An Inside Look at Homeless Youths’ Social Networks: Perceptions of Substance Use Norms

Substance use among homeless young people is a pervasive problem, and there have been many efforts to understand more about the dynamics of this health compromising behavior. The current study examined perceived substance use norms within homeless youths’ social networks utilizing in-depth interviews. The sample included 19 homeless individuals aged 16 to 21. Four elements of substance use within networks emerged: substance use choices, drug use safety issues, encouragement and/or discouragement, and appropriate situations in which substance use is condoned. These findings provide unique insight into the norms associated with drug and alcohol use within homeless youths’ social networks.

Individual and Social Network Substance Use Norms Sample Quotes

Qualitative codes and subcodes	Selected qualitative quotes
Substance use choices
Anything goes	- I just didn’t care. I’d do anything. I’d let anybody else do anything.
Undesirable substance use	- I don’t condone the use any, any illegal drugs, period. I don’t even like drinking or smoking…it inhibits you.
Substance use distinctions	-I mean everyone smokes pot sometimes. But it’s not like an addiction you know it’s smoke here and there and then you know have fun.
Safety concerns
Knowing your limits	-If I’ve got a buzz, I got to stop because if I drink more than what I’m supposed to, I get so drunk and I will get myself into trouble.
Drug-related safety	- try a little bit and see how it [the drug] does.
Buddy system	- Stay with the other person [substance user] to make sure they don’t…end up all fucked up laying somewhere.
Encouraging and discouraging messages
Offering and visibility	- He’ll probably just be like ‘come on, just one drink, come on that’s it’ that kind of pressure.
No encouragement necessary	- I’ve never needed no encouragement. I just do it on my own.
Words of warning	-All of them say ‘Just stay clean.’ They, they’re always telling me, ‘Don’t, don’t use this, it’s just complications.’
Avoidance	- If you are a crack-head, you’re gonna have to do it in your tent and nobody else can be around.
Substance use situations
Managing emotions	- Um back when I was using um, [in] stressful situations, when I was mad, [and] when I was sad. I used emotionally, every emotion..
Managing social situations	- I’ll do it because I feel like well if everybody else is getting fucked up that’ll give me more of the reason to you know just fit-like go right along with it.

…Some homeless young people report that their network members encourage drug and alcohol use by making it widely available or by pressuring them to use. This is consistent with the literature which holds that if network norms are consistent with drug and alcohol use and participation in these behaviors is valued within the group, the youth is likely afforded more opportunities to use alcohol and drugs and may model the behavior of other members (Bauman & Ennett, 1996). In contrast several young people stated that it was unnecessary for network members to encourage substance use because they personally make the decision to drink and/or use drugs. It is possible that the young people in this latter group already have high rates of substance use and thus join peer groups where network norms are consonant with their own values, beliefs, and behaviors regarding alcohol and drug use. This finding is consistent with Gomez et al. (2010) who found that those who belonged to social groups with drug dependent members were more likely to report personal substance use dependency. Finally, several describe how their networks discourage substance use through words of warning or through avoidance techniques. It is possible that young people who belong to social networks who do not condone alcohol and drug use are less likely to initially be substance users.

Our final theme, which focuses on situations in which substance use is condoned among homeless young people, is particularly unique and adds to the existing literature because it reveals circumstances in which alcohol and drug use is more likely to occur within their social networks. Thus, our findings provide insight into why homeless youth view substances as functional and how they are sometimes used to cope with emotions or social situations. Several respondents describe situations in which they use substances to assist with managing feelings of depression, resentment, and sadness associated with experiences of child abuse. Others report using substances to cope with anger and other negative feelings associated with their current circumstances of having to survive on the street. Thus, some drugs may be used as a coping mechanism to relieve numerous stressors, including those associated with street life (Kidd & Kral, 2002; Thompson et al., 2009; Tyler & Johnson, 2006). Finally, some talked about using substances in social situations perhaps because friends were using or because they want to fit in with the group. This may be particularly important for those who are new to the streets and are looking for dependable individuals who will afford them protection and teach them survival techniques. Although not highly desirable, these individuals may join substance using groups because they feel people within these networks are important for their survival on the streets…

Full article at: http://goo.gl/N4tbE8

By:  Lisa A. Melander, Ph.D., Kimberly A. Tyler, Ph.D., and Rachel M. Schmitz, B.A.

Lisa A. Melander, Kansas State University, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work;

Contributor Information.

