Navigating Farm Stress: Traumatic and Resilient Dimensions of the Black Agrarian Frame.

The current period of economic and social instability in the farm economy has generated renewed interest in the framing processes used by farmers to interpret and ascribe blame for the distress they have experienced. Studies show that agrarian frames are differentiated into types based on farmers' historical and contemporary racialized experiences. To investigate the role that agrarian frames play in navigating farm stress, we conducted a thematic analysis using data from interviews with 15 Black farmers from three Southern states. The results identify a Black Agrarian frame with two dimensions: traumatic and resilient. The traumatic dimension provides a system-blame narrative that highlights financial risk driven by institutions and racism as a core factor in farm stress. The resilient dimension describes collective action as a key coping strategy linked to understanding the farm as a multi-faceted asset. In conclusion, research on differentiated agrarian frames is an important component towards understanding how diverse populations navigate farm stress and the development of culturally appropriate resources for addressing it.

School Context Matters: The Impacts of Concentrated Poverty and Racial Segregation on Childhood Obesity.

BACKGROUND: Schools are important sites for interventions to prevent childhood obesity. This study examines how variables measuring the socioeconomic and racial composition of schools and counties affect the likelihood of obesity among third to fifth grade children. METHODS: Body mass index data were collected from third to fifth grade public school students by teachers from 317 urban and rural North Carolina schools in 38 counties. Multilevel models are used to examine county-, school-, and individual-level effects. RESULTS: Low concentrations of poverty at the school level are associated with lower odds of obesity. Schools in rural counties had significantly higher rates of obesity, net the other variables in the model. Students in minority-segregated schools had higher rates of obesity than those in more racially diverse schools, but the effect was not statistically significant once school-level poverty was controlled. CONCLUSIONS: Place-based inequalities are important determinants of health inequalities. The results of this study show that school-level variables related to poverty are important for understanding and confronting childhood obesity.

Parental involvement with their working teens.

Adolescents work in varied environments and are exposed to hazards. Parents of these working adolescents have an opportunity to help them select jobs and address worker safety issues with employers. The present study conducted telephonic interviews among a national sample of 922 working adolescents along with one parent of each to examine the involvement of parents in their children's employment and safety issues. Over 70% of parents were found who helped their children identify job opportunities, consider questions about work hours or tasks, fill out job applications, prepare for interviews, or handle difficult safety issues. Parents suggested stronger actions in response to hypothetical situations than when confronted with real problems. Mean level of parental involvement did not vary by the number of hazards reported by teen workers. Parents were involved in helping their teens with work. Further research should explore how to enhance parental effectiveness by making work safe for teens.

Political economy of US states and rates of fatal occupational injury.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the extent to which the political economy of US states, including the relative power of organized labor, predicts rates of fatal occupational injury. METHODS: We described states' political economies with 6 contextual variables measuring social and political conditions: "right-to-work" laws, union membership density, labor grievance rates, state government debt, unemployment rates, and social wage payments. We obtained data on fatal occupational injuries from the National Traumatic Occupational Fatality surveillance system and population data from the US national census. We used Poisson regression methods to analyze relationships for the years 1980 and 1995. RESULTS: States differed notably with respect to political-economic characteristics and occupational fatality rates, although these characteristics were more homogeneous within rather than between regions. Industry and workforce composition contributed significantly to differences in state injury rates, but political-economic characteristics of states were also significantly associated with injury rates, after adjustment accounting for those factors. CONCLUSIONS: Higher rates of fatal occupational injury were associated with a state policy climate favoring business over labor, with distinct regional clustering of such state policies in the South and Northeast.

Risk factors for a farm vehicle public road crash.

Driver, vehicle, public road, and farm enterprise characteristics were examined for their combined association with farm vehicle public road crash group membership. North Carolina farms experiencing a public road crash from 1992 to 2003 (n=200) were compared with a non-crash control group (n=185) for a 1:1 case:control ratio. Five characteristics were associated with increased odds of crash group membership in the combined model (likelihood ratio=175.95; d.f.=15; p<.001): use of non-English speaking drivers (OR=3.71); use of non-family hired help drivers (OR=4.25); types of non-farm vehicle public road use (OR=1.39); farm injury history (OR=1.33); and, use of younger farm vehicle drivers (OR=1.02). Farms reporting older farm vehicle drivers (OR=0.97), and low farm income (OR=0.29) were less likely crash group members. Recommendations are discussed for incorporating findings into farm vehicle crash prevention research and interventions.

US child labor violations in the retail and service industries: findings from a national survey of working adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated child labor violations among US adolescents working in the retail and service industries. METHODS: We used interview data from a nationally representative sample of working adolescents, and investigated reports of select child labor violations (e.g., hours, equipment, and work permits). We computed weighted percentages of respondents reporting each type of discrete (and aggregated) violation. RESULTS: Nearly 37% of respondents reported a violation of the hazardous occupations orders (i.e., prohibited jobs or use of equipment), and 40% reported a work permit violation. Fewer than 2% reported working more than the maximum weekly hours allowed during the school year, but 11% reported working past the latest hour allowed on a school night, and 15% reported working off the clock. CONCLUSIONS: Significant numbers of US adolescents are employed in violation of the child labor laws and as a result are exposed to safety risks. Although our data did not allow for an analysis of enforcement, our findings demonstrate gaps in employer compliance with the law. We suggest that closer attention to enforcement policy and practice is needed.