International Perspectives on the Use of Community Treatment Orders: Implications for Mental Health Social Workers

Substantial changes to mental health law and policy have occurredthroughout the Western world during the last decade. The drifttowards control, particularly in the form of Community TreatmentOrders (CTOs), has profound implications for the role of mentalhealth social workers, yet this issue is rarely discussed inacademic literature. This paper seeks to redress this gap inknowledge by examining aspects of law, policy and practice usingthree case studies: Victoria, Australia; Ontario, Canada; andregions of the UK. The paper begins by critically reviewingselected literature on CTOs, revealing competing claims aboutefficacy and their impact upon service users¹ and practitioners.A discussion of policy and practice contexts in the three jurisdictionsis then presented and supported with a typology, to illustratecontrasts and comparisons. In their conclusions, the authorsassert that mental health social workers often have a crucialpart to play in the implementation of CTOs but that this isnot always acknowledged in law and organizational policy. Socialworkers’ roles and responsibilities need to be more explicitlyidentified in mental health law. At the same time, there shouldbe a continuing debate about how such coercive powers fit withcodes of ethics and practice standards, at national and internationallevels.     

Ethnocentrism and History Textbooks: Representation of the Irish Famine 1845-49 in history textbooks in English secondary schools

This case study examines how a topic of Irish history, the Irish Famine 1845-49, is represented over time in history textbooks used in English secondary schools and whether and to what extent ethnocentrism is inherent in this presentation. The concept of ethnocentrism is used as a framework for interpreting the presentation of the topic. A strategy of content analysis of samples of history textbooks from the 1920s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to the present is used. The conclusion drawn from the analysis is that the history of the Irish Famine is marginalised in the overall sample and that the textbooks contain examples of both direct and indirect ethnocentrism. The conclusion also highlights the importance of maintaining an intercultural approach when designing school curricula and of providing alternative accounts of history to that of the dominant culture.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADOLESCENT NONMARITAL CHILDBEARING AND EDUCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS: A Cohort and Period Comparison

Prior research on the relationship between adolescent childbearing and later life outcomes is deficient in two respects. First, it has focused almost exclusively on socioeconomic octcomes, failing to consider the possible effect of a birth on social psychological outocomes. Second, it generally has ot considered whether the relationship between adolescent choldbearing and outcomes has changed across cohorts and over time. This study attempts to fill these two gaps by estimating and comparing the effects of nonmarital chidbearing on change in a social psychological variable, educational expectations, over the perod between the sophomore year in high school and two years later, using longitudinal data for the sophomore cohorts of High School and Beyond, 1980, and the National Education Londgitudinal Study of 1988. Findings for both cohorts indicate that adolescent girls tend to reduce their educational expectations following a nonmarital pregnancy or birth. In addition, adolescent girls with low educational expectations are at greater risk of a nonmarital pregnancy or birth than adolescent girls with high educational expetions.     

SOCIALLY EMBEDDED IDENTITIES: Theories, Typologies, and Processes of Racial Identity among Black/White Biracials

Current research on racial identity construction among biracial people derives primarily from small convenience samples and assumes that individuals with one black and one white parent have only two options for racial identity: "black" or "biracial." Rockquemore's (1999) taxonomy of racial identity options is used as a framework to synthesize existing research and to generate hypotheses that are explored using survey data from a sample of 177 biracial respondents. The findings support a multidimensional view of racial identity by illustrating that biracial people make various identity choices, albeit "choices" that are differentially available due to an individual's structural iocation.     

Attachment status and complexity of infants' self- and other-knowledge when tested with mother and father

At 13 and 20 months, infants' featural knowledge of self and parent was assessed separately with mother and father. Infants' featural knowledge was measured by a scale that included tasks reflecting infants' knowledge of facial features, spatial location, name, possession and gender. No significant relation between attachment status and featural knowledge was obtained at 13 months when tested with either parent. At 20 months, in contrast, more complex featural knowledge of self and parent was demonstrated by infants who were securely attached than by those who were insecurely attached. Independent of age, however, infants' featural knowledge of their mothers was more complex than that of their fathers, although no differences in self-knowledge were obtained as a function of parent gender. These data are understood in the context of cognitive development and the differences in interactional qualities assessed by attachment status and parent gender.     

Application of a Regional Hurricane Wind Risk Forecasting Model for Wood-Frame Houses

Hurricane wind risk in a region changes over time due to changes in the number, type, locations, vulnerability, and value of buildings. A model was developed to quantitatively estimate changes over time in hurricane wind risk to wood-frame houses (defined in terms of potential for direct economic loss), and to estimate how different factors, such as building code changes and population growth, contribute to that change. The model, which is implemented in a simulation, produces a probability distribution of direct economic losses for each census tract in the study region at each time step in the specified time horizon. By changing parameter values and rerunning the analysis, the effects of different changes in the built environment on the hurricane risk trends can be estimated and the relative effectiveness of hypothetical mitigation strategies can be evaluated. Using a case study application for wood-frame houses in selected counties in North Carolina from 2000 to 2020, this article demonstrates how the hurricane wind risk forecasting model can be used: (1) to provide insight into the dynamics of regional hurricane wind risk-the total change in risk over time and the relative contribution of different factors to that change, and (2) to support mitigation planning. Insights from the case study include, for example, that the many factors contributing to hurricane wind risk for wood-frame houses interact in a way that is difficult to predict a priori, and that in the case study, the reduction in hurricane losses due to vulnerability changes (e.g., building code changes) is approximately equal to the increase in losses due to building inventory growth. The potential for the model to support risk communication is also discussed.     

Changing Meanings, Changing Institutions: An Institutional Analysis of Patent Legislation

Conceptions of patents have changed significantly over the past two centuries, reflecting broad changes in state structures and the international system. In the late eighteenth century, the creation of democratic states such as the United States and France encouraged the conceptualization of patents as an economic and political right belonging to an individual, rather than to a corporate body such as a guild. A second conception of patents arose in the nineteenth century in which patents become a state-based mechanism for motivating economic growth. In the late twentieth century, patents have become conceptualized as an essential part of the economic infrastructure of a state, for both industrialized and less developed countries. This conceptualization has allowed international development organizations to become central in the diffusion of patent legislation to less developed countries. These changes in conceptions about patents did not always occur smoothly, however. Major controversies over the role and usefulness of patents occurred in each century, implying that the diffusion of patent legislation was by no means inevitable. This paper illustrates these arguments with a historical discussion of patents and a statistical analysis that models the adoption of patent legislation for all countries from 1790–1984.     

Occupational Self‐Direction,Values, and Egalitarian Relationships: A Study of Dual‐Earner Couples

This study examines the associations between husbands' and wives' experiences at work and their attitudes about and behaviors in marriage, using a framework informed by the ideas of Kohn (1969, 1977) . Specifically, it was hypothesized that experiences of self‐direction at work would be associated with greater endorsement of values associated with self‐direction. Further, it was predicted that those who value self‐direction more would both prefer and adopt more egalitarian arrangements in their marriages. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 167 dual‐earner couples. Results supported the hypotheses and suggested that values mediate the relationships between occupational self‐direction and both attitudes about marital roles and the division of household labor. The pattern of results suggests that this framework is a useful perspective for examining the construct of marital equality.