Search results

Children seem to present a barrier to the gender revolution in that parents are more likely to divide paid and domestic work along traditional gender lines than childless couples are. However, the extent to which this is so varies between countries and over time. We used data on 35 countries from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme to identify the contexts in which parents and non-parents differ the most in their division of labour. In Central/South America, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Asia, and South Africa, labour sharing configurations did not vary as much with the presence of children as in Australia, Western Europe, North America, and Northern Europe. Our multilevel models helped explain this pattern by showing that children seem to present a greater barrier to the gender revolution in richer and, surprisingly, more gender equal countries. However, the relationship between children and couples’ division of labour can be thought of as curvilinear, first increasing as societies progress, but then weakening if societies respond with policies that promote men’s involvement at home. In particular, having a portion of parental leave reserved for fathers reduces the extent to which children are associated with traditional labour sharing in the domestic sphere.

BACKGROUND: Preliminary evidence suggests that sexual minority (e.g. lesbian, gay, bisexual, and same-sex attracted) youth are overrepresented in child welfare services. Yet, no study to date has been able to test this hypothesis with national data. OBJECTIVE: Using a two-study design, we test whether sexual minority youth are overrepresented in child welfare, foster care, and out-of-home placement using nationally representative data from the United States. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Study 1 data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 14,154; Mean age = 15.4). Study 2 data are from wave three of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II (n = 1309; Mean age = 15.0). METHODS: For Study 1, we use adjusted logistic regression models to test differences in lifetime foster care involvement between sexual minority and heterosexual youth. In Study 2, we calculate a Disproportionality Representation Index (DRI) - a ratio of sample prevalence relative to the general population - to estimate whether sexual minority youth were overrepresented in child welfare and out-of-home care. RESULTS: Study 1 results indicate that sexual minority youth are nearly 2.5 times as likely as heterosexual youth to experience foster care placement (aOR = 2.43, 95% CI 1.40, 4.21, p = .002). Results from Study 2 show that sexual minority youth were largely overrepresented in child welfare services (DRI = 1.95-2.48) and out-of-home placement (DRI = 3.69-4.68). CONCLUSIONS: Findings are the first to demonstrate sexual minority youth's overrepresentation in child welfare, foster care, and out-of-home placement using nationally representative data and emphasizes the need for focused research on sexual minority youth involved in the child welfare system.

Background Recognizing that quality family planning services should include services to help clients who want to become pregnant, the objective of our analysis was to examine the distribution of services related to achieving pregnancy at publicly funded family planning clinics in the United States. Methods A nationally representative sample of publicly funded clinics was surveyed in 2013–2014 (n = 1615). Clinic administrators were asked about several clinical services and screenings related to achieving pregnancy: basic infertility services, reproductive life plan assessment, screening for body mass index, screening for sexually transmitted diseases, provision of natural family planning services, infertility treatment, and primary care services. The percentage of clinics offering each of these services was compared by Title X funding status; prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated after adjusting for clinic characteristics. Results Compared to non-Title X clinics, Title X clinics were more likely to offer reproductive life plan assessment (adjusted PR [aPR], 1.62; 95% CI, 1.42–1.84), body mass index screening for men (aPR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.01–1.21), screening for sexually transmitted diseases (aPRs ranged from 1.21 to 1.37), and preconception health care for men (aPR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.01–1.20). Title X clinics were less likely to offer infertility treatment (aPR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.40–0.74) and primary care services (aPR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.68–0.80) and were just as likely to offer basic infertility services, preconception health care services for women, natural family planning, and body mass index screening in women. Conclusions The availability of selected services related to achieving pregnancy differed by Title X status. A follow-up assessment after publication of national family planning recommendations is underway.

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth who are most vulnerable to tobacco use. Methods: We analyzed data from a national nonprobability sample of 11,192 SGM youth (ages 13–17). Age of cigarette initiation and current use were modeled using Cox proportional hazard and binomial regression. Sexual and gender identities were explanatory variables and the models were adjusted for ethnoracial identity and age. Results: Approximately 7\% of the sample reported current smoking. Cisgender and transgender boys had higher odds of current smoking compared with cisgender and transgender girls (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.86; 95\% confidence interval [CI]: 1.56–2.21). Pansexual-identified youth had higher odds of smoking (AOR = 1.33; 95\% CI: 1.05–1.70) compared with gay/lesbian youth independent of gender identity. Pansexual-identified cisgender boys had the highest smoking prevalence (21.6\%). Predicted probabilities were higher among transgender boys across all sexual identities, except asexual. The hazard of smoking at a younger age was greater for transgender boys compared with cisgender boys (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] = 1.67; 95\% CI: 1.43–1.94) as well as for bisexual (AHR = 1.12; 95\% CI: 1.01–1.24) and pansexual (AHR = 1.17; 95\% CI: 1.03–1.33) youth compared with those who identified as gay or lesbian. Conclusions: These findings suggest that transgender boys may be at higher risk for early and current cigarette use regardless of their sexual identity, whereas smoking varied more widely for youth across different sexual identities. The findings suggest that specific subgroups of SGM youth require focused attention in tobacco control research and practice.

