The Effects of the Healthy Families America Home Visitation Program on Parenting Attitudes and Practices and Child Social and Emotional Competence

This study examined the effects of a Healthy Families America (HFA) credentialed home visitation program on the parenting attitudes and practices of a sample of at-risk parents. It also examined the social and emotional competence of children whose parents successfully completed the program. The HFA model is an intensive early intervention program that targets at-risk families through home visitation services. Successful completion of the program is a process that takes between 3 and 5 years. Results indicate that, relative to the baseline, parents who completed the program showed significant positive change in parenting attitudes and practices. In addition, relative to other children their age, the children of families who successfully completed the program exhibited significantly higher levels of performance on measures of social and emotional competence.     

Parenting from Prison

ABSTRACT

The impact of parental incarceration on minor children has been well documented. Children with at least one parent in prison are at greater risk to suffer from anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, anger, and attention deficiencies. In comparison to the research on children, less emphasis has been placed on how mothers are affected when they are incarcerated away from their children. The current research focus is how children's visitation programs and parenting classes can improve the relationships between incarcerated women and their children. Female prisoners participating in a specialized children's visitation program were interviewed to gain their perceptions of their relationships with their children and how the program had affected this bond. A comparison group of women not in the program were also questioned about their relationships with their children. The authors suggest that incarcerated mothers respond positively to institutional efforts to keep them in touch with their children.     

INTER­INDUSTRY PROFITABILITY UNDER UNCERTAINTY

In a competitive economy under certainty, inter-industry rates of return on real investment would approach equality in the long run. Stigler [141 found empirical evidence that there are significant inter-industry differ- ences in profitability rates. Fisher and Hall [4] and Cootner and Holland [3] suggested that differences in profitability among industries may be attributable to inter-industry differences in risk. If different industries are exposed to different degrees of risk, long-run inter-industry differences in profitability would be expected even in a competitive economy. Over the period 1950–1967 this study used two-way ANOVA to test the null hypothesis that there were no persistent inter-industry differences in risk-adjusted profitability. The null hypothesis was rejected at the .001 level under four different test specifications. These findings may be viewed as an extension of Stigler's work and lend support to the hypothesis of persistent barriers to entry in the United States economy. Our empirical findings are positive in nature. Significant and persistent differences in risk-adjusted inter-industry profitability rates were found, but no attempt was made to identify what factors influence and perpetu- ate these differences. A possible area for future research is an investigation of the relationship between risk-adjusted return and measures of concentration and barriers to entry. Such a study would presumably parallel Bain's [1] prior work.     

Social class, mental illness, and social mobility: the social selection-drift hypothesis for serious mental illness

The assumptions and methods of previous studies of the social selection-drift hypothesis for serious mental illness are examined by using comtemporary log-linear methods for social mobility analysis. The null hypothesis of no difference in intergenerational social mobility between seriously mentally ill and general population control groups cannot be rejected in previous studies by Birtchnell (1971), Goldberg and Morrison (1963), Langner and Michael (1963), and Turner and Wagenfeld (1967). The findings of this study suggest that previous empirical support for intergenerational social mobility differences is an artifact of not controlling for group differences in origins and destinations when collapsed origin-by-destination tables are analyzed. This study suggests that intergenerational social mobility differences between seriously mentally ill and general population groups in previous studies provide very little, if any, empirical support for social selection-drift processes in serious mental illness.     

Welfare as Maternity Leave? Exemptions from Welfare Work Requirements and Maternal Employment

In some states, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program offers the equivalent of paid maternity leave without job protection to low-income, single mothers of infants. Age-of-youngest-child (AYC) exemptions waive work requirements for TANF recipients after the birth of a child, generally for 3-12 months, depending on the state. This study uses data from the Current Population Survey (1998-2008) to examine whether the availability and length of AYC exemptions are predictive of rates of employment, work, and full-time work among low-educated single mothers with infants. The analysis uses the difference-in-differences (DD) technique, a comparison of outcomes under different policy treatments and between treatment and comparison groups. The results suggest that AYC exemptions are not related to employment or work rates but that living in a state with no AYC exemption is strongly and positively associated with rates of full-time work among low-educated mothers with infants.     

