Neighborhood structural inequality, collective efficacy, and sexual risk behavior among urban youth

We draw on collective efficacy theory to extend a contextual model of early adolescent sexual behavior. Specifically, we hypothesize that neighborhood structural disadvantage--as measured by levels of concentrated poverty, residential instability, and aspects of immigrant concentration--and diminished collective efficacy have consequences for the prevalence of early adolescent multiple sexual partnering. Findings from random effects multinomial logistic regression models of the number of sexual partners among a sample of youth, age 11 to 16, from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 768) reveal evidence of neighborhood effects on adolescent higher-risk sexual activity. Collective efficacy is negatively associated with having two or more sexual partners versus one (but not zero versus one) sexual partner. The effect of collective efficacy is dependent upon age: The regulatory effect of collective efficacy increases for older adolescents.     

"Couples as Partners and Parents over Children's Early Years"

We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine how couple relationship quality and parental engagement are linked over children's early years-when they are infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Our sample included 1,630 couples that were coresident over years 1 to 3 and 1,376 couples that were coresident over years 3 to 5 (1,196 over both periods). Overall, we found that better relationship quality predicted greater parental engagement for both mothers and fathers-especially in the infant to toddler years; in contrast, we found little evidence that parental engagement predicted future relationship quality. Married and cohabiting couples were generally similar in how relationship quality and parenting were linked.     

Integrated Substance Abuse and Child Welfare Services for Women: A Progress Review

A review of empirical literature reveals improvements in service utilization and outcomes for women when substance abuse and child welfare services are integrated. The increased use of substances by women involved in the child welfare system has resulted in a call for integrated, coordinated, evidence-based practices. Since the late 1990s, specific system- and service-level strategies have been developed to coordinate and integrate the provision of substance abuse and child welfare services such that women are remaining in treatment longer and are more likely to reduce substance use and be reunited with their children. The strategies reviewed provide useful guidelines for developing components of effective, evidence-based programs for substance-involved women in the child welfare system.     

Meeting the mental health needs of the aging veteran population

The growth in the veterans population parallels the graying of America, accompanied by an increasing need for health care and mental health services from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. With the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rising in veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the already strained mental health resources in use by veterans with persistent PTSD from previous wars, the VA mental health system is and will continue to be in overload. In addition, recent research has noted an increased incidence of dementia in veterans with PTSD. The VA's long-term care facilities cannot meet their current demands, nevermind provide support for veterans with cognitive deficits who can no longer be cared for at home. It is imperative that immediate measures be taken to strengthen resources for research, manpower, and training to accommodate the future mental health needs of our aging veterans.     

Demanding work schedules and mental health in nursing assistants working in nursing homes

Nursing home assistants have physically and emotionally challenging jobs, and they often work demanding schedules in order to provide 24-h care. While the physical effects of demanding work schedules have been studied, little is known about the impact on mental health. This study explored the relationship between demanding scheduling variables and mental health indicators of depression, anxiety and somatization. A cross-section of 473 US female nursing assistants working in nursing homes was surveyed. Work schedule characteristics included shiftwork, hours per day and week, days per week, number of weekends per month, number of double shifts per month, breaks, and number of jobs worked. Working two or more double-shifts per month was associated with increased risk for all mental health indicators, and working 6–7 days per week was associated with depression and somatization. There was a trend for increasing odds of adverse mental health with increased numbers of demanding work schedule factors. The odds of depression was increased four-fold when working 50+ h/week, more than two weekends/month and more than two double shifts/month. Providing work schedules that are less unhealthy may have implications for both worker retention and the quality of care delivered to nursing home residents.     

