The social stratification of tongue shape for postvocalic /r/ in Scottish English1

The sociolinguistic modelling of phonological variation and change is almost exclusively based on auditory and acoustic analyses of speech. One phenomenon which has proved elusive when considered in these ways is the variation in postvocalic /r/ in Scottish English. This study therefore shifts to speech production: we present a socioarticulatory study of variation of postvocalic /r/ in CVr (e.g. car) words, using a socially‐stratified ultrasound tongue imaging corpus of speech collected in eastern central Scotland in 2008. Our results show social stratification of /r/ at the articulatory level, with middle‐class speakers using bunched articulations, while working‐class speakers use greater proportions of tongue‐tip and tongue‐front raised variants. Unlike articulatory variation of /r/ in American English, the articulatory variants in our Scottish English corpus are both auditorily distinct from one another, and correlate with strong and weak ends of an auditory rhotic continuum, which also shows clear social stratification.     

The Significance of Shift Work: Current Status and Future Directions

This paper provides a review and synthesis of research literature on the effects of shift work on workers’ physical health, mental health/well-being, and family life. The focus is on current knowledge, unanswered questions, and new directions for future research. The selection of research literature is guided by a general conceptual framework that identifies predictor variables, moderating variables, and outcome variables. The paper concludes with a discussion of the variables that should be incorporated into an agenda for future research.     

Can social workers and police be partners when dealing with bikie-gang related domestic violence and sexual assault?

Welfare and criminal justice systems manifest different goals, cultures, values and working methods. In Australia, the welfare sector has a culture of empowerment and concern for victims’ rights, within which social workers focus on social justice and social change. In contrast, the criminal justice sector (police) is patriarchal and para-military in structure, focusing on enforcing and maintaining community order and safety. These differences can create tension when social workers and police need to work as partners in response to violence against women, in particular violence against women from bikie gangs. This article addresses the issue of partnerships between social workers and police when working with abused bikie-gang women. It presents the findings of recent research into social work practice with such women in South Australia, in conjunction with a brief exploration of the international literature on social work and police cultures, and partnerships. It concludes that whilst there is a great need for genuine collaboration and partnership between social workers and police in the complex context of domestic violence with links to organised crime, the cultures and mandates of these different professions make this difficult.     

The effect of marital disruption on children’s health

This study uses retrospective illness histories to investigate whether children's health deteriorates after parental separation. Separation is associated with illness in a multivariate cross-sectional analysis as well as in an analysis of a sample of disrupted children only, in which illness rates before and after separation are compared. Three explanations are hypothesized: (1) divorce reduces the resources available to children, (2) the stress of divorce depletes children's health, and (3) frailer children are selected into divorce. The first hypothesis has stronger support than the second, but the data are too poor for a rigorous test of either. The selection hypothesis is not supported.     

Excluding Children: Autonomy, Friendship and the Experience of the Care System

The concept of social exclusion is increasingly important in policy and research but has rarely been addressed from a child-centred perspective. Childhood is a social experience in itself, one that has its own norms and customs, and where the demands of participation and inclusion may be considerable, likewise the costs of exclusion. This paper explores the meaning and experience of social exclusion for children by focusing on a particular group of children and young people, those 'looked after' in the public care system. The sample involved children who had minimal contact with their parents, and who although not currently materially poor were vulnerable to a high future risk of experiencing poverty. They thus provided a valuable opportunity to explore some of the relational aspects of social exclusion. Using in-depth interviews to explore the meaning of friendship in their lives, the study revealed the importance of social relationships for these children, andin particular the impact of the care system on their capacity to make and sustain social networks. The findings suggest that the relational aspects of poverty are not just consequences of material poverty but can have a dynamic of their own, one that may have a particular resonance for children. This has implications not just for children in the care system, but also for children in families, where family poverty and the restricted social and economic integration of parents may also have an impact on children's capacity for developing social relationships and wider social networks.     

A response to M. Stone: 'How not to measure the efficiency of public services (and how one might)'

Summary.  This is a response to Stone's criticisms of the Spottiswoode report to the UK Treasury which was responding to the Treasury's request for improved methods to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of the 43 police districts in England and Wales. The Spottiswoode report recommended uses of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), which Stone critiqued en route to proposing an alternative approach. Here we note some of the most serious errors in his criticism and inaccurate portrayals of DEA and SFA. Most of our attention is devoted to DEA, and to Stone's recommended alternative approach without much attention to SFA, partly because of his abbreviated discussion of the latter. In our response we attempt to be constructive as well as critical by showing how Stone's proposed approach can be joined to DEA to expand his proposal beyond limitations in his formulations.     

‘Failure to thrive’ revisited

The term ‘non‐organic failure to thrive’ (FTT) has long been used in relation to young children with faltering growth for which no organic cause is found. In this paper, problems arising from dichotomised organic/non‐organic responses to FTT are explored and reasons for the assumption that non‐organic FTT was always due to emotional abuse or neglect are presented. The case is made that, except in a minority of cases, children fail to grow because they consume insufficient calories. Research studies on reasons for poor intake, from factors related to the child and their parents to the wider family and environment, are summarised. Following a brief reference to literature on outcomes, I argue that centile charts should be routinely completed for all young children. If faltering growth is identified, a multi‐factorial assessment should be undertaken. Such an assessment reduces the risk of interventions being based on outdated assumptions about non‐organic FTT and maximises the potential for successful resolution of poor growth. After briefly summarising the literature on interventions, I conclude with suggestions for improving practice in this field, including working in partnership with families and with health and social care professionals already known to them. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.