Direct all correspondence to Dr. Lisa A. Melander, Kansas State University, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, 204 Waters Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506. Phone: (785) 532-6865. Fax (785) 532-6978. 

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Gender-Specific Jealousy and Infidelity Norms as Sources of Sexual Health Risk and Violence among Young Coupled Nicaraguans

Gender inequity negatively affects health in Central America. In 2011, we conducted 60 semistructured interviews and 12 photovoice focus groups with young coupled men and women in León, Nicaragua, to explore the ways in which social norms around marriage and gender affect sexual health and gender-based violence. 

Participants' depictions of their experiences revealed gendered norms around infidelity that provided a narrative to justify male expressions of jealousy, which included limiting partner autonomy, sexual coercion, and physical violence against women, and resulted in increased women's risk of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. 

By understanding and taking account of these different narratives and normalized beliefs in developing health- and gender-based violence interventions, such programs might be more effective in promoting gender-equitable attitudes and behaviors among young men and women in Nicaragua.

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/9bFCrv

By:  Boyce S1, Zeledón P1, Tellez E1, Barrington C1.

• 1At the time of the study, Sabrina Boyce was a US Fulbright fellow in León, Nicaragua. Perla Zeledón and Ever Tellez were with el Centro de Investigación e Intervenciones en Salud, León, Nicaragua. Clare Barrington was with the Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 
• Am J Public Health. 2016 Feb 18:e1-e8.

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Optimizing HIV Prevention for Women: A Review of Evidence from Microbicide Studies & Considerations for Gender-Sensitive Microbicide Introduction

Introduction

Microbicides were conceptualized as a product that could give women increased agency over HIV prevention. However, gender-related norms and inequalities that place women and girls at risk of acquiring HIV are also likely to affect their ability to use microbicides. Understanding how gendered norms and inequalities may pose obstacles to women's microbicide use is important to inform product design, microbicide trial implementation and eventually microbicide and other antiretroviral-based prevention programmes. We reviewed published vaginal microbicide studies to identify gender-related factors that are likely to affect microbicide acceptability, access and adherence. We make recommendations on product design, trial implementation, positioning, marketing and delivery of microbicides in a way that takes into account the gender-related norms and inequalities identified in the review.

Methods

We conducted PubMed searches for microbicide studies published in journals between 2000 and 2013. Search terms included trial names (e.g. “MDP301”), microbicide product names (e.g. “BufferGel”), researchers’ names (e.g. “van der Straten”) and other relevant terms (e.g. “microbicide”). We included microbicide clinical trials; surrogate studies in which a vaginal gel, ring or diaphragm was used without an active ingredient; and hypothetical studies in which no product was used. Social and behavioural studies implemented in conjunction with clinical trials and surrogate studies were also included. Although we recognize the importance of rectal microbicides to women, we did not include studies of rectal microbicides, as most of them focused on men who have sex with men. Using a standardized review template, three reviewers read the articles and looked for gender-related findings in key domains (e.g. product acceptability, sexual pleasure, partner communication, microbicide access and adherence).

Results and discussion

The gendered norms, roles and relations that will likely affect women's ability to access and use microbicides are related to two broad categories: norms regulating women's and men's sexuality and power dynamics within intimate relationships. Though norms about women's and men's sexuality vary among cultural contexts, women's sexual behaviour and pleasure are typically less socially acceptable and more restricted than men's. These norms drive the need for woman-initiated HIV prevention, but also have implications for microbicide acceptability and how they are likely to be used by women of different ages and relationship types. Women's limited power to negotiate the circumstances of their intimate relationships and sex lives will impact their ability to access and use microbicides. Men's role in women's effective microbicide use can range from opposition to non-interference to active support.

Conclusions

Identifying an effective microbicide that women can use consistently is vital to the future of HIV prevention for women. Once such a microbicide is identified and licensed, positioning, marketing and delivering microbicides in a way that takes into account the gendered norms and inequalities we have identified would help maximize access and adherence. It also has the potential to improve communication about sexuality, strengthen relationships between women and men and increase women's agency over their bodies and their health.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/IWGjkK

By:   Elizabeth G Doggett,^§,1 Michele Lanham,² Rose Wilcher,¹ Mitzy Gafos,³ Quarraisha A Karim,^4,5 and Lori Heise⁶

¹Research Utilization Department, FHI 360, Durham, NC, USA

²Social and Behavioral Health Sciences Department, FHI 360, Durham, NC, USA

³Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit at University College London, Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology, London, UK

