The global development of community psychology as reflected in the American Journal of Community Psychology

This commentary presents a virtual special issue on the global growth of community psychology (CP), particularly, but not exclusively, as reflected in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP). CP exists in at least 50 countries all over the world, in many of those for over 25 years. Yet, aside from several early Israeli articles, AJCP rarely published work from or about countries outside the US and Canada until the early 2000s, when the number of international articles began to rise sharply. The focus of CP developed differently in different continents. CP in Australia and New Zealand initially followed North America's emphasis on improving social service systems, but has since focused more on environmental and indigenous cultural and decolonial issues that are as salient in those countries as in North America, but have drawn much more attention. CP came later to most of Asia, where it also tended to follow the North American path, but starting in Japan, India, and Hong Kong and now in China and elsewhere, it is establishing its own way. The other two global hotspots for CP for over 40 years have been Europe and Latin America. The level and focus of CP in Europe varies in each country, with some focused on applied developmental psychology and/or community services and others advancing critical and liberation psychology. CP in Latin America evolved from social psychology, but like CP in Sub-Saharan Africa, is also more explicitly political due to a history of political oppression, social activism, and the limitations of individualistic psychology to focus on social change, overcoming poverty, and interventions by (not just for) community members. Despite those differences, CP literature over the past 23 years suggests an increasingly common interest in social justice, multinational collaborations, and decoloniality. There is still a need for more truly (bidirectional) cross-cultural, comparative work for mutual learning, sharing of ideas, methods, and intervention practices, and for CP to develop in countries and communities throughout the globe where it could have the greatest impact.

Organizational and coalition strategies for youth violence prevention: A longitudinal mixed-methods study

This longitudinal study identifies espoused change orientations and actual youth violence prevention (YVP) practices over five years by 99 public and nonprofit organizations in one city. Annual key informant interviews provided both qualitative and quantitative data, including organizational collaborative network data. Data were also obtained on participation in a citywide YVP coalition, juvenile arrests and court referrals. On average, organizations both in and outside the coalition adopted a problem-focused as often as a strengths-based change orientation, and were only marginally more oriented toward empowering community members than professionals and changing communities than individual youth. Most surprisingly, YVP coalition members adopted more of a tertiary (reactive/rehabilitative) than primary prevention orientation compared to nonmembers. The number of different YVP strategies implemented increased over five years from mainly positive youth development and education interventions to those strategies plus mentoring, youth activities, events and programs, and counseling youth. Network analysis reveals dense initial collaboration with no critical gatekeepers and coalition participants more central to the city-wide organizational network. Coalition participation and total network collaboration declined in Years 3-5. Youth violence arrests and court referrals also declined. The coalition was marginally involved in successful community-collaborative, school-based interventions and other strategies adopted, and it disbanded a year after federal funding ended. Despite, or possibly due to, both national and local government participation, the coalition missed opportunities to engage in collective advocacy for local YVP policy changes. Coalitions should help nonprofit and public organizations develop more effective change orientations and implement commensurate strategies at the community level.

Well-Being as Human Development, Equality, Happiness and the Role of Freedom, Activism, Decentralization, Volunteerism and Voter Participation: A Global Country-Level Study

We propose and test a new model for predicting multiple quantitative measures of well-being globally at the country level based on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), income inequality (Net Gini), and National Happiness Index (NHI; U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network world survey of life satisfaction). HDI consists of per-capita Gross National Income (economic well-being), average life expectancy (proxy for health well-being), and educational attainment (capabilities well-being). Using data on 105 countries representing 95% of the world's population, a history of grassroots activism (Global Non-violent Action Database), civil liberties and political rights (Freedom Score), political and fiscal decentralization, and voter participation (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) correlate with HDI and NHI. Citizen volunteering (Gallup Civic Engagement Index) predicts only NHI. In multivariate analyses, Freedom Score is the most robust predictor of all well-being measures, including income equality. Fiscal decentralization and voter turnout also predict HDI and NHI, controlling for other influences. Based on prior analyses in the Global Development of Applied Community Studies project, implications and recommendations are discussed for developing community human research and professional resources across 12 disciplines in countries where they are needed based on social justice, citizenship, well-being, inequality, human rights, and other development challenges. We recommend individual and community-level and qualitative analyses of the above predictors' relationships with these same conceptualizations of well-being, as well as consideration of other social, cultural and political variables and their effect on well-being.

Geospatial analysis of the global growth of community psychology: Geographic proximity and socioeconomic and political indicators

Data on 105 countries from the Global Development of Applied Community Studies project and a geographic information system (ArcGIS) were used to map and identify spatial patterns in the international growth of community psychology, as measured by professional associations and conferences, graduate and undergraduate programs and courses, and publications. Our primary aim was to analyze the field's global development, emphasizing professional training and research products, in the context of geographic proximity and theories of knowledge transfer and knowledge spillover. The results of Hot Spot Analysis and Cluster and Outlier Analysis spatially confirmed our hypothesis, revealing statistically significant hot spots of the strength of community psychology in the countries sharing borders. Hierarchical regression analysis found that the strength of community psychology in neighboring countries significantly predicted the development of community psychology beyond the influence of population size, Human Development Index, freedom score, and a history of grassroots activism. Implications for theory, research, and international professional and student exchanges are discussed.

