Parenthood in the Twenty-First Century: African American Grandparents as Surrogate Parents

African American grandparents serve important roles as surrogate parents. Historically they are honored and recognized for their extraordinary service in augmenting the child welfare system. This article provides a contemporary view of the significant number of African American grandparents who serve as surrogate parents. Their assets and challenges are discussed. Following on the work by Dr. Linda Burton and collaborators in 1995, this article addresses the relationship between temporal context, developmental context, and ethnic/racial context of the life course as it relates to grandparenthood in the twenty-first century. In addition to the discussion of African American grand-parenting trends, challenges and benefits in the twenty-first century, the article presents implications of these contexts for the surrogate parenting by older African Americans relative to social work education, research, and policy.     

Concurrent Seasonal Adjustment With Census X-11

Much investigative effort is being expended worldwide toward improving seasonally adjusted estimates from the Census X-11 program. Several recent investigations have resulted in a recommendation to obtain the most recent month's adjustment by applying X-11 to data through that month (concurrent adjustment), rather than relying on projected factors obtained from an earlier run. Although there are theoretical arguments supporting the applicaton of X-11 concurrently, a comprehensive study documenting the results of concurrent adjustment with X-11 on U.S. economic series has not previously been undertaken. This study evaluates the effect of applying X-11 concurrently to a set of selected Census Bureau economic time series. The accuracy of concurrent estimates, in terms of mean absolute deviations from historical estimates, is examined. The results obtained are generally favorable to concurrent adjustment.     

The significance of fathers for inner-city African-American teen mothers

Using the accounts of family life in young women's life stories, this qualitative study examined experiences with biological fathers for a sample of inner-city African-American teen mothers and a comparable sample of young women who were not parents. Distinguishing findings emerged about the pattern of young women's residential history with fathers, activity and interactions with fathers, and feelings about fathers. These qualitative findings were discussed in terms of their implications for services, policy, and research.     

The market power is in the services: Because the value is in the results

Sandra Vandermerwe is already a pioneer of the notion that including or extending services in a product portfolio adds value. Now she breaks new ground again with a convincing argument that the way to achieve customer satisfaction is through the ability to deliver full solution systems throughout the customer's activity cycle.Customers want results. The power to deliver results lies in value-added services. Companies which offer customers solution systems to meet their demands consisting of product-service components and who base these systems on results, will be the winners in the 1990s. We are in the competitive era of the results-driven systems solution in marketing.Vandermerwe explores this marketing strategy in detail, with examples of successful solution systems from Scandinavian Airline Systems, SKF, Du Pont and DEC. She then offers a customer activity-based diagnostic tool for managers wishing to improve their market strategy.     

Declining Physical Activity Levels as an Unintended Consequence of Abolishing Mandatory Campus Service Fees

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates the effect of the introduction of voluntary student unionism and subsequent increase in campus facility fees on engagement in physical activity on campus. Participants: Participants were 1,904 students from a large regional NSW (Australia) university across 3 time periods (926 in 2005, 504 in 2006, and 474 in 2007). Methods: Students completed a survey across the 3 time periods, responding to questions about physical activity levels, use of on-campus and off-campus facilities, and barriers to facility use. Results: Participation in physical activity at university facilities was low overall, and declined substantially between 2005 and 2007, with the proportion of students identifying cost as a barrier more than doubling over this time period. Conclusions: There is a need for policy makers to consider the unintended health impacts of such policy changes, particularly in relation to the impact on already insufficient levels of physical activity.     

The Multidimensionality of Presbycusis: Hearing Losses on the Content and Relational Dimensions of Speech

Presbycusis, the age associated decline in hearing and listening, has been traditionally conceptualized as the progressive inability to distinguish phonemes and hence to apprehend the content of spoken communication. Based on the distinction between the content and relational dimensions of communication, this study posed the possibility that presbycusis also involves a loss of listening ability along the relational dimension of communication. Using five measures of speech discrimination and listening, the study confirmed that aging is significantly associated with losses on the content and relational dimensions of listening. Furthermore, there are different rates of aging for these two dimensions. Whereas the loss on the content dimension is linearly related to age, the loss on the relational dimension is curvilinearly related to age with little decline in ability until a relatively drastic loss occurs in the early to mid-70s. These results indicate that the communicative impact of presbycusis is considerably greater for the old elderly than for the young elderly. Thus, this study constitutes initial evidence for a multidimensional conception of presbycusis.     

VALIDATION OF A DIARY MEASURE OF CHILDREN'S PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES

This study compares levels of physical activity of 9–14-year-old children from a self-reported time diary with those measured using an accelerometer. Children (N = 92) wore an accelerometer for one weekend day and completed a 24-hour time diary for that day. The time children spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity from time diaries was moderately highly correlated with the measured results. Self-reported and objective measures of intensity were correlated, but the correlation varied substantially by activity and characteristics of the family. This study provides empirical evidence to support the validity of time-diary estimates when accelerometer data are not available.     

Discrete Trial Instruction vs. Mand Training for Teaching Children With Autism to Make Requests

The present study compared the effects of discrete trial instruction (DTI) and mand training on the acquisition of independent requests in 6 children with autism. Two multiple-probe designs across participants were conducted with 3 participants receiving mand training followed by DTI and the other 3 receiving DTI followed by mand training. Eye contact and challenging behaviors were also assessed across conditions. Results indicate that 5 of 6 participants made more independent requests and acquired requesting faster in the mand training condition, had slightly better eye contact in the DTI condition, and fewer challenging behaviors in the mand training condition. Overall, the results indicate that mand training is a more efficient method for teaching children with autism to make requests.     

The politics of water scarcity in the western states

Water is a scarce and highly prized commodity in the arid Western states. Not surprisingly, water policy creation is very much a challenge for a number of reasons. Citizens hold multiple water values such as economic development and the protection of wildlife which are often contradictory. State prior appropriation laws are not easily reconciled with federal reserve rights and the public trust doctrine. There are multiple governmental and nongovernmental actors who work to influence and implement policy in a decentralized political system. If actors lose a policy battle in one decisionmaking arena (such as a legislature), they often try to influence policy at another venue (a court, Congress or an agency). Policymaking involves water issues that are dynamic over time. Furthermore, there are several types of water policy (distributive, allocative, redistributive and cooperative) that vary according to who pays costs and receives benefits, the level of conflict, the openness of decisionmaking to interested parties, and the level of government which dominates. Long ago, Mark Twain was correct when he said “Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting about.”