⁴CAPRISA, Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

⁵Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

⁶Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

^§Corresponding author: Elizabeth G Doggett, 359 Blackwell St., Durham, NC 27707, USA. Tel: +1 919 944 7040. (Email:gro.063ihf@tteggode)

  

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Moral Parochialism & Contextual Contingency Across Seven Societies

Human moral judgement may have evolved to maximize the individual's welfare given parochial culturally constructed moral systems. If so, then moral condemnation should be more severe when transgressions are recent and local, and should be sensitive to the pronouncements of authority figures (who are often arbiters of moral norms), as the fitness pay-offs of moral disapproval will primarily derive from the ramifications of condemning actions that occur within the immediate social arena. 

Correspondingly, moral transgressions should be viewed as less objectionable if they occur in other places or times, or if local authorities deem them acceptable. These predictions contrast markedly with those derived from prevailing non-evolutionary perspectives on moral judgement. Both classes of theories predict purportedly species-typical patterns, yet to our knowledge, no study to date has investigated moral judgement across a diverse set of societies, including a range of small-scale communities that differ substantially from large highly urbanized nations. 

We tested these predictions in five small-scale societies and two large-scale societies, finding substantial evidence of moral parochialism and contextual contingency in adults' moral judgements. Results reveal an overarching pattern in which moral condemnation reflects a concern with immediate local considerations, a pattern consistent with a variety of evolutionary accounts of moral judgement.

Below:  Reductions in the ranked ‘badness’ of transgressions, aggregated across scenarios, as a function of the consent of an authority figure, temporal distance, or spatial distance, presented as odds ratios and their 97.5% confidence intervals. The odds ratios, computed by exponentiating the beta coefficients (e^β), provide the odds of a badness judgement falling at a given ranked level or below when the factor is present, relative to when it is absent, across all badness levels. Odds ratios above 1 thus indicate reduced judgements of badness.

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/lSBZhu

By:  Daniel M. T. Fessler,1 H. Clark Barrett,1 Martin Kanovsky,2 Stephen Stich,3 Colin Holbrook,1 Joseph Henrich,4,5Alexander H. Bolyanatz,6 Matthew M. Gervais,1,†‡ Michael Gurven,7 Geoff Kushnick,8 Anne C. Pisor,7 Christopher von Rueden,9 and Stephen Laurence10

1Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, USA

2Institute of Social Anthropology, FSEV, Comenius University, 820 05 Bratislava 25, Slovakia

3Department of Philosophy and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1107, USA

4Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 1Z4

5Department of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 1Z4

6Social Sciences Subdivision, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599, USA

7Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210, USA

8School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia

9Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

10Department of Philosophy and Hang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7QB, UK

¹Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, USA

²Institute of Social Anthropology, FSEV, Comenius University, 820 05 Bratislava 25, Slovakia

³Department of Philosophy and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1107, USA

⁴Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 1Z4

⁵Department of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 1Z4

⁶Social Sciences Subdivision, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599, USA

⁷Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210, USA

⁸School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia

⁹Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

¹⁰Department of Philosophy and Hang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7QB, UK

e-mail: ude.alcu.orhtna@relssefd

^†Present address: Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1414, USA.

^‡Present address: School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA.

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Personality, Parasites, Political Attitudes, and Cooperation: A Model of How Infection Prevalence Influences Openness and Social Group Formation

What is the origin of individual differences in ideology and personality? According to the parasite stress hypothesis, the structure of a society and the values of individuals within it are both influenced by the prevalence of infectious disease within the society's geographical region. High levels of infection threat are associated with more ethnocentric and collectivist social structures and greater adherence to social norms, as well as with socially conservative political ideology and less open but more conscientious personalities. 

Here we use an agent-based model to explore a specific opportunities-parasites trade-off (OPTO) hypothesis, according to which utility-maximizing agents place themselves at an optimal point on a trade-off between (a) the gains that may be achieved through accessing the resources of geographically or socially distant out-group members through openness to out-group interaction, and (b) the losses arising due to consequently increased risks of exotic infection to which immunity has not been developed. 

We examine the evolution of cooperation and the formation of social groups within social networks, and we show that the groups that spontaneously form exhibit greater local rather than global cooperative networks when levels of infection are high. It is suggested that the OPTO model offers a first step toward understanding the specific mechanisms through which environmental conditions may influence cognition, ideology, personality, and social organization.

