Spirituality for Building Resilience in Children of Divorced Parents: A Cross-Country Experimental Study

Based on a post-test experimental study of 1,893 children of divorced parents across 15 countries, I examine influence of a spiritual education program (SEP) on their resilience building. I have used 4 scales to study the resilience and strengths of the treatment group children. Results of the analysis of variance and t test showed that treatment group children scored better on the scales compared to the control group. Through 4 structural equation models, I show that the scores of the treatment group children were influenced by parenting arrangements, economic class, SEP, and self-practice. Children who lived with single parents or had nonresident cooperative coparenting arrangements scored higher on the scales vis-à-vis those who had custodial and frequently conflicting coparenting arrangements or those whose parents had repartnered and they had stepparents. Upper middle-class children responded better to SEP than their elite class counterparts. Further, treatment group children who did 2 or 3 rounds of the SEP during the course of the study vis-à-vis once, and those who said that they self-practiced the program lessons regularly scored higher on the scales. The findings highlight the importance of spiritually sensitive interventions for resilience building of children of divorced parents.     

Childhood depression and spirituality: Insights for spiritually sensitive child-centred social work interventions

Based on a one-year longitudinal study of 1,769 children from schools across countries diagnosed with depressive symptoms, this randomized, controlled, trial-based research has investigated the influences and impact on childhood depression of two kinds of spiritual programs, customized and open-ended. Results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test showed that children had lower scores on depression scales and higher scores on the happiness scale post-intervention. Results of the logistic regression analysis and structural equation models specifically highlighted that boys, Christians, children from the middle class, and those who underwent the customized spiritual program were more likely to exhibit lower depressive symptoms and greater happiness, post-intervention. The implications of these findings for social work with depressed children have been discussed.     

Benefits of an Arts-Based Mindfulness Group Intervention for Vulnerable Children

We discuss qualitative and quantitative research findings from a study exploring the benefits and effectiveness of a 12-week arts-based mindfulness group program for vulnerable children (children who were involved with the child welfare or mental health systems and experienced a variety of challenges). Using post-group individual interviews with children/guardians, and pre and post-intervention self-report data (using the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale and the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents), we hypothesized that children would have improved resilience and self-concept after having completed the program. Interpretive thematic qualitative analysis was conducted using transcribed interview data collected from 47 children (30 girls and 17 boys with a mean age of 10.38 years). The perceived benefits of participating in the group included improved (a) emotion regulation, (b) mood, (c) coping/social skills, (d) confidence and self-esteem, (e) empathy, and (f) ability to pay attention and focus. The quantitative analysis used self-report data from 77 children (43 girls and 34 boys with a mean age of 10.34 years). A repeated measures MANOVA was used to examine changes across the intervention period. Our hypothesis that children would have better scores on self-concept after having completed the program was partially supported and this result reflected the perceived improvements derived from the qualitative analysis. The hypothesis that resilience would improve post-group was not supported. Using these promising results, we discuss how strengths-based and arts-based mindfulness group methods may be effective in engaging vulnerable children in a beneficial helping process.     

REPRODUCING NATION,REDESIGNING POSITIONING: RUSSIAN AND pALESTINIAN STUDENTS INTERPRET UNIVERSITY KNOWLEDGE

This paper discusses the reproduction of hegemony and social hierarchy through education. It brings together two case studies of marginal groups at a university—Russian Jewish immigrants and Palestinian Israeli women—who make sense of their position in social hierarchies and power relations through constant interpretative work on the various dimensions of university knowledge. The article reveals how marginal actors’ interpretations of knowledge simultaneously are guided by students’ positioning vis-à-vis the dominant collective and also articulate and redesign positioning. The two groups redesign their marginalities vis-à-vis the Israeli-Jewish collective by transforming knowledge to identity. In so doing, these groups reproduce national borders of Israeli social hierarchy, while working to change the meaning of these borders for their group's positioning.     

The role of fertility in achieving Africa's schooling MDGs: Early evidence for sub-Saharan Africa

In theory, declines in national fertility boost schooling by reducing age dependency, but questions remain about the size and catalysts of this dividend. We address these questions in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by using a detailed framework and decomposition methods. Results about catalysts suggest that, beyond policy, dividends depend on characteristics of fertility transitions and changes in employment, economic performance, and public commitment to education. Results about the size of Africa's schooling dividends are mixed. On one hand, the annual schooling resource per child grew on average by $73 between 1990 and 2005, with a third of this growth tied to trends in age dependency. Yet despite these nominal gains, Africa lost ground relative to the world partly because age dependency declined even more in other regions. Only after 2105, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline, will Africa begin to narrow its gap vis-à-vis the world average. Also, dividends are predicted to accrue earlier among countries already having higher enrollments, suggesting that transitions may initially raise schooling inequality across sub-Saharan countries.     