We examine change across U.S. cohorts born between 1920 and 2000 in their probability of having had sex with same-sex partners in the last year and since age 18. Using data from the 1988–2018 General Social Surveys, we explore how trends differ by gender, race, and class background. We find steep increases across birth cohorts in the proportion of women who have had sex with both men and women since age 18, whereas increases for men are less steep. We suggest that the trends reflect an increasingly accepting social climate, and that women’s steeper trend is rooted in a long-term asymmetry in gender change, in which nonconformity to gender norms is more acceptable for women than men. We also find evidence that, among men, the increase in having had sex with both men and women was steeper for black than for white men, and for men of lower socioeconomic status; we speculate that the rise of mass incarceration among less privileged men may have influenced this trend.

Supportive housing later in life tends to be a key concern for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) elders. Most senior care providers are un(der)prepared to meet the needs of older LGBT adults. This study evaluated the efficacy of a 4 h, face-to-face, research-based, LGBT-diversity training designed to improve senior housing facility staff’s cultural competency regarding the needs of LGBT elders. Findings from this study found a significant increase in LGBT content knowledge between pre- and post-intervention assessments and a significant decrease in perceived preparedness when working with LGBT elders. These effects remained significant after controlling for staff designation, religion, educational attainment, and training session. Findings suggest that staff’s cultural competence affected their perceived readiness to address LGBT elders’ needs. Implications are related to the concept of cultural humility or the lifelong process of understanding others’ experiences based on the recognition of lack of un(der)preparedness to create a culturally supportive residential environment.

Challenging Race/Ethnicity and Gender Identities in Institutional Cultures

  BACKGROUND: Research implicates acute and chronic stressors in racial/ethnic health disparities, but the joint impact of multiple stressors on racial/ethnic disparities in cardiovascular health is unknown. METHODS: In 25 062 women (24 053 white; 256 Hispanic; 440 black; 313 Asian) articipating in the Women's Health Study follow-up cohort, we examined the relationship between cumulative psychosocial stress (CPS) and ideal cardiovascular health (ICH), as defined by the American Heart Association's 2020 strategic Impact Goals. This health metric includes smoking, body mass index, physical activity, diet, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and glucose, with higher levels indicating more ICH and less cardiovascular risk (score range, 0-7). We created a CPS score that summarized acute stressors (eg, negative life events) and chronic stressors (eg, work, work-family spillover, financial, discrimination, relationship, and neighborhood) and traumatic life event stress reported on a stress questionnaire administered in 2012 to 2013 (score range, 16-385, with higher scores indicating higher levels of stress). RESULTS: White women had the lowest mean CPS scores (white: 161.7±50.4; Hispanic: 171.2±51.7; black: 172.5±54.9; Asian: 170.8±50.6; P overall <0.01). Mean CPS scores remained higher in Hispanic, black, and Asian women than in white women after adjustment for age, socioeconomic status (income and education), and psychological status (depression and anxiety) ( P<0.01 for each). Mean ICH scores varied by race/ethnicity ( P<0.01) and were significantly lower in black women and higher in Asian women compared with white women (β-coefficient [95% CI]: Hispanics, -0.02 [-0.13 to -0.09]; blacks, -0.34 [-0.43 to -0.25]; Asians, 0.34 [0.24 to 0.45]); control for socioeconomic status and CPS did not change these results. Interactions between CPS and race/ethnicity in ICH models were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Both CPS and ICH varied by race/ethnicity. ICH remained worse in blacks and better in Asians compared with whites, despite taking into account socioeconomic factors and CPS.

A recent analysis from the Turnaway study focused on women who were just under the gestational limit of a clinic and received an abortion and those who had first trimester abortions to examine trends in decisional rightness and negative and positive emotions over 5 years after the abortion. Specifically, Rocca et al. (in press) analyzed these data and found that women were overwhemingly sure of their decision: 95% felt their decision was the right one at each assessment after their abortion, and the predicted probability of abortion being the right decision was 99% at 5 years afterwards. Relief was the most common emotion felt by women, and negative emotions or decision regret did not emerge over time. These results and others from studies conducted globally counter assertions by abortion opponents that women are not certain of their decisions, or that women regret or have mainly negative emotions about their abortions if not in the short run then after a long period of time. This commentary addresses not only these findings but also relevant U.S. abortion policies based on these unsubstantiated claims. Policies should not be based on the notions that women are unsure of their decision, come to regret, it or have negative emotions because there is no evidence to support these claims.

Abstract Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth face marginalization and oppression on the basis of their SGM identity, and they often lack traditional support systems to deal with these minority stressors. SGM community resources may alleviate the impact of the stressors that SGM youth face, but these have not been studied in relation to the size and climate of SGM youth's communities. This mixed-methods study examined the relationship between community size and the climate toward SGM individuals and the availability and utilization of SGM community resources. Survey findings indicate that nonmetropolitan communities were associated with less availability and utilization; hostile communities were associated with lower availability only. Interview findings reveal nuanced complexities on the relationship between community and resource provision. Implications for future research and community practice are discussed.