The role of community psychology in Christian community development

This project examines the connections between community psychology and faith-based community development. We investigate whether and how 4 major principles of community psychology-neighboring, sense of community, empowerment, and citizen participation-are found in the theory and philosophy of practice of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA), a national faith-based community development network. We employ content analysis of four official CCDA publications to identify whether and how these four principles are embedded in the organization's espoused principles of practice. Our findings are as follows: (a) All four principles are found within CCDA theory and philosophy of practice, with the greatest emphasis on neighboring and sense of community and a less robust application of empowerment and citizen participation; (b) CCDA primarily focuses on the individual-level impact of these principles; and (c) CCDA Bases their application of these principles in Christian scripture and tradition. Our results indicate that the field could be strengthened by examining religious approaches to these principles and considering how organizations engage these concepts in both the theory and the practice. Additionally, faith-based organizations may foster a more effective application of these concepts in their social change efforts by partnering with community researchers and practitioners.

Predicting the Emergence of Community Psychology and Community Development in 91 Countries with Brief Case Studies of Chile and Ghana

Using a mixed-method analysis, we propose and test a framework for predicting the international development of community psychology (CP) and community development (CD) as two examples of applied community-based research (CBR) disciplines aiming to link local knowledge generation with social change. Multiple regressions on an international sample of 91 countries were used to determine the relative influences of preexisting grassroots activism, population size, social and economic development, and civil liberties on estimates of the current strength of CP and CD based on Internet search and review of training courses and programs, published articles and journals, and professional organizations and conferences in these countries. Our results provide support for the proposed model and suggest that grassroots activism positively accounts for the development of CP and CD, above and beyond the influences of the other predictors. Brief qualitative case-study analyses of Chile (high CP, low CD) and Ghana (high CD, low CP) explore the limitations of our quantitative model and the importance of considering other historical, sociopolitical, cultural, and geographic factors for explaining the development of CP, CD, and other applied community studies.

Can Facebook informational use foster adolescent civic engagement?

The findings on the association between Social Networking Sites and civic engagement are mixed. The present study aims to evaluate a theoretical model linking the informational use of Internet-based social media (specifically, Facebook) with civic competencies and intentions for future civic engagement, taking into account the mediating role of civic discussions with family and friends and sharing the news online. Participants were 114 Italian high school students aged 14-17 years (57 % boys). Path analysis was used to evaluate the proposed theoretical model. Results showed that Facebook informational use was associated with higher levels of adolescent perceived competence for civic action, both directly and through the mediation of civic discussion with parents and friends (offline). Higher levels of civic competencies, then, were associated with a stronger intention to participate in the civic domain in the future. Our findings suggest that Facebook may provide adolescents with additional tools through which they can learn civic activities or develop the skills necessary to participate in the future.

Monitoring Sub-Saharan African physician migration and recruitment post-adoption of the WHO code of practice: temporal and geographic patterns in the United States

Data monitoring is a key recommendation of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, a global framework adopted in May 2010 to address health workforce retention in resource-limited countries and the ethics of international migration. Using data on African-born and African-educated physicians in the 2013 American Medical Association Physician Masterfile (AMA Masterfile), we monitored Sub-Saharan African (SSA) physician recruitment into the physician workforce of the United States (US) post-adoption of the WHO Code of Practice. From the observed data, we projected to 2015 with linear regression, and we mapped migrant physicians' locations using GPS Visualizer and ArcGIS. The 2013 AMA Masterfile identified 11,787 active SSA-origin physicians, representing barely 1.3% (11,787/940,456) of the 2013 US physician workforce, but exceeding the total number of physicians reported by WHO in 34 SSA countries (N = 11,519). We estimated that 15.7% (1,849/11,787) entered the US physician workforce after the Code of Practice was adopted. Compared to pre-Code estimates from 2002 (N = 7,830) and 2010 (N = 9,938), the annual admission rate of SSA émigrés into the US physician workforce is increasing. This increase is due in large part to the growing number of SSA-born physicians attending medical schools outside SSA, representing a trend towards younger migrants. Projection estimates suggest that there will be 12,846 SSA migrant physicians in the US physician workforce in 2015, and over 2,900 of them will be post-Code recruits. Most SSA migrant physicians are locating to large urban US areas where physician densities are already the highest. The Code of Practice has not slowed the SSA-to-US physician migration. To stem the physician "brain drain", it is essential to incentivize professional practice in SSA and diminish the appeal of US migration with bolder interventions targeting primarily early-career (age ≤ 35) SSA physicians.

How neighborhood structural and institutional features can shape neighborhood social connectedness: a multilevel study of adolescent perceptions

According to the norms and collective efficacy model, the levels of social connectedness within a local community are a function of neighborhood structural characteristics, such as socioeconomic status and ethnic composition. The current work aims to determine whether neighborhood structural and institutional features (neighborhood wealth, percentage of immigrants, population density, opportunities for activities and meeting places) have an impact on different components of neighborhood social connectedness (intergenerational closure, trust and reciprocity, neighborhood-based friendship and personal relationships with neighbors). The study involved a representative sample of 389 early and middle adolescents aged 11-15 years old, coming from 31 Italian neighborhoods. Using hierarchical linear modeling, our findings showed that high population density, ethnic diversity, and physical and social disorder might represent obstacles for the creation of social ties within the neighborhood. On the contrary, the presence of opportunities for activities and meeting places in the neighborhood was associated with higher levels of social connectedness among residents.