Environmental Sustainability and Tourism in European Policy-making

The paper analyses decision-making in the field of European environmental regulation and examines the implications for tourist policy. It is argued that European Union (EU) environmental policy is influenced by three factors: (1) the EU bureaucracy is interested in expanding its influence and power vis-à-vis national bureaucracies and polities; (2) Northern European countries have selectively recruited regulators with environmentally sympathetic ideologies; and (3) a pro-environmental attitude contributes to the societal legitimation of business. These considerations give a unique character to environmental policy-making, which over time has tended to spill over to thematically connected areas, including to tourism policy.     

Parental responsibilities: Reformulating the paradigm for parent–child relationships Part 2: Who has responsibilities to children and what are these responsibilities?

This is the second part of an article, Part 1 of which proposes the paradigm of parental responsibilities to replace the discourse of rights, custody, and visitation. This Part describes the scope of parental responsibilities; who, alongside or instead of the biological parents, may have parental responsibilities vis-à-vis the child; the roles of grandparents and members of the extended family, and partners of parents, are described. The principal categories of parenting tasks are described in detail. I also show how the concept of parental responsibilities is essential for properly dealing with children in need of protection, and how the paradigm applies to courts that deal with proceedings involving children.     

THE TRAVELS OF A BANK DEPOSIT IN TURBULENT TIMES: THE IMPORTANCE OF DEPOSIT INSURANCE DESIGN FOR CROSS-BORDER DEPOSITS

We examine the impact of the existence on an explicit deposit insurance (DI) scheme and its design features on bilateral cross-border deposits (CBD) in a gravity model setting. We find that both the absolute quality of a country's DI and its relative quality vis-à-vis other countries' DI generally affect depositor behavior. However, during systemic banking crises, cross-border depositors primarily seek countries with the best DI schemes. Similarly, during the 2008–2009 great financial crisis, the emergency actions taken by the governments, which supply and maintain these safe havens, have led to substantial relocations of CBD. (JEL F34, G18)     

Social Class and Attitudes toward Mental Illness: a Study of a Canadian Prairie Community*

A partir d'entrevues obtenues auprés d'une population adulte échantillonnée au hasard, vivant dans une petite ville typiques des prairies canadiennes, l'auteur entreprend l'examen des relations qui existent entre les classes sociales et les attitudes vis-à-vis la santé mentale. Il n'existe aucune relation significative entre ces deux facteurs lorsqu'on utilise une échelle de « negation » de la santé mentale et deux indicateurs traduisant le refus de l'informateur à reconnaître que l'isolement est un problème. Par ailleurs, il existe des relations significatives entre les classes sociales et les échelles d'isolement physique et sociale. On tente, par après, d'éclairer ces résultats par diverses explications possibles. The relationship between social class and attitudes toward mental illness is examined using interviews with a random sample of the adult population of a typical, small, Canadian prairie town. There were no statistically significant relationships between social class and scores on a scale measuring “denial” of mental illness and two indicators of “insulation” of mental illness. There were, however, significant relationships between social class and scores on scales of physical and social “isolation” and responses to one other interview question. Various explanations for the results are explored.     

Measuring Potency Among Preschool Children: Instruments and Intervention

This study explored the impact of Potency-Focused Intervention among preschool children using a prospective research design. To achieve this aim, an instrument (the Child Adaptation Measure of Potency, or CAMP) was developed to examine the construct of potency among this population. The psychometric properties of this new CAMP scale was analyzed among 90 preschool children and the scale was proven to be both reliable and valid. Sixty-six children participated in the intervention study itself: thirty-two children participated in an intensive intervention program while the remaining children served as a control group. The results indicate that Potency-Focused intervention significantly enhanced potency among children in the intervention group, though it did not enhance the quality of self-concept. This finding suggests that while potency and self-concept are similar in some respects, they are separate constructs. The implications of Potency-Focused intervention among preschool children are discussed.     

