Communicating a “New” Environmental Vernacular: A Sense of Relations-in-Place

This study focuses on communication as a lens and tool for reinvigorating and empowering marginalized cultural environmental relations. We use a community-based cultural approach to identify a core Hispanic premise of a sense of relations-in-place. This premise constitutes nature as a socially integrated space that provides the grounding for human relations, and differs from dominant Western discourses that constitute nature as an entity separate from humans. The study's interpretation of a more integrated orientation to environment has the potential to inform wider alternative ecocultural discourses and applications that are more inclusive, and perhaps more sustainable.     

Exploring the nexus between community cultural wealth and the academic and social experiences of Latino male achievers at two predominantly White research universities

Latino males are grossly underrepresented at four-year postsecondary institutions in the United States. This phenomenological study seeks to address this emergent educational crisis by focusing on the experiences of two Latino male achievers at predominantly White research universities. Community Cultural Wealth is used to explore how Latino male collegians with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) above 3.75 employed linguistic, resistant, and navigational capital to enhance their academic and social experiences during college. The reports offered by participants in this study are intended to advance knowledge regarding the experiences of Latino male collegians as well as to enhance research, policies, and practices that increase the educational attainment of Latina/o students within higher education.     

The Creation and Maintenance of a Hospital Archives

The libraries of the Capital Health System and York Hospital have been given the responsibility for collecting and maintaining the archival materials of their respective institutions. After an initial evaluation of donated items, each library researched methods of archival conservation, adapting them to their individual needs. Included in this article is an overview of these methods with many examples from the authors' experiences. Also included is an annotated bibliography of materials of value to anyone setting up a hospital archives.     

A survey of video game players in a public,urban research university

A survey was conducted in a public, research university located in a large and diverse metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the USA. The purpose of the survey was to determine both the positive and negative personal, educational, social, and work related consequences of playing video games. Nearly two‐thirds of the 203 participants in this study were of Hispanic heritage. A majority of the sample of participants was derived using a school intercept, as opposed to mall intercept, strategy. The remaining participants were obtained using snowball, and convenience sampling techniques. Statistically significant differences between males and females were found in the areas of communication, decision making in daily lives, leadership skills, collaborating, functioning in a team, and giving directions to others. These differences were favorable to males.     

From the editor's desk

This article examines the underrepresentation of African American and Hispanic students in gifted education, proposing that social inequality, deficit thinking, and microaggressions contribute to the inequitable segregated programs. Underrepresentation trends are presented, along with methods for calculating underrepresentation and inequity. Underrepresentation is placed under the larger umbrella of achievement gaps and inequities in school settings with attention to de jure segregation. I argue that underrepresentation is beyond statistical chance and is a function of attitudes and beliefs grounded in deficit paradigms among those with power or social capital. Denying access to gifted education based on race is counterproductive and illegal and is discussed with Brown v. Board of Education as the legal background and a recent court case in gifted education (McFadden v. Board of Education for Illinois School District U-46). Recommendations for desegregating gifted education are provided.     

Internal Revolutions: Auto-Ethnography as a Method for Faculty Who Prepare K-12 Educators and Leaders at Hispanic Serving Institutions

This article reinforces the use of research for faculty who prepare K-12 educators and leaders for social justice. The author conceptualizes auto-ethnography as a form of professional development and maintains that faculty must first experience an internal revolution before they can expect to model it, especially in a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Faculty who develop critical consciousness through auto-ethnography can facilitate the use of auto-ethnography as a form of personal/professional development with his/her pre-service leaders/educators.     

Attachment,Acculturation, and Psychosomatic Complaints Among Hispanic American University Students

This study investigated adult attachment and acculturation frameworks of reported psychosomatic complaints related to perceived discrimination among a sample of Latino/Hispanic university students (N = 160). The model supported by the data suggests that attachment anxiety, acculturation toward the dominant cultural norms, and adherence to Latino/Hispanic cultural beliefs are important factors for perceived discrimination and psychosomatic complaints experienced by Latino/Hispanic students. Counseling implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Do Latino Youth Really Want to Get Pregnant?: Assessing Pregnancy Wantedness

Despite recent declines, Latinas bear a disproportionate burden of teen births. Understanding social, cultural, and demographic factors underlying pregnancy desire among Latino adolescents is needed to design effective teen pregnancy prevention interventions.

A questionnaire was completed by 794 Latino youth including a “pregnancy wantedness scale” (PWS) to assess attitudes toward an early pregnancy and socio-demographic variables. Regression analyses examined the association between these variables and PWS score. PWS scores for all groups were below but near the midpoint, suggesting ambivalence toward an early pregnancy. Being female, older, acculturated, using hormonal contraception, living with parents, and having an educated mother were significantly associated with lower PWS scores, but impacted youth differently depending on their sex and sexual experience. Multi-component Latino teen pregnancy prevention strategies should address behavioral and attitudinal differences based on sex and sexual experience and acknowledge the contribution of social determinants on pregnancy intentions.     

Identifying Health Beliefs Influencing Hispanic College Men's Willingness to Vaccinate against HPV

This study identifies health beliefs influencing Hispanic college men's human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake decision making processes. Hispanic college men were interviewed about their HPV vaccine knowledge, and information seeking behaviors. Overall, participants did not view HPV infection or vaccination as an immediate concern or priority; belief that it was a virus that only affected women, and a sense of invulnerability informed their positions. Despite these issues, most men were willing to consider getting the HPV vaccine if they received more education from health care providers, and cost concerns were addressed. These findings pointed to gaps in our understandings of Hispanic college men's HPV vaccination beliefs and provided insight into the importance of integrating this population's unique beliefs into campus health providers efforts aimed at increasing vaccination rates.     

Maternal Attitudes and Parent Education: How Immigrant Mothers Support Their Child’s Education Despite Their Own Low Levels of Education

A study of Mexican immigrant mothers of young children in the AVANCE-Dallas early childhood intervention program demonstrates that low-educational parents often exhibit ambitious attitudes about educational achievement for their children. Though they lack an extensive academic background, which places their children at risk for low education, their positive attitude manifested in daily pro-educational behaviors overcomes their low education level because they both motivate their children to pursue academic success and participate in their children’s learning. The best way to capitalize on immigrant parents’ educational drive for their children is to partner with them—either through an intervention program or through early childhood educators’ interaction with parents—by showing them how their participation in their children’s learning through concrete activities (such as regular mother–child conversation, daily reading, and playtime activities that teach developmental skills) may increase their chances of achieving academic success.