Immigrant and native ethnic enterprises in Mexican American neighborhoods: differing perceptions of Mexican immigrant workers

This study uses original data from a large sample of businesses located in Mexican ethnic neighborhoods (barrios) in Texas and California to analyze how perceptions of the economic roles of Mexican immigrant workers differ among 3 employer groups: native ethnic, immigrant ethnic, and non-ethnic. It was found that the immigrant ethnic employer group depends more on Mexican immigrants as workers and as consumers than does the native ethnic group, which tends in many ways to be more like the non-ethnic group. Differences between results for localities on the border with Mexico and those for non-border localities are also discussed.     

Ethical dilemmas faced by family therapists

This study explores the reactions of 202 randomly selected clinical members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) to a variety of ethical dilemma situations which examine what family therapists are doing in their work when confronted with these difficult situations. Eight of the issues studied have been discussed in the literature and eight are included in the AAMFT's Ethical Principles for Family Therapists (1984). In addition to showing how clinical members responded to dilemmic vignettes that reflect these dilemmas, results indicated that family therapists are facing these dilemmas, have a high rate of consensus of what they would and would not do in each situation and almost all the situations were seen as being ethically significant by the majority of respondents.     

Social workers' views of parents of emotionally disturbed children: Replicating a US study

Abstract

This article reports the results of a survey of Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) members in relation to their views of parents of emotionally disturbed children. The survey involved a random sample of AASW members. It replicates a US study of members of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) conducted by Johnson, Renaud, Schmidt and Stanek (1998). The study was conducted in order to see if there was any similarity in the views of United States (US) and Australian social workers in regard to their view of these parents. The data from the Australian sample using the US Providers' Beliefs About Parents (PBAP) instrument did not support the conclusions of the study in the US. This result emphasises the importance of replication studies when transferring measurement instruments from one country to another.     

BORN FREE to Integrated Life Planning: Advancing Equity in Career Development

BORN FREE and Integrated Life Planning (ILP) are two efforts that have advanced equity within career development. This article reviews the concepts of BORN FREE and ILP, connecting both efforts to current visions of social justice.     

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor will be confined to discussions of papers that have appeared in The American Statistician and of important issues facing the statistical community. Letters discussing papers in The American Statistician must be received within two months of publication of the paper; the author of the paper will then be given an opportunity to reply, and the letters and reply will be published together. All letters to the editor will be refereed. Corrections of errors that have been noted in papers published in The American Statistician will be listed as corrections at the end of this section.     

The economics of adoption of children from foster care

Federal initiatives since 1996 have intensified the efforts of states to achieve adoption for children in foster care. For many waiting children, the path to adoption is long. The authors offer an economic analysis of adoption from foster care, with an emphasis on the reasons why achieving the goal of adoption for all waiting children may be so difficult. The authors then estimate the determinants of adoptions from foster care across the states using data for fiscal years 1996 and 1997. Adoption assistance subsidy rates stand out as the most important determinant of adoptions from foster care, followed by use of alternatives (e.g., intercountry adoption). Adoptive matching on the basis of race does not appear to prevent adoptions from foster care in the aggregate, leaving flaws in the matching process, such as a lack of information and difficulty using the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), as a primary reason why children wait.     

Teacher training in norm setting approaches to drug education: a pilot study comparing standard and video-enhanced methods

Norm setting has been shown to be a crucial element of effective drug education. The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which a videotape describing concepts and methods for establishing positive norms would enhance standard training. Participants included 35 teachers and 64 health education students who were randomly assigned to the standard training condition or the video-enhanced training. Participants completed pretest and posttest measures of beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge concerning prevention methods. Both the standard and the video-based instruction produced improved understanding of norms and norm setting prevention methods. However, the video-based instruction resulted in several notable improvements beyond what was achieved in standard instruction. Video training can be an important tool as research-based drug abuse prevention achieves wide-scale dissemination. It offers a way of standardizing training and has the potential to increase the fidelity with which prevention programs are implemented.