Social and solidarity economy for sustainable development: its premises – and the Social Economy Basel example of practice

The social and solidarity economy (SSE) is a viable strategy in dealing with some contemporary problems known both in industrial and developing countries. SSE is contextualized against the background of recent developments: the liberalization of goods and capital flows worldwide, continued industrialization, and the increased global division of labour. Addressed is how local populations could reach certain objectives and satisfy certain needs using techniques characteristic of SSE and, thus, carve out a social and economic space of their own vis-à-vis anonymous markets, global actors, and local and national elites. Within this self-governed space, it is suggested, a path can be laid for the necessary transition towards local, social, and ecological sustainability. The Social Economy Basel (SEB, founded 1996) will serve as an example to suggest how SSE principles could be operationalized into organizational practice.     

Measuring Potency among Preschool Children: Instruments and Intervention

This study explored the impact of Potency-Focused Intervention among preschool children using a prospective research design. To achieve this aim, an instrument, the Child Adaptation Measure of Potency (CAMP), was developed to examine the construct of potency among this population. The psychometric properties of this new CAMP scale was analyzed among 90 preschool children, and the scale was proven to be both reliable and valid. Sixty-six children participated in the intervention study itself. Thirty-two children participated in an intensive intervention program, while the remaining children served as a control group. The results indicate that Potency-Focused intervention significantly enhanced potency among children in the intervention group, though it did not enhance the quality of self-concept. This finding suggests that while potency and self-concept are similar in some respects, they are separate constructs. The implications of Potency-Focused Intervention among preschool children are discussed.     

Status dissatisfaction and out-group rejection: cross-cultural comparisons within Canada*

Le texte présente une analyse de données sur les sentiments négatifs vis-à-vis certains groupes religieux, raciaux et ethniques. Une hypothèse concernant l'effet de la dissatisfaction quant au statut sur les attitudes vis-à-vis les groupes minoritaires guide l'analyse. Celle-ci porte sur des souséchantillons de Catholiques et de Protestants anglophones et de Catholiques francophones, tous nés au Canada. La variable indépendante, la dissatisfaction quant au statut, est mesurée de quatre façons différentes. L'éducation et le statut professionnel servent de variable de contrôle dans l'analyse de chacun des trois groupes linguistico-religieux. On observe dans les évaluations que font les Catholiques francophones une relation, faible mais statistiquement significative, et directe entre la dissatisfaction quant au statut et des sentiments négatifs vis-à-vis les Juifs et les Noirs. Ces résultats ne sont pas obtenus, cependant, avec les deux autres groupes linguistico-religieux. Certaines interprétations et implications de ces résultats sont discutés. An analysis of data on negative affect towards selected religious, racial, and ethnic out-groups is reported. This is guided by an hypothesis from the literature concerning the effect of status dissatisfaction on attitudes towards minority out-groups. The analysis is for working subsamples of English-speaking Catholics and Protestants and French-speaking Catholics, all native born. The independent variable, status dissatisfaction, is measured by four alternative procedures. Education and occupational status are control variables employed in analyses within each of the three linguistic-religious groups. There are some slight, but statistically significant, direct relationships between status dissatisfaction and negative affect toward Jews and Blacks in evaluations by French Catholics. However, these findings do not obtain for the other two linguistic-religious subgroups. Interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed.     

Homelessness in the 21st Century: The Implications of Spirituality for Muslim Populations

Abstract

Relative to recent immigration trends, Muslim populations in America have emerged as significant among the homeless. Yet the social work manner of attending to homeless Muslim populations has not acknowledged the significance of spirituality proportionate to Muslims in need. Subsequently, homeless shelters must acknowledge the significance of Islamic spirituality vis-à-vis homeless Muslim populations to enable the delivery of services. That consideration should remain constant and viable as a modus operandi for homeless shelters which address homelessness in the 21st century.     

Re-Mediating Second Language Acquisition: A Sociocultural Perspective for Language Development

This article provides a cultural-historical (CHAT) analysis of the practices used by an effective teacher of Latino/a children previously classified as “underachieving” and “beginning/novice” English Language Learners. Although the teacher would not describe her practices in strict CHAT, or sociocultural theory (SCT) terms, our analysis shows that teaching practices in this classroom are better understood using a SCT model rather than more prevalent second language acquisition (SLA) models that dominate the field of bilingual/English as a Second Language education. We describe the fundamental limitations of SLA assumptions about learners vis-à-vis a SCT perspective and use classroom and case study data to illustrate how a CHAT perspective illuminates this teacher's practices. From a CHAT perspective, teaching and learning are socially reorganized around the mediation of dynamic learner identities and include shifts in expert–novice status, dialogic interactions, and the use of innovative mediational tools (e.g., keystrokes on a calculator) to promote academic writing and oral communication. The mediational reorganization described in the classroom opened up access to students who might have been dismissed by a SLA model as “incapable” of engaging in such tasks. We draw on classroom-level data (i.e., standardized scores in reading and math) as well as the work of selected focal students to illustrate our case.     

