Food-Related Behaviors of Women in Substance Abuse Recovery: A Photo-Elicitation Study

The aim of this multi-method qualitative study was to explore the eating behaviors and food choices of nine purposively sampled low-income women aged 29 to 40 years who were engaged in a residential substance use disorders recovery program. Findings were limited to photo-elicitation interviews with the women that focused on nutritional choices and issues outside their family context. Consensual data analysis revealed a recovery process that began with cognitive reawakening and an increased focus on and desire for healthier nutrition-related decisions and lifestyle, particularly in the area of weight gain that many of the women experienced.     

Trust,Culture, and Cooperation: A Social Dilemma Analysis of Pro‐Environmental Behaviors

Social dilemmas require a choice between cooperation, or sacrificing for the greater good, and self‐interest. One commonly studied social dilemma is environmental conservation. Previous work suggests that trust predicts cooperation in the form of environmental protection. We contend that this view ignores cultural factors. Building on prior cross‐cultural research, we predict an interaction between strength of social ties and trust on cooperation. Findings from General Social Survey data indicate that low trust levels found in the U.S. South (a collectivist culture) renders trust ineffective at promoting environmental protection. However, trust predicts cooperation in nonsouthern regions (which are more individualist), where trust levels are higher.     

Neighborhood distress and school dropout: the variable significance of community context

Although a substantial body of recent research has examined the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic distress on youth socioeconomic attainment and urban social dislocations, few studies have determined under what conditions, and for what types of adolescents, neighborhood characteristics matter most. Drawing on theories of collective socialization, social capital, and social control, we develop hypotheses regarding the conditional nature of neighborhood effects on the risk of dropping out of high school, and we then test these hypotheses by estimating event history models based on data from the 1968–1993 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We find that, among African Americans, the detrimental impact of neighborhood socioeconomic distress on school dropout has increased significantly over the past quarter-century, a probable repercussion of the increasing geographic concentration of urban poverty. The negative effect of neighborhood distress on high school completion is particularly pronounced among black adolescents from single-parent households and among white adolescents from low-income families, results broadly consistent with Wilson’s claim that exposure to neighborhood poverty reinforces the damaging consequences of individual disadvantage. Supporting the social capital perspective, among both black and white adolescents the deleterious impact of neighborhood distress on school dropout is stronger for recent in-movers than for long-term residents. The impact of neighborhood disadvantage also varies significantly by gender for both racial groups and, among whites, is stronger for younger than older adolescents. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for theories of neighborhood effects.     

Teaching Group Work in the BSW Generalist Social Work Curriculum: Core Content

In this article, nine considerations associated with social work practice with groups are identified and discussed. These range from the importance of mutual aid and the role of the group leader to multicultural competence and practice skills needed in the beginning, middle, and ending phases of group work. Group work is only one of four modalities that must be taught in the undergraduate practice sequence. Therefore, the nine considerations represent the essential content on group work for the generalist practice curriculum. The author assumes that this content can be presented in a 7-week time frame. In a companion article, the author presents teaching strategies and techniques that assist the instructor in conveying the principles for practice discussed in the present article.     

Antecedents and performance outcomes of global competence: An empirical investigation

We examine the role of commitment to supply chain management (CSCM) and information technology (IT) in the achievement of global competence (GC). Through an empirical examination of 667 manufacturing business units in the U.S., we confirm the importance of global competence using two objective measures of firm performance. We investigate the direct effects of CSCM and experience with IT on performance, in addition to their indirect effects through global competence. We show global competence to be linked directly to objective measures of sales, and indirectly to return on assets (ROA). Despite manufacturers’ hefty investments in IT, we find that experience with IT does not drive ROA directly, but only indirectly through global competence and sales.