Teachers' and School Children's Stereotypic Perception of the Child of Divorce: 20 Years Later

ABSTRACT

This is a replica of a study carried out in 1988. Its main objective is to reexamine after 20 years how teachers' and 8th-grade students' evaluations of a child's academic, social, and emotional functioning are affected by the knowledge that the child's parents are divorced. One hundred and twenty junior high school students and 115 female teachers watched a specially produced film of a child engaged in various activities. The child's gender and family structure were experimentally manipulated. The main results show that whereas in the earlier study both teachers and the students rated the child of divorce more negatively than the child of an intact family, in this study this was true only for the teachers. These and other results are discussed in the context of cultural attitudes, the more extensive contact teachers have with children of divorce, and the risk that they and their students become trapped in the Pygmalion cycle.     

Quantitative assessment of response shift in QOL research

Two assumptions which characterize the measurements of quality life (QOL) studies, are questioned by the present report: First, the assumption that QOL is the same thing for all subjects, is usually related to health problems and can easily be measured across subjects. Second, when this assumption is given up by introducing subjective base-rates in an intra-subject (before-after) design, researchers still tend to assume that no response shifts occur on the QOL scales, e.g., that these scales maintain the same meaning and values for subjects over time and interventions. In our study we found that QOL had different subjective interpretations [1--4]. While for some certain issues in their family-life determined their quality of life, for others these were issues at their workplace or of their health conditions. Second, when QOL was tested against a subjective base-line (for each individual according to their choices of domains), about eleven percent of the hypertensives and normotensives showed a clear response shift of scale-calibration over the period of one year. When the scores of these subjects were excluded, the significance of certain previously reported results changed. For example, the significant difference between normotensives and hypertensives concerning the change in their subjective evaluation of QOL over the year and their initial depression became more significant, while similar changes in their evaluation of sexual impairment and control at their work-place became insignificant. These results suggest that response shifts have to be traced and quantified, before one can claim any results (or lack of results) in 'before-after' designs, concerning subjective meaningful issues like quality of life.     

The future of the Welfare State

This paper explores the tension within advanced capitalist economies between the growing need for social security and emerging pressures to scale back the Welfare State. Empirical evidence related to recent Welfare State developments is surveyed along three dimensions: (1) summary statistical indicators of state redistribution efforts; (2) specific policy areas that affect the level of employment, distribution of employment, distribution of earnings, and redistribution of income; and (3) public management practices. The results show that the primary building blocks of the postwar Welfare State have eroded significantly. Important design considerations for future Welfare State reforms are then discussed.     

Why social work should care: Television violence and children

There is an abundance of research on the influence of television violence on children. The convergence of research demonstrates an association between heavy viewing of violence and aggressive behavior. Despite thirty years of research, regulatory policy has failed to decrease violence on children's television. Children exposed to high rates of violence on television may be at greater risk of developing school and social problems. This paper highlights both research and theory which explains the relationship of television violence to children. It further makes the case that television violence should be an important and legitimate concern for social work.Ms. Lazar is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Southern Maine and a Doctoral student at Simmons School of Social Work.     

Computing Critical Values of Exact Tests by Incorporating Monte Carlo Simulations Combined with Statistical Tables

Various exact tests for statistical inference are available for powerful and accurate decision rules provided that corresponding critical values are tabulated or evaluated via Monte Carlo methods. This article introduces a novel hybrid method for computing p‐values of exact tests by combining Monte Carlo simulations and statistical tables generated a priori. To use the data from Monte Carlo generations and tabulated critical values jointly, we employ kernel density estimation within Bayesian‐type procedures. The p‐values are linked to the posterior means of quantiles. In this framework, we present relevant information from the Monte Carlo experiments via likelihood‐type functions, whereas tabulated critical values are used to reflect prior distributions. The local maximum likelihood technique is employed to compute functional forms of prior distributions from statistical tables. Empirical likelihood functions are proposed to replace parametric likelihood functions within the structure of the posterior mean calculations to provide a Bayesian‐type procedure with a distribution‐free set of assumptions. We derive the asymptotic properties of the proposed nonparametric posterior means of quantiles process. Using the theoretical propositions, we calculate the minimum number of needed Monte Carlo resamples for desired level of accuracy on the basis of distances between actual data characteristics (e.g. sample sizes) and characteristics of data used to present corresponding critical values in a table. The proposed approach makes practical applications of exact tests simple and rapid. Implementations of the proposed technique are easily carried out via the recently developed STATA and R statistical packages.     

