The Modern Mystique: Institutional Mediation of Hegemonic Motherhood

This study examines the means by which privileged mothers comply to the dominant expectations of intensive mothering. As women struggle with the complicated, and often contradictory, experience of meeting the demands of the dominant ideology, we examine the mediating role of an institution, in this case the most popular maternal support organization in the United States—Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS). Organizations such as MOPS create an ideal cultural site for reinforcing ideologies that promulgate unattainable standards of perfection. Data were collected from observations of two MOPS groups, in‐depth interviews, and ethnographic content analysis of organizational materials. This dominant organization supports mothers by discouraging them from questioning the expectations of intensive mothering or considering alternative methods of parenting, which reinforces intensive mothering as the gold standard of parenting.     

Family Intervention and Health Care Costs for Kansas Medicaid Patients with Schizophrenia

Despite a number of studies investigating the effect of pharmacotherapy on treatment costs for schizophrenia patients, there has been little attention given to the effect of family intervention. In this study, data from the Kansas Medicaid system were used to analyze healthcare costs for 164 schizophrenia patients who had participated in family intervention. Structural equation modeling was used to test two competing views of the role of family intervention in treatment. The results showed that a model including direct and indirect effects of family intervention provided a better fit to the data. Family intervention had a significant indirect effect on general medical costs (through other psychological treatment) that showed a savings of $586 for each unit increase in the provision of these services. In addition, the total indirect effects for family intervention showed a $580 savings for general medical costs and $796 for hospitalization costs (for each unit increase).     

Structured Voluntary Youth Activities and Positive Outcomes in Adulthood: An Exploratory Study of Involvement in Scouting and Subjective Well-Being

This study explores whether youth involvement in Scouting has positive consequences later in life. We examine whether the number of years of participation in Scouting is positively associated with human and social capital and recreational lifestyles in adulthood, and whether these are linked to subjective well-being: relational, emotional, and physical health. To explore this potential relationship, we estimated a structural equation model, analyzing data from a national sample of adult males. We found that youth involvement in Scouting is positively related to subjective well-being indirectly via the positive adult outcomes.     

The Development of a Reliable Change Index and Cutoff for the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale

The Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby, Crane, Larson, & Christensen, 1995) is a measure of couple relationship adjustment that is often used to differentiate between distressed and non‐distressed couples. While the measure currently allows for a determination of whether group mean scores change significantly across administrations, it lacks the ability to determine whether an individual's change in dyadic adjustment is clinically significant. This study addresses this limitation by establishing a cutoff of 47.31 and reliable change index of 11.58 for the RDAS by pooling data across multiple community and clinical samples. An individual whose score on the RDAS moves across the cutoff changes by 12 or more points can be classified as experiencing clinically significant change.     

Action Learning in the Indian Village as an Alternative to the Traditional Field Practicum in the Foundation Year of the MSW

This paper captures the experiences of the faculty members of a relatively new graduate social work program situated in the largely rural state of Haryana India in reframing the foundation year practicum through community-based and engaged action learning in small villages. Located within Bhagat Phool Singh Vishwavidyalaya (BPSMV), north India's first all women public university, the mission of which is to enhance women's engagement in the greater society through post-secondary, professional and character education, the department is educating social workers for community engagement in social development and in the development of women as an empowered group in society, particularly at the village level. Over a three-year period, the faculty has successfully launched and sustained action learning as an alternative to the traditional practicum in social work education, enhanced civic engagement among students and faculty in three rural villages, and further developed community social work as a principal focus of social work education in India. The paper offers a rationale for action learning in the graduate social work curriculum, describes and documents the department's strategy of action learning, and lays out lessons learned from action learning as a central focus of pedagogy, research, and service within BPSMV Department of Social Work and the rural villages it serves.     

‘My Parents told us that they will always Treat my Brother Differently Because he is Autistic’ – Are Siblings of Autistic Children the Forgotten Ones?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) does not only affect the child alone, but the family unit as well. This qualitative study explored the impacts of ASD on the relationship between parents and their neuro-typical children and how the neuro-typical children cope with the impacts of having an autistic sibling in the family. Utilising principles of the social relations theory, five Singaporean families (n = 10) consisting of five mothers and five neuro-typical children were interviewed. Both the mothers and the neuro-typical children were seen to be equal agents in influencing the interactions with each other, and contributed in maintaining the close relationship through various strategies. Findings revealed that having an autistic child in the family imposed certain constraints and additional responsibilities for the family members. Despite so, the neuro-typical children coped well with such constraints. The in-depth data highlight the value of considering both the agency of mothers and the neuro-typical children and how they bidirectionally influence each other while sharing the caregiving roles for the autistic child in the family. It is strongly recommended for practitioners to incorporate elements of child's agency when expanding their scope of psychosocial intervention work with the neuro-typical children.     

Transforming the Way We Live Together: A Model to Move Communities From Policy to Implementation

Most cities, counties, and neighborhoods are not designed for an aging population. By providing a range of services to all residents, Lifelong Communities allow individuals to age in place. Although the Lifelong Communities Initiative is based on established guiding principles, little information exists regarding the realities of moving from policy to implementation. The Atlanta Regional Commission conducted a case study in Mableton, Georgia, and found successful implementation requires a combination of support from local citizen groups and government. The Atlanta Regional Commission is replicating these best practices in other communities and providing support to those aspiring to launch or expand Lifelong Communities.     

How the Right Usurped the Queer Agenda: Frame Co‐optation in Political Discourse

This article draws on a case study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and queer politics in Vermont to explain the conditions under which radical discourse gains and loses a public voice. In contrast to claims that the marginalization of queer discourse is due to silencing by LGBT rights activists or to litigation strategies, we argue that variation in queer discourse over time is the result of the co‐optation of queer discourse and goals by opponents. Extending the social movement literature on frame variation, we argue that opponents co‐opt discourse when they adopt aspects of the content of a movement's discourse, while subverting its intent. We show that conservative LGBT rights opponents co‐opted queer discourse. As a result, queer positions lost their viability as the discursive field in which those arguments were made was fundamentally altered. Because queer positions became less tenable, we see the withdrawal of queer discourse from the mainstream and alternative LGBT media. Our work both supports and builds on research on frame variation by demonstrating how discourse can change over time in response to the interplay between changing aspects of the political and cultural landscape and the discourse of opponents.