The Doctoral Education of Professional Marriage and Family Therapists

The professional practice of marriage and family therapy (MFT) scholarship is regulated at the master’s level in the United States. Consequently, contemporary curricular issues have largely been focused on what is to be achieved within the master’s degree, with an emphasis on clinical practice. We consider here what value may and should be added through the doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy. Doctoral programs are the developmental stage wherein we should seek to transmit the specialized knowledge and skills germane to MFT scholarship and practice in diverse settings, e.g., clinical and research intensive university, family law, health care, child development and education, child welfare, juvenile justice, faith based, and business. However, underlying this specialty education are three transcendental goals: sophistication of family systems scholarship, socialization into the profession of MFT, and cultivation of professional maturity.     

Postmodernism: A Dead End in Social Work Epistemology

Postmodernism continues to have a detrimental influence on social work, questioning the Enlightenment, criticizing established research methods, and challenging scientific authority. The promotion of postmodernism by editors of Social Work and the Journal of Social Work Education has elevated postmodernism, placing it on a par with theoretically guided and empirically based research. The inclusion of postmodernism in the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards of the Council on Social Work Education and its 2015 sequel further erode the knowledge-building capacity of social work educators. In relation to other disciplines that have exploited empirical methods, social work’s stature will continue to ebb until postmodernism is rejected in favor of scientific methods for generating knowledge.     

Inequalities for tail probabilities for the multivariate normal distribution

Inequalities for tail probabilities of the multivariate normal distribution are obtained, as a generalization of those given by Feller (1966). Upper and lower bounds are given in the equi-correlated case. For an arbitrary correlation matrix R, an upper bound is obtained, using a result of Slepian (1962) which asserts that certain multivariate normal probabilities are a non-decreasing function of correlations.     

Performance of the zone control chart

Average run lengths of the zone control chart are presented, The performance of this chart is compared with that of several Shewhart charts with and without runs rules, It is shown that the standard zone control chart has performance similar to some even simpler charts and a much higher false alarm rate than the Shewhart chart with all of the common runs rules. It is also shown that a slightly modified zone control chart outperforms the Shewhart chart with the common runs rules.     

Relationship Transitions and the Risk for Child Maltreatment

Family structure as a risk for child maltreatment has long been viewed as a static state in the child maltreatment literature. Drawing on data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the author uses a series of individual fixed-effects models to investigate whether particular types of relationship transitions over children’s first decade of life are associated with increased risk for maternal and paternal child abuse and maternal neglect. Findings question and confirm a number of long-standing theoretical and empirical findings from the child maltreatment literature. Results indicate that transitions to being single are associated with increased risk for maternal child abuse and neglect. In addition, the frequency and severity of paternal harsh parenting may be closely linked with the nature of fathers’ relationship transitions. Last, results largely do not provide support for the theory that the presence of social (nonbiological) fathers increases mothers’ risk for engaging in child abuse or neglect.     

Identification of out of control quality characteristics in a multivariate manufacturing environment

There are many instances in which the quality of a product or constancy of a process is determined by the joint levels of several attributes or properties. During the conduct of such a process or the production of such a product, one wishes to detect as quickly as possible any departure from a satisfactory state, while at the same time identifying which attributes are responsible for the deviation. In most cases of practical interest, however, there exist correlations among the several properties of interest; this makes it advisable to monitor certain aggregate characteristics of the process, rather than observing its various components separately. When the mean vector of the quality attributes is the major concern, this aggregate monitoring function is most commonly implemented via a T ² chart. The dependencies among attributes, however, complicate the determination of which are responsible when a deviation occurs. This paper presents an approach to help identify aberrant variables when Shewhart type multivariate control charts based on Hotelling's T ² are in use.     

ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AND LABOR MARKET PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM THE ECONOMICS PROFESSION

This article investigates whether the global spread of the English language provides an inherent advantage to native English speakers. This question is studied within the context of the economics profession, where the impact of being a native English speaker on future publishing success is examined. English speakers may have an advantage because they are writing in their native language, the quality of writing is a crucial determinant of publishing success, and all the top economics journals are published in English. Using a ranking of the world's top 2.5% of economists, this article confirms that native English speakers are ranked 100 spots higher (better) than similar non‐native English speakers. A variety of extensions examine and dispel many other potential explanations. (JEL A11, J44, F66)