A Model Curriculum for Occupational Social Work

This paper reports the results of a survey experiment in which a national sample of NASW members was presented with systematically altered versions of a summary of a hypothetical study of casework effectiveness and asked to make judgments about the quality of the research, its importance to social work, and its significance for their own practice. It was found that although respondents distinguished between studies with good and bad research designs, their judgments of the quality of the research and its implications for their own practice were significantly influenced by whether the findings were positive or negative.     

An Exploratory Study of the Meaning of Marriage for African Americans

Using specific tenets from symbolic interactionism as a frame, we asked 31 African Americans (18 women and 13 men) including students as well as nonstudents, across a variety of types of relationships and ages, what marriage meant to them. Two major themes, commitment and love, emerged from qualitative content analysis of the meaning of marriage. Other themes, including partnership/friendship, trust, family, and covenant, also emerged as themes, although less frequently. The overwhelming meanings of marriage were positive, with only a few negative instances (i.e., marriage as unnecessary and not fulfilling). Supportive qualitative data are presented for each theme. We discuss implications for the meaning of marriage for African Americans.     

Risk Factors for Infant Mortality in Nineteenth-Century Sweden

This study examines risk factors for infant mortality using individual-level data from a sample of parishes in northern Sweden in the nineteenth century. Sweden is of particular interest because of its unusually regular pattern of infant mortality decline during the century. We follow a sample of women longitudinally through their successive pregnancies and observe the mortality experience of each child. Exploratory and multivariate logistic regression analyses reveal an important intra-familial dimension to infant mortality that appears from the early stages of a woman's reproductive career. In addition, multivariate analyses by birth-order group suggest that ignoring intra-familial correlations of infant mortality may result in incorrect inferences. Siblings' shared probabilities of dying as infants suggest that high-birth-order children were not necessarily disadvantaged in any systematic way.     

H. S. Sullivan and “Interpersonal Learning”

Although many of the basic tenets of Harry Stack Sullivan’s interpersonal theory have been incorporated into the Relational School of psychoanalysis, Sullivan’s original ideas about clinical practice are, in many respects, distinct from the intersubjective perspective of relational psychotherapists. Using three case examples that addressed a similar clinical problem, Sullivan’s approach to clinical practice will be contrasted with contemporary relational approaches.     

U.S. population in the 21st century: Which scenario is reasonable?

A major Census Bureau study released in January 1989 has evoked renewed warnings in the media and among some population analysts that the U.S. faces population decline in the next century if it does not increase fertility and/or raise immigration. The report's middle scenario rests on an assumed future total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.8, life expectancy of 81.2 years, and net immigration of 500,000 annually. These mid-range assumptions would yield a United States population of 268 million by 2000, peaking at 302 million in 2040 and falling to 292 million by 2080. Questionable assumptions in the report's most likely scenario are discussed. These are:

1. that immigrants bear children at the same rate as their equivalent age and racial group in the United States population.
2. that the high TFR of Hispanics will not raise the overall 1.8 TFR foreseen for whites as the Hispanic proportion of the white population continues to grow.
3. that net yearly immigration will fall to 575,000 in 1990 and 500,000 by 2000. The Census Bureau's "high" assumption of 800,000 net yearly may be more realistic.

The report's low growth scenario projects future population size that is more reassuring than alarming: 264 million in 2000, rising to 288 million in 2030, and falling to 266 million in 2080. Thus, in ninety years the United States would still have 20 million more people than now. While some fear that such slow growth will lower United States influence and bring labor shortages and an aging population, the nation's quality of life would be less at risk with a population of 266 million than with one approaching the one-half billion projected by the Census report's high estimates.     

Predictors for resolution of antisocial behavior among foster care youth receiving community-based services

Youth in the foster care system are more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness than those in the general population. Within this system, youth with antisocial behavior (e.g., aggressive, oppositional) are overrepresented. The challenges youth with antisocial behavior present to foster care systems make understanding the factors that predict remission in this population important for improving placement stability. Using Optimal Data Analysis (ODA), this study examines potential moderating effects of various individual, social, and strength variables on clinically significant decreases antisocial behavior in a sample of foster care youth over time. Results revealed positive improvements in youths' wellbeing to be the optimal predictor of resolution, followed by positive changes in family functioning and positive changes in adjustment to trauma (i.e., symptoms of PTSD). These results indicate that clinically significant decreases over time in antisocial behavior were associated with concurrent improvement in individual and environmental variables. Implications for service providers working with this population are discussed.     

The Shift towards Family Reunification in Romanian Child Welfare Policy: An Analysis of Changing Forms of Governmental Intervention in Romania

This article examines the transition in Romanian child welfare policy from a paternalistic attitude of taking responsibility for ‘abandoned’ children to a capitalist orientation of reinstating responsibility for ‘abandoned’ children to the private sphere. While this shift in child policy is often seen to reflect a withdrawal of the public sphere from the private world of childcare, this study argues, alternatively, that this shift demonstrates a change in the form of governmental intervention. This article is based on ethnographic research that examines the reflections of Romanian child welfare professionals upon their changing roles.     

Sample‐size calculations for multi‐group comparison in population pharmacokinetic experiments

This paper describes an approach for calculating sample size for population pharmacokinetic experiments that involve hypothesis testing based on multi‐group comparison detecting the difference in parameters between groups under mixed‐effects modelling. This approach extends what has been described for generalized linear models and nonlinear population pharmacokinetic models that involve only binary covariates to more complex nonlinear population pharmacokinetic models. The structural nonlinear model is linearized around the random effects to obtain the marginal model and the hypothesis testing involving model parameters is based on Wald's test. This approach provides an efficient and fast method for calculating sample size for hypothesis testing in population pharmacokinetic models. The approach can also handle different design problems such as unequal allocation of subjects to groups and unbalanced sampling times between and within groups. The results obtained following application to a one compartment intravenous bolus dose model that involved three different hypotheses under different scenarios showed good agreement between the power obtained from NONMEM simulations and nominal power. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“Road Warriors” on “Hair-Tragger Highways”: Cultural Resources and the Media's Construction of the 1987 Freeway Shootings Problem*

Media constructions of social problems usually rework the claims of activists and other primary claimsmakers. However, the news media acted as primary claims-makers in discovering and reporting the 1987 Los Angeles freeway violence problem. The press drew upon cultural resources in constructing this problem, applying a conventional template for social problems stories and using familiar imagery to depict freeway shootings. The social organization of claimsmaking, as well as contingencies in the histories of individual campaigns, affect the choice of cultural resources used to construct social problems.