Congregational Political Activity and Same‐Sex Marriage: Social Movement Theory and Evidence for Contextual Influence

We interpret three strands of social movement theory (social threat, opportunity structure, and resource mobilization) to understand religious congregations' political activity related to same‐sex marriage. Using a unique, national data set from the 2008 presidential election, we show the importance of the anti‐same‐sex marriage discursive opportunity structure (DOS) for facilitating, and occasionally constraining, congregational political activity. Other theoretical factors influence congregations under limited, although important, conditions. Our research develops a nuanced understanding of congregations' roles in social movements that prioritize institutionalized political activity and expands DOS theory in relation to local religious organizations.     

A Content Analysis of Career Development Theory,Research, and Practice—2013

This annual review of the career counseling and development literature presents a content analysis of refereed journal articles published in 2013. Four research questions guided the analysis: (a) What content topics were included in career development articles published in refereed journals in 2013? (b) To what extent are theory, research, and practice integrated in career development articles published in refereed journals in 2013? (c) What variation exists in the characteristics of career development articles published in refereed journals in 2013? and (d) What variation exists in the content included in theory, research, and practice articles? A total of 360 unique topics were identified in 357 articles from 24 journals. Results indicated that topic content in journals evolved slowly with limited integration of theory, research, and practice. Implications are suggested for (a) future topic content; (b) better integration of theory, research, and practice; (c) education and training; (d) journal editorial policy; and (e) future content analyses of journal articles.     

Homophobia within schools of social work: the critical need for affirming classroom settings and effective preparation for service with the LGBTQ community

Social work programs must effectively meet the needs of their diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) student populations as well as effectively train all students to work with minority groups including the LGBTQ community. While many undergraduate and graduate social work programs provide open, supportive, and affirming experiences for LGBTQ students, there remain ongoing challenges related to hostility, stigma, heterosexism, and homophobia within classroom settings across programs in the US and Canada. This study examines classroom experiences of homophobia among 1,018 social work students. Qualitative data associated with three optional open-ended questions were analyzed utilizing grounded theory. Main qualitative findings identified several major themes associated with social work student experiences of homophobia in the classroom including: (1) Coming out; (2) Faculty inaction; (3) Implicit and explicit content; (4) Direct language and actions; and (5) Religious rationalizations and non-affirming positions. Conclusions and recommendations for social work education are discussed that center around creating safe and affirming classroom settings; the vital role of out faculty, students, and allies; impactful integration of diversity content within curricula, policies, and accreditation standards; ongoing training and mentorship; understanding the role of power and oppression; and a call to action among social work educators and the profession.     

Effect of Brief Staff‐Assisted Career Service Delivery on Drop‐In Clients

Brief staff‐assisted career counseling services based on cognitive information processing theory were evaluated using 138 drop‐in clients who completed pre‐ and postintervention self‐report measures of knowledge about next steps, confidence in making next steps, and anxiety about career concerns. Significant changes occurred in each dimension and were significantly associated with the quality of career adviser interaction. Participants rated the experience as highly positive. Decreases in anxiety about career concerns were unrelated to the intervention. Implications include that a brief service delivery model yields positive outcomes for many clients but requires adjustments in organizational culture, physical environment, practitioner approaches, and client expectations. Future research should examine relational variables related to decreased anxiety with a brief service delivery model, the degree to which this approach works with specific career needs, and client attributes leading to successful versus unsuccessful outcomes with this model.     

The Relationship Between Personal Financial Wellness and Financial Wellbeing: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

We examined the construct of financial wellness and its relationship to personal wellbeing, with a focus on the role of financial literacy. Gender comparisons are made using a structural equation modeling analysis including personal wellbeing, financial satisfaction, financial status, financial behavior, financial attitude, and financial knowledge. Males ranked higher in financial satisfaction and financial knowledge whereas females ranked higher in personal wellbeing. Joo’s (2008) concept of financial wellness as multidimensional is supported though the result is improved when a causal model of sub-components is estimated. The relationship of all variables to personal wellbeing is mediated by financial satisfaction, with gender differences: In females the main source of financial satisfaction is financial status whereas in males it is financial knowledge.     

Kinship Care for Children of a Parent With a Mental Illness

Little is known about “hidden” kinship caregivers of children of a parent with a mental illness (COPMI). An exploratory study surveyed 56 COPMI caregiver members of a kinship center administered by a school of social work in a large public university. The COPMI sample was a subset of a larger kinship caregiver study. Nearly one in four caregivers was providing COPMI kinship care. The COPMI caregivers reported numerous child behavioral crises and decreased caregiver physical and emotional health since they began providing care. Practice, policy, and research require development to increase support for COPMI caregivers and their families.     

The 4R-SUCCESS program: promoting children’s social and scholastic skills in dyadic classroom activities

Research on peer mediated learning shows that students learn through interactions with classmates, but little is known about the skills that children need to be productive learning partners, and educators lack programs for teaching children how to collaborate effectively with classmates. Described in this article is a program of research that was undertaken to address these needs by: (1) empirically creating a collaborative skills curriculum for grade school children, and (2) developing, refining, and implementing a class-wide program for improving grade school children’s social and scholastic skills for collaborative learning activities (i.e., the 4R-SUCCESS program).     

Expanding the ‘social’ in ‘social identity’

Not enough consideration has been given by some texts in the field of ‘social identity’ to the task of defining society, which is, after all, the notion behind the first half of the field's name. For these particular texts, one very basic definition – ‘society is human interaction’ – is left to stand alone. This paper does not challenge the importance of any of the attempts by these texts (or by any other texts in the field) to describe and analyze the plethora of identities being promoted, invented, or rejected around the world. Rather, it focuses on only the ‘social’ component in ‘social identity’, arguing that the field as a whole would be stronger if all its contributors, or at least the great majority of them, granted this component a more important role. In particular, the paper offers the field three definitional possibilities it might usefully add to the ‘society is human interaction’ definition.