Perceived peer and school norm effects on youth antisocial and prosocial behaviours through intergroup contact in Northern Ireland.

In adolescence, youth spend a high proportion of their time with their peers and in school; it is hardly surprising therefore that perceptions of peer and school norms have a strong influence on their attitudes and behaviours. These norms, however, do not always influence youth in the same way. Building on past research, the present study examines the role of peer norms and school norms in influencing the quantity and quality of intergroup contact, as well as the impact of such contact on positive and negative intergroup behaviours. Youth (aged 14-16) living in Northern Ireland (N = 466, evenly split by religion and gender) were recruited through their school as part of a two-wave study and completed a series of survey measures including intergroup contact (quality and quantity), norms (peer and school), and participation in sectarian antisocial behaviour and outgroup prosocial behaviour. Mediation analysis was conducted in Mplus. Controlling for wave 1 responses on contact and behavioural outcomes, findings demonstrate that more positive peer norms are associated with less participation in antisocial behaviour and more participation in prosocial outgroup behaviours through increased and better quality intergroup contact. Positive school norms were also associated with increased prosocial behaviour, but only though better quality contact. Findings demonstrate the relative importance of peer norms compared to school norms for this age group. The results have implications for school-based interventions that aim to improve intergroup relations and highlight the importance of peer networks to promote more positive outgroup behaviours in divided societies such as Northern Ireland.

Collectively coping with contact: The role of intragroup support in dealing with the challenges of intergroup mixing in residential contexts.

The social identity approach to stress has shown how intragroup support processes shape individuals' responses to stress across health care, workplace, and community settings. However, the issue of how these 'social cure' processes can help cope with the stress of intergroup contact has yet to be explored. This is particularly important given the pivotal role of intergroup threat and anxiety in the experience of contact as well as the effect of contact on extending the boundaries of group inclusion. This study applies this perspective to a real-life instance of residential contact in a divided society. Semi-structured interviews with 14 Catholic and 13 Protestant new residents of increasingly mixed areas of Belfast city, Northern Ireland, were thematically analysed. Results highlight that transitioning to mixed communities was fraught with intergroup anxiety, especially for those coming from 'single identity' areas. Help from existing residents, especially when offered by members of other religious denominations, signalled a 'mixed community ethos' to new residents, which facilitated adopting and sharing this identity. This shared identity then enabled them to deal with unexpected intergroup threats and provided resilience to future sectarian division. New residents who did not adopt this shared identity remained isolated, fearful, and prone to negative contact.

Does antiretroviral therapy reduce HIV-associated tuberculosis incidence to background rates? A national observational cohort study from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

BACKGROUND: Whether the incidence of tuberculosis in HIV-positive people receiving long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART) remains above background population rates is unclear. We compared tuberculosis incidence in people receiving ART with background rates in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. METHODS: We analysed a national cohort of HIV-positive individuals linked to the national tuberculosis register. Tuberculosis incidence in the HIV-positive cohort (2007-11) was stratified by ethnic origin and time on ART and compared with background rates (2009). Ethnic groups were defined as follows: the black African group included all individuals of black African origin, including those born in the UK and overseas; the white ethnic group included all white individuals born in the UK and overseas; the south Asian group included those of Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi origin, born in the UK and overseas; and the other ethnic group included all other ethnic origins, including black Afro-Caribbeans. FINDINGS: The HIV-positive cohort comprised 79 919 individuals, in whom there were 1550 incident cases in 231 664 person-years of observation (incidence 6·7 cases per 1000 person-years). Incidence of tuberculosis in the HIV-positive cohort was 13·6 per 1000 person-years in black Africans and 1·7 per 1000 person-years in white individuals. Incidence of tuberculosis during long-term ART (≥5 years) in black Africans with HIV was 2·4 per 1000 person-years, similar to background rates of 1·9 per 1000 person-years in this group (rate ratio 1·2, 95% CI 0·96-1·6; p=0·083); but in white individuals with HIV on long-term ART the incidence of 0·5 per 1000 person-years was higher than the background rate of 0·04 per 1000 person-years (rate ratio 14·5, 9·4-21·3; p<0·0001). The increased incidence relative to background in white HIV-positive individuals persisted when analysis was restricted to person-time accrued on ART with CD4 counts of at least 500 cells per µL and when white HIV-positive individuals born abroad were excluded. INTERPRETATION: Tuberculosis incidence is unacceptably high irrespective of HIV status in black Africans. In white individuals with HIV, tuberculosis incidence is significantly higher than background rates in white people despite long-term ART. Expanded testing and treatment for latent tuberculosis infection to all HIV-infected adults, irrespective of ART status and CD4 cell count, might be warranted. FUNDING: Public Health England.

The protective role of group identity: sectarian antisocial behavior and adolescent emotion problems.

