The ‘New Recipients’: Or Whatever Happened to Public Welfare?

Recipients of public welfare are usually understood to be the prime beneficiaries of the public welfare system. But an analysis of the system reveals that the payments to both service and medical providers have overtaken the cash payments. These provider groups, in point of fact, have become the “new recipients” and have a strong stake in the system and the cash reimbursement formulas. The juxtaposition of the medical and the income maintenance systems raise serious policy questions as to the advisability of keeping the systems together.     

Gender, Body Image, and Depressive Symptoms among Low-Income African American Adolescents

The present study tested for gender differences in depression and body image among a sample of 6th–8th grade low-income African American adolescents. Gender differences were found, with adolescent girls more likely to report both depressive symptoms and poor body image. The most frequently endorsed body image concern for both boys and girls was the desire to lose weight, with approximately half of the girls in this sample reporting they would like to lose weight. Results of mediational analyses indicate that poor body image mediates the relation between gender and depression in this sample, suggesting that heightened rates of depression, among girls, are due to heightened rates of poor body image.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE EIGENVECTOR CONDITION IN THE DURBIN-WATSON TEST

This paper examines the power of the Durbin-Watson test for autocorrelation when the eigenvector condition for a uniformly most powerful (UMP) test may not be satisfied.     

A review of national school-age pregnancy and prevention information clearinghouses

School-age pregnancy is a major social problem that affects youth, families and communities. The complexities of school-age pregnancy demand that social work practitioners have knowledge across diverse fields and keep abreast of changing sociopolitical trends. Information clearning-houses have been developed to assist practitioners in their efforts to keep abreast of a particular field of practice. This paper identifies major national information clearinghouses that provide resources for practitioners who work in the field of school-age pregnancy and prevention.     

Blue laws: Impact on regional retail activity

Diametrically opposite conclusions about the impact of blue laws on regional retail activity can be found in both the popular press and the economics literature. Most of these conclusions are based either on anecdotal evidence or on data from particular types of retail stores in a very limited geographical area.This study is based on a nation-wide analysis of the retail sector as a whole and ten subsectors in all regions of the U.S. with and without blue laws. The results suggest that Sunday closing laws do not affect the overall level of retail activity in a region in a significant manner. However, blue laws are shown to significantly affect the distribution of retail activity among certain subsectors of retail trade in a region.     

Above Rubies: Popular Views of Medieval Women

Shirley Marchalonis' essay suggests that it is not always so easy to define the medieval attitude toward womerz in such clear-cut terms as the virgin or the whore. Nonetheless, Marchalonis admits that the courtly lady of the romances comes awfully close to the passivity of the Virgin Mary. The courtly lady in the romances plays only a minor role i n many instances; she is the prize, more often than not, of the hero at the end of the story. At best, she is a vehicle ofpassive virture, acted upon rather than acting. Obviously such a role is admired: the woman stays within her boundaries, which are defined by men, and so is respected and desired. One of the popular images of women, i n the medieval world at least, is one of dependence; women exist as complements to men.