Below:  Effects of learning on openness for different values of the probability of infection associated with most distant neighbors

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/8IUg6L

By:  Brown GD1, Fincher CL1, Walasek L1.

• 1Department of Psychology, University of Warwick. 

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Being Well-Liked Predicts Increased Use of Alcohol But Not Tobacco in Early Adolescence

Although substance use has traditionally been linked to peer deviance, a parallel literature has explored the influence of peer social status (being "well-liked"). This literature hypothesizes that adolescents with higher status will anticipate shifts in social norms and modify their behavior earlier and/or more substantially than lower-status students. 

As substance use becomes more socially acceptable during early-to-mid-adolescence, higher status youth are hypothesized to reflect this shift in norms by accelerating their use more rapidly than lower status youth. Although some evidence exists to support this hypothesis, it has never been evaluated in conjunction with the opposing hypothesis (i.e., that substance use contributes to elevated peer status). 

In this study, we evaluated reciprocal links between peer status and substance use (i.e., alcohol and tobacco) using 3 years of data from 8 middle schools in the Pacific Northwest. Social network analysis enabled us to model standard network effects along with unique effects for the influence of the network on behavior (i.e., increased substance use as a result of being well-liked) and the influence of behavior on the network (i.e., increased status as a result of substance use). 

Our results indicated significant bidirectional effects for alcohol use but no significant effects for tobacco use. In other words, being well-liked significantly predicted alcohol use and vice versa, but these processes were not significant for tobacco use. 

Prevention efforts should consider the dynamics of peer status and peer norms in adolescence with the goal of preventing escalations in problem behavior that can compromise future adjustment.

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/Y2BXso

By: Van Ryzin MJ1, DeLay D2, Dishion TJ2.

• 1Oregon Research Institute, 1776 Millrace Drive, Eugene, OR 97403, USA. Electronic address: markv@ori.org.
• 2Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104, USA. 

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Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy, Hegemonic Masculine Norms & Condom Use among Heterosexual Couples in South Africa

Hegemonic masculine norms (HMN), which promote sexual risk-taking among males and the subordination of women, are believed to play a key role in the HIV epidemic among heterosexual couples in South Africa (SA). Sexual communication self-efficacy (SCSE) (i.e., a couple's confidence in their ability to communicate about HIV prevention) may be a key leverage point for increasing HIV prevention behaviors among this population. 

We found that couples with higher SCSE have greater odds of consistent condom use. Furthermore, male endorsement of HMN was found to be negatively associated with consistent condom use among couples. Joint HIV serostatus was not significantly associated with the outcome. 

Future interventions that equip heterosexual couples with sexual communication skills, while simultaneously promoting more gender equitable norms, may increase consistent condom use and thereby reduce the transmission of HIV among this at-risk population.

Via: http://ht.ly/ScNfN 

By: Leddy A1, Chakravarty D, Dladla S, de Bruyn G, Darbes L.

• 1a Department of Health, Behavior and Society , Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health , Baltimore , MD , USA.

A Dangerous Boomerang: Injunctive Norms, Hostile Sexist Attitudes & Male-To-Female Sexual Aggression

Study examined the interactive effects of injunctive norm exposure and hostile and benevolent sexist attitudes on men's sexually aggressive responses during a behavioral analogue paradigm in which they interacted online with a bogus female partner. Heterosexual adult men (n = 201), recruited from an online sample, read fictional information regarding other men's approval of misogynistic, paternalistic, or egalitarian treatment of women, or non-gender-relevant control information. 

Through a media preference survey, men then learned that their female partner disliked sexual content in films, after which they had an opportunity to send her up to 120 sec' worth of either a sexually explicit or nonsexual film clip. Validating the online sexual aggression paradigm, men with a 1-year history of sexual assault exhibited more sexually aggressive responding during the film selection paradigm. 

Moreover, exposure to injunctive norm information produced a boomerang effect, such that men high in hostile sexist attitudes showed an increase in sexual aggression when confronted with paternalism and gender equality norms. Conversely, exposure to paternalism and gender equality norms suppressed the otherwise protective function of high benevolent sexism in reducing men's sexually aggressive tendencies. 

Via:  http://ht.ly/RXeS4

By: Bosson JK1, Parrott DJ2, Swan SC3, Kuchynka SL1, Schramm AT4.

• 1Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
• 2Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia.
• 3Department of Psychology and Women's & Gender Studies Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
• 4Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.