Outcomes of specialized foster care in a managed child welfare services network

This study (N = 384) presents results from outcome measurement in a services network providing specialized foster care (SFC) to children in child protective service custody. A majority of participants improved on most outcomes. Global improvement was associated with increased length of stay up to two years, five months, and with younger age, fewer problems, and, paradoxically, the presence of a trauma history. Results suggest the value of SFC within managed services and of research using outcome measurement systems.     

Female adolescent smoking: a Delphi study on best prevention practices

The present researchers used a multi-wave Delphi methodology to determine what 14 knowledgeable substance abuse professionals believe are the most appropriate smoking prevention practices for female adolescents. While there was some agreement with the emerging literature, particularly on weight control issues and parental involvement, there was also endorsement of items that appear to be equally salient for both males and females. While the panelists generally acknowledged differential risk factors for females, and the need for prevention programming around these risk factors, more research on gender specific programming is needed before prevention experts are ready to agree on clear and specific practices for adolescent females.     

Characteristics of adolescents who provide neither parental consent nor refusal for participation in school-based survey research

Schools offer a convenient setting for research on adolescents. However, obtaining active written parental consent is difficult. In a 6th-grade smoking study, students were recruited with two consent procedures: active consent (parents must provide written consent for their children to participate) and implied consent (children may participate unless their parents provide written refusal). Of 4,427 invited students, 3,358 (76%) provided active parental consent, 420 (9%) provided active parental refusal, and 649 (15%) provided implied consent (parental nonresponse). The implied consent procedure recruited more boys, African Americans, students with poor grades, and smokers. This dual-consent procedure is useful for collecting some limited data from students who do not provide active consent or refusal.     

Harsh Physical Discipline in Childhood and Violence in Later Romantic Involvements: The Mediating Role of Problem Behaviors

This study examines the impact that experiencing harsh physical discipline in childhood and engaging in problem behaviors during adolescence and young adulthood have on experiencing and perpetrating intimate violence. Using LISREL 7, we tested a model based on social learning theory, Freudian theory, and theories of deviance. The 608 cases analyzed are from a longitudinal study of adolescents conducted in 1982 and 1992–1993. The results suggest that harsh physical punishment in childhood is directly related to greater perpetration of violence against an intimate partner later in life. The enactment of problem behaviors in adolescence and young adulthood was also found to increase the level of perpetration of violence against an intimate partner. In addition, harsh physical punishment in childhood was found to be indirectly but significantly related to increased perpetration via the intervening variables of adolescent and young adult problem behavior. We hypothesized that perpetration and victimization are significantly related to one another bidirectionally, but the results only support that greater levels of perpetration lead to increased levels of victimization.     

Use of the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) in Chinese male patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Purpose: To test the psychometric properties of the International Prostate Symptom Score (Hong Kong Chinese version 2) (IPSS) in Chinese male patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) under secondary care.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was done by interviewing subjects at baseline, at 2 week after baseline for assessing test–retest reliability and at 26 week after baseline for assessing responsiveness. All subjects were interviewed to complete a structured questionnaire including IPSS, Short Form-12 Health Survey version 2 (SF-12v2) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS).

Results: The IPSS HRQOL score had weak correlations with SF-12v2 summary and DASS domain scores. For reliability analysis, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.90 for the seven symptom-related items. The intraclass correlation coefficients of the IPSS total symptom score and HRQOL score were 0.90 and 0.86, respectively. For sensitivity, statistically significant differences were detected between the subjects with BPH and those without for IPSS total symptom score (effect size?=?0.68) but not the IPSS HRQOL score. The areas under ROC curves for the IPSS total symptom and HRQOL scores were 0.67 and 0.60, respectively.

Conclusions: The IPSS was valid, reliable instrument in Chinese patients with BPH. The IPSS total symptom score, but not the HRQOL score, is sensitive in differentiating subgroups.     

Measuring Walsh’s Family Resilience Framework: Reliability and Validity of the Family Resilience Assessment Among Women with a History of Breast Cancer

Walsh’s family resilience framework presents a comprehensive and inclusive lens of family process that may assist clinicians, family service professionals, and health care providers with understanding the functioning of individuals and families in their care. A mechanism for using this framework is needed, as is empirical evidence of its cogency. This article reports on the development of the Family Resilience Assessment, a 29-item survey intended to assess dimensions of Walsh’s framework. The Family Resilience Assessment is presented as a reliable and valid mechanism for assessing the family resilience framework. Results of the use of the survey with women with a history of breast cancer demonstrate that it is a reliable instrument with content and construct validity.     

Transnational migration: taking stock and future directions

Increasing numbers of sending states are systematically offering social and political membership to migrants residing outside their territories. The proliferation of these dual memberships contradicts conventional notions about immigrant incorporation, their impact on sending countries, and the relationship between migration and development in both contexts. But how do ordinary individuals actually live their lives across borders? Is assimilation incompatible with transnational membership? How does economic and social development change when it takes place across borders? This article takes stock of what is known about everyday transnational practices and the institutional actors that facilitate or impede them and outlines questions for future research. In it, I define what I mean by transnational practices and describe the institutions that create and are created by these activities. I discuss the ways in which they distribute migrants’ resources and energies across borders, based primarily on studies of migration to the United States.     

Falling short of the promise: poverty vulnerability in the United States and Britain, 1993-2003

The welfare state promises to moderate the duration and concentration of poverty. The authors ask how well this promise has been fulfilled in the United States and Britain from 1993 to 2003. They examine two aspects of poverty vulnerability during this period of welfare reform: (1) its persistence and associated risk factors and (2) the efficacy of social transfers. After accounting for measurement error, sociodemographic characteristics, and the impact of redistributive programs, the authors find that poverty is often persistent and risk is concentrated, especially in the United States. Moreover, the British safety net appears to better protect those at risk.     

Offending,Substance Use,and Cohabitation in Young Adulthood1

Over half of young adults have cohabited, but relatively little is known about the role delinquency and substance use play in youths’ odds of cohabiting as well as the implications of cohabitation for early adult offending and substance use. This study focuses on the reciprocal relationship between cohabitation during late adolescence and young adulthood and self‐reported offending and substance use. Using longitudinal data, we find that net of traditional predictors, delinquency involvement is associated with increased odds of cohabitation and cohabiting at younger ages while substance use is not related to cohabiting during early adulthood. Further analysis indicates that cohabitation is associated with lower reports of substance use. However, cohabitation is not associated with self‐reported offending. The results help unravel the connection between cohabitation experience, offending and substance use, and early adult outcomes.