Factors associated with racial differences in child welfare investigative decision-making in Ontario,Canada

Despite the substantial body of literature on racial disparities in child welfare involvement in the Unites States, there is relatively little research on such differences for Canadian children and families. This study begins to address this gap by examining decision-making among workers investigating Black and White families investigated for child protection concerns in Ontario, Canada. Using provincially representative data, the study assessed whether Black children were more likely than White children to be investigated by child welfare, if there was disparate decision-making by race throughout the investigation, and how the characteristics of Black and White children contribute to the decision to transfer to ongoing services. The results indicate that Black children were more likely to be investigated than White children, but there was little evidence to suggest that workers in Ontario child welfare agencies made the decision to substantiate, transfer to ongoing services, or place the child in out-of-home care based on race alone. Black and White children differed significantly with respect to child characteristics, characteristics of the investigation, caregiver risk factors, and socioeconomic circumstances. When adjusting for these characteristics, Black families had 33% greater odds (OR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.26, 1.40; p = <0.001) of being transferred to ongoing services compared to White families. Among Black families, the assessed quality of the parent-child relationship and severe economic hardship were the most significant and substantial contributors to the decision to provide child welfare services. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.     

Ecojustice education and communitarianism: Exploring the possibility for African eco-communitarianism

Abstract

In this article, we explore the concept of African communitarianism and reflect on its potential value for ecojustice education as a localised response to the wider ecological crises that impacts on African communities. We argue for an African eco-communitarian perspective and propose that this perspective extends ecojustice education. Such extension occurs firstly through foregrounding and emphasising the establishment of harmonious and co-constitutive relationships that is characterised by intersubjectivity and secondly, by extending community to beyond humans (and ancestors) to be inclusive of the more-than human world. We contend that ecojustice education, framed within an African eco-communitarianism, constitutes a localised response to the ecological crises in the form of critical place-based education, that it enables co-constitutive dialogue and interaction between the human and non-human elements of an eco-community and is an ethico-political praxis characterised by an African environmental ethic.     

NaN_3诱变“邯7086”后代变异研究及变异系的SSR分析

为创造新的小麦种质系,并探讨叠氮化钠对小麦诱变处理的适宜方法,采用了＂种子处理同时鼓入空气＂、＂种子处理不鼓入空气＂、＂颖苞内滴加＂、＂生长点注射＂、＂穗茎注射＂5种方法诱变小麦＂邯7086＂.其中＂种子处理同时鼓入空气＂方法处理的种子出苗率高,后代性状变异类型丰富,变异率高,是适合小麦诱变处理的一种切实可行的好方法.通过多代选择选出了Ymfl-23、Ymfl-42、Ymfl-46三个稳定的变异种质系;利用SSR分子标记检测＂邯7086＂及其变异种质系,引物xgwm148、xgwm304、xgwm645检测出了丰富的多态性片段,从分子水平上证明了叠氮化钠对＂邯7086＂的诱变效果.     

非洲高等教育国际化的特点分析

非洲高等教育被认为是全球最国际化同时又是最边缘化的系统。非洲高教国际化有着深远的殖民主义影响,体现出组织上的区域化和全球化、性质上的高度依附、与本土化关系尖锐冲突等特点。这种国际化主要不是非洲自身主动追求的结果,而是殖民时期被占领和被控制、冷战时期被利用以及长期对外财政依赖和知识依赖的结果。为了克服这种被动性,非盟等地区组织较好地发挥了非洲高教国际化的组织和领导作用,并推行了促进能力建设的非洲高教国际化政策。不过,非洲高等教育为本土服务的意识和能力比较薄弱,这已成为非洲高等教育国际化的深刻教训。     

Generations: Academic and Athletic Integration of a Southern PWI Basketball Program

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to: (a) analyze the insights and experiences of the 1st African American student-athlete (in basketball) at a prominent predominantly White institution in the Deep South as well as the later insights and experiences of his sons at the same university; and (b) to present a counterstory to the dominant historical rendering of the Civil Rights Movement, the integration of athletics, and the experiences and outcomes of contemporary African American athletes. Method: Using qualitative critical race methodology, investigators conducted and analyzed interviews with the 1st African American to play basketball at a prominent university located in the Deep South and his 2 sons who attended the same university a generation later. Results: Using the lens of critical race theory, the themes conceived from the analysis were the counterstory of agency, counterstorytelling stereotypes, and the salience of everyday racism. Conclusion: Racism is still existent within society, even within college athletics. The holistic success of African American athletes in college is dependent upon their ability to navigate overt and covert racial climates.     

Psychological Reactions to Crime News Portrayals of Black Criminals: Understanding the Moderating Roles of Prior News Viewing and Stereotype Endorsement

An experiment examined the extent to which viewers’ death penalty application, perceptions of crime danger, and culpability assessments could be influenced by exposure to a majority of Black suspects in the news or having the race of suspects go unidentified in a newscast. The current study also investigated the extent to which prior news viewing and African American stereotype endorsement might moderate the effects of this racialized crime news exposure. After exposure to a majority of Black suspects or unidentified suspects in a newscast, African American stereotype endorsers were more likely than stereotype rejecters to support the death penalty. Furthermore, heavy television news viewers exposed to a majority of Black suspects were more likely than light news viewers to perceive the world as dangerous and view a race-unidentified suspect as culpable for his offense. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed in light of social cognition theories of priming, cognitive accessibility, stereotype activation and application.     

African American Academic Librarians: An Evidence Map Case Study Using Rapid Review Methodology

ABSTRACT

This article explores rapid review and evidence mapping methodology to map library literature on the presence of, status of, or support for African American academic librarians. Rapid reviews include transparent steps and are completed in a short time frame. Evidence mapping is emerging as a way to summarize evidence. A chronological map indicated topics and impacts of papers. Additional analysis also showed four broad themes: diversity, recruitment, retention, and racism. In our view, rapid review and evidence mapping methods should be considered by academic librarians. Further research should look at racism that still seems apparent in academic libraries.     

Statistics Anxiety Among Female African American Graduate-Level Social Work Students

ABSTRACT

Studies have found that statistics anxiety among female and minority graduate students is higher than that of their Caucasian counterparts. Both gender and culturally sensitive approaches to teaching statistics need to be developed to reduce student anxiety, especially in graduate programs that are dominated by women and minorities. The current study presents data on pre- and post-course statistics among female African American MSW students enrolled in a gender and culturally sensitive statistics course. A series of t-tests revealed that students had significantly lower levels of anxiety about statistics after the course. Implications for integrating gender and culturally sensitive approaches into the curriculum are discussed, and recommendations for future research are provided.     

Maternal psychological functioning and children's school readiness: The mediating role of home environments for African American children

Decades of educational research has documented an achievement gap in kindergarten reading and math achievement between African American children and their European American counterparts. Research has also shown that specific parenting practices (e.g., home literacy involvement) have the potential to narrow school readiness gaps by at least half. The current study examined whether and how maternal depression and parenting stress may influence specific parenting practices, as well as whether maternal warmth, home learning stimulation and cultural socialization mediated the relation between maternal depression, parenting stress, and children's kindergarten reading and math achievement. Path analyses revealed a direct negative effect of maternal depression and parenting stress on maternal warmth, home learning stimulation, and cultural socialization. Home learning stimulation emerged as an important mediator between maternal parenting stress and math achievement. Further, maternal warmth mediated the relation between maternal depression and reading achievement. Implications for early childhood research, practice and policy are discussed.