Adolescent Transitions to Young Adulthood: Antecedents,Correlates, and Consequences of Adolescent Employment

The antecedents, correlates, and consequences of adolescent employment were investigated in a sample of 251 low‐income, African American youth that were followed since birth. The youth (age: M at preschool = 4.89, SD= .70; M at adolescence = 16.44, SD= .66; M at transition to adulthood = 19.36, SD= .76; and M at early adulthood = 27.67, SD= .75) were the firstborn children of African American teenage mothers who gave birth in Baltimore in the 1960s. Analyses examined the antecedents and correlates of age of entry into employment and stability of employment during adolescence. The associations of adolescent work experiences with subsequent adult education and employment outcomes also were considered. Findings indicate that among this sample of low‐income, African American youth, those who repeated a grade in school during middle childhood were more likely to enter the workforce at later ages than their peers who did not repeat a grade. The small subset of adolescents who never worked (n= 12) appear to be markedly more disadvantaged than their peers who worked. At the transition to adulthood, adolescents who entered the workforce earlier were more likely to complete high school than their peers. In addition, stable employment during the adolescent years had more beneficial effects on young men's chances of attending college than young women's postsecondary education. This pattern of findings is consistent with ethnographic accounts of adolescent employment among poor, minority, urban youth.     

Welfare and Work: Complementary Strategies forLow‐Income Women?

We examine the effects of mothers' strategies of combining employment and welfare receipt during the first 3 years of their child's life on the child's cognitive development, behavior problems, and home learning environment at ages 5 to 6. We compare the child outcomes of those mothers who were continuously employed and received no welfare with (a) those who worked some or all of the 3 years and also received public assistance and (b) those who were totally dependent on public assistance. We studied children in single‐parent families (N= 1271 ) living below 200% of the poverty threshold using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—Child Supplement. No negative association was found on most child outcomes with a mother's employment whether or not it was combined with public assistance. However, mothers' not working at all and receiving financial support solely from AFDC was associated with negative child outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for the possible effects of the new welfare laws on families and young children.     

Coparenting and nonresident fathers’ involvement with young children after a nonmarital birth

We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to investigate the association between coparenting quality and nonresident fathers' involvement with children over the first five years after a nonmarital birth. We find that about one year after a nonmarital birth, 48% of fathers are living away from their child, rising to 56% and then to 63% at three and five years, respectively Using structural equation models to estimate cross-lagged effects, we find that positive coparenting is a strong predictor of nonresident fathers' future involvement, whereas fathers' involvement is only a weak (but significant) predictor of future coparenting quality. The positive effect of coparenting quality on fathers' involvement is robust across several techniques designed to address unobserved heterogeneity and across different strategies for handling missing data. We conclude that parents' ability to work together in rearing their common child across households helps keep nonresident fathers connected to their children and that programs aimed at improving parents' ability to communicate may have benefits for children irrespective of whether the parents' romantic relationship remains intact.     

Models of accepting an early retirement incentive

The presence of special early retirement incentives has changed the work environment for older workers. It is of interest to know how existing models of the timing of the pension acceptance decision function in an incentive environment. Furthermore, it is of interest to note the similarities or differences between males and females with regard to retirement behaviors. In this study, a basic utility maximization model, an expanded model, and an interactive model are applied to the acceptance of an early retirement pension incentive; probabilities of acceptance range from .18 to .39. Acceptance behavior without the incentive is simulated, with probabilities of acceptance ranging from .11 to .33. Addition of a set of socioeconomic and psychological variables and a vector of interactive variables is found to improve the basic model.The author would like to thank W. Keith Bryant, Olivia Mitchell and several anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts. Any remaining errors are, of course, my own. Acknowledgement is also given to the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station for funding assistance.Jeanne M. Hogarth is an associate professor in the Department of Consumer Economics and Housing, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Dr. Hogarth received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, Department of Family Resource Management and includes retirement decision making, such as the timing of retirement and use of financial resources during retirement, among her current research interests.     

Citizenship and culture: the role of disabled people in Navajo society

Cultural constructs of disabilities can vary from one culture to another and significantly affect how the individual with disabilities is perceived, accepted, and accorded citizenship rights and responsibilities. This anthropological study of Navajo individuals with disabilities investigates these cultural constructs in a non-Western society from the perspective of the Navajo community members. Factors analyzed include child-rearing practices, the Navajo concept of childhood, and Navajo notions of health and unwellness. Historical attitudes toward disabled people are also explored, as well as changing attitudes due to the influence of Western biomedical explanations and interventions.