Responsive Survey Design,Demographic Data Collection,and Models of Demographic Behavior

To address declining response rates and rising data-collection costs, survey methodologists have devised new techniques for using process data (“paradata”) to address nonresponse by altering the survey design dynamically during data collection. We investigate the substantive consequences of responsive survey design—tools that use paradata to improve the representative qualities of surveys and control costs. By improving representation of reluctant respondents, responsive design can change our understanding of the topic being studied. Using the National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6, we illustrate how responsive survey design can shape both demographic estimates and models of demographic behaviors based on survey data. By juxtaposing measures from regular and responsive data collection phases, we document how special efforts to interview reluctant respondents may affect demographic estimates. Results demonstrate the potential of responsive survey design to change the quality of demographic research based on survey data.     

Educational selectivity in U.S. Immigration: How do immigrants compare to those left behind?

Current immigration research has revealed little about how immigrants compare to those who do not migrate. Although most scholars agree that migrants are not random samples of their home countries' populations, the direction and degree of educational selectivity is not fully understood. This study of 32 U.S. immigrant groups found that although nearly all immigrants are more educated than those who remain in their home countries, immigrants vary substantially in their degree of selectivity, depending upon the origin country and the timing of migration. Uncovering patterns of immigrant selectivity reveals the fallacy in attributing immigrants' characteristics to national groups as a whole and may help explain socioeconomic differences among immigrant groups in the United States.     

Transportation Hardship: Are You Better off with a Car?

Growing evidence demonstrates the importance of transportation in improving family economic well being. This article sheds light on the hardship that one important transportation asset, private vehicles, may exert on families. Data from the Iowa Transportation and Employment Survey provided a unique opportunity to understand how vehicle access enables households to meet their basic needs, but may exacerbate their problems through the creation of additional demands on resources. Approximately 26% of the sample reported having experienced transportation hardship. The strongest predictors of transportation hardship were the presence of children in the household, low income, driving less reliable vehicles, and the unavailability of transportation assistance from someone outside the household. How to help families meet their transportation needs in light of this evidence remains open to debate.     

Institutionalizing Counter‐Memories of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement: The National Civil Rights Museum and an Application of the Interest‐Convergence Principle

During the post–Reconstruction era in the United States, white southerners marked the cultural landscape with monuments and memorials honoring the Confederate cause and its heroes. These racialized symbols enjoyed an undisputed claim to public squares and parks throughout the South. It was not until the late twentieth century that commemorations to the black freedom struggle were publicly supported. This analysis examines the institutionalization of counter‐memories of the civil rights movement in Memphis, Tennessee at the Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The author draws on collective memory, cultural trauma, and social movements research as well as critical race theory to explain the creation of the National Civil Rights Museum. Using primary and secondary data sources the author examines how social memory agents, a changing political culture, and the passage of time mediated the cultural trauma of King's assassination and influenced the institutionalization of oppositional collective memories. Relying on Derrick Bell's interest‐convergence principle, the author concludes that the creation of this major memorial museum was a result of the convergence of white and black interests, specifically the economic and political interests of white elites and the cultural and political interests of black symbolic entrepreneurs.     

The Immigrant Paradox in Pregnancy: Explaining the First‐Generation Advantage for Latina Adolescents

The immigrant paradox is a population health pattern whereby later generation immigrant youth display less favorable outcomes when compared to first‐generation co‐ethnic peers. This study examines the role of number of sex partners in explaining the immigrant paradox in pregnancy among Latina adolescents. This secondary analysis utilized a nationally representative sample of Latinas in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. As expected, first‐generation Latina adolescents demonstrated less risk than second‐ or third+ generation Latinas for becoming pregnant. Further, the lower number of sexual partners fully accounted for the first generation's advantage in lower rate of adolescent pregnancy. These findings have important implications for healthcare providers who work with Latina girls in pregnancy prevention.     

Hope as a coping resource among parents at risk for child maltreatment

This study investigated hope as a protective factor buffering the relationships between parenting stress and well-being among a sample of parents identified at moderate to high risk for child maltreatment. Two hundred parents were recruited from a nonprofit organization providing secondary and tertiary child maltreatment prevention programs. Results of the analyses showed that parental stress was negatively associated with subjective and emotional well-being. Hope was positively correlated with well-being and negatively associated with parenting stress. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that hope had a significant incremental relationship to well-being and that the negative effects of parenting stress fell below statistical significance. These findings provide preliminary support for hope as a coping resource social workers can target when working with parents in the prevention of child maltreatment.     

Impact of an Overt Response System on Staff Performance and Maintenance of Computer-Based Instruction

Interactive Computer Based Instruction (CBI) systems involve teaching strategies to facilitate greater response opportunities during training in an effort to improve learner performance. The current study investigated the effect of online staff training videos with and without overt response requirements on posttest and maintenance test scores across six block-randomized instructional modules for four employees of a university located in the southeastern region of the United States. The overt response consisted of multiple-choice questions administered throughout select teaching modules using an alternating treatment design. Findings suggest that learning occurred as a result of the CBI training; however, the effectiveness of the overt response system varied across individuals, with no discernible differentiation between learning gains associated with response requirements. Other areas of research for expanding the efficacy of CBI and overt response systems are highlighted.     

Community-Based Design Research: Learning Across Generations and Strategic Transformations of Institutional Relations Toward Axiological Innovations

The socio-ecological challenges facing communities in the 21st century are building towards a critical conjuncture of history, culture, power, and profound inequity. Scholars working in the service of social transformation and improving the wellbeing of communities are calling for creative, deliberate, and consequential interventions. Tharp & O’Donnell (this issue) call for increased engagement between Cultural-Community Psychology and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory to lead this kind of call. Drawing from our experiences in community based design research, we argue for cultivating axiological innovations in research and interventions. We explore three examples including: critical historicity, inter-generational learning, and strategic transformations of institutional relations.     

Spirituality and child welfare reunification: a narrative analysis of successful outcomes

When children are removed from their families because of maltreatment, the child welfare system seeks reunification whenever possible. Despite the importance of this goal, little is known about families who are able to achieve and maintain successful reunification. This qualitative study conducted in‐depth interviews with 15 families who completed their child welfare case plans, were reunited with their children and remained together for at least 1 year post‐reunification. Narrative analysis using a combination of thematic and structural coding was completed to examine the strengths and process families discussed related to their successful child welfare outcomes. This paper discusses one of those strengths, spirituality, in greater depth. Specifically, 12 participants situated the strength of spirituality within their stories as an important narrative element they perceived as critical, leading to important changes. Findings highlight the benefits some families receive from their spiritual beliefs, practices and faith communities when working towards reunification, suggesting child welfare practitioners be prepared to identify and honour this family strength.