Family affluence, school and neighborhood contexts and adolescents' civic engagement: a cross-national study

Research on youth civic engagement focuses on individual-level predictors. We examined individual- and school-level characteristics, including family affluence, democratic school social climate and perceived neighborhood social capital, in their relation to civic engagement of 15-year-old students. Data were taken from the 2006 World Health Organization Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. A sample of 8,077 adolescents in 10th grade from five countries (Belgium, Canada, Italy, Romania, England) were assessed. Multilevel models were analyzed for each country and across the entire sample. Results showed that family affluence, democratic school climate and perceived neighborhood social capital positively related to participation in community organizations. These links were stronger at the aggregate contextual than individual level and varied by country. Canadian youth participated most and Romanian youth least of the five countries. Gender predicted engagement in two countries (girls participate more in Canada, boys in Italy). Findings showed significant contributions of the social environment to adolescents' engagement in their communities.

Perceived neighborhood social resources as determinants of prosocial behavior in early adolescence

The present study aims to develop an integrative model that links neighborhood behavioral opportunities and social resources (neighborhood cohesion, neighborhood friendship and neighborhood attachment) to prosocial (sharing, helping, empathic) behavior in early adolescence, taking into account the potential mediating role of perceived support of friends. Path analysis was used to test the proposed theoretical model in a sample of 1,145 Italian early adolescents (6th through 8th graders). More perceived opportunities and social resources in the neighborhood are related to higher levels of adolescent prosocial behavior, and this relationship is partially mediated by perceived social support from friends. The results offer promising implications for future research and intervention programs that aim to modify social systems to improve child and adolescent social competencies.

Ecological contexts in the development of coalitions for youth violence prevention: an organizational network analysis

Community coalitions are a recognized strategy for addressing pressing public health problems. Despite the promise of coalitions as an effective prevention strategy, results linking coalition efforts to positive community outcomes are mixed. To date, research has primarily focused on determining organizational attributes related to successful internal coalition functioning. The authors' research complements and adds to this literature by offering a network conceptualization of coalition formation in which coalition participation is studied within the broader context of local organizational networks both within and beyond a coalition. The authors examine participation in the first year of a youth violence prevention coalition exploring both differences between participating and nonparticipating organizations and levels of participation. Each network variable, reflecting prior collaboration and being viewed by other organizations as a local leader, approximately doubled the explained variance in coalition participation beyond the predictive power of all available organizational attributes combined. Results suggest that initial coalition participation emerged out of a preexisting network of interorganizational relations and provide an alternative perspective on coalition formation that goes beyond conceptual orientations that treat coalitions as bounded organizational entities that exist apart from the communities in which they are embedded.

Levels of community engagement in youth violence prevention: the role of power in sustaining successful university-community partnerships

Previous research indicates that communities can be engaged at various levels in research to reduce youth violence. In this paper, we argue that the method of power sharing among partners is a central factor distinguishing different levels of engagement. Using cases from the Nashville Urban Partnership Academic Center of Excellence, we identify community initiation and community collaboration as distinct approaches to community engaged violence prevention research. The power relationships among partners are analyzed to highlight differences in the types of engagement and to discuss implications for establishing and sustaining community partnerships. Also, the implications of levels of engagement for promoting the use of evidence-based practices are discussed.

A heuristic framework for understanding the role of participatory decision making in community-based non-profits

This paper explores the role of member participation in decision-making (PDM) from an organizational learning (OL) perspective. Community-based organizations (CBOs) serve as mediators between the individual and the local community, often providing the means for community member participation and benefiting organizationally from members' input. Community psychologists have recognized these benefits; however, the field has paid less attention to the role participation plays in increasing CBOs' capacity to meet community needs. We present a framework for exploring how CBO contextual factors influence the use of participatory decision-making structures and practices, and how these affect OL. We then use the framework to examine PDM in qualitative case study analysis of four CBOs: a youth development organization, a faith-based social action coalition, a low-income neighborhood organization, and a large human service agency. We found that organizational form, energy, and culture each had a differential impact on participation in decision making within CBOs. We highlight how OL is constrained in CBOs and document how civic aims and voluntary membership enhanced participation and learning.

Community psychology in Italy: introduction and prospects

The history of community psychology in Italy is briefly reviewed. The field has developed extensively in universities and applied settings over the past 30 years. This issue presents 5 recent examples from different regions of Italy of preventive and other community psychological intervention studies. They include an evaluation of a program to increase the independent mobility of children walking to and from school, the ecological evaluation of child and adolescent residential care communities, participatory action-research with adolescents in schools and neighborhoods, evaluation of a participatory local health intervention planning process, and the description and evaluation of a collaborative, Internet-based community planning training program.

Sense of community, neighboring, and social capital as predictors of local political participation in China

This study examines the state of sense of community, neighboring behavior, and social capital in the People's Republic of China, and explores their ability to predict local political participation, in the form of voting in elections for Urban Resident/Rural Villager Committees. Using a nationally representative survey, rural, older and married residents and those with a primary or high school education and higher perceived socio-economic status are more likely to participate. In rural areas, men are more likely than women to vote. For urban residents, knowing one's neighbors is more important whereas in rural areas, neighboring behavior is more important, but both predict voting. Social capital does not generally predict Chinese people's local political participation. Western definitions of social capital derived from theories about networking, bonding and bridging ties may be too culturally individualistic for China, whose collectivist society and agrarian kinship networks predate Communism. Simply knowing and helping one's neighbors, rather than more abstract notions of trust, reciprocity or membership, may lead to the development of local democracy.

