Discipline,Field, Nexus: Re‐Visioning Sociology

Cet article propose une reconceptualisation de la discipline sociologique ainsi que de sa place dans le monde actuel. Nous remettrons tout d'abord en question l'idée même que la sociologie puisse être considérée en tant que discipline académique dans le sens habituel du terme, tout comme le fait qu'il soit possible de distinguer, à la manière des sciences de la nature, autant de disciplines distinctes au sein du champ des sciences sociales. Au contraire, nous defendrons la thèse selon laquelle la sociologie et ses disciplines connexes furent plutôt constitueés en tant que champs sociaux à travers un processus historique particulier. Cette analyse nous permettra de réaffirmer la position centrale qu'occupe la sociologie dans le champ de la recherche sociale, de par les liens étroits qu'elle entretient avec les autres disciplines qui constituent ce champ, ainsi que par sa nature interdisciplinaire et critique. Cette reconceptualisation implique qu'une ontologie sociale claire fondée sur une méthodologie cohérente, en l'occurence le réalisme critique, puisse remédier aux tendences centrifuges propre à la discipline, en renforçant sa capacité à analyser les problèmes sociaux, et donc à contribuer à défendre et à élargir les pratiques démocratiques au fondement d'un avenir meilleur. This article proposes a re‐visioning of sociology and of its relationship to the late‐modern world it inhabits. I first problematize the claim that sociology is a discipline in any ordinary sense of the term, indeed, that social science can be reasonably cleaved into “disciplines” on the model of natural science. I then explore the thesis that sociology and kindred pursuits have been constituted as fields. Finally, I argue that among the fields of social scientific inquiry, the sociological terrain is of great import, as a nexus whose permeability, dense connectivity to other fields and critical transdisciplinarity are prime assets. By implication, the remedy for centrifugal tendencies that worry some sociologists is greater clarity on matters of social ontology and, on that basis, a coherent methodology (critical realism) that can strengthen sociology's capacity to understand our troubled world and to defend and enrich democratic practices that may portend a better future.     

Training Social Workers in Personal Finance: An Exploratory Study

Social workers have opportunities to help individuals and families with their financial problems in a variety of practice settings, yet receive no formal training to do so. Using data from an online survey of social workers and other human service professionals (N?=?56) who completed or expressed interest in a financial social work certification program, we found that respondents were able to apply what they learned to help their clients and valued the practical and interactive nature of program content. We also found that respondents were not immune from experiencing some of the same financial problems that confront their clients. Implications for educating BSW and MSW students about household finance are presented and discussed.     

Cultural Issues in the Intellectual Assessment of Children from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds

Cultural factors impact on the intellectual assessment of children from diverse backgrounds. Given this fact, psychologists and educators should become culturally competent. In this article, a modified format for culturally competent intellectual assessment is discussed. The interaction between culture and language, and their impact on the development of specific cognitive competencies is explored. Practical suggestions for testing children of color are provided.     

Urban Poverty,Ethnicity, and Personality Development

There are multiple factors which contribute to the development of the individual’s personality. Many of these factors have been amply discussed in traditional theories of personality Jonnation. An area that has been neglected in these discussions has been the role that poverty and ethnic and cultural factors may have in this regard. This paper offers a discussion of these issues with special emphasis on cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors which tend to characterize the lives of Latino and Black individuals. Recommendations are made for a re-evaluation of the traditional theories of personality when applied to poor and minority individuals.     

Children’s Mental Health Providers’ Perceptions of Mental Health Literacy Among Parents and Caregivers

Mental health disorders are prevalent among children, yet many do not receive treatment. Parents and caregivers play a vital role in recognizing mental health disorders in children and accessing treatment. But a substantial number of parents lack essential knowledge of children’s mental health disorders, including risk factors, symptom recognition, and treatment options. Little focus has been given to parents in the children’s mental health literacy literature. The purpose of this article is to begin filling that gap by using a survey to describe the perceptions of child and family mental health providers’ perceptions regarding the amount, accuracy, and origin of mental health literacy in the parents of the children they treat. The impact of those perceptions on the work of providers is also explored. Eighty-seven mental health providers completed a survey to assess their perceptions of parent mental health literacy in the area of children’s mental health. Providers perceived parent mental health literacy as low, inaccurate, and inconsistent. In addition, providers indicated that parents rely on informal sources of support, such as friends and family for information about children’s mental health. Implications for social work researchers, practitioners, and the children and families they serve are discussed.     

