Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing Functional Family Therapy in a Community Setting: Client and Practitioner Perspectives

While Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is known to be effective in addressing adolescent behavioral problems, there has been little exploration of issues relevant to its transport from the tightly controlled setting of clinical trials into routine service delivery. This study sought the views of key stakeholders, clients, and practitioners, on barriers and facilitators to the successful implementation of FFT. Undertaken in a community setting in Scotland, interviews were carried out with 12 adolescents, 14 parents/caregivers, and 6 practitioners. Results focus on: Referral process and pre‐intervention contact; Engagement of families; Structure and delivery; Organizational factors. Although barriers to engagement were identified, FFT was viewed as an acceptable, appropriate and feasible intervention with the potential to improve adolescent wellbeing in ‘real‐world’ settings.     

Celebration intoxication: an evaluation of 21st birthday alcohol consumption

The authors designed this study to evaluate the prevalence and magnitude of heavy drinking among college students in celebrating their 21st birthdays and the impact of a birthday card suggesting moderation. The authors randomly assigned subjects to receive or not receive the card approximately 1 week prior to their birthday. Approximately 1 week after turning 21, the authors sent surveys to all subjects. Results based on 164 returned surveys indicated that 90% consumed alcohol, 75% went to a bar, 61% reached a blood alcohol content (BAC) above the legal driving limit, and 23% reached a BAC above .25. Results were similar for men and women. Although subjects generally liked the birthday card, it had no impact on their drinking or celebration plans. Findings suggest the need for additional attention focusing on specific alcohol-related events and further development of prevention approaches that are event specific.     

A longitudinal study of the learning and retention of task-specific training

This longitudinal study evaluated the learning and retention of task-specific training during the subjects' classroom performance of a one-person pivot transfer. Twelve subjects were videotaped completing the transfer (pretest). The subjects then participated in a two-hour training session. One week later (posttest 1), and one year later (posttest 2) the subjects were videotaped again. A checklist was used to analyze the videotapes. A one-way ANOVA with repeated measures revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the tests (F = 243.73, p-value < 0.0001). A post hoc analysis (Bonferroni procedure) indicated that the posttest 1 scores (mean = 13, SD = 0.40) were significantly higher than the pretest scores (mean = 2.96, SD = 0.39) indicating an improved score on the checklist. There was no significant difference between the scores of posttest 1 and posttest 2 (mean = 12.79, SD = 0.60) indicating that subjects continued to perform the task with proper body mechanics one year post training.     

Labor Market Search and Optimal Retirement Policy

A popular and long‐standing view is that social security is a means for young, unemployed people to “purchase” jobs from older workers. Can social security, by encouraging retirement and hence creating job vacancies for the young, improve the allocation of workers to jobs? Maybe, according to a standard model of labor market search, but public retirement programs currently pay the elderly substantially more than their jobs are worth. An important effect is that retirement reduces the value of other vacant jobs. Our results imply that recent reforms aimed at reducing retirement incentives are likely to improve labor market efficiency.     

The Field of American Media Sociology: Origins,Resurrection, and Consolidation

This contribution is written against the backdrop of the historic dispersal of early American media sociology out from the core concerns of the discipline and into various importer academic disciplines (including communication, journalism, and media studies) and an ever‐growing pervasiveness of media in everyday life which is reflected by a resurgence of sociological scholarship in the United States since the early 2000s. The article divides the field in works that study media inwards – along the threefold dimensions of production and technologies, communication and discourse, reception and effects – and works that study media outwards. We argue that this latter perspective, examining broader theoretical, methodological, and substantive social implications of mass‐mediated communication, is the most promising one for a mature field of American media sociology. On this basis, we conclude with some suggestions regarding possible new, and as of yet understudied, lines of inquiry for future media sociologists.     

What We Are Talking About When We Talk About Social Media: A Framework for Study

Social media continues to grow as a focus of social, organizational, and scholarly interest, yet there is little agreement as to what constitutes social media and how it can be effectively analyzed. We review various definitions of social media and note that much of the confusion regarding social media comes from conflation between social media types, platforms, and activities. To facilitate investigations of social media, we debunk common social media myths and review the relationship between social media and several prominent sociological concerns. We conclude by reflecting on directions for future research on social media.     

Frustrated Fertility: Infertility and Psychological Distress Among Women

Using a random sample of 580 Midwestern women, we test the hypothesis that women who have experienced infertility report higher psychological distress. Approximately one third of our sample reports having experienced infertility sometime in their lives, although the majority of the infertile now have biological children. Drawing hypotheses from identity and stress theories, we examine whether roles or resources condition the effects of infertility or whether its effects are limited to childless women. Infertility combined with involuntary childlessness (including biological and social) is associated with significantly greater distress. For women in this category, the risk of distress is substantial.     

Comprehensive college student suicide assessment: application of the BASIC ID

Whether one knows someone who is thinking of suicide, has attempted suicide, or has completed suicide, nearly all individuals who encounter suicide are affected. The influence and residual affects of suicide are further amplified as the issue reaches across communities such as college or university campuses. College and university staff must improve their response to suicidal ideation with comprehensive assessment and intervention. The authors discuss risk factors and basic screening methods for suicide risk. They present Lazarus' BASIC ID tool (ie, Behavior, Affective Responses, Sensations, Images, Cognitions, Interpersonal Relationships, and Drugs or Biological Influences) as a method for conducting a comprehensive suicide assessment. The authors demonstrate assessment procedures through a case vignette.