Adolescent place attachment, social capital, and perceived safety: a comparison of 13 countries

In adolescence, children become increasingly independent and autonomous, and spend more time in neighborhood settings away from home. During mid-to-late adolescence, youth often become more critical about the place they live. Their attachment to home and even community may decrease as they explore and develop new attachments to other specific places. The aim of this study is to understand how 15-year-old students from 13 countries perceive their local neighborhood area (place attachment, social capital and safety), and how these different community cognitions are interrelated. We hypothesize that their place attachment predicts safety, and that the relationship is mediated in part by social capital. Result show that, despite cross-cultural differences in neighborhood perceptions, the proposed theoretical model fits robustly across all 13 countries.

Participatory organizational change in community-based health and human services: from tokenism to political engagement

Community psychologists have long worked with community-based human service organizations to build participatory processes. These efforts largely aim at building participatory practices within the current individual-wellness paradigm of human services. To address collective wellness, human service organizations need to challenge their current paradigm, attend to the social justice needs of community, and engage community participation in a new way, and in doing so become more openly political. We use qualitative interviews, focus groups, organizational documents, and participant observation to present a comparative case study of two organizations involved in such a process through an action research project aimed at transforming the organizations' managerial and practice paradigm from one based on first-order, ameliorative change to one that promotes second-order, transformative change via strength-based approaches, primary prevention, empowerment and participation, and focuses on changing community conditions. Four participatory tensions or dialectics are discussed: passive versus active participation, partners versus clients, surplus powerlessness versus collective efficacy, and reflection/learning versus action/doing.

Mapping urban revitalization: using GIS spatial analysis to evaluate a new housing policy

This longitudinal, multimethod study uses geographical information system (GIS) software to evaluate the community-wide impact of a neighborhood revitalization project. Unsystematic visual examination and analysis of GIS maps are offered as a complementary tool to quantitative analysis and one that is much more compelling, meaningful, and effective in presentation to community and nonscientific professional audiences. The centerpiece of the intervention was the development of a new, middle-class housing subdivision in an area that was declining physically and economically. This represents three major urban/housing policy directions: (1) the emphasis on home ownership for working-class families, (2) the deconcentration of poverty through development of mixed-income neighborhoods, and (3) the clean up and redevelopment of contaminated, former industrial brownfields. Resident survey responses, objective environmental assessment observations, and building permit data were collected, geocoded at the address level, and aggregated to the block level on 60 street blocks in the older neighborhoods surrounding the new housing in two waves: during site clearing and housing construction (Time 1: 1993-95) and three years post-completion (Time 2: 1998-99). Variables mapped include (a) Time 1-2 change in self-reported home repairs and improvements, (b) change in the assessed physical condition of yards and exteriors of 925 individual residential properties, (c) change in residents' home pride, and (d) a city archive of building permits at Time 2. Physical conditions improved overall in the neighborhood, but spatial analysis of the maps suggest that the spillover effects, if any, of the new housing were geographically limited and included unintended negative psychological consequences. Results argue for greater use of GIS and the street block level in community research and of psychological and behavioral variables in planning research and decisions.

Social support, sense of community in school, and self-efficacy as resources during early adolescence: an integrative model

Influences of different sources of social support (from parents and friends), school sense of community, and self-efficacy on psychosocial well being (as measured by self-reported life satisfaction and psychological symptoms) in early adolescence were investigated in an integrative model. The model was tested using structural equation modeling. Multi-group comparisons were used to estimate differences between sex and age groups. The survey sample was composed of 7,097 students in Northern Italy (51.4% male) divided into three age cohorts (equivalent to 6th, 8th, and 10th grades with median ages of 11, 13, and 15). Findings obtained using SEM were consistent with self-efficacy and school sense of community mediating effects of social support on psychosocial adjustment. The multi-group comparison indicates a need for more complex developmental models and more research on how changing forms of support interact with each other as their effects also change during this important stage of the life. Implications for primary prevention and cross-cultural comparisons are discussed.

Community types and mental health: a multilevel study of local environmental stress and coping

Research has found that neighborhood structural characteristics can influence residents' mental health. Few studies, however, have explored the proximal reasons behind such influences. This study investigates how different types of communities, in terms of environmental stressors (social and physical disorder and fear of crime) and social resources (informal ties and formal organizational participation), affect well-being, depression, and anxiety in adult residents. Data are from a survey of 412 residents nested in 50 street blocks. Block stressors and resources were cluster analyzed to identify six block types. After controlling for several individual- and block-level characteristics, results from multilevel models suggest that in communities facing relatively few stressors, higher levels of formal participation are associated with better mental health. Because high levels of formal participation were not found in communities with higher levels of stressors, the impact of participation in such contexts could not be examined. However, results suggest that in communities where stressors are more common, isolation from neighbors may have a protective effect on mental health.

