COMPLEMENTARITY AS A FUNCTION OF STAGE IN THERAPY: AN ANALYSIS OF MINUCHIN'S STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY

The level of family therapist complementarity in the early, middle and late stages of therapy was explored. A micro-analysis of Salvador Minuchin with one family in successful therapy was conducted using the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (Benjamin, 1974). Interactions from videotapes representing the three stages were coded. An ANOVA was used to compare sequences that occurred at least 5 times within any given stage. Level of therapist complementarity was significantly greater in the early and late stages than in the middle stage. Furthermore, level of therapist complementarity was significantly correlated with client change. Further research is needed to explore whether these findings can be generalized to other therapists and families.     

Life Maps: Tracking Individual Gender and Sexual Identity Construction in the Contexts of Cultures,Relationships, and Desires

The categories and language currently available to designate gender identity and sexual identity constitute over-simplifications, which do not adequately signify the complex interplays between gender and sexual orientation. It is also often difficult to recount honestly, in a way that is visible to the self and intimate others, our understandings of the complex interplays and frequent fluidity of our individual processes of gender identity development, sexual identity development, and forms of preferred erotic/sexual behavior. This essay proposes, in preliminary form, a theoretical and diagrammatic method, called a “life map,” for a context-rich illustration of an individual’s meandering journey of gender and sexual identity development. Using two illustrative lives, the essay includes cultural contexts for development as well as the gender and sexual identity locations of relationally intimate others. In addition, it suggests a framework for core types of desired erotic behaviors and provides examples of variations in such desires in relational and identity contexts.     

Student Participation in Study Abroad Programs: Social Justice Implications for Tertiary Education

ABSTRACT

Short-term study abroad programs are increasingly embraced by Australian schools of social work. These programs improve access to international experiences and have a demonstrable impact on academic outcomes. However, little is known about the factors that influence students who decide to participate in such programs. Using a qualitative semistructured design, eight Australian social work students were interviewed about their perspectives on the pre-application phase of a short-term study abroad program to Ireland that was advertised in early 2018. The findings reveal a number of multilevel structural, institutional, and personal enablers and barriers that impacted their decision to participate. Implications for future research, the tertiary education sector, and social work educators are identified, especially in terms of broader economic and political issues that contradict social justice and render the future of these programs precarious.

IMPLICATIONS

• Short-term study abroad programs offer important learning opportunities for students, but there is a need to understand the dimensions that can impact the decisions of students to participate in these programs.

• The qualitative findings indicate that various factors impact on the participation of students, especially financial and caring responsibilities.

• Further research that is underpinned by a social justice lens is needed to address inequities in student participation.

     

Social-ecological research in urban natural areas: an emergent process for integration

Urban Ecosystems - Understanding the structure and function of urban landscapes requires integrating social and ecological research. Here, we integrate parallel social and ecological assessments of...     

Portfolio Analysis of Layered Security Measures

Layered defenses are necessary for protecting the public from terrorist attacks. Designing a system of such defensive measures requires consideration of the interaction of these countermeasures. In this article, we present an analysis of a layered security system within the lower Manhattan area. It shows how portfolios of security measures can be evaluated through portfolio decision analysis. Consideration is given to the total benefits and costs of the system. Portfolio diagrams are created that help communicate alternatives among stakeholders who have differing views on the tradeoffs between security and economic activity.     

Thirty Years of Lottery Public Health Research: Methodological Strategies and Trends

Cognitive measurement techniques, such as self-reports of behavior and reaction time measures, largely dominate the field of psychological research. It is uncommon for researchers to examine a phenomenon of interest by observing actual behavior within natural settings. To illustrate the existence of this methodological trend for gambling research, this article reviews systematically selected samples of the peer-reviewed literature related to lottery gambling in general and the literature related to pathological gambling and lottery more specifically. The results indicate that self-report surveys dominate the extant lottery literature, and experimental investigations of video lottery terminal gambling supplement those papers. This landscape encourages researchers to expand their methodological approaches to the study of lottery gambling. Currently, we know more about what research participants tell us they do with respect to lottery gambling than we do about their real-life lottery gambling behavior.     

Anger and Approach Motivation in Infancy: Relations to Early Childhood Inhibitory Control and Behavior Problems

The relations among infant anger reactivity, approach behavior, and frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, and their relations to inhibitory control and behavior problems in early childhood were examined within the context of a longitudinal study of temperament. Two hundred nine infants’ anger expressions to arm restraint were observed at 4 months of age. Infants’ approach behaviors during play with an unpredictable toy and baseline frontal EEG asymmetry were assessed at 9 months of age. Inhibitory control during a Go/No‐Go task and parent report of behavior problems were evaluated at 4 years of age. High anger‐prone infants with left, but not right, frontal EEG asymmetry showed significantly more approach behaviors and less inhibitory control relative to less anger‐prone infants. Although a link between anger proneness in infancy and behavior problems in early childhood was not found, a combination of low approach behaviors and poor inhibitory control was predictive of internalizing behaviors.