Social Work with Homeless Mothers: A Strength-Based Solution-Focused Model

ABSTRACT

Social workers are increasingly called upon to provide services to homeless families, the vast majority of which are mother-headed. Drawing on empirical findings from the literature on homeless families and the practice literature on solution-focused and strength-based practice, this article describes and illustrates how principles and techniques of these two approaches to practice can be used to empower homeless mothers to resolve their housing crisis and restabilize their families after an episode of homelessness. Examples are given for how social workers can use these principles and techniques in various stages of the helping process.     

Father Involvement

SUMMARY

This paper assumes a developmental focus to provide a psychological perspective of father involvement. A key element of this objective is to recognize how difficult it is to define the complexities of father involvement. Components of father involvement include such relationship components as direct interaction, availability, and the managerial function, all of which are conceptually distinct. Other issues worthy of careful consideration are the context of father involvement, processes used to index involvement, and dimensions of involvement. In addition to examining father involvement from a developmental perspective, future research needs to study father involvement within a greater variety of ethnic-minority groups so that both cross-group and within-group variability can be appreciated. Finally, a more complete understanding of father involvement will require the use of multiple research methods involving both experimental and nonexperimental approaches.     

The History of Research on Father Involvement

SUMMARY

Both our understanding and operationalization of fatherhood and father involvement have changed over time. Fatherhood has always been a multifaceted concept, although over time the dominant or defining motif has shifted in turn from moral guidance to breadwinning to sex-role modeling, marital support, and finally nurturance. As a result of these changing concepts, the extent of father involvement has been viewed and indexed in different ways at different times. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, at a time when societal concerns about the effects of fatherlessness were coming to the fore, social scientists also became much more interested in quantification of concepts such as father involvement, motivated in part by the emergence and popularity of time-use methodologies. This prompted a shift from a focus on qualitative dimensions (such as masculinity and dominance) to quantifiable dimensions (the amount of time spent by fathers with their children). This led to a restricted focus on paternal nurturance with little if any attention paid to the other functions or aspects of fatherhood. The narrowly focused view of fatherhood that resulted, ignored subcultural variation in the definition and understanding of fatherhood. Social scientists are only now beginning to seek a broader and more inclusive understanding of fatherhood-efforts that should permit more insightful research on the effects of variations in performance of the relevant roles.     

Trajectories of positive youth development and promotive factors among adolescents during the transition to high school in China

Within the framework of positive youth development (PYD) and life course theory, this study was designed to examine patterns of PYD and promotive factors over the first semester of Chinese high school with a sample of 480 students (boys, 43.96%). The growth mixture model identified four trajectories of PYD, labeled high start–fast decreasing, high start–low decreasing, low start–low increasing, and mid–persistent. Results also showed that membership in a PYD trajectory is significantly related to three promotive factors: parental involvement, teacher involvement, and intentional self-regulation. These findings have important theoretical and practical insights for a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms of positive development in adolescents following the critical period surrounding the transition to high school.     

Contextualizing Father Involvement and Paternal Influence

SUMMARY

We clarify the basic features of a sociological perspective as it relates to the study of fathers' involvement with, and influence on, their children. Our analysis emphasizes the dynamic interplay between social structures and processes at the macro, meso, and micro levels while focusing on social psychological issues. We examine (a) the social, organizational, and cultural contexts for fathering, (b) fathers' social capital contributions, (c) the construction and maintenance of father identities, and (d) fathering as a co-constructed accomplishment. These foci draw attention to how father involvement is affected by race, gender, economic considerations and a father's relationships with his child's mother and others in the community. We also examine how reflected appraisals of others may affect how a man perceives himself as a father. Relying heavily on qualitative approaches such as in-depth interviews, discourse analysis, interpretive practice, narrative practice, and dramaturgy, we suggest a number of ways a sociological lens can inform our understanding of father involvement.     

Religion,Convention, and Paternal Involvement

Family scholarship has generally overlooked the influence that religion may have on paternal involvement. Accordingly, using longitudinal data taken from the National Survey of Families and Households, I examined the influence of religious affiliation and attendance on the involvement of residential fathers in one‐on‐one activities, dinner with their families, and youth activities and found religious effects for each of these three measures. Virtually no evidence was found for a competing hypothesis that these effects are artifacts of a conventional habitus such that the type of men who are more conventional in their patterns of civic engagement are both more religious and more involved with their children. However, civic engagement is positively related to paternal involvement.     

