Attitudinal acceptance of intimate partner violence among U.S. adults

Attitudinal acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important correlate of violent behavior. This study examined acceptance of IPV using data collected from a nationally representative telephone survey of 5,238 adults. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to test for associations between sociodemographic characteristics, exposure to violence, question order, and acceptance of hitting a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend under specific circumstances. Depending on the circumstance examined, acceptance of IPV was significantly higher among participants who were male and younger than 35; were non-White; were divorced, separated, or had never married; had not completed high school; had a low household income; or were victims of violence within the past 12 months. Participants were more accepting of women hitting men; they also were consistently more likely to report tolerance of IPV if they were asked first about women hitting men rather than men hitting women. Reports of IPV tolerance need to be interpreted within the context of the survey. Efforts to change IPV attitudes can be tailored to specific IPV circumstances and subgroups, and these efforts should emphasize that the use of physical violence is unacceptable to both genders.     

Factors affecting mother-child visiting identified by women with histories of substance abuse and child custody loss

The influence of maternal substance abuse upon the placement of children in out-of-home care increased significantly in the 1980s and 1990s, affecting mother-child visiting in numerous ways. Content analysis of interview data from 15 mothers with histories of illegal drug use and child custody loss provides insight into five major factors that can promote or inhibit visiting: (1) mother's drug use and health status, (2) effects of visits on the child, (3) transportation, (4) scheduling/ visit settings, and (5) support of others.     

Evidence-based medicine, clinical uncertainty, and learning to doctor

For the past two decades, evidence-based medicine (EBM), or the reliance on current scientific evidence to reach medical decisions, has been embraced as a new paradigm to standardize clinical care. Drawing from in-depth interviews with seventeen pediatric residents in two residency programs, we evaluate the extent to which the medical sociology scholarship on uncertainty analytically elucidates the recent influx of EBM during residency training. Our findings suggest that residents interpret EBM in varying ways to match their work practices: "Librarians" consult the literature while "researchers" evaluate it critically. For both groups, EBM might generate new uncertainties due to the increased reliance on information technologies and epidemiology. Whether EBM reduces uncertainty depends upon the residents' understanding of standardized knowledge and consequent incorporation of EBM in their clinical practice. Contrary to the predictions of some sociologists, EBM does not lead to a diminishment of humanitarian values in medical care. Nor does EBM lead to a science-based meritocracy on the patient ward, as claimed by some EBM advocates. Our conceptual updating of uncertainty emphasizes the continuous management of uncertainty during the medical socialization process. We argue that managing uncertainty develops along with what we term evidence-based clinical judgment.     

Congenial public, contrary press, and biased estimates of the climate of opinion

This field experiment focused on perceived public opinion about the use of primates in laboratory research. We used this contentious issue to examine the simultaneous effects of three hypothetical ideas-the hostile media perception, the persuasive press inference, and the projection bias-on partisan perceptions of public opinion. Our data supported the projection hypothesis but also confirmed that partisans on each side of the issue judged news articles to be biased in a disagreeable direction relative to judgments of those on the other side. The perception of relatively disagreeable media bias, in turn, influenced perceptions of public opinion. Results supported the hypothesis that people make inferences about the climate of opinion based on their reading of the news, especially the perceived slant of that news.     

Assessing the local need for family and child care services: a small area utilization analysis

This article reports the findings of a study to develop a new method for allocating resources to family and child care services within Northern Ireland. Downloads from financial and client databases, together with a survey of social worker case activity, were used to estimate utilization costs across 500 local areas. Regression techniques were then used to account for variations in these costs in terms of local socioeconomic conditions. The resultant needs index represents a fair and equitable means of allocating central family and child care budgets to local units of management and service delivery.     

Product planning—we're still getting it upside down

This paper questions why with all the traditional inventive genius of the British people, this country is failing to hold its own against foreign competition. While the reasons for this are many, the author suggests that the conventional approach to new product development is a major factor. Industry should put the demands of the consumer first rather than an abstract pursuit of technological development. He suggests that for industry in general the needs of consumers should take precedence over the ‘technology push’.     

Tackling the human problems in planning

This article presents findings from the first phase of a research program on the management of long-range planning systems. The initial focus is on behavioral problems encountered by those using planning systems and solutions for dealing with them. Both the problems and solutions were identified by chief planning officers during a university sponsored workshop. Some observations are offered about the way in which managerial thought processes affect the potential for resolving complex behavioral problems in organizations.     

Hope as a coping resource among parents at risk for child maltreatment

This study investigated hope as a protective factor buffering the relationships between parenting stress and well-being among a sample of parents identified at moderate to high risk for child maltreatment. Two hundred parents were recruited from a nonprofit organization providing secondary and tertiary child maltreatment prevention programs. Results of the analyses showed that parental stress was negatively associated with subjective and emotional well-being. Hope was positively correlated with well-being and negatively associated with parenting stress. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that hope had a significant incremental relationship to well-being and that the negative effects of parenting stress fell below statistical significance. These findings provide preliminary support for hope as a coping resource social workers can target when working with parents in the prevention of child maltreatment.