Community psychology at the crossroads: prospects for interdisciplinary research

Effective engagement in interdisciplinary work is critical if community psychology is to achieve its promise as a field of ecological inquiry and social action. The purpose of this paper and special issue is to help make the benefits of interdisciplinary community research clearer and to identify and begin to address its challenges. Although some areas of psychology (e.g., biological, cognitive and health) have made substantial interdisciplinary strides in recent decades, progress in community psychology (and related areas) is more modest. In this article we explore the prospects for expanding and improving interdisciplinary community research. Challenges include designs, measures, and analytical frameworks that integrate multiple levels of analysis from individuals through families, organizations, and communities to policy jurisdictions, and the complexities involved in simultaneously bringing together multiple disciplinary collaborators and community partners. Challenges to interdisciplinary collaboration common to all disciplines include the disciplinary nature of academic culture and reward structures, limited funding for interdisciplinary work and uncertainties related to professional identity and marketability. Overcoming these challenges requires a synergy among facilitative factors at the levels of the interdisciplinary project team (e.g., the framing question; embedded relationships; leadership), the investigators (e.g., commitment to new learning; time to invest), and the external context (e.g., physical, administrative, economic and intellectual resources and support for interdisciplinary work). We conclude by identifying several exemplars of effective interdisciplinary collaborations and concrete steps our field can take to enhance our development as a vibrant community-based, multilevel discipline increasingly devoted to interdisciplinary inquiry and action.

Community-based interdisciplinary research: introduction to the special issue

This special issue on community-based interdisciplinary research grew out of the work of the SCRA Interdisciplinary Task Force and an Interdisciplinary Working Conference held at Vanderbilt University in May, 2004. In this introduction to the special issue, the historical context for interdisciplinary underpinnings for community psychology theory, research, action and training is first depicted. This is followed by a brief description of the mission and work of the recent SCRA Interdisciplinary Task Force and the Interdisciplinary Working Conference. The introduction concludes with a brief summary of the papers in the two main sections of the special issue, Prospects and Perspectives (four scholarly papers and three commentaries) and Community-Based Interdisciplinary Action-Research (four interdisciplinary action-research projects).

Democratic school climate and sense of community in school: a multilevel analysis

This study examines individual- and school-level predictors of sense of community in school among adolescents. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the relationships between individual (demographics, control and monitoring by parents, and perception of democratic school climate), class, and school characteristics (mean democratic school climate, demographics, activities, school size, public/private governance of the school, and facilities) and students' sense of community in the school. Data were analyzed using a three-level model based on 4,092 10- to 18-year-old students nested within 248 classes (across three grade levels: 6th, 8th, and 10th grade level, where the median age was 11, 13, and 15, respectively) in 134 schools in the Veneto region of northeast Italy. Individual and contextual measures of the perception of a democratic school climate, modeled at the individual, class, and school levels simultaneously, were each significant predictor of school sense of community. More parental monitoring and less parental control were also predictive at the individual level. School-level SES predicted between school variation in sense of community, controlling for individual student SES and other student and school-level predictors. School size, facilities (physical spaces resources), level of interaction of the school with the community, public, or private governance, and number of extracurricular activities offered were all nonsignificant. The study demonstrates significant variation in school sense of community at the student, class, and school levels and the important role played by democratic school practices, such as student participation in making rules and organizing events, freedom of expression, and the perceived fairness of rules and teachers, in determining this variable.

Neurospora from Natural Populations: A Global Study

This is a summary report on samples of conidiating Neurospora species collected over three decades, in many regions around the world, primarily from burned vegetation. The genus is ubiquitous in humid tropical and subtropical regions, but populations differ from region to region with regard to which species are present. The entire collection, >4600 cultures from 735 sites, is listed by geographical origin and species. Over 600 cultures from 78 sites have been added since the most recent report. Stocks have been deposited at the Fungal Genetics Stock Center. New cultures were crossed to testers for species identification; evident mixed cultures were separated into pure strains, which were identified individually. New techniques and special testers were used to analyze cultures previously listed without species identification. The discussion summarizes what has been learned about species and natural populations, describes laboratory investigations that have employed wild strains, and makes suggestions for future work.

Programmed ascospore death in the homothallic ascomycete Coniochaeta tetraspora

Immature asci of Coniochaeta tetraspora originally contain eight uninucleate ascospores. Two ascospore pairs in each ascus survive and mature, and two die and degenerate. Arrangement of the two ascospore types in individual linear asci is what would be expected if death is controlled by a chromosomal gene segregating at the second meiotic division in about 50% of asci. Cultures originating from single homokaryotic ascospores or from single uninucleate conidia are self-fertile, again producing eight-spored asci in which four spores disintegrate, generation after generation. These observations indicate that differentiation of two nuclear types occurs de novo in each sexual generation, that it involves alteration of a specific chromosome locus, and that the change occurs early in the sexual phase. One, and only one, of the two haploid nuclei entering each functional zygote must carry the altered element, which is segregated into two of the four meiotic products and is eliminated when ascospores that contain it disintegrate. Fusion of nuclei cannot be random-a recognition mechanism must exist. More study will be needed to determine whether the change that is responsible for ascospore death is genetic or epigenetic, whether it occurs just before the formation of each ascus or originates only once in the ascogonium prior to proliferation of ascogenous hyphae, and whether it reflects developmentally triggered alteration at a locus other than mating type or the activation of a silent mating-type gene that has pleiotropic effects. Similar considerations apply to species such as Sclerotinia trifoliorum and Chromocrea spinulosa, in which all ascospores survive but half the spores in each ascus are small and self-sterile. Unlike C. tetraspora, another four-spored species, Coniochaetidium savoryi, is pseudohomothallic, with ascus development resembling that of Podospora anserina.

