Institutional readiness for integrated watershed management: The case of the Maumee river

Is there such a thing as “institutional readiness” for integrated watershed management? One element of readiness is the ability of managers with watershed-related responsibilities to identify the policy and management objectives of potential partners. The geographic areas encompassed by large watersheds are under the overlapping jurisdictions of many agencies and organizations from each sector (public, non-profit, and private) as well as private landowners. Developing a watershed-based institutional atlas is a promising strategy for coping with this jurisdictional complexity. The authors examine the potential for developing such an atlas in the Maumee River watershed of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, and they assess other signals of readiness and partnerships in progress in the basin.     

AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN'S RETURN-TO-WORK DECISIONS FOLLOWING FIRST BIRTH

Women's labor force participation has increased sharply over the last two decades, particularly for married women with young children. This suggests women are spending less time out of the labor force for child bearing and rearing. Using the detailed information available in the NLSY, I explore women s decisions to return to work within one year of their first child's birth, focusing on the effect of child care costs. Consistent with economic theory, women facing lower child care costs are more likely to return to work as are women with higher potential wages and lower family income from other sources . ( JEL J0)     

Protecting the Consumer Through Truth-in-Dieting Laws

Although diets are ineffective in producing sustained weight loss, the multibillion dollar weight loss industry continues to make exaggerated claims of efficacy without substantiating outcome data. Lacking accurate information, individuals continue to pay for ineffective weight loss programs and products. In this article the author describes her application of social science data to influence state policy, which led to the passage of two first-in-the-nation diet disclosure laws. The 1996 law mandates that dieting companies make advertising claims only based on outcome data. The 1997 law requires full disclosure of program costs, conditions, and credentials of staff, and grants consumers a 3-day cancellation right. Together, the diet disclosure laws prohibit the use of deceptive practices and hold the diet industry accountable by requiring that all claims be based on representative group data.     

Adapting private family time in child protective services decision-making processes

The Family Group Conference (FGC) is grounded in a rights-based framework, whereby children and their families have the right and responsibility to be primary decision-makers when child protection issues arise, and the statutory agency has the responsibility to convene the entitled members of the family network to lead the decision-making. A distinct core component of FGC—private family time (PFT)—allows families to discuss the information and formulate their responses and plans privately during conferencing. This paper describes how a large child welfare agency in the United States adapted PFT in two ways: (1) including a parent advocate (PA) and (2) abbreviating the amount of time allowed for this discussion. Given the lack of empirical research on the PFT component, this qualitative exploratory study sought to understand the functions and perceived impacts of PA-supported PFT during initial child protective services (CPS) conferences at which decisions of child removal or placement were being contemplated. PFT served multiple beneficial functions and impacted families in several positive ways: families gained greater awareness of safety concerns, felt empowered and confident in the preferred safety and service plan, became increasingly engaged and involved in the case decision-making process and ultimately felt less apprehensive.     

Screening children with a history of maltreatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in frontline social care organizations: A process evaluation

The use of standardized screening tools to identify trauma exposure and associated symptoms is commonly recommended as a key component in the development of trauma informed services and is seen as integral to facilitating access to evidence-based therapies. However, there is limited evidence in the UK about the factors influencing the adoption of such tools into routine practice in children's social care. This paper presents the findings from a process evaluation of how practitioners implemented a screening tool for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression into their day-to-say practice and what worked or did not work during the process. The findings from this study highlight the potential benefits for both young people and practitioners, alongside some of the challenges involved. In particular, practitioners need to see the direct benefit for young people of being assessed. Additionally, practitioners value regular mentoring as they become more proficient in using standardized screening tools.     

A future agenda for research on climate change and human mobility

In the past 15 years, research activities focusing on the interlinkages between climate change and human mobility have intensified. At the same time, an increasing number of actors and processes have sought to address human mobility in the context of climate change from a policy perspective. Hitherto, research has been limited in terms of geographical preferences as well as conceptual and methodological focus areas. This paper argues that to address the evolving policy space, future research on climate change in the context of human mobility needs to become more differentiated, integrated and generalized. This includes concerted efforts to better integrate researchers from the global South, improved cross-linkages between different datasets, approaches and disciplines, more longitudinal and comparative studies and development of innovative qualitative and quantitative methods.     

Maternal depression,parental attributions,and adolescent psychopathology: An evaluation using observational and video-mediated recall methods

Parenting styles associated with maternal depression are a risk factor for adolescent psychopathology, and maternal attributional styles may be a key mechanism in this relationship. Mother-adolescent dyads (N = 180; 96 male; ages 10–15) completed in-person interactions and then the mothers participated in a video-mediated recall procedure to assess maternal attributions. Maternal depression was associated with negative attributions. Negative attributions were associated with low parental acceptance, aggressive parenting, and low positive parenting. Positive maternal attributions were associated with less aggressive parenting, and more positive parenting during one interaction task. Adolescent externalizing behaviors were associated with negative attributions. Future research should evaluate whether maternal attributions mediate the association between maternal depression and both parenting behaviors and adolescent mental health.     

The impact of face masks on infants' learning of faces: An eye tracking study

This preregistered study examined how face masks influenced face memory in a North American sample of 6- to 9-month-old infants (N = 58) born during the COVID-19 pandemic. Infants' memory was tested using a standard visual paired comparison (VPC) task. We crossed whether or not the faces were masked during familiarization and test, yielding four trial types (masked-familiarization/masked-test, unmasked-familiarization/masked-test, masked-familiarization/unmasked-test, and unmasked-familiarization/unmasked-test). Infants showed memory for the faces if the faces were unmasked at test, regardless of whether or not the face was masked during familiarization. However, infants did not show robust evidence of memory when test faces were masked, regardless of the familiarization condition. In addition, infants' bias for looking at the upper (eye) region was greater for masked than unmasked faces, although this difference was unrelated to memory performance. In summary, although the presence of face masks does appear to influence infants' processing of and memory for faces, they can form memories of masked faces and recognize those familiar faces even when unmasked.