Developing positive self-concepts in institutionalized children with severe behavior disorders

This study investigated the capacity of one intervention--a modified creative dramatics program--for development of positive self-concept and creative expression in children. Using a sample of both institutionalized (n = 44) and noninstitutionalized (n = 38) children, the study indicated that the intervention group significantly improved on both self-concept and creative expression measures. The most improvement, moreover, was noted in subjects who were both institutionalized and behavior-disordered.     

Impact of the Indian ocean tsunami on the well-being of children

This article provides an overview of the plight of the "tsunami generation" detailing the social and physical conditions after the disaster. Children are most vulnerable and need protection and clear and sustained support for rehabilitation. The social psychological recovery and protection of children are key concerns of child welfare and internal social service organisations. Policy and programmes should build on the people's resilience and provide the psychosocial and community support.     

Community-based organizations for vulnerable children in South Africa: Reach,psychosocial correlates,and potential mechanisms

Community-based organizations (CBOs) have the potential to provide high quality services for orphaned and vulnerable children in resource-limited settings. However, evidence is lacking as to whether CBOs are reaching those who are most vulnerable, whether attending these organizations is associated with greater psychosocial wellbeing, and how they might work. This study addressed these three questions using cross-sectional data from 1848 South African children aged 9–13. Data were obtained from the Young Carers and Child Community Care studies, which both investigated child wellbeing in South Africa using standardized self-report measures. Children from the Child Community Care study were all CBO attenders, whereas children from Young Carers were not receiving any CBO services, thereby serving as a comparison group. Multivariable regression analyses were used to test whether children attending CBOs were more deprived on socio-demographic variables (e.g., housing), and whether CBO attendance was in turn associated with better psychosocial outcomes (e.g., child depression). Mediation analysis was conducted to test whether more positive home environments mediated the association between CBO attendance and significantly higher psychological wellbeing. Overall, children attending CBOs did show greater vulnerability on most socio-demographic variables. For example, compared to children not attending any CBO, CBO-attending children tended to live in more crowded households (OR 1.22) and have been exposed to more community violence (OR 2.06). Despite their heightened vulnerability, however, children attending CBOs tended to perform better on psychosocial measures: for instance, showing fewer depressive symptoms (B = − 0.33) and lower odds of experiencing physical (OR 0.07) or emotional abuse (OR 0.22). Indirect effects of CBO attendance on significantly better child psychological wellbeing (lower depressive symptoms) was observed via lower rates of child abuse (B = − 0.07) and domestic conflict/violence (B = − 0.03) and higher rates of parental praise (B = − 0.03). Null associations were observed between CBO attendance and severe psychopathology (e.g., suicidality). These cross-sectional results provide promising evidence regarding the potential success of CBO reach and impact but also highlight areas for improvement.     

A case for using adaptive platforms in the development and implementation of urban-centred adaptive management plans

The recurring challenges in developing and coordinating social frameworks for the effective adaptive management of environmental resources in urban environments may be addressed by developing platforms, similar to those promoted by collective action in the management of common pool resources. This paper compares how these two frameworks perceive and foster social organization vis-à-vis management action, particularly at the local scale of resource use. The significant potential for incorporation of platforms into the adaptive management framework is discussed, based on a set of issues identified in collective action research as important in the development of platforms. An urban-centred case study, the Las Vegas Wash Comprehensive Adaptive Management Plan, illustrates how an adaptive management framework, when its social components come together in a mutually supportive, heuristic way, begins to generate what in collective action is called a platform. The paper further explores how platforms may be more explicitly incorporated into the adaptive management framework to address some of the more persistent social organization difficulties for which adaptive management has been faulted, especially regarding scale issues and the urban context. A revised adaptive management model including a platform is provided, and suggestions made about issues that may be studied using this model.     

Free agents’ impact on the labor market for baseball players

This paper evaluates the 1976 free agent rule’s impact on the labor market for baseball players. Free agency has specific consequences for monopsonistic exploitation and racial discrimination in salary determination. It reduces monopsonistic exploitation for all players and increases salary opportunities for black and Latino players. However, this change in a player’s status vis-à-vis a team has generated salary disparities among players based, not on race, but bargaining position. I would like to thank Linda Kammann, Mary O’Brien, and Benjamin Preston for their research assistance. Also I wish to thank John Siegfried and an anonymous referee for their comments. I remain solely responsible for the contents of this paper.