Dermatoglyphic analysis of total finger ridge count in female monozygotic twins discordant for sexual orientation

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that prenatal environment contributes to the development of sexual orientation in females. The research involved a dermatoglyphic analysis of finger ridge count in two groups of female monozygotic twins: a study group which was discordant for sexual orientation, and a control group which was concordant for sexual orientation. The trait, total finger ridge count, was analyzed using the Wilcoxon matched pair statistic. In the female control group ridge counts were not significantly different. However, for the female twins discordant for sexual orientation, the null hypothesis was rejected (T = 0; p ≤ .01), with the lesbian twins showing a consistent trend for lower total finger ridge counts than their heterosexual cotwins. It is concluded that in females, prenatal environmental differences are correlated with differences in sexual orientation, and that second trimester prenatal environment is likely to be a contributing factor in the etiology of this trait.     

Mindless statistics

Statistical rituals largely eliminate statistical thinking in the social sciences. Rituals are indispensable for identification with social groups, but they should be the subject rather than the procedure of science. What I call the “null ritual” consists of three steps: (1) set up a statistical null hypothesis, but do not specify your own hypothesis nor any alternative hypothesis, (2) use the 5% significance level for rejecting the null and accepting your hypothesis, and (3) always perform this procedure. I report evidence of the resulting collective confusion and fears about sanctions on the part of students and teachers, researchers and editors, as well as textbook writers.     

Supervised access: A judicial alternative to noncompliance with visitation arrangements following divorce

Visitation of children after divorce by noncustodial parents is a “natural” right, generally regarded to be in the best interest of children. Custodial parents frequently refuse to allow visitation, even when ordered to do so by the court. The purpose of this report is twofold: (a) to review issues and problems related to visitation; and (b) to describe a program, developed under family court sponsorship, which provides mediation to families in visitation disputes, and supervised visitation when more reasonable access is frustrated by noncompliant parents or when there is concern for the safety and well-being of visited children.     

Race,Rural Residence,and Wildland Visitation: Examining the Influence of Sociocultural Meaning1

Abstract Previous studies have shown that African Americans have less favorable impressions about wildlands and recreate on wildland areas less frequently than do whites. However, most of these investigations have been conducted on non-rural populations. Rural perceptions of wildlands and visitation to such areas have received relatively little attention. In this exploratory study, we propose that race operates on wildland recreation visitation through the different meanings rural blacks and whites attribute to wildlands. We examine this hypothesis with a structural model which specifies wildland meaning as an intervening factor between race and visitation. Single equation results show blacks visit wildlands less, and have less favorable definitions of wildlands, compared to whites. However, when wildland meaning is included in the structural model, racial differences become insignificant. This suggests that the meanings different racial groups attach to wildlands help explain visitation. Both sex and age are also significant predictors of both wildland meaning and visitation.     

Visitation Orders,Family Courts,and Fragile Families

Despite proposals to make parenting time a part of all new child support orders, limited research has examined why some unmarried are more likely than others to establish legal visitation agreements. This mixed‐methods study draws on qualitative data collected from unmarried mothers and fathers living in New York (N = 70) to develop hypotheses about the contexts in which parents set up visitation orders, which are then tested in a large sample of unmarried parents living apart (N = 1,392). Both qualitative and quantitative findings show that disengagement, cooperation, and conflict in the coparenting relationship postseparation influence unmarried parents' decisions about whether to establish a legal visitation agreement. The qualitative data further illustrate how parents' distrust of the court system, preference for informal agreements, and uncertainty about the custody of nonmarital children inform their decisions. The article concludes by considering approaches for helping low‐conflict coparents set up visitation agreements outside of family court.     

IS THE TIME-SERIES EVIDENCE ON MINIMUM WAGE EFFECTS CONTAMINATED BY PUBLICATION BIAS?

