Status and collaboration: The case of pro bono network inequalities in corporate law.

We examine how status shapes intersectoral collaboration between large US corporate law firms and public interest legal organizations (PILOs). We draw from status theories to derive competing hypotheses about the status processes that generate organizational collaboration within this network. Supporting a status-signaling hypothesis, high-status law firms tend to collaborate with similarly high-status pro bono organizations. This gives rise to a highly unequal playing field where a handful of PILOs have a wealth of connections to high-status law firms, while the majority of PILOs only collaborate with few -relatively under-resourced- non-high-status firms. We test our hypotheses using latent space models for weighted networks. We further validate our results using more traditional QAP multiple regressions. In closing, we discuss the implications of our findings for scholarship on status and organizations, as well as the role that corporate law firms play in exacerbating inequality in terms of access to justice in the US.

Social Network Factors and Anxiety Among Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes and Their Parents.

Stressors generated by chronic illnesses in adolescents are experienced in the broader social context of their lives. The purpose of this study was to examine the social networks of 15 adolescents with type 1 diabetes and 25 parents and evaluate associations of social support and kinship type with state and trait anxiety. Social network data were collected through individual interviews. Participants completed self-reported measures of anxiety. Adolescents with lower anxiety had greater overlap with their parents' networks and more network members with whom they would not share their feelings. Parents with increased anxiety had more network members who provide support for everyday stressors, or with whom they lose their temper. The type of support provided by biological and social kin differed for adolescents versus parents. Tailored interventions leveraging existing social networks could be a key mechanism for supporting family responses to stress-provoking situations in the context of childhood chronic illness.

Sex and Education: Does Sexual Debut During Adolescence Lead to Poor Grades?

CONTEXT: Because many U.S. teenagers experience their first sexual intercourse during high school, understanding whether sexual behavior and academic performance are related is important. However, research on sexual debut and grades has produced inconsistent findings. METHODS: Data collected over four years from a specific cohort (1,321 eighth- and ninth-graders) of a nationally representative longitudinal study, the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, were examined using fixed-effects regression models to assess the relationship between first sexual intercourse and grade point average (GPA). RESULTS: Overall, no relationship was found between students' first sexual intercourse and GPA. For black females and Latinos of either gender, having had first sexual intercourse was associated with a lower GPA (coefficients, -216 and -161, respectively, corresponding to grade point decreases multiplied by 100). For black females, this association was observed only in the context of romantic relationships (-243). The predicted GPAs for black females aged 14 or 15 who reported first intercourse in a romantic relationship were significantly lower than those for their counterparts who had not had intercourse, whereas at 18 this was reversed. For Latinos, the predicted GPAs of 14- and 15-year-olds who had had sex were also lower than those of their sexually inexperienced counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Although first sexual intercourse may not disrupt the academic performance of older adolescents, it may contribute to lower grades among younger minority adolescents. Further research is needed using such contextual variables as age, race, ethnicity, gender and relationship context.

Family Relationships Associated With Communication and Testing for Inherited Cardiac Conditions.

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of family relationships associated with communication of genetic risk and testing behaviors among at-risk relatives in families with an inherited cardiac condition. Data were collected from 53 patients and parents of children with an inherited cardiac condition through interviews, pedigrees, and surveys. Associations were examined among family relationship characteristics and whether at-risk relatives were informed about their risk and tested for disease. Of 1,178 at-risk relatives, 52.5% were informed about their risk and 52.1% of those informed were tested. Emotional closeness, relationship quality, and communication frequency had significant bivariate associations with genetic risk communication. Communication frequency was associated with genetic risk communication and testing in multivariate models. This study provides new insight into the extent of genetic risk communication and testing in families with inherited cardiac conditions. Family relationships, especially communication frequency, are critical factors in family communication of genetic risk.

Broken Promises: Abstinence Pledging and Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Approximately 12% of girls and young women in the United States pledge abstinence. Yet most break their pledges, engaging in first intercourse before marriage. The extant literature reports few differences between pledge breakers and nonpledgers in sexually transmitted infections and nonmarital pregnancies. The present research maintains that previous studies may have obscured important differences in exposure risk and hypothesizes that female pledge breakers who have higher exposure risk are more likely to experience human papillomavirus (HPV) and nonmarital pregnancies. To test this hypothesis, this study uses the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, logistic regression, and event history modeling. The results show that, after accounting for differences in exposure risk, pledge breakers have higher risk of HPV and nonmarital pregnancy. As a set, the results are consistent with the argument that pledgers use condoms and contraceptives less consistently and highlight unintended consequences of abstinence promotion.

Violent peers, network centrality, and intimate partner violence perpetration by young men.

PURPOSE: To measure the association between affiliation with violent peers in adolescence and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration by men in early adulthood, and how peer network structure influences the strength of this association. METHODS: Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we analyzed a cohort of male subjects, originally in grades 7-12, reporting on sexual relationships 7 years later. At baseline, peer network violence was estimated as the average of network members' reports of their frequency of fighting during the past year, and centrality (number of friendships) was measured. Logistic regression was used to estimate associations between peer network violence, network centrality, and perpetration of IPV in recent intimate relationships. RESULTS: The probability of IPV perpetration was 37% for young men with a large number of friends (>13) engaging in an average of six to seven fights in the past year. However, young men in small- (<6 friends) or medium-sized peer networks (6-13 friends) with these same levels of violence had probabilities of IPV perpetration between 5% and 7%. CONCLUSIONS: School-based interventions that target fighting by male subjects can reduce risk of IPV perpetration later in life.

