was virtually identical. This suggests that motor clumsiness, as measured by tests of coordination, may not reliably distinguish AS from HFA. However, qualitative differences may occur between the two groups in the manner in which movements are performed. Further research with larger samples may elicit differences into the pattern of motor deficits that occur in autism and AS.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72191/1/j.1365-2788.1994.tb00440.x.pd

Visualizing the recovery of patients in Critical Care Units

The authors would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Patient for providing us with access to her data. The aim is to provide software support for the clinicians in critical care units. Testing software on artificial data is limited. Therefore, having access to real patient data has enabled this project to bridge the chasm between theory and practice. Thank you very much! This work was carried out as a collaboration between the University of Plymouth and University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Plymouth. The authors are grateful to both organizations for their support to carry out this research.Peer reviewe

Psychiatric morbidity in older people with moderate and severe learning disability (mental retardation). Part I: development and reliability of the patient interview (the PAS-ADD)

This paper describes the development of the PAS-ADD, a semistructured clinical interview for use specifically with patients with learning disabilities, based on items drawn from the PSE. The PAS-ADD includes a number of novel features including: parallel interviewing of patient and informant; a three-tier structure to provide a flexible interview appropriate to the patient's intellectual level; use of a memorable 'anchor event' in the patient's life to improve time focus; and simplified wording, improved organisation and lay out. Inter-rater reliability was investigated using an experimental design in which two raters viewed and re-rated videotaped PAS-ADD interviews which had been conducted by an experienced clinician. Reliability results compared favourably with those obtained in a major study of PSE reliability with a sample drawn from non-learning disabled individuals. Mean kappa for all items was 0.72. Other indexes of reliability were also good. In the current phase of development, the PAS-ADD is to be expanded to include further diagnostic categories, including schizophrenia and autism. The new version will be updated for use with ICD-10 criteria

Possible evidence for a fall in the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive developmental disorder with age?

A survey was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive developmental disorder (HFPDD) in a community sample of teenagers and adults aged 13 and above in the city of Sheffield, UK. 112 possible and definite cases were found, of whom 65 (57%) had a previous diagnosis. The detected prevalence of possible or definite HFPDD was found to be 0.24 per 1000 of the population of Sheffield city aged 13 or over, but the prevalence by year of age fell from a maximum of 1.1 per 1000 in the group aged 13 to 14 years old (1 young adult in every 900 in this age group) to 0.03 per 1000 in the over 60s (1 person in every 38500 in this age group). The results of this study are preliminary and need follow-up investigation in larger studies. We suggest several explanations for the findings, including reduced willingness to participate in a study as people get older, increased ascertainment in younger people, and increased mortality. Another contributory factor might be that the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive development disorder may decline with age. This raises the possibility that AS symptoms might become subclinical in adulthood in a proportion of people with HFPDD.Peer Reviewe

Perceptions Of School By Two Teenage Boys With Asperger Syndrome And Their Mothers: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study aimed to develop an understanding of the challenges faced by teenage boys with Asperger syndrome and their mothers. A case study approach was used to collect data from two 13-year-old boys who have Asperger syndrome and their mothers in Queensland, Australia. Data were collected through the use of semi¬structured interviews. The words of the boys and their mothers provide a valuable insight into the personal experiences and feelings of the par¬ticipants. An inductive approach to data analysis identified four themes: (1) developmental differences; (2) problems associated with the general characteristics of Asperger syndrome (i.e. communication and social difficulties, restricted range of interests, a need for routine); (3) stress; and (4) 'masquerading'. The first three themes relate strongly to the current literature, but the emergence of masquerading is of particular interest in developing a fuller understanding of the experiences of individuals with Asperger syndrome at school

Psychosis in autism: comparison of the features of both conditions in a dually affected cohort.

BackgroundThere is limited information on the presentation and characteristics of psychotic illness experienced by people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).AimsTo describe autistic and psychotic phenomenology in a group of individuals with comorbid ASD and psychosis (ASD-P) and compare this group with populations affected by either, alone.MethodWe studied 116 individuals with ASD-P. We compared features of their ASD with people with ASD and no comorbid psychosis (ASD-NP), and clinical characteristics of psychosis in ASD-P with people with psychosis only.ResultsIndividuals with ASD-P had more diagnoses of atypical psychosis and fewer of schizophrenia compared with individuals with psychosis only. People with ASD-P had fewer stereotyped interests/behaviours compared with those with ASD-NP.ConclusionsOur data show there may be a specific subtype of ASD linked to comorbid psychosis. The results support findings that psychosis in people with ASD is often atypical, particularly regarding affective disturbance.Medical Research Council (PhD studentship, Autism Imaging Multicentre Study (MRC AIMS) Consortium), Baily Thomas Charitable Trust, Health Foundation, University of Cambridge (William Binks Autism Neuroscience Fellowship), Child and Youth Mental Health Collaborative at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto (O’Brien Scholars Program), Autism Research Trust, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East of England at the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation TrustThis is the final version of the article. It first appeared from The Royal College of Psychiatrists via https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.116.18768