Trauma and stress among older adults in the criminal justice system: a review of the literature with implications for social work

The purpose of this article was to review the empirical literature that investigated trauma and stress among older adults in the criminal justice system. Nineteen journal articles published between 1988 and 2010 were identified and extracted via research databases and included mixed age samples of adjudicated older and younger adults (n = 11) or older adult only samples (n = 8). Findings revealed past and current trauma and stress, consequences and/or correlates, and internal and external coping resources among aging offenders. The implications and future directions for gerontological social work, research, and policy with older adults in the criminal justice system are advanced.     

Assisting older victims of disasters: roles and responsibilities for social workers

The tumultuous catastrophic tragedies of the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 and September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon have caused urgency for the profession of social work to be ready to respond to unexpected crises whether directed to an individual, group, or nation. While there has always been the possibility of tragedies in the U.S. caused by nature (so-called "acts of God") or the spontaneous or planned acts of criminals or the deranged, the increased awareness of catastrophes includes, as never before, disasters that are perpetrated by terrorist acts from within or outside of the U.S. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security, in 2003, underscores the need for awareness and for preparation on the part of the nation. Based upon its skills and values, social workers have significant roles to play in the face of potential and actual disasters; yet, gerontological social workers have additional responsibilities for addressing the needs of older persons. It is the purpose of this article to provide an overview of issues to be considered by social workers, in general, and gerontological social workers, in particular, with regard to preparation for possible disasters and the consequences from such catastrophes that affect older persons.     

ON THE SENSITIVITY OF BRAND-CHOICE SIMULATIONS TO ATTRIBUTE IMPORTANCE WEIGHTS

This paper critically reviews the report by Green, DeSarbo, and Kedia “on the insensitivity of brand-choice simulations to attribute importance weights”. The review suggests that results from two of their four weight distortion conditions should be viewed with suspicion and that their procedure for selecting brand scores biased the sensitivity analysis and inflated individual-level hit rates. The most unfortunate problem is that their simulation-experimental design precludes a global test of the main research issue. Results are presented from an alternative simulation approach that has the power to detect the sensitivity of brand shares to a wide range of conditions that affect the shape of attribute weight distributions. The results suggest that conclusions of Green, DeSarbo, and Kedia apply only to a limited domain and would not obtain in many likely market situations. Extensions to nonadditive decision structures are suggested and several unresolved issues are outlined.     

Parenting is genetically influenced: What does that mean for research into child and adolescent social development?

Individual differences in child and adolescent social development are due to a combination of variation in genetic propensity and environmental conditions. That is, variation in social domains like bullying-victimization, loneliness and pro- and antisocial behaviour is genetically influenced to a substantial extent. That is not to say that social contexts also do not play an important role in shaping social development. Indeed, parenting and parent–child relationship quality have been associated with various aspects of social development. What complicates matters is that environmental conditions – including parenting – are under genetic influence as well. Genetic influence on parenting has not received sufficient attention in the literature on social development although it likely biases estimates of parental effects on offspring social development. To change this situation, I review recent twin and molecular research on genetic influence on parenting and discuss why genetically-informed studies improve and enrich contemporary research into social development. The aim of this topic review is to provide an accessible introduction to genetics of parenting and encourage genetically-informed research into social development.     

Developmental deviations in happy victimization across early childhood predict behavioral adjustment in middle childhood

This study examined whether the development of happy victimizing (HV) from early to middle childhood predicted prosocial and aggressive behaviors 3 years later. Participants included 150 children (50% female, M_age at study onset = 4.53 years) and their parents at four annual time points. At each time point, semi-structured interviews were conducted to assess children's emotional expectations after committing hypothetical transgressions. Child and parent reports of children's prosocial behaviors and aggression were provided at the beginning and end of the study. Children who experienced faster declines in HV reported higher prosocial behaviors 3 years later, controlling for initial levels of prosocial behaviors. Children who exhibited increases or lesser declines in HV reported higher aggression at the study end. The development of HV was not related significantly to parent reports of prosocial behaviors and aggression in middle childhood. Findings confirm theorizing on the normative developmental trajectory of HV and suggest that deviations in HV across early childhood may partially explain later behavioral adjustment.     

Interventions in child welfare: A Swedish inventory

In Swedish child welfare, there are no mandatory guidelines on what interventions to use. Local authorities are able to set their own criteria for implementing or designing interventions. We carried out a survey to identify interventions in use in Children's Social Services and Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Care in Sweden. A total of 102 interventions were stated to have been in use, with between 31 and 45 different interventions for each of the four different child welfare populations. Of the 102 interventions, 56 were designed outside Sweden and later imported. Only 27 interventions were supported with some kind of research evidence. About half of the interventions targeted the child. Possible implications for practice and research are discussed.