Father Involvement with Their Nonmarital Children

SUMMARY

The expanding consensus about the advantages of two-parent families, together with the rising number of children growing up without the presence of both parents, has stimulated policy-makers to look for ways of increasing fathers' involvement. This paper examines two sets of questions relevant to these policy initiatives. The first concerns the patterns of involvement between fathers and children born outside of marriage. The paper defines father involvement as a continuum ranging from no visitation, to frequent visitation, to co-residence with the child, and to co-residence along with marrying the mother. We examine this involvement in specific years and over time. One key finding is that most fathers of nonmarital children in their late twenties and early thirties are highly involved with at least one of their nonmarital children. In addition, we find that cohabiting relationships and frequent visitation are often unstable, sometimes changing toward lower involvement, while in other cases changing toward higher degrees of involvement. A second question we address in this paper is whether father involvement leads to increased earnings. We find a positive relationship between increased involvement of fathers and their subsequent hours of work and earnings.     

Critical social work and competency practice: a proposal to bridge theory and practice in the classroom

Social work education in North America is increasingly focused on competency criteria and micro skills training for future practitioners. Market forces are transforming the nature of social work practice in Canada, and social work regulators are concerned about the lack of evidence-based competencies in social work education. Since the Controlled Act of Psychotherapy was proclaimed in 2017, social work practitioners are in a position to offer psychotherapy services; as a result, universities are under greater pressure to shift to competency-based learning that meets the requirements of a regulated profession. This has raised concerns about the narrowing focus on critical social work theory in preparing students for practice. The divergence between anti-oppressive and direct practice schools is widening with the result that many students have difficulty bridging the gap between critical theory and competency-based practice. This paper attempts to integrate both traditions by offering students a course that directly links critical analysis of structural barriers and client centered interventions. The course is part of a developing critical competency curriculum that focuses on methods of facilitating empowerment and change in the helping process by articulating key relational components between service user and practitioner from a critical-competency perspective.     

Paternal Involvement with Children: The Influence of Gender Ideologies

Although prior social science research has established the ability of gender ideologies to influence the domestic division of labor, it has neglected to disentangle their potentially unique influence on paternal involvement with children. Past research examining the influence of gender ideology on parenting behaviors does not acknowledge potential differences that may result from accounting for each parent's gender ideology. Using both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 1,088), I assess the effect of both mother's and father's gender ideology on two measures of paternal involvement. Whereas egalitarian fathers demonstrate greater involvement than traditional fathers, mother's gender ideology failed to predict paternal involvement. Egalitarian mothers do not appear to negotiate greater father involvement successfully.     

Role Involvement of Farm Women

This study describes role involvement of farm women through computer content analysis of text. This approach provides a broad framework for characterizing social meanings. The sample includes 193 farm women. The role involvement variable includes a combination of the farm work role, off-farm work role, family role, and social/civic role. Four contextual/conceptual categories are the organizing foundation of the computer content analysis program. Those women at the lowest involvement levels described their needs in traditional ways, the mid-range levels were more emotional, and those at the highest role involvement levels were very pragmatic. The mid-ranges emphasized themes of help, education, and future while the highest levels emphasized immediate time and uncertainty.     

The Community Development for Healthy Children Initiative

Abstract

An increasing interest in positive youth development has led to the creation and expansion of programs and initiatives related to youth involvement and engagement. This article focuses on the Community Development for Healthy Children initiative, which envisions making Kansas the best state in the nation in which to raise a child. The initiative includes three primary strategies: A multi-media campaign; technical assistance and support to local communities; and mini-grant opportunities. The paper provides examples of activities from across the state that promote youth involvement. Outcomes across four areas are examined, and the benefits and challenges of this initiative are also discussed.     

Exploring Differences in Family Involvement and Depressive Symptoms across Latino Adolescent Groups

This study investigated the association between family involvement and depressive symptoms among a sample of 187 Dominican, Mexican, and Central American adolescents from the Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study. The study used the transactional stress model as its theoretical foundation. Findings from a multiple regression model suggest that low levels of family involvement were significantly related to higher levels of depressive symptoms for Dominican youths but not for Mexican or Central American youths. Latina adolescents were significantly more likely to have higher rates of depressive symptoms than their male counterparts. Research and practice implications are discussed.     

Parental Involvement Laws and Minor and Non-Minor Teen Abortion and Birth Rates

The effects of parental notice and consent laws on abortion and birth rates were analyzed for two groups of teens: those 15 to 17 years old (i.e., minor teens) and those 18 to 19 years old (i.e., non-minor teens). Twelve states report abortion and birth statistics at the county level for these two age groups. The sample consists of 597 counties from these twelve states. Residence county abortion and birth rates were regressed against parental notice laws, parental consent laws, and several control variables (i.e., type of state public funding, population density, education and income levels, unemployment rate, family stability, extent of poverty, church membership, and geographic region).An important finding of this study is that both parental consent and notification laws were related to significantly lower abortion rates and to significantly higher birth rates for both minor and non-minor teens. Three measures (i.e., church membership, family stability, and education level) were related negatively and significantly to minor and non-minor teens' abortion rates and birth rates. One other measure (i.e., restrictive public funding) was related significantly to lower abortion rates and higher birth rates for minor and non-minor teens.     