Existing meta-analysis approaches to testing for publication bias are problematic when applied to time-series studies in economics, because changes in parameters can generate spurious evidence of publication bias. We suggest an alternative test in such contexts, and apply it to time-series studies of the effects of minimum wages on employment. In contrast to recent research by Card and Krueger [1995a], we find that the results of published time-series studies of minimum wage effects are consistent with structural change, and that the null hypothesis of no publication bias is not rejected by the evidence. ( JEL B41, C22, C40, J23)     

SOCIAL NETWORK AND THE MATERNAL ROLE SATISFACTION OF FORMERLY-MARRIED MOTHERS

An association between strength of social network and maternal role satisfaction was demonstrated by Elizabeth Bott (1957). Whereas Bott's sample was composed of mothers in intact marriages, the present study extends Bott's investigation by examining this relationship utilizing a sample of formerly-married mothers (FMM). Secondary analysis of interviews conducted with a non-probability sample of 119 FMM was used to test the hypothesis that the milieu provided by a woman's social network predicts her satisfaction with the demands of the maternal role. Strength of social network was not found to be significantly associated with maternal role satisfaction, failing to support the hypothesis. Several components of the social network variable-satisfaction of relationship with parents and overall satisfaction with friendships-did prove, however, to be significantly related to the dependent variable. Alternate interpretations of the latter findings are discussed. Comparison of the present findings with those of Bott's (1957) are not directly interpretable. Further research comparing mothers in intact marriages with FMM should be meaningful and is suggested.     

HYSTERESIS IN UNEMPLOYMENT EVIDENCE FROM 48 U.S. STATES

Studies using standard unit-root tests generally cannot reject the hypothesis of a unit root in unemployment rates. These findings have been interpreted as supporting the hysteresis hypothesis. We demonstrate that the failure to reject the null may be due to the low power of the tests. We analyze unemployment rates of 48 U.S. contiguous states using a more powerful panel-based test which exploits cross-section restrictions on the constituent series. The critical values are simulated tailored to our sample size. We reject the null decisively, casting some doubt on the hysteresis hypothesis for the United States.     

Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Former Foster Youth: A Comparison of Abuse Experiences and Trauma-Related Beliefs

The current study compared the abuse experiences of 108 sexual minority and heterosexual former foster youth who received scholarships through the Orphan Foundation of America. Participants used an anonymous online survey to answer questions regarding their history of physical and sexual abuse. All participants who reported a history of sexual abuse also completed the Trauma Related Beliefs questionnaire (TRB; Hazzard, 1993). Differences across sexual orientation were observed in sexual, but not physical, abuse rates and in the Self-Blame/Stigmatization subscale of the TRB. Specifically, sexual minority participants reported more incidents of sexual abuse, as well as higher scores on the TRB subscale, than did heterosexual participants. These results suggest that sexual orientation is relevant to the experience of abuse among children in the child welfare system.     

In‐Hospital Paternity Establishment and Father Involvement in Fragile Families

This article assesses the effectiveness of in‐hospital paternity establishment, a federal requirement since 1993. We avoid biases in previous studies by using a national sample of nonmarital births (N= 3,254), by including detailed controls for characteristics of unwed mothers and previously unavailable controls for characteristics of fathers, and by estimating reduced form models of the effects of strong paternity establishment regimes. We find that paternity establishment rates are now quite high—69%—and that 6 of 7 paternities are established in the hospital. Even after controlling for previously unavailable characteristics, establishing paternity (in and outside the hospital) is significantly and positively associated with formal and informal child support payments and father‐child visitation. These results hold up in the reduced form models.     

Maternal Relationships and Nonresidential Father Visitation of Children Born Outside of Marriage

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 781), I examined how father visitation for children born outside of marriage is affected by subsequent maternal relationship formation, focusing on the timing, type, and stability of maternal relationships. Results showed that fathers were most likely to have not seen their child at all when mothers formed a new relationship early in the child's life, especially if the new relationship was coresidential and the partner engaged in activities with the child. Fathers who initially visited their child were more likely to stop visiting their child if an initially unpartnered mother became partnered. Frequency of visitation was not as strongly affected as whether visitation occurred at all.     

