Maternal Welfare and Employment Experiences and Adolescent Well-Being: Do Mothers' Human Capital Characteristics Matter?

Using a representative sample of over 900 low-income urban families from the Three-City Study, analyses assessed whether maternal human capital characteristics moderate relationships between mothers' welfare and employment experiences and young adolescents' well-being. Results indicate synergistic effects whereby greater maternal education and literacy skills enhanced positive links between mothers' new or sustained employment and improvements in adolescent cognitive and psychosocial functioning. Greater human capital also enhanced the negative links between loss of maternal employment and adolescent functioning. Mothers' entrances onto welfare appeared protective for adolescents of mothers with little education but predicted decreased psychosocial functioning among teens of more educated mothers. Results suggest that maternal human capital characteristics may alter the payback of welfare and work experiences for low-income families.     

COMPLEMENTARITY AS A FUNCTION OF STAGE IN THERAPY: AN ANALYSIS OF MINUCHIN'S STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY

The level of family therapist complementarity in the early, middle and late stages of therapy was explored. A micro-analysis of Salvador Minuchin with one family in successful therapy was conducted using the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (Benjamin, 1974). Interactions from videotapes representing the three stages were coded. An ANOVA was used to compare sequences that occurred at least 5 times within any given stage. Level of therapist complementarity was significantly greater in the early and late stages than in the middle stage. Furthermore, level of therapist complementarity was significantly correlated with client change. Further research is needed to explore whether these findings can be generalized to other therapists and families.     

Life Maps: Tracking Individual Gender and Sexual Identity Construction in the Contexts of Cultures,Relationships, and Desires

The categories and language currently available to designate gender identity and sexual identity constitute over-simplifications, which do not adequately signify the complex interplays between gender and sexual orientation. It is also often difficult to recount honestly, in a way that is visible to the self and intimate others, our understandings of the complex interplays and frequent fluidity of our individual processes of gender identity development, sexual identity development, and forms of preferred erotic/sexual behavior. This essay proposes, in preliminary form, a theoretical and diagrammatic method, called a “life map,” for a context-rich illustration of an individual’s meandering journey of gender and sexual identity development. Using two illustrative lives, the essay includes cultural contexts for development as well as the gender and sexual identity locations of relationally intimate others. In addition, it suggests a framework for core types of desired erotic behaviors and provides examples of variations in such desires in relational and identity contexts.     

Flexible design for a large-scale corporate data base

This paper describes the design and implementation of a “pre-structured multi-purpose data base” for information about the Canadian corporate structure. This system includes data on directorship, officcrship, executive board membership, and ownership ties among approximately 10,000 Canadian and other financial and industrial corporations and about 6,000 organizations (law firms, brokerage houses, public institutions, etc.) with which directors resident in Canada were affiliated. In addition, it contains data on the operating accounts, and standard industrial classification codes, for a large subset of these. Here we summarize its capabilities and analytic uses.     

Developing a research agenda in biogerontology: physiological systems

The Biology of Aging Program (BAP) at the National Institute on Aging supports research in many areas, including processes of cell senescence and apoptosis, genetic influences on aging, and how aging leads to tissue dysfunction. Several approaches to research on aging physiological systems are described, along with BAP programmatic efforts to enhance and support that research. Understanding the relation between aging and tissue dysfunction has led to new insights into how health can be improved for aged individuals.     

Student Participation in Study Abroad Programs: Social Justice Implications for Tertiary Education

ABSTRACT

Short-term study abroad programs are increasingly embraced by Australian schools of social work. These programs improve access to international experiences and have a demonstrable impact on academic outcomes. However, little is known about the factors that influence students who decide to participate in such programs. Using a qualitative semistructured design, eight Australian social work students were interviewed about their perspectives on the pre-application phase of a short-term study abroad program to Ireland that was advertised in early 2018. The findings reveal a number of multilevel structural, institutional, and personal enablers and barriers that impacted their decision to participate. Implications for future research, the tertiary education sector, and social work educators are identified, especially in terms of broader economic and political issues that contradict social justice and render the future of these programs precarious.

IMPLICATIONS

• Short-term study abroad programs offer important learning opportunities for students, but there is a need to understand the dimensions that can impact the decisions of students to participate in these programs.

• The qualitative findings indicate that various factors impact on the participation of students, especially financial and caring responsibilities.

• Further research that is underpinned by a social justice lens is needed to address inequities in student participation.

     

Social-ecological research in urban natural areas: an emergent process for integration

Urban Ecosystems - Understanding the structure and function of urban landscapes requires integrating social and ecological research. Here, we integrate parallel social and ecological assessments of...     

Portfolio Analysis of Layered Security Measures

Layered defenses are necessary for protecting the public from terrorist attacks. Designing a system of such defensive measures requires consideration of the interaction of these countermeasures. In this article, we present an analysis of a layered security system within the lower Manhattan area. It shows how portfolios of security measures can be evaluated through portfolio decision analysis. Consideration is given to the total benefits and costs of the system. Portfolio diagrams are created that help communicate alternatives among stakeholders who have differing views on the tradeoffs between security and economic activity.