Ethnic and gender differences in attitudes toward driving

A convenience sample of 424 students from the University of Texas at El Paso and Wright State University were surveyed about attitudes and behaviors regarding operating a motor vehicle. The object of this study was to examine the effects of gender and ethnicity on attitudes towards driving. Gender had more effects on driving attitudes than ethnicity. However, Hispanic students reported needing significantly more drinks to get drunk than non-Hispanics, regardless of gender despite weighing significantly less. These differences in behaviors may help account for the over-representation of the Hispanic ethnic groups in driving outcomes such as collisions and deaths.     

The Effects of Recent Welfare and Immigration Reforms on Immigrants' Access to Health Care1

This study investigates the impact of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, both passed in 1996, on the use of health‐care services in immigrant communities in five Texas counties. The study presents findings of interviews with public agency officials, directors of community‐based organizations, and members of 500 households during two research phases, 1997–1998 and 1998–1999. In the household sample, 20 percent of U.S. citizens and 30 percent of legal permanent residents who reported having received Medicaid during the five years before they were interviewed also reported losing the coverage during the past year. Some lost coverage because of welfare reform restrictions on noncitizen eligibility or because of changes in income or household size, but many eligible immigrants also withdrew from Medicaid “voluntarily.”     

A comparison of statistical methods for combining relative bioactivities from parallel line bioassays

This paper compares the ordinary unweighted average, weighted average, and maximum likelihood methods for estimating a common bioactivity from multiple parallel line bioassays. Some of these or similar methods are also used in meta‐analysis. Based on a simulation study, these methods are assessed by comparing coverage probabilities of the true relative bioactivity and the length of the confidence intervals computed for these methods. The ordinary unweighted average method outperforms all statistical methods by consistently giving the best coverage probability but with somewhat wider confidence intervals. The weighted average methods give good coverage and smaller confidence intervals when combining homogeneous bioactivities. For heterogeneous bioactivities, these methods work well when a liberal significance level for testing homogeneity of bioactivities is used. The maximum likelihood methods gave good coverage when homogeneous bioactivities were considered. Overall, the preferred methods are the ordinary unweighted average and two weighted average methods that were specifically developed for bioassays. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Old Age and Widowhood: Issues of Personal Control and Independence

This paper explores the interaction between the circumstances of old age and the demands of adjusting to widowhood. Most widowed individuals, especially women, have much of their life still before them. Three themes are developed: The implications of widowhood for successful aging, the utility of viewing the rest of one's life as a "career" to be planfully and actively pursued, and the increasing amount of heterogeneity among the elderly. These themes are related to issues of personal control and continued independence in old age.     

Coping Styles in Persons Recovering from Substance Abuse

This qualitative study was conducted among persons recoveringfrom substance abuse. The data were collected in three rehabilitationfacilities in Trinidad in 2002–03. The aim was to examinethe types of coping strategies which subjects used and learnedin response to stressful and problematic life situations, startingwith experiences related to childhood and socialization. Thecoping styles reported were overwhelming in the category ofemotion-focused coping, developed in the main to regulate stressin uncontrollable situations in childhood and to cope with theloss of significant others. Only a minority used, or were ableto use, problem-focused or social support coping strategiesto meet stressful events. It is suggested that the observedbias in the development of the individuals’ coping ‘armamentarium’might have had, in the long run, negative implications for individuals’capacity to meet ongoing challenges of life. This has criticalimplications for how we fashion preventive approaches to theproblem of substance abuse.     

Why Do Women Want Children? The Case of Hong Kong,China: A Lowest-Low Fertility Context

ABSTRACT

Governments in low fertility countries tend to tackle low birth rates by addressing macro-level factors rather than the meaning that having a child holds for men and women. Yet whether or not an individual decides to have a child depends in part on what they think having a child will mean for their lives. This study examines the meanings that constitute reasons for wanting a child among a sample of middle-class, married, Hong Kong Chinese women who wanted children. These women were living in Hong Kong when it had one of the lowest total fertility rates in the world and the lowest in its history. Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews, it finds that for these women, to have a child makes one’s family complete; is the next stage of life; provides happiness, fun, and enjoyment; brings care and company in old age; and children are “lovely” and “cute.” Governments concerned about low birth rates can use research on what having a child means for women to improve policy so as to make having a child more attractive, and to create messages that hold greater appeal to women.     

Gendered Mobilities and Work in Europe: An Introduction

Gendered Mobilities and Work in Europe is an interdisciplinary collection of papers that, together, analyse the gendered aspects of migration and the labour market in Europe. The empirical research presented in this special issue of JEMS incorporates labour market sectors designated as both high- and low-skilled and points to shifting gendered employment opportunities and working conditions for contemporary labour migrants. The papers demonstrate how both national and regional policy frameworks intersect with specific employment sectors and different typologies of migration to produce varied outcomes for male and female labour migrants even when employed in the same sector.     

“If I Did It Over There,I Can Do It Here”: U.S. Latinx Social Work Students in Costa Rican Service Placements Deepening Their Professional Identity and Skills

ABSTRACT

Social work student participation in global experiences continues to increase despite limited research on the impacts of these educational experiences on knowledge and skill development. This article reports on professional identity and skill development for 25 U.S. Latinx students who completed internships or service-learning projects in Costa Rica while living with host families. Three groups of MSW students spent 6 weeks in full-time summer internships and one group of primarily BASW students completed two-week summer service-learning projects and language immersion course work. Through longitudinal qualitative data collected before, during, and after the time abroad, and the use of the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards as a conceptual framework to assess learning outcomes, three key areas of professional gains emerged: demonstrate ethical and professional behavior, engage diversity and difference in practice, and engage with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. This study reveals specific benefits of opportunities for students assumed to already be culturally competent with clients of related backgrounds because of language or ethnic similarities. Discussion on the findings and implications for social work educators and students is included.     

The Strengths of Rural Social Workers: Perspectives on Managing Dual Relationships in Small Alaskan Communities

Social workers are advised to avoid dual relationships; however, this recommendation is not realistic for rural social workers. Using qualitative analysis, this study examines the perspectives of 10 rural social workers in Alaska who are long-term members of their community. From the data, four themes emerged: (1) Rural social workers cannot avoid dual relationships, (2) Healthy dual relationships can have benefits for clients, (3) Social work and other professional education helps rural social workers manage complex situations, and (4) Rural social workers use complex critical thinking and have developed advanced skills to negotiate dual relationships.