Social Integration and Mental Well-Being Among Jail Inmates

Although social integration has consistently been linked to mental well-being among the general population, this relationship has not been explored for persons confined in total institutions. Jails, in particular, represent unique conditions that have the potential to alter the traditional relationship between social ties and mental health. Although previously unexamined, social ties maintained by jail inmates outside and inside of the institution are commonly presumed to weaken some of the adverse effects of a stressful environment and positively influence mental health. The current study explores the impact of social integration on mental well-being among 198 male and female inmates incarcerated in a large county jail. The impact of marital status, parental status, and social support (both inside and outside of the jail) on various dimensions of mental health was examined. The results indicate that rather than promoting mental well-being, social relationships inside and outside of the institution are associated with higher levels of distress. Specifically, married inmates report higher levels of depression and anxiety, and inmates with close social relationships inside of the jail report higher levels of hostility, although gender differences in these patterns are evident. The results of this study suggest that social integration may play a different role for persons incarcerated in total institutions than among the general population due to the unique conditions of social stigmatization and separation from support networks.     

Results of an Interdisciplinary Intervention to Improve the Psychosocial Well-Being and Physical Functioning of African American Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the effects of an interdisciplinary intervention designed to enhance family adaptation toward stress of grandmothers raising grandchildren by improving their psychosocial well-being and physical functioning. Participants were predominantly low-income, African American grandmothers raising one or more grandchildren in parent-absent households in an urban area in the southeast. The intervention consisted of social work and nursing case management, participation in monthly support groups, and parenting classes, as well as legal service referrals for those seeking custody or adoption of their grandchildren.

Results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the direction predicted for psychological distress, family resources, social support, and family coping, but not physical health. These findings suggest that the intervention positively affected the psychosocial well-being of grandmothers raising grandchildren. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed. doi:10.1300/J194v05n03_04     

Understanding social factors and inequalities in health: 20th century progress and 21st century prospects

The development of social epidemiology and medical sociology over the last half of the 20th century, in which Leo Reeder played a central role, transformed scientific and popular understanding of the nature and causes of physical health and illness. Viewed in the early 1950s as shaped almost entirely by biological processes and medical care, physical health and illness are now understood to be as much or more a function of social, psychological, and behavioral factors. Utilizing a stress and adaptation conceptual framework, social epidemiology has identified a broad range of psychosocial risk factors for health, most notably: (1) social relationships and support; (2) acute or event-based stress; (3) chronic stress in work and life; and (4) psychological dispositions such as anger/hostility, lack of self-efficacy/control, and negative affect/hopelessness/pessimism, with new risk factors continuing to be identified. However, proliferation of risk factors must be balanced by conceptual integration and causal understanding of the relationships among them, their causes, and consequences. One source of such integration and understanding has been the rediscovery of large and persistent socioeconomic and racial-ethnic disparities in health. Socioeconomic position and race/ethnicity shape individuals' exposure to and experience of virtually all known psychosocial, and well as many environmental and biomedical, risk factors, and these risk factors help to explain the size and persistence of social disparities in health. Improving the socioeconomic position of a broad range of disadvantaged socioeconomic and racial-ethnic strata constitutes a major avenue for reducing exposure to and experience of deleterious risk factors for health, and hence for improving the health of these groups and the overall population. This in turn requires better understanding of the macrosocial forces that influence the socioeconomic position of individuals.     

Mothers' perception of their relationship with their children during displacement: A six month follow-up

The data presented in this work were gathered within the framework of the psychosocial assistance programme for families with children in one of the oldest displacement shelters in Croatia. Over a period of 6 months, the mothers (N = 58) assessed the psychosocial adjustment difficulties of their children and how displacement affected their relationship with their children (N = 109). The study revealed that as time passed in displacement, mothers talked significantly less with their children and were generally more nervous. The most common difficulties manifested by children were appetite disorders, night fears, sleeping disturbances in general, increased sweating, fear of separation from their mother, despondency and general fearfulness. Over time the reported incidence of stress-related reactions in children significantly decreased. However, after a year spent in displacement, 12% of the children still manifested five or more stress symptoms. Children with a higher incidence of disorders had mothers whose adaptation to displacement was poorer and whose relationship with their children was less favourable. Their families were more often separated. Particularly apparent was the importance of providing psychological assistance for mothers and children who are unable to cope with the stress of displacement.     

