The role of foster parents in helping young people develop emancipation skills

The current focus on preparing youths in foster care for emancipation has largely ignored the critical role foster parents have always played in preparing youths to leave their homes and take their place as successful adults in our society. To assure that programs to enhance youths' skills and abilities to function responsibly are fully effective, they must include foster parents. In doing so, they will exponentially increase the hours of service and training available to eligible youths and develop a resource that will be available to future youths after funds are redirected. It is unrealistic, however, to expect foster parents to provide all of the help that most youths in foster care need. Foster family support and training must be seen as one dimension of an integrated approach that provides all youths with a variety of resources but is specific to the needs of each youth. With appropriate support and training, foster parents can assume professional responsibility for assuring that such plans are implemented, and that youths leaving foster care have what they need to emancipate successfully.     

Providing shelter

1. Individuals with chronic mental illness are a diverse group requiring a variety of housing options to live successfully in the community. 2. Assistance in obtaining safe, affordable housing must be part of a comprehensive treatment plan for individuals with chronic mental illness if homelessness is to be avoided. 3. Nurses are caring for the homeless in many capacities, including staff and volunteer positions. 4. Single room occupancy housing provided by a supportive staff is an effective alternative to institutionalization for assisting individuals with chronic mental illness to live in the community.     

College students' attitudes toward shared responsibility in decisions about abortion: implications for counseling

In order to study perceptions of college males and females relating to male responsibility for abortion decisions, 274 college students (122 males and 152 females) were provided a questionnaire. Characteristics of the students were: ages 18-24, 95.6% unmarried, 86.9% white, 75% freshmen, 51% Protestants. Data reveal that students agree on shared responsibility for an abortion decision when a couple is married. About 81.8% indicated they felt an abortion decision for an unplanned pregnancy in a marriage should be made only with the complete support and agreement of the male. 54.5% agreed that both partners should share completely in the decision when a couple is engaged. Students feel less strongly about the complete involvement of the male in abortion decision making in other situations of unplanned pregnancy. 33% indicated that the male should be completely involved in the decision of a repeat abortion but only 25% felt that the male should share responsibility for an abortion when the couple is dating steadily and 20% said that the male should share in the decision when a couple is no longer in a relationship. In the situation of a single sexual encounter most females indicated that the male should not share in the responsibility for an abortion decision. Students who indicated a high level of religious activity desired both male and female to be either completely or very much involved in the responsibility for the abortion. This study points out the need for more research on the male's experience with an unplanned pregnancy, more systematic explanation of his perceptions relative to seeking and obtaining pregnancy counseling, and level of satisfaction with such counseling.     

Interethnic Ideology, Intergroup Perceptions, and Cultural Orientation

We examined endorsement of multicultural, assimilation, and colorblind ideologies, including their relations to stereotyping and in-group bias, among community samples of Latinos and non-Latino Whites. Participants also completed measures of their orientations to Latino and non-Latino White cultures. Analyses indicated that participants endorsed multiculturalism more strongly than colorblindness and colorblindness more strongly than assimilation. Although Latinos endorsed multiculturalism more strongly than did Whites, ratings of colorblindness and assimilation did not differ. Both groups exhibited in-group bias and out-group homogeneity. However, multiculturalism was associated with lower in-group bias. Further, Latinos who more strongly endorsed multiculturalism perceived less within group variability (i.e., had stronger stereotypes), whereas the reverse was true for Whites. Finally, analyses of cultural orientation measures indicated that ethnicity is not synonymous with cultural orientation; Latinos were equally oriented to Latino and White cultures, overall, and Latino and White American orientations were unrelated.     

The Medieval Demographic System of the Nordic Countries

It is generally agreed that the marital instability and casual mating characteristic of West Indian family structure depress fertility. These conditions are traced to the mating organization of the slaves. The stresses placed on the Mrican family systems of the slaves are obvious: the continued importation of slaves, most of them young adult males; the ruthless separation of kin through sale or removal; the overwhelming authority of the master, reducing the dependence of children on their parents and the economic role of the male household head. Yet, in spite of these stresses, there is evidence of strong bonds of kinship and sense of family among the slaves.     