Chromosome rearrangements in Neurospora and other filamentous fungi

Knowledge of fungal chromosome rearrangements comes primarily from N. crassa, but important information has also been obtained from A. nidulans and S. macrospora. Rearrangements have been identified in other Sordaria species and in Cochliobolus, Coprinus, Magnaporthe, Podospora, and Ustilago. In Neurospora, heterozygosity for most chromosome rearrangements is signaled by the appearance of unpigmented deficiency ascospores, with frequencies and ascus types that are characteristic of the type of rearrangement. Summary information is provided on each of 355 rearrangements analyzed in N. crassa. These include 262 reciprocal translocations, 31 insertional translocations, 27 quasiterminal translocations, 6 pericentric inversions, 1 intrachromosomal transposition, and numerous complex or cryptic rearrangements. Breakpoints are distributed more or less randomly among the seven chromosomes. Sixty of the rearrangements have readily detected mutant phenotypes, of which half are allelic with known genes. Constitutive mutations at certain positively regulated loci involve rearrangements having one breakpoint in an upstream regulatory region. Of 11 rearrangements that have one breakpoint in or near the NOR, most appear genetically to be terminal but are in fact physically reciprocal. Partial diploid strains can be obtained as recombinant progeny from crosses heterozygous for insertional or quasiterminal rearrangements. Duplications produced in this way precisely define segments that cover more than two thirds of the genome. Duplication-producing rearrangements have many uses, including precise genetic mapping by duplication coverage and alignment of physical and genetic maps. Typically, fertility is greatly reduced in crosses parented by a duplication strain. The finding that genes within the duplicated segment have undergone RIP mutation in some of the surviving progeny suggests that RIP may be responsible for the infertility. Meiotically generated recessive-lethal segmental deficiencies can be rescued in heterokaryons. New rearrangements are found in 10% or more of strains in which transforming DNA has been stably integrated. Electrophoretic separation of rearranged chromosomal DNAs has found useful applications. Synaptic adjustment occurs in inversion heterozygotes, leading progressively to nonhomologous association of synaptonemal complex lateral elements, transforming loop pairing into linear pairing. Transvection has been demonstrated in Neurospora. Beginnings have been made in constructing effective balancers. Experience has increased our understanding of several phenomena that may complicate analysis. With some rearrangements, nondisjunction of centromeres from reciprocal translocation quadrivalents results in 3:1 segregation and produces asci with four deficiency ascospores that occupy diagnostic positions in linear asci. Three-to-one segregation is most frequent when breakpoints are near centromeres. With some rearrangements, inviable deficiency ascospores become pigmented. Diagnosis must then depend on ascospore viability. In crosses between highly inbred strains, analysis may be handicapped by random ascospore abortion. This is minimized by using noninbred strains as testers.

Occurrence of repeat induced point mutation in long segmental duplications of Neurospora

Previous studies of repeat induced point mutation (RIP) have typically involved gene-size duplications resulting from insertion of transforming DNA at ectopic chromosomal positions. To ascertain whether genes in larger duplications are subject to RIP, progeny were examined from crosses heterozygous for long segmental duplications obtained using insertional or quasiterminal translocations. Of 17 distinct mutations from crossing 11 different duplications, 13 mapped within the segment that was duplicated in the parent, one was closely linked, and three were unlinked. Half of the mutations in duplicated segments were at previously unknown loci. The mutations were recessive and were expressed both in haploid and in duplication progeny from Duplication x Normal, suggesting that both copies of the wild-type gene had undergone RIP. Seven transition mutations characteristic of RIP were found in 395 base pairs (bp) examined in one ro-11 allele from these crosses and three were found in approximately 750 bp of another. A single chain-terminating C to T mutation was found in 800 bp of arg-6. RIP is thus responsible. These results are consistent with the idea that the impaired fertility that is characteristic of segmental duplications is due to inactivation by RIP of genes needed for progression through the sexual cycle.

Ecological assessments of community disorder: their relationship to fear of crime and theoretical implications

Researchers suggest that fear of crime arises from community disorder, cues in the social and physical environment that are distinct from crime itself. Three ecological methods of measuring community disorder are presented: resident perceptions reported in surveys and on-site observations by trained raters, both aggregated to the street block level, and content analysis of crime- and disorder- related newspaper articles aggregated to the neighboring level. Each method demonstrated adequate reliability and roughly equal ability to predict subsequent fear of crime among 412 residents of 50 blocks in 50 neighborhoods in Baltimore, MD. Pearson and partial correlations (controlling for sex, race, age, and victimization) were calculated at multiple levels of analysis: individual, individual deviation from block, and community (block/neighborhood). Hierarchical linear models provided comparable results under more stringent conditions. Results linking different measures of disorder with fear, and individual and aggregated demographics with fear inform theories about fear of crime and extend research on the impact of community social and physical disorder. Implications for ecological assessment of community social and physical environments are discussed.

Cytogenetics of an intrachromosomal transposition in Neurospora

Knowledge of intrachromosomal transpositions has until now been primarily cytological and has been limited to Drosophila and to humans, in both of which segmental shifts can be recognized by altered banding patterns. There has been little genetic information. In this study, we describe the genetic and cytogenetic properties of a transposition in Neurospora crassa. In Tp(IR-->IL)T54M94, a 20 map unit segment of linkage group I has been excised from its normal position and inserted near the centromere in the opposite arm, in inverted order. In crosses heterozygous for the transposition, about one-fifth of surviving progeny are duplications carrying the transposed segment in both positions. These result from crossing over in the interstitial region. There is no corresponding class of progeny duplicated for the interstitial segment. The duplication strains are barren in test crosses. A complementary deficiency class is represented by unpigmented, inviable ascospores. Extent of the duplication was determined by duplication-coverage tests. Orientation of the transposed segment was determined using Tp x Tp crosses heterozygous for markers inside and outside the transposed segment, and position of the insertion relative to the centromere was established using quasi-ordered half-tetrads from crosses x Spore killer. Quelling was observed in the primary transformants that were used to introduce a critical marker into the transposed segment by repeat-induced point mutation (RIP).