The protective role of strength of group identity was examined for youth in a context of protracted political conflict. Participants included 814 adolescents (Mage = 13.61, SD = 1.99 at Time 1) participating in a longitudinal study in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling, the results show that the effect of exposure to sectarian antisocial behaviors has a stronger effect on youth emotion problems for older adolescents. The results also show that youth with higher strength of group identity reported fewer emotion problems in the face of sectarian antisocial behavior but that this buffering effect is stronger for Protestants compared to Catholics. Implications are discussed for understanding the role of social identity in postaccord societies.

Reducing aggressive intergroup action tendencies: effects of intergroup contact via perceived intergroup threat.

Two studies tested the prediction that more positive intergroup contact would be associated with reduced aggressive intergroup action tendencies, an effect predicted to occur indirectly via reduced intergroup threat perceptions, and over and above well-established effects of contact on intergroup attitudes. Study 1, using data based on a cross-section of the general population of eight European countries (France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and the UK; N = 7,042), examined this hypothesis in the context of aggressive action tendencies towards immigrants. Study 2, using longitudinal data obtained from a general population sample in Northern Ireland, considered effects on aggressive action tendencies between ethno-religious groups in conflict. Both studies confirmed our predictions, showing that while perceived threat was associated with greater intergroup aggressive tendencies, positive intergroup contact was indirectly associated with reduced aggressive action tendencies, via reduced intergroup threat. Findings are discussed in terms of the theoretical contributions of this research for understanding the relationship between intergroup contact and intergroup aggression.

Micro-ecological behavior and intergroup contact.

Research evaluating intergroup contact has tended to rely on self-report measures. Drawing on recent micro-ecological research, the two studies reported here used a multi-method approach to examine contact in a more holistic fashion. This involved the measurement of observable behavior at the micro-level, intergroup attitudes via infrahumanization and focus groups. Participants were taking part in a community intervention program in Northern Ireland. We conclude that micro-ecological behavior is not necessarily indicative of outgroup attitudes. Although behavior and attitudes changed in line with one another in Study 1 (less aggregation and significantly less infrahumanization), there were no infrahumanization differences between those who sat beside an outgroup member and those who did not. Importantly, the work presented here illustrates a unique method that allows micro-ecological behavioral observations to be made for the first time in non-racial settings.

Football in inter-war Northern Ireland: Ballymena Football and Athletic Club Limited - religious and political exclusivity or civic inclusivity?

Historians have almost universally seen association football in the north of Ireland as a divisive influence. The impacts of sectarian and political tensions on the game have been stressed, alongside the extent to which this sport supposedly feeds into existing divisions. Much of the work carried out has concentrated on the last four decades, though even studies outside this period of widespread civil disorder have highlighted these problems. This paper uses the surviving records of the Ballymena Football and Athletic Club, the local press, census returns and other records to consider aspects of one particular Northern Irish club in the 1920s and 1930s. This short consideration of the players, supporters and shareholders suggests that at least in this case football was successful in bringing together and developing cooperation between men of widely differing political and religious views. While the club was a not a financial success, it was a social and sporting one. The evidence available suggests there was little exhibition of sectarian tension at any level.

Mortality for alcohol-related harm by country of birth in Scotland, 2000-2004: potential lessons for prevention.

AIMS: Deaths caused by alcohol have increased in the UK, and Scotland in particular, but the change in the rates of alcohol-related deaths for migrants are uncertain, and could yield insights for the general population. METHODS: Alcohol-related mortality in immigrants among Scotland's residents was assessed using 2001 census data and mortality data from 2000 to 2004. RESULTS: Mortality from direct alcohol-related causes accounted for nearly 1500 deaths per year in Scotland. Age-standardized mortality ratios were comparatively low for people born in Pakistan, other parts of the UK (largely England and Wales) and those from elsewhere in the world. CONCLUSIONS: Scotland's propensity to alcohol-related deaths is not shared by all its residents. Studying such variations in more depth could yield lessons for prevention.

Area factors and suicide: 5-year follow-up of the Northern Ireland population.

BACKGROUND: Suicide rates vary markedly between areas but it is unclear whether this is due to differences in population composition or to contextual factors operating at an area level. AIMS: To determine if area factors are independently related to suicide risk after adjustment for individual and family characteristics. METHOD: A 5-year record linkage study was conducted of 1,116,748 non-institutionalised individuals aged 16-74 years, enumerated at the 2001 Northern Ireland census. RESULTS: The cohort experienced 566 suicides during follow-up. Suicide risks were lowest for women and for those who were married or cohabiting. Indicators of individual and household disadvantage and economic and health status at the time of the census were also strongly related to risk of suicide. The higher rates of suicide in the more deprived and socially fragmented areas disappeared after adjustment for individual and household factors. There was no significant relationship between population density and risk of suicide. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in rates of suicide between areas are predominantly due to population characteristics rather than to area-level factors, which suggests that policies targeted at area-level factors are unlikely to significantly influence suicides rates.

The contribution of migration to changes in the distribution of health over time: five-year follow-up study in Northern Ireland.

