Working U.S. Adults without Paid Sick Leave Report more Worries about Finances

Using the National Health Interview Survey 2015 data release, an analytic sample of 17,897 working U.S. adults in current paid employment were examined to determine if there was a relationship between not having paid sick leave and worry about finances. A series of nine indicators of financial worry were regressed on paid sick leave status with ten control variables. U.S. workers who lack paid sick leave are more likely to report worry about: medical bills from a potential future sickness or accident, retirement, current medical costs from an illness or accident, maintenance of standard of living, medical costs for normal health care, normal monthly bills, rent, mortgage, or other housing costs, and credit card payments. Based on this set of nine multinomial multivariable regressions equations, findings indicate a positive association between not having paid sick leave and reporting financial worry after controlling for gender, age, marital status, education level, race and ethnicity, personal health status, full time work status, insurance coverage, family size, and annual family income. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are set forth.     

Exploring the Association Between Housing Insecurity and Child Welfare Involvement: A Systematic Review

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal - Housing insecurity and involvement with the child welfare system are common experiences for low-income families. To date, previous empirical studies on...     

Cultural models of popularity,stress, social support,and violence among African American U.S. teens living in a high-poverty community

The ways in which teenagers understand their social environments can be important for social service providers to understand. A cognitive anthropological approach grounded in cultural consensus theory was used to investigate teenagers and social and health service providers in a pilot study in East Cleveland, Ohio (N = 28). The qualitative method of free listing was used to determine the cultural models of popularity, stress, social support, and causes of violence. Teens were also surveyed to examine their levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Consensus was tested and not found in the domains. Teens were found to have above-average rates of stress and anxiety. A greater understanding of the sources of stress and causes of violence is described, along with the clinical, policy, and research implications of this study.     

Welfare Workers' Cultural Models of Domestic Violence

ABSTRACT

Despite progress in policies and services for domestic violence, service use remains lower than the need suggests. This study, an analysis from a larger project on social service providers, examines welfare workers' shared beliefs about domestic violence. Using a mixed method design utilizing pile sorts (n = 38; 11 child welfare and 29 financial assistance), a survey (n = 57; 24 child welfare and 33 financial assistance), and in-depth interviews (n = 3; two child welfare and one financial assistance)—workers organized their ideas about factors that contribute to domestic violence, rated the factors along key dimensions of meaning (importance, controllability, characteristics of victims or perpetrators, and cause or effect), and shared experiences of their work with domestic violence cases. Financial assistance and child welfare workers organized their beliefs similarly demonstrating consensus on the importance of the factors, and shared beliefs about the factors that were causes and effects of domestic violence. In interviews, child welfare workers emphasized their focus on systems and collaboration. Despite areas of agreement, child welfare and financial assistance workers did not demonstrate consensus on ideas about domestic violence overall. The findings have implications for practice, specifically for improving responses to domestic violence and increasing the use of domestic violence services.