Chromosome rearrangements that involve the nucleolus organizer region in Neurospora

In approximately 3% of Neurospora crassa rearrangements, part of a chromosome arm becomes attached to the nucleolus organizer region (NOR) at one end of chromosome 2 (linkage group V). Investigations with one inversion and nine translocations of this type are reported here. They appear genetically to be nonreciprocal and terminal. When a rearrangement is heterozygous, about one-third of viable progeny are segmental aneuploids with the translocated segment present in two copies, one in normal position and one associated with the NOR. Duplications from many of the rearrangements are highly unstable, breaking down by loss of the NOR-attached segment to restore normal chromosome sequence. When most of the rearrangements are homozygous, attenuated strands can be seen extending through the unstained nucleolus at pachytene, joining the translocated distal segment to the remainder of chromosome 2. Although the rearrangements appear genetically to be nonreciprocal, molecular evidence shows that at least several of them are physically reciprocal, with a block of rDNA repeats translocated away from the NOR. Evidence that NOR-associated breakpoints are nonterminal is also provided by intercrosses between pairs of translocations that transfer different-length segments of the same donor-chromosome arm to the NOR.

Speaking truth to power: empowerment ideology as social intervention and policy

The popularity, and subsequent ambiguity, in the use of the term "empowerment" has created an even greater need for reassessment in the applied context than in the theory and research literatures. This paper outlines some of the areas of community, organizational, and societal level social intervention and policy ostensibly based on the concept of empowerment. These include neighborhood voluntary associations (for environmental protection, community crime prevention, etc.), self-help groups, competence-building primary prevention, organizational management, health care and educational reforms, and national and international community service and community development policies. Issues in applying social research to community organizations and to legislative and administrative policy making are reviewed. Ten recommendations are offered, including the value of a dialectical analysis, for helping researchers and policy makers/administrators make more effective use of empowerment theory and research.

Empowerment theory, research, and application

This introduction to the special issue briefly reviews the meaning and significance of the empowerment concept and problems associated with the proliferation of interest in empowerment. We identify some of the topics not included in this issue and relate those to the many broad and diverse areas of psychological empowerment theory and community-based research and intervention that are covered. We present synopses of each article along with some of the themes and lessons cutting across the frameworks, studies, and applications. These include a wide diversity of settings, fairly representative of empowerment interventions, and, at the same time, improved clarity (if not unanimity) of definitions and measurement, which has been a problem in much empowerment research and intervention.

Three-to-one segregation from reciprocal translocation quadrivalents in Neurospora and its bearing on the interpretation of spore-abortion patterns in unordered asci

In Neurospora, viable ascospores become black (B) when mature, whereas ascospores that are deficient for a chromosome segment are inviable and usually fail to blacken. The presence of a chromosome rearrangement can be recognized and the type of rearrangement can usually be inferred by visual inspection of asci. When a cross is heterozygous for a reciprocal translocation, asci with eight black ascospores (8B:0W) and asci with eight abortive unpigmented ("white" (W)) ascospores (0B:8W) are theoretically produced in equal numbers if homologous centromeres are equally likely to segregate from the quadrivalent in alternate or adjacent modes. In addition, 4B:4W asci are produced with a frequency characteristic of each reciprocal translocation. Information on ascospore-abortion patterns in Neurospora crassa has come predominantly from unordered ascospore octads ejected from the perithecium. Unordered asci of the 4B:4W type were initially presumed to originate by interstitial crossing over in a centromere-breakpoint interval and their frequency was used as a predictor of centromere locations. However, 4B:4W asci can result not only from interstitial crossing over but also from nondisjunction of centromeres at the first meiotic division, which leads to 3:1 segregation. Ordered linear 4B:4W asci retain the sequence information necessary for distinguishing one mode of origin from the other but unordered asci do not. Crossing over results in one abortive duplication-deficiency ascospore pair in each opposite half of a linear ascus, while 3:1 segregation places both abortive ascospore pairs together, either in the distal half or the basal half of the ascus. In the present study, perithecia were opened and intact linear asci were examined in crosses heterozygous for a varied sample of translocations. Three-to-one segregation rather than interstitial crossing over is apparently the main cause of 4B:4W asci when breakpoints are near centromeres, whereas crossing over is responsible for most or all 4B:4W asci when breakpoints are far-distal. Three-to-one segregation does not impair the usefulness of ejected unordered asci for detecting chromosome rearrangements. Ejected octads are superior to ordered linear asci for distinguishing one type of rearrangement from another, because ascus ejection from the perithecium does not occur until viable ascospores are fully pigmented, enabling true 0B:8W asci to be distinguished from those with eight immature ascospores.

