A systemic intervention research agenda for reducing inequality in school outcomes

Persistent education inequality is a complex problem in the United States, and, despite efforts to promote equity, education performance and attainment remain highly related to characteristics of students’ families, schools, and neighborhoods. Systemic interventions are designed to address complex problems through the identification and purposeful incorporation of knowledge from the multiple systems implicated in a problem. Although systemic intervention approaches are not widely reported in education, they have yielded positive effects in health and human services and are worth investigating in the education context. In this paper we review policy and research evidence related to education inequality and provide an agenda for designing and evaluating systemic interventions to reduce education inequality.     

Here We Go!

Clinical Social Work Journal -     

Mothering after child removal: Living under the rule of Greek gods

Many women who experience mental illness are mothers. Evidence suggests that the role of mother is of great importance and value to these women, yet they are more likely than other women to have their children removed from their care. Little is known about the experiences of these mothers after their children are removed. This paper presents a phenomenological analysis of in‐depth interviews with 8 women to answer the following question: How do mothers living with severe mental illness experience mothering after removal of their children by child protection services? The analysis showed that mothering continued to be a major life role for these women, but the way they enacted this role was transformed. Their mothering was now constrained and prescribed by external agents, likened to Greek gods, which imposed both boundaries to what they could do and an obligation to prove themselves worthy. Like Greek gods, these external agents were seen as all powerful, unpredictable, and flawed. The study highlights the need for child protection services and support services to recognize and support noncustodial mothering activities.     

Fishing Households,Social Support,and Depression after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on mental health in the aftermath of disasters by examining depressive symptoms among residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast region 6 years after the onset of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS). Using data from the Survey of Trauma, Resilience, and Opportunity in Neighborhoods in the Gulf (STRONG), we test how social support and ties to the fishing industry are related to the likelihood of a positive depression screen. The results show that, among most residents of the Gulf Coast region, social support holds an inverse relationship with the likelihood of a positive depression screen. However, among fishing households, greater social support is associated with a higher probability of screening positive for depression. By showing that fishing households with greater social support are more susceptible to depressive symptoms in this setting, our results uncover a potentially important mechanism that contributes to the unique vulnerability of fishers, which in turn holds implications for differential impacts across social groups in environmental disaster contexts.     

Integrating youth participation and ecosocial work: New possibilities to advance environmental and social justice

ABSTRACT

This article reveals possibilities to expand the role of youth within ecosocial work practice. The Where I Stand Youth Summit held in Chicago, Illinois, provided a safe space for young people to reflect upon their understanding of, and roles within, social and environmental justice movements. Drawing upon critical youth empowerment theory and participant observation, we note that youth shared experiences of oppression across unique social identities, while displaying authentic communication, acceptance, and desire for solidarity. Re-defining what knowledge matters, along with intention and self-restoration, also emerged as critical to building young people’s agency and power to effect social change.     

Career Adaptability of Trauma Survivors: The Moderating Role of Posttraumatic Growth

Impaired functioning in occupational domains is a diagnostic characteristic of posttraumatic stress disorder, and yet the interactions between trauma and career remain understudied. This study examined the relationships between trauma symptoms, posttraumatic growth, and career adaptability in college students who identified as trauma survivors (N = 215). Results indicated that (a) trauma symptoms and posttraumatic growth were both significantly predictive of career adaptability and (b) posttraumatic growth moderated the relationship between trauma and career adaptability. The impact of demographic factors and implications for career counselors and counselor educators are also discussed.     

Infants Extract Frequency Distributions from Variable Approximate Numerical Information

Previous research shows that infants represent approximate number: After habituation to a constant numerosity (e.g., eight dots), 6‐month‐old infants dishabituate to a novel numerosity (e.g., 16 dots). However, numerical information in the real world is far more variable and rarely offers repeated presentations of a single quantity. Instead, we often encounter quantities in the form of distributions around a central tendency. It remains unknown whether infants can represent frequency distributions from this type of distributed numerical input. Here, we asked whether 6‐month‐old infants can represent distributions of large approximate numerosities. In two experiments, we first familiarized infants to sequences of dot collections with varying numerosities. For half the infants, the sequence contained a unimodal frequency distribution, with numerosities centered around a single mean, and for the other half, it contained a bimodal frequency distribution of numerosities with two numerical peaks. We then tested infants with alternating or constant numerosities. Infants who had been familiarized to a unimodal distribution looked longer at alternating numerosities than constant numerosities (experiments 1 and 2), whereas infants who had been familiarized to a bimodal distribution looked longer at constant numerosities (Exp. 2). These findings suggest that infants can spontaneously extract frequency distributions from distributed numerical input.     

Conflict Management Styles and Cybervictimization: Extending Routine Activity Theory

Do online conflict management styles affect the likelihood of cybervictimization? To answer this question, we use an online survey of youth and young adults recruited from a demographically balanced sample of Americans. Using an extended version of routine activity theory, we examine how two conflict resolution styles—self-help and toleration—affect the target suitability of online users and, in turn, their likelihood of being the victim of cybercrime. Our findings demonstrate that individuals who adopt the confrontational conflict resolution style of self-help upon witnessing hostile behavior online are at an increased risk of being victimized. However, tolerating online conflict does not significantly influence the likelihood of victimization, net of other online behaviors and sociodemographic characteristics.     

I Don't Like the Tone of Your Voice: Infants Use Vocal Affect to Socially Evaluate Others

Infants can make social judgments about characters by visually observing their interactions with others (e.g., Hamlin, Wynn & Bloom, Nature, 2007, 450, 557). Here, we ask whether infants can form similar judgments about potential social partners based solely on their tone of voice. In Experiment 1, we presented 10.5‐month‐olds with two visually neutral puppets. One puppet spoke in a positive affect and the other spoke in a negative affect. When the puppets were placed within reach of the infants, infants selected the formerly positive puppet. This preference disappeared when the voices were paired with nonsocial objects (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, 10.5‐month‐olds were once again exposed to the same emotionally negative and positive voices. However, no visual characters were present. At test, infants’ visual orientation controlled how long they heard the neutral versions of each voice. Here, infants listened longer to the neutral voice of the formerly positive speaker. That is, just as in Experiment 1, infants’ preferences for the emotionally neutral test stimuli were shaped by their earlier exposure to emotionally charged recordings of that voice. Our findings provide convergent evidence to suggest that infants possess sophisticated social evaluation abilities, preferring to interact with prosocial over antisocial others.