Ross Macmillan

Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence and Their Associations with Physical Health, Psychological Distress, and Substance Use

Objectives. The purpose of this work is to formally model patterns of intimate partner violence (IPV) separately for males and females and to assess the unique contributions of different types of violence exposure to health related outcomes. Methods. Using data from the National Violence Against Women Survey—a national probability sample of U.S. men and women—latent class analyses produced a map of the underlying structure of IPV for both males and females that is defined by specific types of violent acts. Multivariable logistic regression analyses assessed the differential physical health, mental health, and substance use consequences of exposure to IPV by gender. Results. Women and men experience similar types of IPV, although the prevalence of the different types of violence is much greater for women than men. Second, exposure to IPV for both women and men is associated with a range of negative health outcomes including increased odds of poor physical health and physical disability, psychological distress and mental illness, and heightened recreational and non-recreational substance use. Finally, there is some evidence that experiences with IPV have stronger and broader associations with negative health outcomes among women, likely reflecting differences in the severity of violence experienced by men and women. Conclusions. More attention to the ways in which interpersonal violence is conceptualized, measured, and screened for is crucial. Specifically, while women have greater exposure to IPV, and subsequently a greater range of health problems, the effects on men should not be ignored.

The Structure of the Life Course: Classic Issues and Current Controversies

Abstract The structure of the life course occupies a central, yet often unacknowledged, position in life course research. On the one hand, life course theory emphasizes in various and often disparate ways life stages, role trajectories and transitions, and the timing and ordering of events in the life course. All these coalesce to produce a “normative” life course that corresponds to social timetables of given times and given places. At the same time, empirical efforts seldom describe the life course in a sufficiently holistic manner that adequately reflects existing theory. The gap between theory and research is all the more significant with the emergence of current debates over the problematic nature of the life course in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Here, scholars argue that the overall structure of the life course has changed in profound ways, becoming “destandardized,” “de-institutionalized,” and increasingly “individualized.” Equally important, there is increased recognition of social differentiation in the unfolding of human lives based on time, place, and social position. Both the changing nature of the life course in general and differences across social groups are further connected to increases in and the reproduction of inequalities through the undermining of life chances in a wide number of domains. This chapter reviews some of the key issues and debates and discusses the relevant contributions of the various chapters included in this volume.

A life course model of self-rated health through adolescence and young adulthood

This paper proposes and tests a life course model of self-rated health (SRH) extending from late childhood to young adulthood, drawing on three waves of panel data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Very little research has examined SRH during the early decades, or whether and how these self-assessments reflect experiences in the family of origin. Background characteristics (parental education, income, and family structure), parental health conditions (asthma, diabetes, obesity, migraines), and early health challenges (physical abuse, presence of a disability, and parental alcoholism and smoking) predict SRH from adolescence to young adulthood. These experiences in the family-of-origin are substantially mediated by the young persons health and health behaviors (as indicated by obesity, depression, smoking, drinking, and inactivity), although direct effects remain (especially for early health challenges). Associations between SRH and these mediators (especially obesity) strengthen with age. In turn, efforts to promote healthy behaviors in young adulthood, after the completion of secondary school, may be especially strategic in the promotion of health in later adulthood.

Characterizing the Life Course as Role Configurations and Pathways

The life course is a multi-faceted phenomenon. It involves a complex interplay among psychological orientations and behaviors; past experiences and future actions; age and cohort influences; network, historical, and institutional contexts that provide an environment of opportunities and constraints; and the interconnections among social roles that change over time in that environment. All of these coalesce to set the stage for life chances and personal wellbeing throughout one’s life. The life course itself constitutes a social institution, cutting pathways through time and creating a gravity of sorts, varyingly attracting individual lives into role configurations conforming to age-graded norms. Research on the life course and the development of accompanying theories thus grapples with a wide array of issues, have numerous foci, and draw upon a number of disciplines in order to understand the social context of human lives over time (Elder, 1994).

‘Constructing Adulthood’: Agency and Subjectivity in the Transition to Adulthood

Abstract Agency and subjectivity are key factors that shape the life course. Agency is widely regarded as a central concept in life course study and has been the object of considerable research. Still, the meaning of agency, its specific expression in the life course, its relationship to social structure, and the role of chance and contingency remain problematic issues. In contrast, subjective perceptions of life stage, specifically age-graded self-identity, have received comparatively little attention. It is only recently that the idea of studying the nature of such perceptions and factors that produce them has emerged as a coherent field of study. This introductory chapter seeks to map out the key issues confronting life course social sciences with a specific focus on the transition to adulthood and outline the theoretical and empirical contributions of the various chapters. It begins with an overview of issues of agency in the social sciences, its role in life course social theory, and a discussion of the ways in which the chapters in this volume advance our thinking about agency in the life course. This is followed by an overview of the treatment of subjectivity and self-identity in the life course, an outlining of the key debates over “emerging adulthood,” and a discussion of the contributions of the various chapters. A short conclusion outlines the broader implications of the various works and how they may further theoretical and empirical work on the life course.