Gender Role Identity and Stress in African American Women

Abstract

Womanism is a feminist perspective that has recently been appropriated for social work practice with African American women (Littlefleld, in press). It emphasizes the centrality of gender role in African American women's psychosocial adaptation, and asserts that the archetypal gender role for this group incorporates both nurturing and economic providing functions. This gender role fluidity has been characterized both as a source of strength (Billingsley, 1992; Hill, 1999) and strain (Lewis, 1989; McAdoo, 1985). The present study empirically investigated the relationship between gender role identity and stress in African American women to clarify its adaptive value. The Bem Sex Role Inventory was used to classify subjects into groups based on the degree to which they identified themselves with stereotypically masculine and feminine traits. Women who endorsed high levels of both masculine and feminine traits experienced lower levels of stress than did other women. The findings indicate that gender role identity is a factor in African American women's psychosocial well-being, and that mainstream gender role norms may not be adequate for analyzing the experiences of this group.     

Social Resources and Psychosocial Adaptation of Homeless School Aged Children

This study examined social resources and psychosocial adaptation of 38 children between the ages of 6 and 12 (21 male, 17 female) who were currently experiencing a housing crisis. Results indicate that the impact of stressors depended on the informant: mother-reported stressors significantly predicted negative parenting, internalizing, and externalizing; and child-reported stressors were inversely associated with positive parenting and school adaptation, and positively correlated with child's negative affect. Mothers were nominated over three times more frequently than any other social network member, and almost half of the children did not identify any friends in their social network. Network size did not significantly predict children's psychosocial adaptation, but satisfaction with support was associated with less negative affect. Results suggest that social resources provide unique opportunities for the development of competence for children.     

Immediate and Longer-Term Connections Between Support and Stress in Pregnant/Parenting and Non-Pregnant/Non-Parenting Adolescents

Despite the substantial amount of literature focusing on social support for pregnant and parenting adolescents, few studies have directly examined the relationships among stress and social support across their transition to parenting. The present study investigates the nature of the relationship between stress and support both before and after the birth of the baby. Two groups of adolescent females (one group facing parenthood and one not) completed measures of support and stress across a 7-month period (N = 231) to coincide with the transition to parenthood. In general, support and stress were negatively related when measured concurrently and positively related over time for parenting adolescents but not the non-parenting group. Understanding how long social support impacts stress will enable practitioners to identify when best to provide interventions for pregnant and parenting adolescents.     

Stress and role satisfaction experienced by employed and nonemployed mothers with young children

The associations between employment status, role choice, social support, stressful events, and mothers' experiences of stress and role satisfaction were investigated. Interviews and questionnaires were used to obtain information from 105 mothers with two-year-old children. Role choice, social support, and stressful events each predicted the amount of stress mothers experienced in their lives, although not all did so independently. Employment status, role choice, and social support predicted role satisfaction.Thanks are extended to Lynn Arner, Susan Goodwyn, and Cindy Litman for their contributions to the project, and to Curt Acredolo and Leanne Friedman for their assistance with statistical analysis and computer programming.Susan B. Crockenberg received her Ph.D. from Stanford University. She is now a Professor, Department of Applied Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. Research interests include the developmental, contextual, and child determinants of maternal role adjustment, maternal behavior, and their impact on the child's social-emotional development.     

Positive Parenting Among African American Mothers With a Serious Mental Illness

Positive parenting is hampered by social‐contextual risks—lack of income, education, and support, as well as maternal mental illness—but current models do not examine the effect of each factor in concert with the others. Using structural equation modeling and a community sample (N= 202) of African American mothers diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, we examined the direct and indirect effects of poverty, maternal education, social support, material and social stress, current mental health, and psychiatric history on positive parenting attitudes, involvement in children's education, and authoritative parenting style. The strongest predictors of parenting attitudes were stress and current mental health. Parenting attitudes were the strongest predictors of parent involvement and style but stress and current mental health were also predictive. Involvement was also predicted by maternal education and social support.     

Infant Behavior and Competence Following Prenatal Exposure to a Natural Disaster: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study

This study utilized a natural disaster to investigate the effects of prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) arising from exposure to a severe flood on maternally reported infant social–emotional and behavioral outcomes at 16 months, along with potential moderation by infant sex and gestational timing of flood exposure. Women pregnant during the Queensland floods in January 2011 completed measures of flood‐related objective hardship and posttraumatic stress (PTS). At 16 months postpartum, mothers completed measures describing depressive symptoms and infant social–emotional and behavioral problems (n = 123) and competence (n = 125). Greater maternal PTS symptoms were associated with reduced infant competence. A sex difference in infant behavioral problems emerged at higher levels of maternal objective hardship and PTS; boys had significantly more behavioral problems than girls. Additionally, greater PTS was associated with more behavioral problems in boys; however, this effect was attenuated by adjustment for maternal depressive symptoms. No main effects or interactions with gestational timing were found. Findings highlight specificity in the relationships between PNMS components and infant outcomes and demonstrate that the effects of PNMS exposure on behavior may be evident as early as infancy. Implications for the support of families exposed to a natural disaster during pregnancy are discussed.     

