Suchergebnisse

Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in the United States represents a critical social challenge to promoting the ideals and values of social justice. The ecological nature of DMC, a phenomenon emerging from the intersection of micro- and macro-level factors, necessitates the application of systems theories in understanding the issue and designing solutions to address it. This article illustrates the application of socio-ecological systems theory in thematic analysis, drawing associations across multiple systems between contributing factors to DMC in the juvenile justice system in North Carolina, USA. Analysis examined data from 6 focus groups comprised of 55 statewide stakeholders involved in the juvenile justice continuum. Application of socio-ecological systems theory in thematic analysis revealed structural and individual conditions associated with DMC, to include institutional racism demonstrated by biases present in stakeholders across schools and the juvenile justice system. The article presents ways in which micro to macro factors influence social challenges. Findings present an analytic strategy for constructing a practical model in qualitative research of contributing mechanisms to DMC and addressing issues of social justice in the United States.

Observational data on 40 people with severe intellectual disabilities and sensory impairments were analysed to determine the relationship between user engagement, stereotypy and the nature of staff support received. The results indicated that (1) practical support was associated with an increased probability of engagement for 94% and decreased stereotypy for 98% of participants; (2) other forms of contact were associated with a decreased probability of engagement for 77% and decreased stereotypy for 79% of participants; (3) episodes of no contact were associated with significantly elevated rates of stereotypy in all participants; (4) practical support was significantly more likely to be associated with an increase in the odds of engagement than either no contact or other forms of contact; (5) no contact was significantly more likely to be associated with an increase in the odds of stereotypy than either practical support or other forms of contact; (6) practical support appeared to have more impact on engagement in less institutionalised services, services which experienced lower rates of staff sickness, and in services which provided more regularly scheduled social activities.

In the USA, out‐of‐school suspension leaves numerous young people in transition, caught between the school and their communities. A limited body of literature neither documents the experiences of suspended young people from ethnically diverse populations nor provides insight into the spaces they occupy. This study used an exploratory mixed methods design to identify psychological, social and spatial dimensions of social connectedness in the experiences of suspended young people participating in a community intervention. The study aimed to explicate social connectedness as a protective factor and how underlying dimensions of social connectedness construct sites of recovery for suspended young people.