Trends in the Association of Obesity and Self‐Reported Overall Health in 30 Years of the Integrated Health Interview Series

This research examines trends in the relationship between obesity based on self‐report height and weight and self‐perceived health over a 30‐year period. Importantly, this period included the articulation of comprehensive public health campaigns on excess weight and thus provides opportunities for assessment of the efficacy of the campaign, as well as the broader psycho‐social impact of excess weight. Using novel data from the Integrated Health Interview Series, odds ratios for the association between obesity and self‐perceived health were estimated for repeated cross‐sectional samples that are nationally representative of noninstitutionalized American adults aged 18–85 and older spanning 1976–2006. Our findings show that (i) there are weak associations between obesity and self‐perceived poor health; (ii) these associations are particularly small among men, often to the point of being nonexistent; and (iii) weak relationships for both men and women have remained virtually unchanged over the past 30 years. Several reasons why the public health campaign around excess weight has had limited traction are discussed including the collective problem of excess weight in America and how this undermines current approaches in public health efforts addressing excess weight.

Parental and adolescent health behaviors and pathways to adulthood

This paper examines associations among parental and adolescent health behaviors and pathways to adulthood. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we identify a set of latent classes describing pathways into adulthood and examine health-related predictors of these pathways. The identified pathways are consistent with prior research using other sources of data. Results also show that both adolescent and parental health behaviors differentiate pathways. Parental and adolescent smoking are associated with lowered probability of the higher education pathway and higher likelihood of the work and the work & family pathways (entry into the workforce soon after high school completion). Adolescent drinking is positively associated with the work pathway and the higher education pathway, but decreases the likelihood of the work & family pathway. Neither parental nor adolescent obesity are associated with any of the pathways to adulthood. When combined, parental/adolescent smoking and adolescent drinking are associated with displacement from the basic institutions of school, work, and family.

Young People Making a Life

This book has a catchy title and nice cover art, adding to the reader’s anticipation that it will be an absorbing—and entertaining— read. The price is reasonable, making it potentially attractive as a text. And the book is, in fact, generally quite well written. America’s romance with technology is complicated, contradictory, and confusing, and it certainly deserves more scholarly attention. However, much has already been written on this subject, not enough of which finds its way into the pages of this book. The introduction suggests that its author, fiction writer and English professor Glen Scott Allen, imagines an audience largely unfamiliar with social and cultural studies of science and technology, and tends to leave the impression that he is unfamiliar with much of this work himself. Allen concentrates on what he sees as Americans’ suspicion of the purely scientific, as opposed to the technological, a suspicion that he correctly surmises may have roots in social class distinctions. He reports that in researching this book, he ‘‘began to wonder to what extent . . . American culture [has] shaped American scientific practice’’ (p. 5), as though this were an entirely original question. In Chapter One, he marvels that in 1848 the American Association for the Advancement of Science adopted promotion of the ‘‘purer’’ sciences as its goal (p. 17), and in general implies surprise at his discovery of the social, political, and class-based character of science (although it is not exactly clear how the AAAS vision is an argument that Americans distrust science, instead of an argument that at least some of us approve of it). He discusses the ‘‘selling’’ of American science in Chapter Three without any apparent reference either to the work of sociologist Dorothy Nelkin or to that of media historian Marcel Lafollette, two scholars especially well-known for their careful documentation of how media representations of science and technology have historically served this purpose. Then, in Chapter Four, Allen presents American Pragmatism without reference to John Dewey, who makes only a cameo appearance a few pages later. Surely Dewey’s contribution to Pragmatism would have been an excellent pillar on which to build any argument about American perspectives on practical knowledge. Finally, as a postscript about two pages from the end of the entire work, Allen confesses that two issues ‘‘not specifically addressed in this book are race and gender’’ (p. 260). Struggling to express my reaction to this latter statement in particularly appropriate scholarly language, the phrase that seems to sum it up best is : ‘‘Well, duh!’’ While some of Allen’s insights into American culture are intriguing—for example, our preference for the practical and our obsession with efficiency certainly ring true—they are not ideally persuasive as presented because of the book’s tendency to ignore too many important issues and scholars. Allen may have read more broadly in the sociology and history of science – as well as in media studies and philosophy—than this presentation of his subject matter implies; if so, he ought to have reflected this reading in what he has written here. A dose of empiricism may be helpful in this context. While it seems to be true (on the basis of most relevant opinion polls) that today’s Americans prefer science that has economic or social benefits (for example, science that creates jobs, health, and wealth), it is also true that Americans continue to like and trust science as well as technology (even while some segments are doubtful about specific points, such as evolution and climate change). If, as Allen apparently takes as his premise, suspicion of all things purely scientific is a peculiarly American cultural