Despite the central role played by female intravenous drug users (IVDUs) in the worsening AIDS statistics of states in the northeastern United States, the relative paucity of research into the HIV risk behaviors--particularly risky needle practices--of female drug injections has left significant gaps in researchers' understanding of how and to what extent such women may differ in their risks from their better-studied male counterparts. This study, derived from a sample of 769 out-of-treatment IVDUs residing in an area (Paterson, New Jersey) characterized by high levels of AIDS and HIV infection among drug users, attempts to address this lacuna in the research literature by comparing the drug usage, AIDS knowledge, and needle and sexual behaviors of male and female IVDUs that place them at risk for HIV infection. In this sample, gender was found to be unrelated to HIV serostatus, injection frequency and injected drug of choice, and to most dimensions of knowledge about AIDS and the means of HIV transmission. Overall, it appears that the average Paterson female IVDU may be at greater risk for HIV infection as a result of involvement with a drug-using sex partner than because of especially risky needle practices, for females in this sample were significantly more likely than males to report injecting with a sex partner in the previous 6 months, and female IVDUs with one sex partner were more than twice as likely as males with one partner to report that this individual was an IVDU. Condom use was relatively rare, particularly among those with one partner. Moreover, female IVDUs were significantly more likely than males to be daily users of crack cocaine, and significantly more likely to report poorer health. However, current needle and sexual practices were found to be unrelated to HIV seropositivity among both males and females. In logistic regression analysis, only length of IV drug involvement was found to be independently associated with HIV seropositivity for both sexes. Implications of the data for future prevention efforts aimed at female IVDUs are discussed.

T he purpose of this chapter is to explore the pedagogical dimensions of the Funds of Knowledge (FoK) framework and approach with a focus on the role of power and agency in the sites where such teaching and learning takes place. It is clear that educators continue to find both potential and challenge in developing appropriate methods for engaging increasingly diverse student populations in public school settings. Many educators seek not just to instruct but to inspire, connect with, and engage students in meaningful learning experiences. However, the racial/ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic differences that continue to exist between student populations and teachers in many educational settings produce an imperative to create teaching-and-learning environments that are characterized by mutual understanding among students and educators. Challenged further by the current meritocratic policy context that privileges conformity and standardization over responsiveness and inclusiveness, educators confront hegemonic forces that continue to shape public education for the majority of students living in poverty or who are ethnically, linguistically, and otherwise diverse. To more fully understand and appreciate the contributions to critical pedagogy offered by the FoK approach, this review takes up notions of power and agency within the pedagogical dimensions as they play out in the variety of settings documented in current literature. The key research questions guiding this review are the following:Research Question 1: What do we know from the Funds of Knowledge literature about the development and enactment of pedagogies within and beyond the formal classroom?

This paper examines the correlates of substance use among New Jersey Middle School students, using a representative sample. It employs an epidemiological perspective in which an individual's risk of using cigarettes, alcohol and drugs is predicted to increase in relation to the amount of vulnerability and/or risk an individual faces. Results support the multiple effects of community, school, family, individual, peer and background factors on substance use. Results show that family history of substance abuse treatment is a strong and consistent predictor of current substance use. Abilities of families to institute clear rules against alcohol and drug use have stronger inhabiting effects on substance use than do characteristics of family structure or family conflict. Academic failure and peer use of substances show the strongest and largest effects on current substance use. There are no observed sex differences in smoking or alcohol use but sex differences in drug use persist when all the risk factors were controlled for. The effects of the risk factors on substance use differ by the type of substance being used.

No abstract