Emotional and physical satisfaction in noncohabiting, cohabiting, and marital relationships: the importance of jealous conflict.

This article examines whether associations between marital status and emotional and physical satisfaction depend on jealous conflict associated with expectations about sexual exclusivity. Using data from a representative sample of 681 women and men drawn from the city of Chicago and its inner suburbs, this study estimated logistic regression models of jealous conflict and ordered logistic regression models of adults' reported emotional and physical satisfaction of their relationships. The results show that marriages are less exposed to jealous conflict than cohabiting and noncohabiting relationships. Regarding emotional and physical satisfaction, their associations with marital status were contingent upon whether individuals reported jealous conflict in their relationships. Specifically, in relationships without jealous conflict, married couples were more emotionally satisfied than noncohabiting couples. Married couples, but not cohabiting and noncohabiting couples, had significantly lower emotional and physical satisfaction when jealous conflict occurred. Cohabitors were not less emotionally or physically satisfied than married respondents. Overall, this research supports the argument that sexual exclusivity expectations are important for understanding the link between marital status and relationship quality.

The contexts of sexual involvement and concurrent sexual partnerships.

CONTEXT: Concurrent sexual partnerships may facilitate the spread of STDs, but little is known about partnership concurrency and its association with the relationship contexts of sexual involvement. METHODS: Data about demographic characteristics, sexual histories and the most recent opposite-sex partnership among 783 adults aged 18-59 were drawn from the 1995 Chicago Health and Social Life Survey. Wald chi-square tests assessed gender differences in the timing and type of sexual involvement and in concurrent partnerships; bivariate probit regression analyses examined associations between concurrent partnerships and sexual involvement and other characteristics. RESULTS: One in 10 of both women and men reported that both they and their partners had had other partners. Men were more likely than women to have been nonmonogamous (17% vs. 5%), and women were more likely than men to report that their partner had been (17% vs. 8%). The probability of having been nonmonogamous was 44% higher among women who were sexually involved with a friend, and 30% higher among those with a casual partner, than among those in a serious relationship; the corresponding figures for their partners were 48% and 32%, respectively. For men, the probability of having been nonmonogamous was elevated by 25% among those who were sexually involved with a friend and by 43% among those with a casual partner; for their partners, the figures were 27% and 24%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Increased awareness that nonromantic sexual involvement is associated with partnership concurrency may enhance individuals' understanding of the risks and rewards of their relationships.

A cross-national study of subjective sexual well-being among older women and men: findings from the Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors.

Subjective sexual well-being refers to the cognitive and emotional evaluation of an individual's sexuality. This study examined subjective sexual well-being, explored its various aspects, examined predictors across different cultures, and investigated its possible associations with overall happiness and selected correlates, including sexual dysfunction. Data were drawn from the Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors, a survey of 27,500 men and women aged 40-80 years in 29 countries. The cross-national variation of four aspects of sexual well-being (the emotional and physical satisfaction of sexual relationships, satisfaction with sexual health or function, and the importance of sex in one's life) was explored using cluster analysis, and relationships among sexual well-being, general happiness, and various correlates were examined using ordinary least squares regression and ordered logistic regression. Results from the cluster analysis identified three clusters: a gender-equal regime and two male-centered regimes. Despite this cultural variation, the predictors of subjective sexual well-being were found to be largely consistent across world regions.

Sexual behavior and sexual dysfunctions after age 40: the global study of sexual attitudes and behaviors.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the importance of sex and the prevalence of sexual dysfunction among middle-aged and older adults throughout the world. Increasing life expectancy has been accompanied by improvements in the health of the middle-aged and elderly, but little is known about how this has affected their sexual experience. METHODS: Data were collected in 29 countries from 27,500 men and women aged 40 to 80 years using a standardized questionnaire (self-completed or by interview). Sexual dysfunction was defined as frequent and persistent problems. They included early ejaculation and erectile difficulties in men, lubrication difficulties and pain during intercourse in women, and a lack of sexual interest, an inability to achieve orgasm, and a feeling of unpleasurable sex in both. RESULTS: More than 80% of the men and 65% of the women had had sexual intercourse during the past year. Of these subjects, the most common dysfunctions were early ejaculation (14%) and erectile difficulties (10%) among the men and a lack of sexual interest (21%), inability to reach orgasm (16%), and lubrication difficulties (16%) among the women. Overall, 28% of the men and 39% of the women said that they were affected by at least one sexual dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study indicate that sexual desire and activity are widespread among middle-aged and elderly men and women worldwide and persist into old age. The prevalence of sexual dysfunctions was quite high and tended to increase with age, especially in men. Although major between-country differences were noted, this global study revealed some clear and consistent patterns.