‘Someone of Your Own to Love’: Experiences of Being Looked After as Influences on Teenage Pregnancy

Previous research has shown that children and young people who are looked after are vulnerable to poor life outcomes, including early pregnancy. This paper examines how experiences of being looked after may contribute to teenage pregnancy. Using in‐depth interviews, data were collected from 63 young people recently looked after who are aged 15–24 and 78 professionals, across four research sites. The young people reported feelings of loneliness, rejection, stigma and not being able to trust others, emotions which seriously influenced their decisions about becoming parents. The findings suggest that such young people may benefit from a greater degree of emotional and practical support throughout their lives in care. Copyright © 2006 Institute of Education, University of London.     

The impact of gender on gambling attitudes and behavior

Researchers have often attributed the consistent relation of gender and gambling behavior to gender role socialization. If they are correct, gender should affect different sets of gambling attitudes in a manner consistent with at least three aspects of gender role socialization: a double standard of morality, a guardian of the hearth role for women, and a dualism of orientations. A survey measuring gambling attitudes and behavior was sent to a sample of residents in North Dakota after legalization of several games of chance (e.g., blackjack). Gender affects behavior but only some of the specified attitudes. These mixed results may reflect changes in gender role socialization and the increasing legalization of gambling.     

Countertransference issues for the consultant when a colleague is critically ill (or dying)

This report illustrates how countertransference issues emerged for a consultant therapist whose guidance about practice was sought by an ill and dying colleague. The detechment necessary for consultation was difficult to maintain. Denial, avoidance, and isolation operated for both. Ambivalence about directive behavior developed. Unexpressed grief, shock, feelings of inadequacy, and identification with the colleague intruted but were managed. The occurrence of such countertransference phenomena can be anticipated and understood in a consultation process that represents one valuable, underutilized, and important means of encouraging quality clinical practice under extremely painful circumstances.     

Culture,Segregation, and Tolerance in Urban America*

Objective. The objective of this article is to examine whether racial tolerance attitudes are influenced by the character of the urban subculture in which individuals live. Specifically, is there a significant association between Florida's (2002) concept of creative class and racial tolerance among white survey respondents? Methods. The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey that comprises respondents across some 27 cities provides the data for this analysis. Ordered logit regression was utilized. Results. Independent of key explanations of racial tolerance such as racial threat and contact theories, creative class or new political culture cities are associated with more progressive racial attitudes among white respondents. In addition, important evidence is uncovered that shows creative class operates as an interactive variable, conditioning the effects of traditional determinants of tolerance. Conclusions. Evidence suggests that creative class or new political culture cities should be viewed as constituting distinctive cultural milieus that have important direct and interactive effects on tolerance attitudes.     

Race Differences in Abortion Attitudes

Abstract Public opinion surveys since 1965 find that black respondentsare less in favor of legal abortion than white respondents.Using the 1982 NORC General Social Survey, we replicate andexpand one of the few studies (Combs and Welch, 1982) that examinedthe structure and determinants of prochoice attitudes of blacksand whites. Our major findings are (1) the racial differencein prochoice attitude is as great in 1982 as in the 1970s, (2)contrary to the suggestion of Combs and Welch, the demographicand attitudinal determinants of abortion attitudes differ forblacks and for whites, and (3) for those respondents who differentiatetheir acceptance of legal abortion, the pattern of prochoiceattitudes also differs by race.     

Therapeutic Forgiveness: Developing a Model for Empowering Victims of Sexual Abuse

Forgiveness is increasingly popular in therapy as a way to facilitate healing, but there are definitional discrepancies and confusion regarding the degree to which it is conceptualized as either an interpersonal/relational or an independent/self-enhancing process. In this article forgiveness is conceptualized as an interpersonal process linked to apology or contrition on the part of the offender. Yet it is also independent. A model is described that was developed for the benefit of abuse victims whose offenders will not or cannot apologize. Using the model, victims can accomplish for themselves what would be accomplished for them through an apology.     

A Framework for Exploring Different Judgments of Social Need

Starting from the position that the source of definitions of social need must be examined, the paper suggests that it is also of value to analyse the sequential process through which a series of judgments about need is made by both consumers and providers of services. A framework is suggested by which the relationship between source and sequence of need judgments may be explored, and the factors influencing them identified. This framework is also used to clarify some ambiguities in the use of the term ‘need’, and to consider some implications for need studies. A consensus definition of need is offered in the light of this discussion.