Diverse programs of ascus development in pseudohomothallic species of Neurospora, Gelasinospora, and Podospora

Meiosis and ascospore development in the four-spored pseudohomothallic ascomycetes Neurospora tetrasperma, Gelasinospora tetrasperma, Podospora anserina, and P. tetraspora have been reexamined, highlighting differences that reflect independent origins of the four-spored condition in the different genera. In these species, as in the heterothallic eight-spored N. crassa, fusion of haploid nuclei is followed directly by meiosis and a postmeiotic mitosis. These divisions take place within a single unpartitioned giant cell, the ascus, which attains a length of > 0.1 mm before nuclei are enclosed by ascospore walls. Two basically different modes underlie the delivery of opposite mating type nuclei into each of the four ascospores in the different genera. In N. tetrasperma on the one hand, the mating type locus is closely centromere-linked. Mating types therefore segregate at the first meiotic division. The second-division spindles of N. tetrasperma overlap and are usually parallel to one another, in contrast to the their tandem arrangement in N. crassa. As a result, nonsister nuclei of opposite mating type are placed close together in each half-ascus and a pair is enclosed in each ascospore. In the Podospora and Gelasinospora species on the other hand, the second-division spindles are in tandem, with sister nuclei of opposite mating type associated as a pair in each half-ascus. It is established for P. anserina and inferred for P. tetraspora and G. tetrasperma that a single reciprocal crossing over almost always occurs in the mating type-centromere interval, ensuring that mating types segregate at the second meiotic division and that nuclei of opposite mating type are enclosed in each ascospore. Other differences are also seen that are less fundamental. Neurospora tetrasperma differs from the other species in the orientation of chromosomes and spindle pole body plaques at interphase II. Third-division spindles are oriented parallel to the ascus wall in Gelasinospora but across the ascus in Podospora and Neurospora. The two Podospora species differ from one another in nuclear behavior following mitosis in the young ascospores. In P. tetraspora, two of the four nuclei migrate into the tail cell, which degenerates, leaving one functional nucleus of each mating type. In P. anserina, by contrast, only one of the four nuclei moves into the tail cell, leaving the germinating ascospore with two functional nuclei of one mating type and one of the other. The pseudohomothallic condition with its heterokaryotic vegetative phase has significant consequences for both the individual organism and the breeding system. Genetic controls of development and recombination are complex.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Chromosome rearrangements recovered following transformation of Neurospora crassa

New chromosome rearrangements were found in 10% or more of mitotically stable transformants. This was shown for transformations involving a variety of different markers, vectors and recipient strains. Breakpoints were randomly distributed among the seven linkage groups. Controls using untransformed protoplasts of the same strains contained almost no rearrangements. A study of molecularly characterized Am+ transformants showed that rearrangements are frequent when multiple ectopic integration events have occurred. In contrast, rearrangements are absent or infrequent when only the resident locus is restored to am+ by a homologous event. Sequences of the transforming vector were genetically linked to breakpoints in 6 of 10 translocations that were examined using Southern hybridization or colony blots.

The basis of decreased recombination in certain outcrosses of Neurospora crassa

Crossing over in a multiply marked segment of linkage group I was conspicuously reduced in outcrosses between a marked laboratory strain and each of six unrelated wild-collected strains, compared with crosses between inbred laboratory strains. The marked chromosome segment was transferred intact from the inbred strain to one of the wild-collected strains by seven recurrent backcrosses, and conversely, the corresponding segment of the wild strain was transferred to the inbred background by backcrossing to the multiply marked laboratory strain. Recombination was then monitored in crosses from parents having the marked and unmarked chromosome segments from the same or from unrelated sources. Meiotic crossing-over in the marked segment remained low in crosses between parents that were dissimilar with respect to genetic background, but crossing over was restored to a high level when the genetic background of both parents was that of the inbred laboratory strain, regardless of the source of the marked segments. Reduced recombination in outcrosses was therefore not due to heterologies in the marked segment but must be attributed to modifiers that are unlinked or distant from the monitored region.

Analysis of junction sequences resulting from integration at nonhomologous loci in Neurospora crassa

We have analyzed the junctions involved in two examples of ectopic integration of plasmids containing the am+ (glutamate dehydrogenase) gene into a strain of Neurospora crassa bearing a complete deletion of the am locus. In one transformed strain a single copy of plasmid DNA had been integrated into linkage group (LG) III DNA without the loss of chromosomal DNA. In contrast, 450 bp had been lost from plasmid sequences at the site of integration. The transforming DNA used was circular, so we postulate that the plasmid was linearized and truncated prior to its integration by end joining into a break in LG III DNA. There was no significant homology between the incoming DNA and DNA at the site of integration. The second transformed strain resulted from transformation with a linearized plasmid. It contained multiple integrated copies of plasmid DNA, one of which was recloned, together with adjacent chromosomal DNA, by plasmid rescue in Escherichia coli. Prior to integration into chromosomal DNA, the linear plasmid had been truncated by 64 bp on one end and 3.2 kbp on the other end. One end of the integrated DNA was adjacent to DNA from the right arm of LG I, while the other end was integrated into a copy of a repetitive sequence. Restriction fragment length polymerism mapping showed that integration was in a copy of the repetitive sequence that is linked to the previously unassigned telomere M11 and is distantly linked to the LG VI marker con-11. Genetic analysis revealed that a long segment of LG I containing all markers from un-1 to the right tip has been translocated to the right end of LG VI. Tetrad analysis showed that the integrated DNA was closely linked to the translocation. We conclude that the transforming DNA was truncated and joined to DNA from two different chromosomes by end joining during the formation of a quasiterminal translocation, T(IR----VIR) UK-T12. We also conclude that the previously unassigned telomere, M11, is the right end of LG VI.