Ethnic Harassment and the Protective Effect of Positive Parenting on Immigrant Youths’ Antisocial Behavior

Background

The existing literature suggests that positive parenting might serve as a protective factor against immigrant adolescents’ engagement in externalizing difficulties when they are exposed to negative experiences of ethnic derogation. To date, little is known, however, about whether different dimensions of positive parenting may moderate the detrimental impact of ethnic harassment at school on immigrant youth’s antisocial behavior.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate which specific dimensions of positive parenting may act as a buffer against the detrimental impact of ethnic harassment at school on immigrant adolescents’ antisocial behavior (i.e., delinquency and violence).

Method

Using longitudinal data, we followed first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents (N?=?365; Mage?=?13.93, SD?=?.80; 46% girls; 37% first-generation) in Sweden over a period of one year. Data collection at Time 1 (T1) was completed in the spring semester of the school year, and Time 2 (T2) assessments took place a year after the first data collection. We ran a series of regressions analyses via the SPSS PROCESS macro for each dimension of positive parenting behavior and each type of antisocial behavior.

Results

We found that ethnically harassed immigrant adolescents who received parental warmth, perceived their influence on family decisions and whose parents were aware of their children’s daily activities were less likely to engage in delinquency and violence one year later. In addition, we saw that immigrant youth whose parents actively sought information about their offsprings’ lives were less prone to display violence in the face of ethnic harassment.

Conclusions

The results suggest that parents are important in overriding the noxious effects of negative peer interactions targeting their children’s ethnic background, even during an adolescence marked by significant changes in child–parent and child–peer relationships. These findings might inform the development of intervention components for testing in interventions studies aimed at preventing immigrant youths’ antisocial behavior and future involvement in violent criminal offences.

     

An electron microscope study of the formation of the nacreous layer in the shell of certain bivalve molluscs

An electron-microscopic study was made of nacreous shell growth in several species of marine molluscs. Studies of sections of mantle-shell preparations show that the first step in crystal formation is the polymerization of part of the pallial fluid to form lamellae parallel to the surface of the epithelium. These lamellae form compartments enclosing a modified apallial fluid. Initiation of crystals occurs in these compartments in contact with a crystal in an adjacent layer. During crystal growth the organic matrix present in the compartment is displaced by the growing surface of the crystal. When growth is complete the crystal is entirely enveloped by a delicate organic sheath. These studies show that the pallial fluid with its organic constituents is responsible for supplying a matrix or substrate for crystal initiation and growth. It serves as a regulatory device for guiding the orderly growth and arrangement of crystals and, further, it may participate in the induction of new crystals. The formation of compartments during shell growth accounts for the uniform thickness, preferred exhibited orientation and mineralogy of the crystals as well as other features exhibited by the mature nacre.This investigation was aided (in part) by Grant DE-01825, N.I.D.R., U.S.P.H Service.     

An electron microscope study of the formation of the ligament ofMytilus edulis andPinctada radiata

An electron microscope study was made of the formation and structure of the inner ligament ofMytilus edulis andPinctada radiata. This part of the ligament is derived from the isthmus cells which are irregular columnar in shape. They exhibit a prominent rough endoplasmic reticulum and a Golgi apparatus, which are concerned with the elaboration of vesicles and granules eventually incorporated into an integral part of the conchiolin.The crystals arise at the calcification front at the inner surface of the ligament and are enclosed in envelopes. They consist of long, needle-shaped, single aragonite crystals widely dispersed in the ligament.Although the components of the shell and ligament are similar, differences between them consist of an increased amount of conchiolin, as well as a decrease in the amount, diversity of form, arrangement and growth of the crystals; all probably related to the specialized function of the ligament.This investigation was supported (in part) by grant DE-01825, N.I.D.R., U.S.P.H. Service.     

CYP27A1 expression in gilthead sea bream (Sparus auratus, L.): effects of calcitriol and parathyroid hormone-related protein

Little is known about vitamin D metabolism in fishes. Several reports have shown hydroxylase activities in various organs to produce vitamin D metabolites, but the enzymes involved have not been isolated or characterized. We isolated and characterized a renal mitochondrial hydroxylase, CYP27A1, that governs vitamin D metabolism in gilthead sea bream, Sparus auratus. The enzyme is highly expressed in kidney and to a far lesser extent in liver. When treated with 25-hydroxy vitamin D or calcitriol, the kidney responded differentially and time dependently with CYP27A1 mRNA expression levels. This response substantiates a role for CYP27A1 in fish vitamin D metabolism. This notion is strengthened by upregulation of CYP27A1 in sea bream treated with parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), and suggests an original role for PTHrP in calcitriol-regulated processes n fish similar to the role of PTH in mammalian vitamin D-dependent processes.     

An electron microscope study of the formation of the ligament ofMytilus edulis andPinctada radiata

An electron microscope study was made of the formation and structure of the inner ligament ofMytilus edulis andPinctada radiata. This part of the ligament is derived from the isthmus cells which are irregular columnar in shape. They exhibit a prominent rough endoplasmic reticulum and a Golgi apparatus, which are concerned with the elaboration of vesicles and granules eventually incorporated into an integral part of the conchiolin. The crystals arise at the calcification front at the inner surface of the ligament and are enclosed in envelopes. They consist of long, needle-shaped, single aragonite crystals widely dispersed in the ligament. Although the components of the shell and ligament are similar, differences between them consist of an increased amount of conchiolin, as well as a decrease in the amount, diversity of form, arrangement and growth of the crystals; all probably related to the specialized function of the ligament.