DO MEN “NEED” A SPOUSE MORE THAN WOMEN?: PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE FOR MEN AND WOMEN

This study examines how important men and women feel marriage is for men and for women. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we find that both men and women feel that men need to be married more than women do. Women are more likely than men to think that both men and women can have satisfying lives without marriage, but they are also more likely to think that only women can have satisfying lives without marriage. Younger, more educated people are less likely to emphasize marriage. On the other hand, religious people and those who are married with children are particularly likely to think that neither men nor women can have satisfying lives without marriage.     

Shared Housing: Making Alternative Lifestyles Work

Changing lifestyles mean that fewer people are living in traditional families and that demands for innovative styles of housing are increasing. Many young people live in shared houses. Such housing offers relatively cheap and flexible accommodation and also has the potential to make a positive contribution to individuals' quality of life. This paper considers the factors that contribute to the success of these households: successful conflict management, the personality and expectations of sharers, the social interaction within the house and its physical design. It concludes with a consideration of ways in which sharing could be encouraged as a housing option.     

The Semantically Reciprocating Robot: Adult Influences on Children's Early Conversational Skills

Two-year-old children's conversational replies were observed in two social contexts: (a) with a partner who consistently responded to each of their utterances by semantically reciprocating and commenting briefly on their topic; or (b) with a partner who also consistently replied to each of their utterances but did not semantically reciprocate their topic. Children were significantly more likely to reply to a partner who maintained their topic. Given that a child replied, the verbal responses in the semantic reciprocation group were also more likely to have a topic-comment structure characteristic of more advanced conversational skills. These experimental data confirm previous correlational evidence suggesting that children are sensitive to semantic reciprocation during the early stages of verbal communicative development, and they support recent arguments suggesting that the adult's use of expansions scaffolds the child's tendency to use predicative, topic-comment replies…and perhaps advances the child's understanding of the adult partner as an attentional/intentional mental agent.     

Developing geriatric social work competencies for field education

Preparing social workers to effectively practice with the growing older population requires the identification of geriatric competencies for the profession. The John A. Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative provided the impetus and direction for a national strategy to improve the quality of preparation of geriatric social workers. The Geriatric Social Work Practicum Partnership Program (PPP) is the project with the Hartford Initiative that emphasizes field education. The Geriatric Social Work Education Consortium (GSWEC), one of the PPP programs, initiated the development of competencies for work with older adults. GSWEC utilized Geriatric Social Work White Papers and the pioneering work of the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Strengthening Aging and Gerontology Education for Social Work's (SAGE-SW) comprehensive competency list as well as conducted focus groups locally to delineate key competencies for field education. The Coordinating Center for the PPP, located at the New York Academy of Medicine, led in collaboratively developing knowledge based skill competencies for geriatric social work across all 6 demonstration sites (11 universities). The competencies adopted across sites include skills in the following five major domains: values and ethics; assessment (individuals and families, aging services, programs and policies); practice and interventions (theory and knowledge in practice, individual and family, aging services, programs and practice) interdisciplinary collaboration; and evaluation and research. The identified competencies have proven effective in evaluating students (n = 190) pre- and post PPP field education. The implications for further development of competency driven education for geriatric social work are discussed.     

Minority Stress,Parenting Styles,and Mental Health in Brazilian Homosexual Men

ABSTRACT

Homosexual men are constantly exposed to prejudice and violence in Brazil. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between minority stress, parenting styles, and indicators of mental health problems in a sample of homosexual men. Method: quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational, and retrospective design. Participants were 101 Brazilian men who selfidentified as homosexuals, aged between 18 and 55 years. Results: concealing sexual identity was a predictor of depression and stress. Parental responsiveness was associated with a lower incidence of enacted stigma and depression. Conclusions: the mental health of homosexual men can be negatively affected by the need to conceal their sexual orientation. Parental responsiveness is a protective factor in terms of experiencing enacted stigma and depression. The results found in the study may be useful for counselors and social workers who are working with LGBT people and their families.     

Predicting Developmental Change in Healthy Eating and Regular Exercise Among Adolescents in China and the United States: The Role of Psychosocial and Behavioral Protection and Risk

This article reports a cross‐national study of developmental change in health‐enhancing behavior—healthy eating and regular exercise—among adolescents in China and the United States. The application of a conceptual framework comprising psychosocial and behavioral protective and risk factors—both proximal and distal and at both the individual and social contextual level—is shown to provide a substantial account of variation in change in those behaviors over a 2‐year interval. The explanatory account has generality across gender, the 3 grade cohorts, and most importantly, across the 2 markedly diverse societies.     

Good 'traction' can help you achieve change

Examine the abstract idea of traction. Explore how traction in your job can help you motivate meaningful change.