This paper investigates the characteristics of US colleges and universities that were early adopters of post-1970 academic growth fields. It examines hypotheses drawn from four analytical perspectives on sources of organizational change: organizational ecology, inter-institutional stratification, demographic composition, and historical traditions. Focusing on 20 ''newly established'' and ''emerging'' growth fields, we find strong support for density-dependence and organizational size as influences on early adoption for all fields, as well as support for institutional status variables as influences on the early adoption of new liberal arts and basic sciences fields.

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In this article, we examine methamphetamine (meth) use initiation as influenced by Latinas' social positions within institutions (e.g., family and economy). We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in five women's residential substance use treatment facilities in Los Angeles County with women who considered meth to be their primary drug of choice. Using an urban ethnographic framing, we demonstrate the effects of low-income young Latinas' spatial-and social-context rendered vulnerability to abuse and neglect, and the resulting emotional distress, on meth use initiation. When considering pathways to substance use intervention for vulnerable Latina girls and women, clinicians, researchers, and policy makers need to understand substance use pathways as dynamic processes to cope with psychosocial stress while living in communities with easy access to illicit substances such as methamphetamine.

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