Parental Authority in Divorced Families

This work examines the possible differences between divorced mothers and mothers of intact families in their inclinations to exert parental authority, and the possible relationship between the degree of parental authority and children's personal and social adjustment. For the purposes of the study, we developed the Haifa Parental Authority Questionnaire, which is a situation-depicted test based on a conceptual analysis of the construct of authority. The participants were 88 mother–child dyads, 56 from single (divorced) families and 32 from two-parent families. The results show that married mothers are more disposed than are divorced mothers to use their authority. Although adding family status and parental authority scores to the regression analysis yielded insignificant models for the two children's adjustment variables, the interaction between the variables was found to be significant. In the divorced family the more authoritarian the mother is, the worse is the child's personal adjustment, whereas in the intact family the more authoritarian the mother is, the better is the child's social adjustment. The results are discussed in the wider context of the mother–child relationship, the breakdown of the family's hierarchical structure following divorce, and the relationship of these factors with the exertion of parental authority.     

Feminist attitudes and ideologies: an examination of a Northeastern US MSW program

The relationship that Masters in Social Work (MSW) students in the United States have with feminism appears to be paradoxical, in which MSW students tend to endorse feminist principles but are hesitant to identify themselves as feminists. In an effort to better understand MSW student support of feminist principles, as well as social work students’ relationship with feminism and possible implications for social work education, a survey of MSW students was conducted at a Northeastern US MSW program utilizing an established scale, the Liberal Feminist Attitude and Ideology Scale, which is comprised of five subscales. Scores on the subscales were compared and findings indicate that MSW students were more likely to highly endorse the Gender Roles, Global Goals, and Specific Political Agendas subscales compared to Discrimination and Subordination and Collective Action subscales; suggesting that students promote gender role parity and feminist goals, but were less likely to acknowledge discrimination and the need for collective action. This article will discuss the importance of social work education as an instrument for exploring the ways in which women face gender-based discrimination and highlighting the necessity for students to take a more active role in participating in collective action to reduce gender-based oppression.     

Physical Punishment in Christian Arab Families in Israel: Attitudes and Behaviour

The present study examines the attitudes towards physical punishment (PP) and its actual use as reported by Christian Arab parents and their children in Israel. Participants were parents and one child (of at least two) in 50 Christian Arab families. Three questionnaires based on semi‐structured interviews were developed for the study. Results show no difference in family members’ attitudes towards the use of PP. Whereas, the mean scores indicate ambivalent acceptance of this practice, the great majority of participants reported its frequent use. Mothers’ and fathers’ attitudes were found to be highly correlated and significant predictors of such behaviour. All three groups reported that mothers use PP much more than fathers do, although it was the fathers whom the children feared most. The results also show that the parents’ most frequent reaction to seven categories of children’s misbehaviour was verbal violence and the second most frequent reaction was PP. These and other results are discussed in the context of Arab culture in Israel, the social situation model and relevant research.     

Old battles,new frontiers: A study of television violence and social work with children

This article describes the place of television violence in social work practice with children. It is based on interviews with twenty-one social workers who work primarily with children in schools, in community mental health agencies and in private practices. Although the influence of television violence on children has been well documented by other disciplines, there has been a general lack of attention by social work. Because television is so much a part of children's social environment and because the social environment is so much a part of social work practice this study seeks to address that lack. Grounded theory methodology was utilized to analyze the interviews.This paper is adapted from her dissertation in partial fulfillment of a doctorate at Simmons College School of Social Work, Boston, Massachusetts. The author wishes to thank the dissertation committee members, carol Swenson (Chairperson), Deanna Brooks and Margaret Rhodes for their contributions.