Does perceived unfairness affect charitable giving? Evidence from the dictator game

We use a modified version of the dictator game to study whether perceived unfairness affects giving. To earn money, dictators first had to take a test. Our treatment group had participants taking tests of different difficulty levels while the control group had all participants taking a test of the same difficulty level. We found that participants who were in an environment where everyone faced the same challenge to earn money were less generous than participants in an environment where some people had an advantage while others had a disadvantage.     

Challenging behaviour in out‐of‐home care: use of attachment ideas in practice

Children in out‐of‐home care that demonstrate challenging behaviour are often thought of as ‘attachment disordered’. Our understanding of what this might mean for practice is not well developed. In this study, 92 South Australian stakeholders were interviewed about how they understood extremely challenging behaviour amongst school‐age children in out‐of‐home care. Participants consistently described behaviour as arising from attachment difficulties. Despite this, there were a variety of ways that a child's attachment needs were conceptualized, which appeared to be inconsistent with contemporary attachment theory. Thematic analysis yielded four implicit views about children's attachment: attachment as capacity that is limited, attachment as skill that children can learn and transfer to other relationships, attachment as unachievable for some children and an idealized view of attachment as a close and trusting relationship. These possible misconceptions about attachment and attachment needs and their relationship to the development of challenging behaviour are discussed in terms of attachment informed research and theory. The possible implications for placement practice and policy for children in out‐of‐home care are discussed.     

Systematic Integration of Consumer Input into Curriculum Revision

This paper employs Lippitt, Watson, and Wesley's perspective of planned change to analyze the curriculum revision efforts of faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1969 to 1973. It is the consensus of the authors that it is possible and appropriate to apply the same motions we commonly associate with “good social work practice” to curriculum revision. Each of the phases of change is examined analytically and behaviorally from the standpoint of actions which occurred during that phase. The result of the change process was the acceptance of a new structural model within which to build curriculum.     

Liminality and learning: international placements as a rite of passage

This article reports findings from a collaborative study of UK student learning in Malaysia. We analyze the concept of liminality as a means of understanding the transitional process between states and statuses that social work students experience in practice learning. Here, in specific reference to immersion in new cultural contexts represented by international placements, the development and learning of students are explored in relation to the overlapping domains of familiar and unfamiliar ‘cultures’ and disciplinary practice. These findings carry implications in terms of the increasing popularity of international placements and the potential imposition of hegemonies of values and knowledge.     

Democracy's breakdown and the rise of fascism: The case of the Spanish Second Republic, 1931–6

A number of plausible, competing, mass-based accounts exist in the literature explaining the breakdown of democracy and the rise of fascism in Spain, Italy and Germany. The objective of this article is to specify further empirically mass-based accounts of the social origins of democracy and modern authoritarianism in the Spanish Second Republic (1931–1936). In specifying mass-based general theories of the breakdown of democracy and the rise of fascism in inter-war Europe, the article contends that the polarising dynamic of agrarian reform is a central factor undermining the Republic.     

Ideas in action: some reflections concerning teaching language skills to social work students

In recent years, there has been a decline in language skills among the younger population in Sweden. Within several different academic programs, it has been observed that students arriving at the universities do not have the skills needed to make use of what is taught. This raises a number of problems, especially within social work education, because language skills, both written and oral, are important tools for practicing social work. This article presents a way of meeting this challenge and improving the students’ skills by including them in discussions on how to write academically as part of teaching method called language guidance. The students reflect upon their own and other students’ texts, and discuss how they can be improved with regard to spelling, grammar, paragraphing, and clarity. Overall, the resources devoted to improving students’ language skills have resulted in improvements in the essays the student write later on in their education.     

Heterogeneity Among Potential Foster Carers: An Investigation of Reasons for Not Foster Caring

Abstract

Although Australia is experiencing a shortage of foster carers, there is currently little understanding of why people do not become carers. This study explores the reasons given for not fostering though a survey of 897 non carers. Results indicate that, at the aggregate level, people do not become carers because they do not know anything about fostering, or because they are busy with their own children, work, or commitments to family and friends. However, if we account for heterogeneity, differences in these barriers are observed for subgroups within the sample. We investigate the structure of the market of potential foster carers by segmenting the market using cultural background as the segmentation base. Results indicate that the reasons for not fostering differ depending on the subgroup being examined. Theoretically, this suggests that heterogeneity exists within the foster care market, and that examining barriers to foster care only at the aggregate level neglects the importance of individual subsegment characteristics. Practically, results are important because they suggest that generic marketing campaigns aimed at the entire community have limited effect and that customised strategies are required to attract the particular types of carers most needed.     

Changes in Diverse Sexual and Contraceptive Behaviors Across College

Researchers have made repeated calls for a better understanding of normative sexuality development during adolescence and young adulthood. We examined how the occurrence of seven penetrative, nonpenetrative, and contraceptive behaviors changed longitudinally across seven waves, and how individual (gender) and contextual (romantic relationship status) factors related to these changes in a sample of college students (N = 730, M age = 18.4 at Semester 1; 51% female; 26% Hispanic/Latino American, 22% Black/African American, 30% Asian American/Pacific Islander, 45% White/European American). Across college, reported kissing, touching, performing and receiving oral sex, and penetrative sex rates increased, and contraception use (any type) and condom use (in particular) rates decreased, demonstrating changes with age independent of young adults’ romantic relationship experiences. Rates of all sexual behaviors were higher, and of contraception use lower, when students were in serious romantic relationships. Contraception use decreased more for men than for women, particularly in semesters men were not in serious relationships. Condom use decreased for men, and for women in semesters they were in serious relationships. Findings demonstrate normative trends in sexuality development, as well as suggesting the value of enhanced sexual health promotion programming, with a particular focus on contraceptive behaviors, across college.