Few studies have examined beliefs and attitudes about injustice and discrimination within minority communities. Most research has emphasized the institutional consequences of discrimination, or the racial beliefs of the majority groups. In this study we examine attitudes about injustice and reactions to discriminatory acts within a Black community in the U.S. South. Beliefs and attitudes were found to cluster in three dimensions, including responses to personal discrimination, perceptions of political structures, and perceptions of major social institutions. Economic, social, and psychological variables accounted for 10-30% of the variance in these dimensions in regression analyses. Implications of these results for theory and policy are discussed.

Using data collected from a sample of older Mississippians, we examine whether race has a modifying effect on the predictors of three underlying dimensions of social isolation: interaction with relatives, feelings of loneliness, and interaction with friends and neighbors. The study shows similarities and differences between black and white respondents regarding those factors predictive of social isolation within each subgroup. These findings are helpful in developing profiles to describe those older blacks and whites who may be at greatest risk of experiencing social isolation.

Current social and demographic changes have drawn attention to the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. This research examined grandparents and grandparenting in a rural southern state. One hundred fifty-eight grandparents were interviewed by telephone regarding their roles and relationships with their grandchildren and others along with the impact grandparenting had on their other activities. Results indicate that 60% of the sample had frequent contact with their grandchildren. A significant proportion of the grandparents indicated that they provide assistance by giving advice, preparing meals, and baby-sitting. Additionally, grandparents indicated that providing care does not interfere with their other activities. Discussion focuses on the need to understand grandparent-grandchild relationships and the factors that influence them across time, particularly as the grandchildren become adults.

This study, using data drawn from a sample of 1,879 older Mississippians, demonstrates that social isolation is both complex and multidimensional in nature. Interaction with relatives, feelings of loneliness, and interaction with friends and neighbors composed the three primary dimensions underlying the varying patterns of social isolation found among study respondents. Study findings suggest that certain groups of older people are at greater risk than others of experiencing the potentially harmful effects of social isolation and that human service practitioners must consider the various dimensions of social isolation when designing interventive strategies that attempt to combat the causes or consequences of this psychosocial phenomenon. Social IsolationResearchers who have examined the phenomenon of social isolation have demonstrated its complexity and multidimensionality (Bennett). Such researchers have generally focused their studies on one or more of the following three areas: structural attributes of individuals' social networks; interactional patterns existing between individuals and members of their social networks; and psychological consequences of the varying structural and interactional qualities of individuals' social network relations.In reviewing the literature on this subject, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a general lack of agreement among researchers at UNIVERSITE DE MONTREAL on June 7, 2015 jag.sagepub.com Downloaded from

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