WHAT PREDICTS RELIGIOUS PARTICIPATION AND GIVING? IMPLICATIONS FOR RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES

In this article, we test whether or not positive/negative sanctioning increases religious behavior. Using data from the 1998 congregational module of the General Social Survey we find that, net of other predictors, immediate positive sanctions (receiving help from the congregation) and immediate negative sanctions (receiving criticism from the congregation) significantly increase the amount of money given by respondents to religious organizations. Our results also indicate that sanctions promised in the future (belief in Heaven and belief in Hell) have little to no effect on religious giving. Furthermore, we find that immediate positive and negative sanctions as well as future negative sanctions predict greater participation in religious organizations, while future positive sanctions show no such effects. The results are discussed in the context of the emerging trend of waning religious involvement in the contemporary United States.     

Working with Women Associated with Bikie Gangs: Practice Dilemmas

Abstract

Much has been written about bikie gangs, but there is little about the women and children who are part of gang life. The present paper describes domestic violence agency social workers’ ethical practice dilemmas when assisting women who have left bikie gangs to search for a new, safer lifestyle away from the gang culture of drug use and violence, in particular sexual violence. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ethical processes and issues in resolving such practice dilemmas.     

Contested Concepts in Violence Against Women: ‘Intimate’, ‘Domestic’ or ‘Torture’?

Abstract

Ritualistic, overwhelmingly violent bikie gang or cult-inflicted abuse of women, entrenched by co-opting third party cult or gang members, has been referred to as ‘domestic violence’, ‘intimate violence’ or ‘intimate partner violence’. The present article questions the aptitude of these terms to convey the realities of this violence, in light of the experiences of women attending a South Australian domestic violence service, all of whom were escaping violent partners who were members or associates of bikie gangs and cults. The paper asks, ‘is torture an appropriate term for such violence?’ and discusses the impact of social, legal, organisational and human rights parallel states that collaborate to make it almost impossible for these women to escape this violence and make it difficult for social workers to work effectively with them. The paper concludes that the State needs to adopt a human rights rather than legal focus when addressing the issue of violence against women.     

Practice experience and social work education

Abstract

This paper examines the arguments that are often put in favour of social work academics having direct practice experience in order to enhance their teaching effectiveness. The paper looks at the number of ways that social work academics can gain up to date knowledge of practice developments and explores what constitutes an effective teacher. It concludes that recent direct practice experience will be of limited use in assisting social work academics to become effective teachers and that there are other ways that academics can become aware of practice developments that are in line with the other professional requirements on academics such as research and knowledge generation.     

Social Care Work in the Recent Past: Revisiting the Professional/Amateur Dichotomy

Abstract

The present article challenges the received wisdom of the distinctiveness of professional social work in Australia and its dichotomous juxtapositioning against work undertaken by those without formal social work qualifications. Findings are presented from a qualitative study of Australian Catholic sisters’ experiences of social care work in the recent past, based on indepth interviews with sisters who collectively worked in a variety of fields from the 1950s to the time of writing. Sisters’ accounts of work with marginalised people reveal many similarities with the values and principles of social work. This suggests a blurred line between “professional” social work and “amateur” social care work. In an era of reconsideration of many certainties, Australian social work could profitably reflect on its commonalities with, and differences from, practice domains outside professional social work.     

Who Enrolls in Teen Parent Education Programs? An Emphasis on Personal and Familial Characteristics and Services Received

This study describes personal and familial characteristics of 58 teenage mothers enrolled in Mama Club, a free community-based teen parent education program. It also identifies types of services and support participants received and program elements perceived to be important for attending Mama Club. Most participants were raised single-parent households (55.0 %), reported having mothers who were teenage parents (64.8 %), were impoverished (86.0 %), not enrolled in school (54.5 %), and unemployed (81.8 %). Participants primarily received assistance from Medicaid (86.5 %), Food Stamps (67.3 %), and family members (40.0 %); only 5.5 % received money from their child’s father. Teen parent education programs should educate parenting teenagers about available assistance programs and involve diverse community partners to establish a seamless referral system.     

Transforming Retirement: New Definitions of Life After Work

This quantitative research study uses survey data of women born between 1946 and 1951 in Australia. It follows earlier work that identified the importance of transitions from work for women of the baby boomer generation. We provide important insights into the lives of women who have partially or fully retired and the changing nature of women's work and retirement. For many women, retirement is characterized by newfound freedoms, opportunities, career change, and evolving identities, yet others view retirement as a continuation of previous occupational and gendered roles and commitments. This study has important implications for retirement policies for women.     

Tests for Serial Dependence and Other Specification Analysis in Models of Markets in Disequilibrium

The assumption of serial independence of disturbances is the starting point of most of the work done on analyzing market disequilibrium models. We derive tests for serial dependence given normality and homoscedasticity using the Lagrange multiplier (LM) test principle. Although the likelihood function under serial dependence is very complicated and involves multiple integrals of dimensions equal to the sample size, the test statistic we obtain through the LM principle is very simple. We apply the test to the housing-start data of Fair and Jaffee (1972) and study its finite sample properties through simulation. The test seems to perform quite well in finite samples in terms of size and power. We present an analysis of disequilibrium models that assumes that the disturbances are logistic rather than normal. The relative performances of these distributions are investigated by simulation.     

Resident interaction and social well-being in an oil boomtown in western North Dakota

Previous studies on the social well-being of residents living in energy boomtowns focus primarily on demographic characteristics of residents. These studies do not consider that there could be a relationship between residents’ social well-being and whether they interact with new residents moving into their community. The current study includes a measure of interaction with new residents as it examines five dimensions of the social well-being of residents living in an oil boomtown in western North Dakota. Surveys were distributed door-to-door to residents living in Williston North Dakota during the fall of 2015. Research findings show that people who reported that they interact with new residents moving into their community felt safe from crime and violence in their community; felt more socially integrated in their community; had high levels of community trust and community satisfaction, and believed that they could count on their neighbors. These findings are important because they highlight the significance of social interaction in communities that experience rapid population growth resulting from increased energy production.