A number of recent studies have highlighted the potential contribution of migration to increasing inequalities in health between areas with different levels of deprivation. Some of these studies have reported that increasing inequalities between areas can, at least partly, be explained by selective migration. Both mortality and morbidity have been used as indicators of health status, but many of the studies focusing on morbidity have suffered from specific methodological problems, including the use of self-reported health measured after migration had occurred, thereby ignoring the possible effect that migration itself may have on health and the reporting of health. This study used general practice records assessed prior to movement, an arguably more objective measure of health status, from 40 general practices, to determine whether selective migration influenced the distribution of health in Northern Ireland between the years 2000 and 2005. Evidence of selective migration was found in the study, with migrants often having significantly different levels of health to non-migrants. However, overall migration within this cohort did not substantially alter the distribution of health through time, partly because the migrants out of the deprived and affluent areas were replaced by in-migrants with similar levels of health. The absence of an effect of migration in this instance should not be used, however, to conclude that migration effects are unimportant in assessing changes in inequalities through time. Rather, migration should be viewed in the context of the underlying population dynamics, which at the time of this study were characterised by a process of urban regeneration. Varying population movements, operating at different times and locations, require that the effects of migration be considered in all studies which examine changes in the spatial distribution of health.

Investigating variations in infant mortality in England and Wales by mother's country of birth, 1983-2001.

The aim of this study was to investigate variations in infant mortality from 1983 to 2001 by birthweight, registration status, father's social class, age of mother at birth and cause of death, among babies of mothers born in countries that represent the largest ethnic minority groups in England and Wales. A total of 70,208 infant death registration records linked to their corresponding birth registration records were used. The study focused on infant deaths of babies of mothers born in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Caribbean, West Africa, East Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. From 1983 to 2001 infant mortality rates decreased overall, and this was also apparent in the rates by mother's country of birth. Overall, babies of mothers born in Pakistan consistently had the highest infant mortality rates. Low-birthweight babies of mothers born in West Africa had the highest infant, neonatal and postneonatal death rates. Differences were also seen by registration status, mother's age and between manual and non-manual occupations for all countries from 1983 to 2001. For babies of mothers born in the UK, Caribbean and West Africa, immaturity-related conditions were the most common cause of infant deaths. The leading cause of infant death among babies of mothers born in Pakistan and Bangladesh was congenital anomalies.

The incidence and distribution of Legg-Calvé-Perthes' disease in Liverpool, 1982-95.

AIMS: To determine the incidence and distribution of Legg-Calvé-Perthes' disease in Liverpool, in the period 1982-95. METHODS: Examination of information in a register, analysing the patients' addresses by indices of deprivation. RESULTS: A total of 122 white children were diagnosed as having Perthes' disease during the study, whereas black and minority groups form 5.8% of the population. The incidence rate in inner Liverpool had decreased to 10.5 in the period 1990-95. Simple Spearman correlations revealed an association between the disease incidence in electoral wards and deprivation. Regression analysis showed that for the period 1990-95 the most powerful effects on incidence were increases in ward deprivation since 1976, the percentage free school meals in 1986, the ward Health Index in 1981, and the percentage low birth weight in 1981. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that environmental influences may come into play some years before a child presents with pain in the hip. There may be a genetic predisposition to the disease.

Experience with schistosomiasis in Northern Ireland.

Five cases of schistosomiasis have been recorded in the Belfast City Hospital Histopathology Laboratory over the last three years. The sites of infection have included the colon, bladder, uterus and seminal vesicles. All the infected individuals had visited Africa. Three of them were health care workers. The clinician must maintain a high index of suspicion when treating those with a history of travel and risk of exposure to this infection. Diagnosis is made even more critical as the condition is treatable, and serological markers can identify those with occult infection.

Patterns of mortality in second generation Irish living in England and Wales: longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the mortality of second generation Irish living in England and Wales. DESIGN: Longitudinal study of 1% of the population of England and Wales (longitudinal study by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (now the Office for National Statistics)) followed up from 1971 to 1989. SUBJECTS: 3075 men and 3233 women aged 15 and over in 1971. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Age and sex specific standardised mortality ratios for all causes, cancers, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and injuries and poisonings. Deaths were also analysed by socioeconomic indicators. RESULTS: 786 deaths were traced to men and 762 to women. At working ages (men, aged 15-64; women, 15-59) the mortality of men (standardised mortality ratio 126) and women (129) was significantly higher than that of all men and all women. At ages 15-44, relative disadvantages were even greater both for men (145) and for women (164). Mortality was raised for most major causes of death. Significant excess mortality from cancers was seen for men of working age (132) and for women aged 60 and over (122). At working ages mortality of the second generation Irish in every social class and in the categories of car access and housing tenure was higher than that of all men and all women in the corresponding categories. Adjusting for these socioeconomic indicators did not explain the excess mortality. CONCLUSION: Mortality of second generation Irish men and women was higher than that of all men and all women and for most major causes of death. While socioeconomic factors remain important, cultural and lifestyle factors are likely to contribute to this adverse mortality.