Are Males and Females Sexually Abused As Children Socially Anxious Adults?

It is well documented that childhood sexual abuse is associated with deleterious outcomes in the areas of anxiety, depression, and sexual functioning. However, very little research has been conducted to specifically investigate childhood sexual abuse's relationship to adult social anxiety in both males and females. Participants included 250 undergraduate students from a large metropolitan university. Results indicated that almost one-third of males and a little over a third of females reported being sexually abused as a child or adolescent. Although a large portion of the sample exhibited socially anxious symptomology, childhood sexual abuse did not place males and females at increased risk for social anxiety. The use of a nonclinical, college student sample may provide researchers the opportunity to investigate resiliency in individuals with a history of childhood sexual abuse.     

The Idealized Cultural Identities Model on Help-Seeking and Child Sexual Abuse: A Conceptual Model for Contextualizing Perceptions and Experiences of South Asian Americans

In this paper, we propose an interdisciplinary framework to study perceptions of child sexual abuse and help-seeking among South Asians living in the United States. We integrate research on social marginality, intersectionality, and cultural psychology to understand how marginalized social experience accentuates South Asian immigrants' desire to construct a positive self-identity. Using model minority ideology as an example of such a construction, we highlight its role in silencing the topic of child sexual abuse within this immigrant community as well as its impact on attitudes towards professional mental health services. We contend that our framework, the idealized cultural identities model on help-seeking and child sexual abuse, provides a unique analytical model for clinicians and researchers to understand how South Asian Americans process, experience, and react to child sexual abuse.     

Differences in Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse Based on Perpetrator Age and Respondent Gender

Child sexual abuse changes the lives of countless children. Child sexual abuse victims experience short and long term negative outcomes that affect their daily functioning. In this study, undergraduate students' perceptions of CSA were obtained using vignettes with an adult or child perpetrator and a general questionnaire. Results indicated participants receiving the child-on-child vignette were less likely to rate the vignette as abuse, saw the abuse as less severe, and assigned less blame to the perpetrator than participants reading the adult-on-child vignette. On a general questionnaire, male participants saw child-on-child abuse as less severe and more encouraged by society than did female participants. The information can be utilized by professionals in treatment planning and preventing revictimization at disclosure.     

A Short Form of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children

A short form of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children was derived from the original 90 items. An exploratory factor analysis of each factor identified the four items from each of the original factors with the highest eigenvalues. These items were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. The best fit was obtained for an 8-factor, 32-item model. The short form evidenced good convergent validity with parent ratings obtained from the Child Behavior Checklist, the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory, and the University of California at Los Angeles Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (UCLA PTSD RI). Norms (t-scores and percentiles based on raw scores) were calculated by age and by gender. The short form has promise as a screening measure with parents in settings like a child advocacy center.     

A Single-Case Study of Resiliency After Extreme Incest in an Old Order Amish Family

This exploratory research brief presents a single case study of the resiliency of “Mary B.” She grew up in an Old Order Amish family where isolation, secrecy, and patriarchy masked repeated sexual assaults by her older brothers that began at age 7. By the age of 20, Mary alleged she had been raped on more than 200 separate occasions by members of her Amish family. After years of pleading with her mother and church officials to intervene, she sought therapy outside the Amish community. This led to three of her brothers being incarcerated. Her family disowned her and she was banned from the Amish community, leaving with an 8th grade education and little more than the clothes she was wearing. In less than 2 years, Mary had moved to a new town, completed her GED, obtained a car and driving license, maintained a small home, and worked as a certified nursing assistant. She consented to tape recorded interviews and completed several quantitative diagnostic measures. Scores on the diagnostic measures placed her within the normal range on self-esteem, competency, depression, stress, social support, and life skills. Analysis of interviews revealed Mary rebounded from her past by reframing her experiences. Themes identified within the interviews supported 6 of the 7 types of resiliencies (insight, independence, initiative, relationships, humor, and morality) outlined in the therapeutic Challenge Model.