Living arrangements and the transition to adulthood

The sharp decline with age in the percent of young adults who live with their parents is usually attributed to other concurrent life-cycle changes in the "transition to adulthood." We investigate this presumption using data tracking high school seniors seven years after graduation. Although marriage and military service strongly reduce residential dependence on parents, other life-cycle changes such as employment and parenthood are only weakly associated with living arrangements and often affect returning home more than leaving. "Leaving home" is often independent of other transition events and should be studied directly to understand recent patterns of family change.     

A portrait of the nest-leaving process in early adulthood

This paper provides an in-depth portrait of the nest-leaving process in early adulthood as it emerged in the 1980s. Event histories are used to describe transitions in and out of the parental home during the years from age 15 through age 23. We focus on the role of the “new” forms of living arrangements in the leaving-home process, namely nonfamily living and cohabitation. The results show that the transition to full residential independence is more gradual, with more intermediate steps, than previous studies suggested. Cohabitation is rare as a route out of the parental home, and both nonfamily living and cohabitation lead to much higher return rates than does marriage.     

Psychosocial correlates and antecedents of abortion: An exploratory study

Longitudinal data are used to examine the relation between young adult women's abortion experience and a variety of antecedent and subsequent personality, perceived environment, and behavior variables. About one-quarter of the women in two separate samples reported that they had had an abortion. Bivariate analyses show that young adult women who have had an abortion are characterized by greater psychosocial unconventionality than women who have not had an abortion. Similar differences along an underlying dimension of conventionality-unconventionality distinguish, antecedent to the abortion experience, women who would later have an abortion from those who would not. The findings are consistent with the expectations of Problem-Behavior Theory (Jessor & Jessor, 1977).This paper is a report from the Young Adult Follow-Up Study (R. Jessor, princial investigator) supported by Grant No. AA-03745 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.We are grateful to Dr. Lee Jessor for her contribution to the overall longitudinal project and to several of the measures employed in this report.     

Strengthening field education in aging through university-community agency partnership: the Practicum Partnership Program

The Practicum Partnership Program (PPP), an innovative field education model developed and implemented by six demonstration sites over four years (2000-2004), uses a structured university-community partnership, or consortium, as the foundation for designing, implementing, and evaluating internships for graduate social work students specializing in aging. This paper describes the site consortia and PPP programs, presents evaluation findings, and identifies future directions for the PPP. Student learning outcomes were positive and both students and consortia agencies reported positive PPP experiences. The PPP model underscores the value of the community agencies as equal partners in educating future geriatric social workers.     

Sing … Then Think: Musical Interventions and Nondeliberative Forms of Practice in Social Work Groups

ABSTRACT

The positive effects of music have been demonstrated worldwide in many fields including social work, psychology, medicine, and education. Musical interventions including music listening, lyric analysis, and singing have also been found effective in group work. This article, guided by Norma Lang’s nondeliberative theory, aims to provide the “why,” “when,” and “how” of incorporating music into social work groups. It also provides the reader with a toolbox of musical interventions and the encouragement to utilize these “artful, actional, and analogic” activities in group work.     

Disability and Self-help: A Case Study of the Spinal Injuries Association

This paper provides an 'insider' view and suggests that organised self-help has a role to play in improving the quality of the lives of disabled people. Through a discussion of the work of the Spinal Injuries Associations, it shows the kinds of services that can be provided, controlled and run by disabled people themselves. Finally, it considers the implications of the self-help approach for the work of professionals and suggests that such an approach should be seen as complementary to medical and administrative approaches.