The World’s Mightiest Naval Station

The Korean War is often given a cursory glance, if that, in U.S. foreign relations today. This article provides all the information necessary to conduct a role-play in one class period to help students understand the events of the war. Introductory and follow-up questions are also included to stimulate discussion and to connect the events of a war over half a century ago to the events of today.     

Becoming a Social Worker: Chris' Account

Chris Murray, a young African-American male, admitted on a scholarship to a social work masters program, reflexively explores his negotiation of difference in dialogue with an Australian female social work educator twice his age. Standpoint theory and the concept of intersectionality are used to frame Chris' experiences at a private northeast US university after achieving an undergraduate degree in his southern home state. His initial access to university came through military service. Chris was interviewed by the author as part of her international study project examining social work students' experience of diversity in the classroom. The open-ended interview was designed to allow self-identity of difference. Chris ethnographically recounts to a stranger a subjectivity statement of who he is in relation to studying social work. Chris' story works the hyphen between the binary of subjectivity and objectivity through the particulars of his personal history and world-view and his expectation that I as a social work educator share his seeking of social justice. His detailing of what moved him to become a social worker and contextual complexities negotiated along the way connect to wider discourses on how agency and structure play out in lived experience in seeking social justice.     

Growing Parental Economic Power in Parent–Adult Child Households: Coresidence and Financial Dependency in the United States, 1960–2010

Research on coresidence between parents and their adult children in the United States has challenged the myth that elders are the primary beneficiaries, instead showing that intergenerationally extended households generally benefit the younger generation more than their parents. Nevertheless, the economic fortunes of those at the older and younger ends of the adult life course have shifted in the second half of the twentieth century, with increasing financial well-being among older adults and greater financial strain among younger adults. This article uses U.S. census and American Community Survey (ACS) data to examine the extent to which changes in generational financial well-being over the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have been reflected in the likelihood of coresidence and financial dependency in parent–adult child U.S. households between 1960 and 2010. We find that younger adults have become more financially dependent on their parents and that while older adults have become more financially independent of their adult children, they nevertheless coreside with their needy adult children. We also find that the effect of economic considerations in decisions about coresidence became increasingly salient for younger adults, but decreasingly so for older adults.     

Depression and Social Networks in Community Dwelling Elders: A Descriptive Study

Social isolation and inadequate social support have been identified as correlates of depression in older adults, although the relationship between depression and social isolation is not entirely understood (Dorfman et al., 1995). This study was conducted to describe the social networks of depressed older adults living in the community and to compare the social networks of depressed and nondepressed individuals, thus adding to the body of knowledge regarding social networks, older adults, and depression.

The sample consisted of 91 respondents aged 65 and older who were randomly selected using the voter registry. About 27% (25) respondents reported significant levels of depressive symptomology as measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). All respondents completed semistructured interviews that included questions about social contacts with family and others during the prior week. All participants reported social contact with family and friends during this period.

In this sample, depressed elders were not socially isolated. They were more likely to report contacts with friends than those who were not depressed, and equally likely to report involvement in volunteer activities. Their likelihood of seeking social support was also comparable. Results emphasize the importance of peer relationships and suggest that, in some groups of older adults, social isolation may not be a hallmark of depressive symptoms.     

The United States and Japan pursue a common agenda

In July 1993, the US and Japan formed the "Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective," an economic alliance to promote health and human development, respond to challenges to global stability, protect the global environment, advance science and technology, and foster exchanges for mutual understanding. A Global Issues Initiative (GII) has been created within this framework to support family planning, HIV and sexually transmitted disease prevention and control efforts, maternal and child health, primary health care, and women's empowerment. Participation in the GII has led Japan to more than double the technical assistance it provides and to broaden its geographic focus from Asia to the entire developing world. The US continues to fund population and health programs in more than 50 countries. The Common Agenda grew out of a US-Japan development assistance policy consultation dialogue known as the "Honolulu process," which sought ways to promote mutual understanding among US and Japanese development assistance personnel (through international internships) and nongovernmental organizations and to identify specific areas for joint or parallel development projects. Cooperative activities are underway in the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Ghana, Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, and Jamaica. Joint project evaluations have also taken place in Zambia and Ghana. The Common Agenda's Children's Health Initiative has supported such initiatives as achieving child immunization in the Newly Independent States and joint efforts to eradicate polio and micronutrient disorders. The Women in Development initiative enhances girls' education and assists women engaged in small-scale enterprises. After initial difficulties in agreeing on joint strategies, the Common Agenda has been an "overwhelmingly positive" experience with the potential to meet critical challenges, because Japan and the US account for 40% of all development assistance worldwide.     

Global Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Public Organization Review -     

Teenage childbearing: young sole mothers challenge the stereotypes

Teenage sole mothers in receipt of welfare benefits are seriously affected by systematic and radical restructuring of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s state welfare system since 2008. With few exceptions, the changes oblige beneficiaries to prioritise obtaining paid work. To address questions of how welfare changes and socio-cultural context in Aotearoa New Zealand are experienced by teenage mothers we conducted a narrative study of 10 young women’s stories of sole mothering as beneficiaries. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit young mothers who were attending, or had recently attended a specialist school for teen parents. Thematic analysis of interview narratives represented experiences of financial and social deprivation, negative stereotyping, stigma and resistance. In contrast to the government’s explicit goal of getting welfare recipients into paid employment, the teenage mothers in our study placed full-time mothering as their principal duty. They also acknowledged the material and social advantages of entering paid employment, and were committed to working but only when their child was ‘settled and ready’ – a decision they understood to be their responsibility.