Patterns and correlates of involuntary unemployment and underemployment in single-mother families

Economic downturns, trends in the increased number of single-mother families and women entering the workforce, recent welfare reforms that make receipt of cash benefits contingent on employment, and changes in the economic environment that have increased employment problems, all highlight the importance of examining unemployment and underemployment particularly among single-mother families. The current study used the 2004 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to examine patterns and correlates of unemployment and underemployment among single-mother families. The results indicate fairly substantial employment problems. Although approximately one-half (55.6%) of the single mothers had adequate employment, 30% experienced unemployment or involuntary job gaps, and approximately 15% experienced underemployment. Results further indicate that age, education level, past work experience, and homeownership are related to a reduced risk of employment problems. On the other hand, work disability, other family income, receipt of cash benefits, and state unemployment rates place single mothers at an increased risk of unemployment and underemployment. The findings suggest social policy implications and targeted assistance for those at-risk single mothers trying to secure adequate employment.     

Common Law Marriage and Teen Births

Whether common law marriage (CLM) in the US affects teen birth rates is the central question we address. CLM effects were identified through cross-state and time variation, as four states repealed the law over the period of study. Using microdata from Current Population Survey Fertility supplements 1990–2010 and state-level data from CDC Vital Statistics 1988–2012 we found that, in the states where CLM was first available but then repealed, the odds that teens would become new mothers increased. Births to teens younger than 18 were more responsive to availability of CLM than those to teens aged 18 or 19 or to women in their early twenties. The likelihood of becoming a mother increased where CLM was available in the years prior to its repeal. Teens were more responsive to information about availability of CLM about three years later than to knowing that it is available at the time of potential conception. To the extent that they reduce teen births CLM laws are socially desirable and states that still have CLM may be better off by not repealing the law.     

Effects of a video feedback parent training program during child welfare visitation

Behavioral parent training programs have documented efficacy for improving behaviors among parents and their children and are frequently used by child welfare agencies to prevent removal of a child from the parental home or to facilitate reunification. Although an ideal time for parent training might be during supervised visits where parents may practice skills with their children under the guidance and support of a therapist or caseworker, this is not typically the case. Most often, parents within the child welfare system receive parent training in small groups without their children present, and to date, few studies have examined effects of behavioral parent training interventions during supervised visitation. In this study, concurrent multiple baseline across behaviors design was used to examine effects of a behavioral parent training program, Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND), on parental skill acquisition with four mothers who had lost custody of their children but were being considered for reunification. Children emitted little or no problem behaviors during baseline or intervention, so parenting behavior was the primary dependent variable. Results obtained across participants documented a clear functional relation between implementation of the FIND intervention and increases in developmentally supportive parenting behaviors. Results of social validity and contextual fit measures suggest the intervention was perceived by mothers to be positive, feasible, and appropriate within the child welfare context. Practical and conceptual implications, limitations of this study, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Childhood morbidities among income- and categorically-eligible WIC program participants and non-participants

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is the largest supplemental food assistance program in the United States. WIC benefits include food and infant formula, nutrition counseling, health screenings, and health-care referrals to low-income, nutritionally at-risk pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five. This research explored the associations between childhood morbidities among income- and categorically-eligible WIC participant and non-participant groups in a diverse, nationally representative sample of children. Results indicate significant differences in the maternal sociodemographic profiles of eligible child WIC participants and non-participants. After propensity score-matching methods were used to create more appropriate comparison groups among child WIC participants and non-participants, complete covariate balance was obtained for all sociodemographic characteristics. Further, no significant differences in child asthma, respiratory illness, severe gastrointestinal illness, or ear infection diagnosis, or with mothers rating their health as poor, were noted between child WIC participants and non-participants, once the matched pairs were compared. Government regulators formulating future policies around WIC would benefit from understanding the characteristics of eligible non-participants in order to offer appropriate food, health, and educational assistance beneficial to child health.