Child safety at reunification: A case-control study of maltreatment recurrence following return home from substitute care

When considering reunification, child welfare caseworkers are faced with the difficult challenge of predicting which caretakers will be able to provide a safe environment for their children once they return home. Unfortunately, although an increasing number of studies have examined maltreatment recurrence during investigation and following case opening, little is known about the factors that predict maltreatment recurrence following reunification. Using a case-control design and information gathered from a child welfare administrative database and client case records, the current study examined the factors that predict short-term (i.e., within 60 days) maltreatment recurrence among 174 families with children returning home from their first stay in substitute care. From a variety of child, caretaker, placement, family environment, and service provision characteristics, seven variables uniquely added to the prediction of maltreatment recurrence: 1) child age, 2) caretaker mental illness, 3) number of placements, 4) type of placement, 5) length of time in placement, 6) number of children in the home at reunification, and 7) the interaction between household structure at reunification and the presence of siblings returned home with the index child. The implications of these findings for child welfare practice and future research are discussed in detail.     

The face of repressive coping: Social context and the display of hostile expressions and social smiles

The present study examined the nonverbal correlates of repressive coping, extending previous research in two ways: (1) participants' nonverbal behaviors were observed in either of two conditions that differed with respect to the salience of public identity; (2) an anatomically-based facial coding system was used to assess participants' emotion expressions and symbolic communication behaviors. Sixty female undergraduates, classified as repressive, low-anxious, or high-anxious, were videotaped during the preparation and delivery of a self-disclosing speech. During both the preparation and delivery, the salience of participants' public identities was either minimized (low-salience condition) or maximized (high-salience condition). Repressors and nonrepressors exhibited similar frequencies of hostile facial expressions. Repressors differed from nonrepressors by their frequent expressions of social smiles and conversational illustrators when their public selves were most salient. These findings suggest that certain symbolic communication behaviors may be nonverbal analogues of cognitive coping processes, and they support the utility of including expressive behaviors in conceptualizations of emotion-focused coping.     

Differentiation Levels of College Students: Effects on Vocational Identity and Career Decision Making

This study assessed the effects of differentiation levels on the career development of college students. Participants were 231 college students who completed the Differentiation of Self Inventory (Skowron & Friedlander, 1998 ), My Vocational Situation (Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980 ), the Career Decision Profile (CDP; Jones & Lohmann, 1998 ), and demographic questions. The results supported the hypotheses that higher levels of the various components of differentiation would predict higher levels of vocational identity and fewer difficulties with career decision making. In particular, lower levels of emotional cutoff and emotional reactivity and higher levels of “I position” predicted higher levels of vocational identity and career decision making. Results suggest a more complicated picture for fusion, with higher levels being predictive of lower levels of decisiveness but not significantly related to vocational identity. Implications of the results for career counselors are provided.     

Coming to Terms With Parental Divorce: Associations With Marital Outcomes and the Role of Gender and Religiosity

In this article we examine the current marriage relationship outcomes for children of divorce compared to children from intact families. The sample is 997 matched married couples. Those from families with married parents were more likely to come to terms with issues in their family of origin, and had higher religiosity, less negative communication, and more positive relationship satisfaction than those with divorced parents. Religiosity was effective in helping those with married parents come to terms with family of origin. The variable coming to terms with family of origin predicted positive marital outcomes to some extent for all couples, although for couples where both partners' parents had divorced coming to terms predicted fewer positive outcomes. Coming to terms for females was associated more profoundly with decreases in negative communication for both males and the females, and also predicted satisfaction and stability in more cases than did coming to terms for males.     

What is Old is New Again: Achieving Effectiveness with Volunteer Programs in Kazakhstan

Abstact This study based on Kazakhstan nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is the first to address the important issue of the relationship between volunteer management and volunteer program effectiveness in an international setting. Our inquiry is informed by findings of US scholars that show that the adoption of a recommended set of volunteer management practices is related to the level of effectiveness achieved with volunteer involvement in NPOs. The paper advances a path model to explain volunteer program effectiveness, with volunteer management practices the crucial intermediate variable. Based on data collected in a survey of Almaty (Kazakhstan) NPOs in 2004, the empirical analysis yields considerable support for a path model that focuses on both the adoption of these practices and the attainment of program effectiveness. Given the heterogeneity of NPOs, not every organization can be expected to benefit from the adoption of the recommended practices. Nevertheless, results suggest that they offer one workable means for successfully integrating volunteers.     

Supporting the emotional and psychological well being of sexual minority youth: Youth ideas for action

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) populations are susceptible to stress-related mental health disorders because of daily imposed stigma and prejudice. Yet minimal information exists from the perspective of sexual minority youth about how to support them in managing a challenging social environment during critical stages of development. Through the lens of youth from two geographic communities this study examined what is needed to support GLBT adolescent mental health. The study employed inductive secondary analysis of qualitative and quantitative data gathered through Concept Mapping needs assessments. Findings include 61 unduplicated ideas for support across the two groups of youth; 14 primary themes emerged with 22 stated needs common among both groups. Areas of need in multiple service systems are identified. The importance of the supports for meeting youths' emotional needs varied between the two communities. Ideas generated represent youth ideas for improving conditions which contribute to disparate community supports needed to develop positive emotional and psychological well being. The findings are conceptualized with regard to psychological and physical safety; community impact on emotional well being; schools and psychosocial supports; and access to relevant mental health and health care. Discussion includes implications for practice and policy.     

Portuguese healthcare reforms in the context of crisis: External pressure or domestic choice?

As a result of the recent economic crisis, in 2011, Portugal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund (the “Troika”). In exchange for Troika's financial assistance, the Memorandum required the implementation of a specific set of reforms targeted at the healthcare sector. The literature on policy reforms in the context of crisis and conditionality argues that governments have restricted room to manoeuver in responding to external pressure. We challenge this view, finding that even in cases of conditionality and strong external pressures, crisis can be used as a window of opportunity for reforms substantially shaped by domestic policy choices. In the case of Portuguese health reforms, these choices were based on pre‐existing reform plans aimed on resolving country‐specific deficiencies of the healthcare system and were enabled by the two main political parties' strategies of tacit cooperation and blame avoidance. The article emphasizes the need for more fine‐grained analysis of welfare reforms in the crisis that pays equal attention to the institutional characteristics and the political context of the affected countries.