Emotion Knowledge Skills in Low-income Elementary School Children: Associations with Social Status and Peer Experiences

This short‐term longitudinal study examined relations between emotion knowledge and social functioning in a sample of low‐income kindergarten and 1st graders. Individual differences in spontaneous emotion naming and emotion recognition skills were used to predict children's social functioning at school, including peer‐nominated sociometric status, and child self‐reports of negative experiences with peers in school (peer victimization and rejection). Children who had greater emotional vocabulary and recognized emotions more accurately had better outcomes in all areas, and many of the associations between fall emotion knowledge skills and spring social functioning outcomes held after covarying grade and children's previous status with regard to these outcomes. Results are discussed with regard to implications for prevention and intervention programs (e.g., the PATHS curriculum) that focus on teaching emotion knowledge skills in order to foster high‐risk children's social competence.     

CONVICTED MURDERERS' ACCOUNTS OF THEIR CRIMES: A STUDY OF HOMICIDE IN SMALL COMMUNITIES

In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 25 persons recently convicted of homicide in a largely rural, midwestern state. The primary focus of the study was the definition of the situation, particularly the vocabulary of motives, employed by the respondents at the time of their crime. The results showed that the vast majority of the respondents cited motives involving excuses (e.g., it was an accident, judgment impaired by alcohol/drugs, not oneself because of severe stress). These excuses assumed, or appealed to, conventional moral views of violence. Six of the individuals provided motives that they felt justified their actions. However, these justifications tended to be based upon a plea of self-defense and demonstrated a commitment to conventional morality rather than to the norms of a violent subculture. There was no evidence that the respondents viewed their behavior as part of a character contest. In most instances, they were unemployed or underemployed persons, living rather dead-end lives, who in the course of mounting life stress struck out at someone, usually while intoxicated. Frequently they were depressed, and in some cases suicidal, at the time of the act, and the victim was usually a relative or friend. In half of the cases it appeared that the homicide would not have taken place if a handgun has not been present.     

The internal logic and contradictions of migration control: An excursion into theory and practice in relation to east‐west migration

The migration problem has acquired a new dimension with the breakdown of State‐Communism which has induced new and variable waves of migration out of Eastern Europe. The response of the West to these waves, as well as to the ever‐increasing likelihood of emigration from countries of the Third World has been one of mounting regulation. The present article critically juxtaposes the underlying, albeit short‐term, logic of regulation with that of East‐West migration — itself a highly variated and differentiated process — in an attempt to demarcate a more comprehensive approach to the East‐West migration subject.     

In search of the gerontological self

The concept of self has a long history stretching back to antiquity. The meanings of self explored and debated in 19th and 20th century philosophy are intertwined in contemporary gerontological discourse. This review of diverse theories of the gerontological self is evoked by a personal encounter with a frail, aging friend whose fragmented conversation is framed by the clear persistence of her personality. Four approaches to the concept of self are examined: the humanists' “narrative” self, the behavioral self found in textbooks and handbooks of gerontology, post-modernists' views of the aging self, and the phenomenological self. While significant philosophical and methodological differences are uncovered, the question is asked as to what distinct contribution each approach offers when used to interpret meaning and responsibility in an actual relationship with an aged person.     

Differences in family functioning and health between older adult volunteers and non-volunteers

The purpose of this investigation was to identify differences in family functioning and health between older adult volunteers and non-volunteers. Two findings emerged from the data: volunteers reported higher family functioning as well as better health compared to non-volunteers. Implications for social workers involved with volunteer programs and services are discussed in terms of volunteer recruitment and retention, and the related need to develop policies that permit more flexibility and choice with regard to volunteer responsibilities.     

Integrating child welfare, juvenile justice, and other agencies in a continuum of services

This article presents a comprehensive strategy framework for integrating mental health, child welfare, education, substance abuse, and juvenile justice system services. It proposes an infrastructure of information exchange, cross-agency client referrals, a networking protocol, interagency councils, and service integration models. This infrastructure facilitates integrated service delivery.