The Effects of Early Institutionalization and Foster Care Intervention on Children's Social Behaviors at the Age of Eight

The present study compared the social behaviors of eight‐year‐old previously institutionalized Romanian children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) in two groups: (1) children randomized to foster care homes (FCG), and (2) children randomized to care as usual (remaining in institutions) (CAUG). Children were observed interacting with an age‐ and gender‐matched unfamiliar, non‐institutionalized peer from the community during six interactive tasks, and their behavior was coded for speech reticence, social engagement, task orientation, social withdrawal, and conversational competence. Group comparisons revealed that FCG children were rated as significantly less reticent during a speech task than CAUG children. For CAUG children, longer time spent in institutional care was related to greater speech reticence and lower social engagement. Using an actor–partner interdependence model, CAUG children's behaviors, but not FCG, were found to influence the behavior of unfamiliar peers. These findings are the first to characterize institutionalized children's observed social behaviors toward new peers during middle childhood and highlight the positive effects of foster care intervention in the social domain.     

The influence of exurban landscapes and local site characteristics on riparian vegetation

The southern Appalachian Mountains have experienced large population growth and a change in land use in the past 30 years. The majority of development has been low density, suburban land, known as exurban development. The long-term effects of exurbanization on riparian vegetative communities in the southeastern Appalachian Mountains are not well known. We sought to determine if vegetative community composition and structure change as a function of watershed–level variables such as time since neighborhood development or percent impervious surface within the watershed. We also assessed local–scale measures of disturbance such as canopy cover and basal area. Over two years we sampled a total of 27 streams in exurban watersheds ranging in age from four to forty-four years, along with eight forested streams. Watershed–scale variables such as neighborhood age and impervious surface cover did not influence the aspects of riparian vegetation community we measured. Canopy cover, a measure of local habitat disturbance, offered better predictions of vegetation community metrics. Exurban neighborhoods and their landowners may have the potential to manage for riparian vegetation through the use of maintained stream buffer zones along the entire length of the stream.     

Community reintegration for people with psychiatric disabilities: challenging systemic barriers to service provision and public policy through participatory action research

People with psychiatric disabilities represent a growing group within the population of nursing home residents in the USA. Despite a preference for living in community‐based settings, the availability of supportive services for community living is hindered by barriers at both the service provision and public policy levels. Therefore, understanding and responding to the community living and participation needs of people with psychiatric disabilities is a highly relevant area for action research. This paper discusses a participatory action research endeavor carried out in collaboration with key personnel at Centers for Independent Living who work to provide community reintegration services for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. The events of this 15 month partnership are extensively described, analyzed and discussed. Findings reflect the critical need for communication, dialogue and action to support people with psychiatric disabilities in the community.     

Parental Marital Status and Young Adult Offspring's Attitudes About Marriage and Divorce

This study examined attitudes toward marriage and divorce among single young adults. Data were gathered from 310 traditional-aged college students regarding their perceived level of commitment to a future marriage and their likelihood to divorce should such a marriage become unsatisfying. Study results indicated that individuals who have experienced parental divorce reported lower levels of marital commitment and more prodivorce attitudes than their peers from intact families. These results suggest that attitudes toward marriage and divorce are partially preformulated beliefs individuals carry into their relationships. Implications for professionals working with young adults are discussed, along with directions for future research.     

Learning to Care

Practice simulation exercises involve interaction with people who portray standardized clients in typical social work practice contexts. They are followed by feedback from these “clients” and from peers and instructors. This article delineates the conceptual background and previous use of this educational methodology and illustrates its application within a graduate health social work practice class. A preliminary evaluation found enthusiastic endorsement of this approach among students, with very strong agreement that all three components of the project-interaction with simulated clients, receipt of feedback, and participation as observers-prove useful. Practice simulations can allow transformative learning for participants and provide a useful classroom method for incorporating conceptual foundations into practice behaviors.     

The Effects of Presenting Imprecise Probabilities in Intelligence Forecasts

How to assess and present analytic uncertainty to policymakers has emerged as an important topic in risk and policy analysis. Due to the complexity and deep uncertainty present in many forecasting domains, these reports are often fraught with analytic uncertainty. In three studies, we explore the effect of presenting probability assessments and analytic uncertainty through probability ranges. Participants were presented with mock intelligence forecasts that include narrative evidence as well as numerical probability assessments. Participants were sensitive to the ambiguity communicated through the confidence range. The narrative appeared to have a smaller effect on judgments when accompanied by a probability range as opposed to a point assessment. In one study, participants also thought that the probability range was more useful for decision making at a higher probability whereas the point estimate was more useful at a lower probability. When evaluating a forecast in hindsight, decisionmakers tended to report lower levels of blame and higher levels of source credibility for forecasts that reported ranges as compared to point assessments. These findings suggest that decisionmakers are not necessarily “ambiguity averse” in the forecasting context. Presenting ranges of probability may have distinct advantages as a way to communicate probability and analytic confidence to decisionmakers.     

Should failure to protect laws include physical and emotional sibling violence?

Physical and emotional sibling violence is a problematic occurrence for many children, adults, and families, yet this form of violence rarely falls within the purview of state laws and policies. Failure to protect laws offer one avenue through which sibling violence can be addressed by holding parents and caregivers accountable for harm that occurs to a child in their custody. This article provides background information on physical and emotional sibling violence as well as a general overview of failure to protect laws in the context of intimate partner violence with particular consideration of these laws in addressing sibling violence. In addition, the role social work practitioners can play in intervening and addressing sibling violence through psychoeducation leading to policy (i.e., failure to act laws) is presented.     

A Markov Chain for calculating the durability of marriage

The usual Markov model of marriage permits informative experiments on the effect of alterations in the transition rules. It can tell, for example, what difference it would make to the durability of marriage if there was no divorce and the other transitions were as observed. This is in addition to the capacity of the usual model to find the effect of small changes in the transition rates.

Canadian data for 1970–1982 permit comparisons over time, and show among other things not only that married men live longer than single, but that the difference is increasing; the increase in the “marriage bonus”; over time also appears for women.