Scott Wm. Bowman

Ethnic identity, self-esteem and variability in perceptions of rap music's empowering and risky influences

Violence, risky sexual behaviors, and substance use are critical targets for improved health behavior. Prior research has linked levels of exposure to rap music with a range of undesirable health behaviors. Contemporary research has also found health-enhancing and other ‘positive’ correlations with rap music exposure. The present study examined unique and shared effects among ethnic identity, self-esteem, music exposure, age, and gender on depressive symptoms among 128 high school and college students, along with variables reflecting empowering and risky rap music influences. Data analyses used structural equation modeling. The full model demonstrated excellent fit (Chi-square (df) = 13.6 (14); CFI = 1.0, TLI = 1.0; RMSEA = 0.000) and strong support for hypothesized variable pathways. Music exposure contributed little independently to undesirable outcomes. Positive ethnic identity was associated with greater music-influenced empowerment. Greater perceived music-influenced empowerment was associated with significantly less depressive symptoms. Participants who were younger, male and with higher self-esteem were most significantly associated with perceived music-influenced risk. The least likely to show depressive symptoms were individuals who felt rap music inspired them to connect with others, consider experiences of others, think critically about the world around them, and want to make a difference in their communities.

The Roles of School-Based Law Enforcement Officers and How These Roles Are Established A Qualitative Study

Recently, considerable attention has been directed to violence and misbehavior in U.S. schools. In turn, schools have looked for solutions to address such concerns, one of which is the use of law enforcement officers. The aim of this research is to explore how law enforcement officers define their actual roles, as well as their perceived roles in an educational setting. Also, this study examines the process for establishing these roles within the school environment. A total of 26 law enforcement officers were contacted by phone and participated in an in-depth interview. Each interview was transcribed into NVivo, and subsequently coded to identify general themes and common phrases. The findings suggest that officers working in the school environment are taking on many roles, some of which they do not consider appropriate. In addition, who establishes these roles varies considerably. The findings are discussed in terms of their deviation from prior literature as well as needed future research endeavors.

The Limitations of Government Databases for Analyzing Fatal Officer-Involved Shootings in the United States

Federal government databases recording officer-involved shooting fatalities are incomplete and unreliable. Voluntary reporting to the Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR), the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), and the Arrest-Related Death Program (ARDP) are subject to underreporting and classification errors. The same shortcomings apply to statewide reporting in California and Texas, the only states with mandatory reporting requirements. Content analysis of open source records identified officer-involved shooting fatalities that occurred in the United States from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2015. Those data were compared with data from the government databases. Analysis revealed 7,869 officer-involved shooting fatalities, an average increase of 51.8 incidents per year. Fatalities increased from 594 in 2006 to 1,007 in 2015—an increase of 69.5% in 10 years. Government data sources reported a low of 46.0% of incidents to a high of 75.3%, depending on the reporting year. Open source research reveals 30% to 45% more cases than official federal or state databases and can reveal much more data about other critical questions. The history of federal program efforts suggests it is unlikely that government recording of data on officer-involved shooting fatalities will improve. Government reporting programs have produced decreasingly effective results. Current web-based data collection efforts suffer from many of the same limitations exhibited in the federal programs. One promising option for improved data collection includes funding an independent party, such as a university, to collect data from open sources and supplement that data with public records requests and the currently collected official government data.

Negotiating Risk and Promoting Empowerment through Rap Music: Development of a Measure to Capture Risk and Empowerment Pathways to Change

The purpose of this study was to report on the development and construction of the Individual and Community Empowerment (ICE) inventory, a measure seeking to capture the specific pathways by which either risk-enhancing impacts or empowering impacts of rap music manifest. Data were analyzed via structural equation modeling from a convenience sample of 128 high school and college students. Results found that respondents elicited (1) empowering themes that related to them individually and to the broader community and (2) high-risk themes that may promote risky health behaviors. Implications about research and practice relevance of the ICE inventory are discussed.

The impact of training on discipline outcomes in school-based policing

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the availability of training for police officers working in a school setting and to assess the relationship between training and the types of discipline school-based law enforcement (SBLE) officers most commonly administer to students. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with SBLE officers in Texas over a six month period. Findings The findings suggests that almost 40 percent of SBLE officers have not received any specialized training in school policing and more than half report the need for more specialized training to improve job performance. The findings also suggest a relationship between training and the type of disciplinary response SBLE officers provide in schools. Originality/value The placement of law enforcement officers in schools serves to preserve campuses as safe and secure learning environments; however, it is also viewed as a catalyst for criminalizing student misconduct, often referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline. Although much of the existing literature on SBLE is focussed on its nexus with the school-to-prison pipeline, there remains a lack of investigation into the training SBLE officers receive and how this potentially impacts discipline outcomes in schools.

Validation of the Individual and Community Empowerment Inventory: A Measure of Rap Music Engagement among First-Year College Students

Amid robust debates about the impact of music on the lives of young people, empirically validated measures of music engagement are absent. The present study builds on the construction of the Individual and Community Empowerment (ICE) inventory, a measure to capture different types of empowerment and different types of risk potential from rap music engagement. The scientific intent of the scale development and the present validation study was to test the simultaneous presence of empowerment and risk associated with music engagement and its application to the individual and community. A unique sample existed for the present study in comparison to the original, with the bulk of respondents being first-year college students and White. Results of the present study suggest that the ICE inventory is an effective and comparative measure of risk and empowerment. Major findings about the instrument’s utility were replicated, but results were divergent from original research on certain demographic trends with respect to gender, age, and race/ethnicity. Empowering and risky music engagement scale means were higher among male and younger respondents. White respondents had significantly lower mean scores than all other groups on empowerment scales, and African Americans had lower scores on the individual risk scale than other groups. Each result suggests the need for additional research. The validation of the ICE inventory offers promise for helping to collect, organize, and interpret new data on associations between music engagement and desirable health and well-being outcomes.

Musical Interactions: Girls Who Like and Use Rap Music for Empowerment

Abstract This paper builds upon a new era of research seeking to understand variability in how desirable outcomes result from engaging rap music as a health enhancing artifact. More specifically, the study explores the music mediated pathways to individual and community well-being. The study emphasizes female music engagement. Quantitative methods are used to examine listening habits and preferences associated with empowering rap music engagement among a female sample of 202 university students using an a priori established path analysis model. Results echo prior research that suggests the functional value of music in helping to define the self independently and articulate one’s social identity within the context of community (Dixon, Zhang, & Conrad, 2009; Hill, 2009; Travis & Bowman, 2012). Specifically, results suggest that among females in this sample, (a) their appropriation of rap music can be empowering, (b) specific factors play a significant role in determining the difference between females that feel more or less empowered from their interactions with rap music, and (c) female listeners were more likely to appropriate rap music for personal and community growth if it was their favorite music type, if they listened often, and if they tended to listen alone more often than with friends. These research findings offer promising routes for more in depth qualitative analysis to help uncover the nuances of preferred engagement strategies and to help define the subjective lived experiences that lead to feeling empowered by music to act toward positive change for oneself and others. Practical results indicate the possibility for gender-specific education, therapeutic or empowerment-based programs that utilize rap music as a rubric.