"Drinking is Fun" and "There's Nothing You Can Do About It": The Problem With the 21-Year-Old Minimum Drinking Age

Abstract

Objective: Public health messaging about physical activity (PA) sometimes combines moderate and vigorous intensity, but the variance/invariance of the motives for PA by intensity has received scant attention. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and motivations associated with regular moderate- and vigorous-intensity PA in a college sample using the framework of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Participants and Methods: A college sample of 337 participants was randomly assigned to complete measures of the TPB framed for either vigorous- or moderate-intensity PA and subsequently completed self-reported measures of PA 2 weeks later. Results: Mean comparisons indicated that participants held higher mean behavioral beliefs about the benefits of vigorous PA for improving appearance and fitness, but vigorous PA was perceived to take more time than moderate-intensity activities. A stacked structural equation model and follow-up Fisher z tests, however, suggested no differences between the associations of TPB constructs with intention or PA by intensity. Conclusions: The findings provide support for the current public health approach of combining moderate and vigorous physical activity messaging through the general invariance of motives by intensity.     

Important Risk Factors in Home-Removal Decisions: Social Caseworker Perceptions

The current study identified factors that played a significant role in decisions to separate a child from his/her primary caretakers for 51 social service caseworkers. Participants rated and ranked the importance of 35 child risk/well-being factors used in recent child separation dispositions. Results indicated that boundary setting with a perpetrator of abuse and parental motivation played a significant role in decision-making. These preliminary findings suggest the need to prioritize services aimed at the promotion of the non-maltreating parent’s limit setting with the perpetrator of abuse, as well as caretaker motivation/cooperation.Virginia M. DeRoma is affiliated with The Citadel, Psychology Department, Capers Hall, 171 Moultrie, 29409, Charleston, SC, USA. Maria Lynn Kessler is affiliated with Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, OR, USA. Ryan McDaniel is affiliated with New Hope for Children, Charleston, SC, USA. Cesar M. Soto is affiliated with Municipal Defense of Children and Adolescents, Chorrillos, Peru.Address correspondence to Virginia M. DeRoma, The Citadel, Psychology Department, Capers Hall, 171 Moultrie, Charleston, SC, 29409.     

The Glass Cliff: Evidence that Women are Over-Represented in Precarious Leadership Positions

There has been much research and conjecture concerning the barriers women face in trying to climb the corporate ladder, with evidence suggesting that they typically confront a ‘glass ceiling’ while men are more likely to benefit from a ‘glass escalator’. But what happens when women do achieve leadership roles? And what sorts of positions are they given? This paper argues that while women are now achieving more high profile positions, they are more likely than men to find themselves on a ‘glass cliff’, such that their positions are risky or precarious. This hypothesis was investigated in an archival study examining the performance of FTSE 100 companies before and after the appointment of a male or female board member. The study revealed that during a period of overall stock‐market decline those companies who appointed women to their boards were more likely to have experienced consistently bad performance in the preceding five months than those who appointed men. These results expose an additional, largely invisible, hurdle that women need to overcome in the workplace. Implications for the evaluation of women leaders are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.     

Repositioning mothers: mothers,disabled children and disability studies

In this article we set out to review the ways in which mothers of disabled children have been portrayed within disability studies and the more broader academic literature. We argue that within disability studies mothers of disabled children occupy a liminal position because they are often not disabled and yet they can experience forms of disablism. Their experiences can differ markedly from the experiences of mothers of non‐disabled children and yet the consequences and outcomes of these experiences, such as developing a ‘special competence’ is largely overlooked. Mothers can work to effect change on behalf of their children and, in some cases, for disabled people more generally, however, this role of activist mother is largely undervalued. The review of literature presented here leads us to conclude that further research needs to be undertaken exploring and highlighting the ways in which mothers of disabled children negotiate, manage and approach their daily lives, operating within what are described by feminist scholars as oppressive mothering ideologies and disabling environments.