Migration, social support and perinatal health: an origin-destination analysis of Puerto Rican women

Using pooled origin-destination data from the Puerto Rican Maternal and Infant Health Study, we investigate linkages between migration, social support, and perinatal health. We document differences in social support between three groups of Puerto Rican women: non-migrant women in Puerto Rico, first-generation migrants to the U.S. mainland, and mainland-born women. The role of social support in producing differences in perinatal health outcomes between the groups is assessed. The analysis shows striking differences in social support between island and mainland women, but little systematic variation among mainland women by generation of U.S. residence. The lower level of social support available to mainland women is not reflected in the health outcomes examined, which do not generally worsen with migration to the United States (with the exception of maternal smoking). Nonetheless, we show that social support has important implications for stress, which in turn increases the risk of poor health behavior and compromised infant health.     

Predictors of parenting among African American single mothers: Personal and contextual factors

Guided by family stress theory, relations among neighborhood stress, maternal psychological functioning, and parenting were examined among 123 low‐income, urban‐dwelling, African American single mothers. Using a longitudinal design, structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesis that neighborhood stress results in poorer parenting over time through its detrimental effect on maternal psychological functioning. Social support from family and friends was examined as a potential moderator of the association between neighborhood stress and parenting behavior. Results indicated that higher levels of neighborhood stress were related to greater psychological distress among mothers, which in turn, was significantly related to less engagement in positive parenting practices approximately 15 months later. A moderating effect emerged for social support, however, such that the proposed model provided a better fit for mothers reporting low levels of perceived social support than for mothers reporting high levels. Implications of the findings for prevention and intervention are discussed.     

Predisposing Factors for Elevated Restricted and Repetitive Behavior in Typically Developing Toddlers

Little is known about the relation between levels of restricted and repetitive behavior (RRB) in infants and parent factors. The present study investigated maternal and psychosocial factors (depressive symptoms, socio‐economic status, social support) and mother–infant engagement factors (mind‐mindedness, sensitivity, and infant–mother attachment security) as predictors of children's RRB at age 26 months in a sample of 206 mothers and children. Maternal depressive symptoms predicted levels of sensory and motor repetitive behavior and rigid, routinized, and ritualistic repetitive behavior. Lower socioeconomic status also predicted independent variance in children's sensory and motor repetitive behavior. The relations between maternal depressive symptoms and both types of RRB were not mediated through observational measures of maternal sensitivity or mind‐mindedness at 8 months, or attachment security at 15 months. The results are discussed in terms of whether stress regulation, self‐stimulation, and genetic susceptibility can help explain the observed link between maternal depressive symptoms and RRB in the child.     

An integrative perspective on the psychological response of women and men to unemployment

The psychological response to involuntary unemployment in men and women is discussed within a developmental systems model adapted from Ketz de Vries. The response to work loss is seen as a complex and multifaceted response to a specific critical event which is affected by concurrent and previous strings of critical events and role transitions and the overall constellation of psychosocial and sociocultural influences on the adaptation of men and women. Gaps in the research evidence are pointed out and directions for future research are suggested.     

Adolescent Perceptions of Interparental Conflict, Stressors, and Coping as Predictors of Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction

Using family stress theory, this study examined the relationship between adolescent reports of selected demographic variables (gender, age, family form), interparental conflict (style, content, intensity, resolution), stress due to the pileup of stressors, coping strategies (social support, detrimental coping), and adolescent family life satisfaction. The sample was comprised of 155 adolescents ranging from 14 to 18 years of age who completed self-report questionnaires at one of three rural Oklahoma high schools. Four dimensions of interparental conflict (overt conflict style, conflict about childrearing, conflict about family roles/finances, conflict resolution), stress due to pileup, social support coping, and detrimental coping were significantly related to family life satisfaction. Adolescent age was positively related to family life satisfaction. Within the scope of family stress theory, scholars have addressed how the combination of stressors and coping strategies relates to the adaptation of individuals within family systems (McCubbin and Patterson 1983). Further, investigations of the relationship of parental divorce to well-being in children and adolescents suggest that interaction patterns within various family forms may be more fruitful in explaining the adaptation of youth than parental marital status (Demo 1992). The perception by youth of conflict between their parents (i.e., interparental conflict) has emerged as a key family stressor that has the potential to explain variation in adolescent adaptation in a variety of family forms (Buehler, Krishnakumar, Anthony, Tittsworth, and Stone 1994). Stressor events for adolescents such as interparental conflict generally do not occur in isolation. Rather, they exist within the context of other stressors such as economic stress, difficulties at school, or normative developmental tasks for families with adolescents (e.g., changing family roles to allow greater adolescent autonomy; McCubbin and Patterson 1986). Further, considerable variation exists in the coping strategies (e.g., social support, avoidance) that adolescents use in response to stress (McCubbin and Patterson 1986). Finally, previous research shows variation between certain demographic variables and adolescent adaptation. Thus, the current study was developed to examine how selected demographic variables (gender, age, family form), adolescent perceptions of interparental conflict (style, content, intensity, degree of resolution), stress based on the pileup of stressor events, and coping strategies relate to adolescent satisfaction with family life (one indicator of adaptation).     

