The third dimension in social casework: Mary E. Richmond's contribution to family treatment

This article traces the development of family group treatment as conceptualized by Mary E. Richmond (1861–1928). While the main course of social work was following the new individual psychology from Europe after World War I, Richmond was paving the path for a clinical approach that was not to be realized until 30 years later.This is a revised, abbreviated version of a presentation made by the author at a doctoral seminar on the casework roots of practice delivered in 1965 at the School of Social Work, University of Southern California.     

The impact of childcare responsibilities on part-time or single fathers

The study described in this article was designed to determine the effects of childcare involvement on the lifestyles of fathers with young children. One hundred and twenty-seven separated or divorced men were interviewed. Their parental responsibilities ranged from full custody or joint custody to weekends or monthly visits. For the most part these men represented a middle class, highly educated, urban population. The primacy of work and occupational roles in the lives of the fathers was challenged by the contractual obligations of parenting. Fathers who spent time with their children had the opportunity to work out some crisis issues of divorce such as control, interdependence, and self-image. It was found that postdivorce parenting is an important source of resocialization for men in areas of work orientation and personal relationships. It is expected that this new functioning will have positive effects on the structure of reconstituted (i.e., second marriage) families.     

The population debate: A survey of opinions of a professional organization's membership

In analyzing results of a survey concerning population issues taken among members of an organization devoted to the scientific study of population, namely, the Population Association of America, we found high agreement that: (1) world population growth was much too high, (2) many of today's serious problems are caused by overpopulation, and (3) the U.S. should help any requesting country establish programs to curtail growth. There was no consensus, however, on issues such as: (1) ideal population size, (2) family planning as the most reasonable means of reducing population growth, (3) the need to initiate coercive birth control immediately, (4) redistribution of resources as a long-term solution to overpopulation, (5) how to solve population problems in time to avoid widespread catastrophe, and (6) whether the U.S. should exert pressure on other countries to establish a family planning program as a prerequisite to economic aid. These findings apply with few exceptions to four subcategories of members defined on the basis of extent of demographic training and employment.     

High foetal mortality and birth intervals

Abstract Studies of birth intervals have generally separated the process into: (1) the period of infertility following a pregnancy termination; (2) the length ofthe interval from the end of the infertile period to the next conception (which reflects the probability of conception), and (3) the average duration of pregnancy for both live births and foetal deaths.(1) Empirically derived intervals between successive live births average from 19 to 30 lunar months(2) (Table 1), depending upon the population studied and the birth order.(3) Estimates of conception rates using birth intervals data require some estimate of the extent to which foetal wastage increases the birth interval.     

A STUDY OF AUTOMOBILE INVENTORY INVESTMENT

The volatile fluctuations in automobile inventory levels are explained well by the stock-adjustment model estimated in this paper on monthly time-series data. In contrast to the findings of most previous inventory studies, fluctuations in financial inventory carrying costs (as measured by a service cost of capital) are found to influence the target auto stocks in both a statistically significant and economically important manner. Also, the speed-of-adjustment of automobile inventories to their target level is estimated to be relatively fast, about thirty percent per month.