Family Structure,Father Involvement,and Adolescent Behavioral Outcomes

Research has shown that living away from one's biological father is associated with a greater risk of adverse child and adolescent outcomes; yet, the role of the father‐child relationship in understanding this association has not been directly investigated. This study uses data on biological fathers’ relationships with their children from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 2,733) to assess whether father involvement mediates the relationship between family structure (i.e., father absence) and four measures of adolescent behavior. Differences in father involvement are shown to account for a sizeable fraction of the variance in outcomes by family structure. Father involvement does not affect boys and girls differently but is more beneficial when the father lives with the adolescent.     

Japanese Fathers of Preschoolers and Their Involvement in Child Care

We examine how relative resources, time availability, gender ideology, living arrangement, child‐care demand, and job satisfaction are associated with the levels of younger Japanese fathers’ involvement in child care for preschoolers. A theoretical model that includes these factors is tested using 1994 data collected from Japanese fathers and mothers with preschool children (N = 442 couples). We find that practical considerations such as fathers’ shorter work hours, mothers’ full‐time employment, fewer adults and more children in households, and younger ages of children are associated with higher levels of paternal involvement. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of attention to ways to encourage Japanese men's sharing of child‐care responsibilities with their wives.     

Examining risk,strengths, and functioning of foster families: Implications for strengths-based practice

ABSTRACT

Foster families provide safe and stable homes for children and youth who are removed from their homes due to maltreatment. Despite the stressors associated with bringing children in and out of a family’s home, many maintain healthy family functioning and continue fostering for many years serving an essential function in the child welfare system. This study sought to understand the factors that explained higher levels of family functioning within foster families. Collaborating with one statewide public child welfare agency, 681 licensed foster parents participated in an online survey that examined the association between family functioning with family strengths and risk factors. Findings from this study can inform strengths-based practice including training, assessment, and interventions for new and existing foster families to strengthen families and improve the well-being of children and youth in their care.     

Exploration of the Research Circle Methodology for User Involvement in Research on Home and Health Dynamics in Old Age

The aim of this study was to explore the usefulness of research circle methodology in the later stages of the research process. In an active collaboration with the researchers, participants, that is, users of research, discussed and prioritized research on home and health dynamics. Reflections, comments, and evaluations from both leaders and users were analyzed, applying content analysis. The usefulness of the research circle methodology from the users´ perspective reflected the importance of the content, form for research presentations, leadership methods, and the mix of participants. Research leaders reflect on the role as challenging and demanding, where the composition of users plays an important role for the usefulness of the methodology, as well as for practicalities, form, and content of the research presentations. Research circle methodology offers opportunities for knowledge translation; however, it is demanding and presents a range of challenges, such as the heterogeneity of the group, that needs further exploration.     

Mothers' Union Statuses and Their Involvement in Young Children's Schooling

U.S. schools often expect the educational involvement of parents, which may be facilitated when parents have partners, especially a partner also invested in the child. As such, parental involvement at school and at home could be a channel of the diverging destinies of U.S. children from different families. This study applied fixed effects modeling to the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort to examine the link between mothers' union statuses and their involvement behaviors. Being partnered appeared to benefit mothers' school and home involvement when children were in the primary grades, with little evidence of an additional benefit from that partnership being marital. A biological tie between the male partner and the child only seemed to matter for mothers' school involvement. These patterns did not vary by family income, maternal depression, or maternal employment, but they were stronger when children were just beginning schooling.     

Child Characteristics,Parenting Stress,and Parental Involvement: Fathers Versus Mothers

This study examined variations in the relationships among child characteristics, parenting stress, and parental involvement. Participants were 100 two‐parent families with preschool‐aged children. Self‐report and interview data were collected to measure parental involvement, as well as perceptions of child temperament and parental stress. Analyses revealed significant, yet somewhat different, associations between child temperament and parental stress for mothers and fathers. More significant associations were found between perceptions of child temperament and involvement for fathers than for mothers. The associations between child temperament and parental stress and involvement differed on the basis of child and parent gender. Results are discussed in terms of future research on father involvement, as well as programs designed to encourage fathers to assume more active parental roles.