Childhood Autism and Proactive Family Coping: Intergenerational Perspectives

This article considers the value of intergenerational and specifically, grandparental support, in the management of adaptive tasks posed by raising a young child with autism. The tasks addressed range from accessing early intervention to enhancing family social functioning. We note unique social, financial, and health-related stressors faced by families of children with autism. We outline an innovative, stress theory-based framework, the Autism Proactive Intergenerational Adaptation (APIA) Model, which delineates the role of grandparents in contributing to family adaptation to the stresses of raising a child with autism. We focus on proactive family coping strategies in building resilience and ameliorating the adverse impact of stressors on quality of life (QOL) for individual family members and for the family unit. We discuss barriers and facilitators of intergenerational alliances involving grandparental participation and support.     

Prisonization and its Consequences: An Examination of Socialization in a Coercive Setting

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to outline and assess the utility of a model capable of accounting for several consequences of confinement. Toward that end an attempt is made to integrate several variables emphasized by the two basic paradigms which have been advanced to account for patterns of assimilation into the inmate society, the “deprivation model” and the “importation model,” into a model that draws heavily on the logic of Etzioni's compliance theory.

The findings, which are based on an analysis of data obtained from a sample of 276 inmates confined in a maximum security penitentiary, provide substantial support for the theoretical expectations. Specifically, two measures of assimilation into the inmate society, degree of prisonization and type of social role adaptation, are shown to be related to several indicators of preprison experience, prison-specific influences, and the quality of post-release expectations. These two assimilation variables, in turn, are shown to be strongly associated with variables which imply that coercive organizations of the type represented by prisons are most unlikely to attain any rehabilitative goals. To the contrary, they seem far more likely to stimulate changes that are predictive of postrelease reinvolvement in criminality.     

Mentoring as a Bridge to Positive Outcomes for Teen Mothers and Their Children

This paper compares historical and psychosocial realities of teenage parenting to prevailing contemporary myths. The authors explore the negative consequences of current remedies based on these myths. Community volunteer mentoring programs are suggested as a cost-effective intervention that can benefit communities and promote positive outcomes for at-risk pregnant teenagers. The authors suggest strategies for implementation of a community volunteer mentoring program based on an existing program in an urban community health center. Detailed information for social workers in community agencies is provided with regard to community education, recruitment, training, and ongoing support and supervision of mentors; funding requirements; and program evaluation.     

HIV/AIDS and Homelessness

This article describes the results of research on the demographic, housing, psychosocial characteristics, and service needs of a sample of homeless people with HIV disease_ Results show that respondents are similar in demographic and housing characteristics to the general homeless population. On average, respondents report high levels of stress and depression, moderate satisfaction with perceived social support availability, moderate beliefs in their ability to influence health related outcomes, moderate levels of self-efficacy, and low levels ofphysical and psychosocial disability. A range of services was identified as both helpful and useful in supporting a stable living arrangement. Implications for social policy, service provision, and research are discussed.     

The influence of dual-identity development on the psychosocial functioning of African-American gay and bisexual men

To examine the influence of racial-ethnic and sexual identity development on the psychosocial functioning of African-American gay and bisexual men (AAGBM), 174 AAGBM completed questionnaire packets designed to assess their levels of racial-ethnic and sexual identity development, self-esteem, social support, male gender role stress, HIV prevention self-efficacy, psychological distress, and life satisfaction. The results indicate that AAGBM who possess more positive (i.e., integrated) self-identification as being African American and gay reported higher levels of self-esteem, HIV prevention self-efficacy, stronger social support networks, greater levels of life satisfaction, and lower levels of male gender role and psychological distress than their counterparts who reported less positive (i.e., less well integrated) African American and gay identity development. Although higher levels of racial-ethnic identity development were associated with greater levels of life satisfaction, sexual identity development was not.