How Welfare Policies Affect Adolescents' School Outcomes: A Synthesis of Evidence From Experimental Studies

Using data from 8 random assignment studies and employing meta‐analytic techniques, this article provides systematic evidence that welfare and work policies targeted at low‐income parents have small adverse effects on some school outcomes among adolescents ages 12 to 18 years at follow‐up. These adverse effects were observed mostly for school performance outcomes and occurred in programs that required mothers to work or participate in employment‐related activities and those that encouraged mothers to work voluntarily. The most pronounced negative effects on school outcomes occurred for the group of adolescents who had a younger sibling, possibly because of the increased home and sibling care responsibilities they assumed as their mothers increased their employment.     

Raising the Stakes in Child-at-Risk Cases Eliciting and Maintaining Parents' Motivation

This paper, the third in a series concerned with family therapy in cases involving children at risk of abuse, describes an approach to maximising parents' interest and commitment to therapy. After overviewing the difficulties faced by therapists in working with parents who are notorious for their ‘resistance’, we provide guidelines for minimising the negative consequences of notification and for constructing therapeutic leverage in order to elicit and maintain parents' motivation throughout the course of therapy.     

Measuring Substance Abuse Treatment Need Among Adults in Florida: A Social Indicators Approach

Determining the size and demographiccharacteristics of substance abuse populationsis extremely important for implementing publicpolicies aimed at the control of substanceabuse. Such information not only assists in theallocation of limited treatment resources bythe state, but also in the monitoring ofsubstance abuse trends over time and in theevaluation of innovative policy initiatives. Inthis study, we develop three composite measuresof treatment need. We then use these measuresto estimate treatment need for alcohol abuseand for controlled substance abuse within eachof Florida's 67 counties. This study providesan important empirical component of communityplanning, quantifying and, to a limited degree,specifying the level of need for the substanceabuse treatment of community residents. Anadditional benefit is the development of a costeffective and unobtrusive methodology fordetermining empirically when levels of need arechanging so that treatment levels can beadjusted accordingly. With proper use,policymakers can readily employ the methodologydeveloped in this study in Florida andelsewhere to make better-informed decisions inthe allocation of finite substance abusetreatment resources.     

Vulnerability and Agenda: Context and Process in Project Management

This paper explores how the project management role is conditioned by the context in which change is progressed. The argument draws on Pettigrew's (1985, 1987) contextual and processual view of change, a view which does not clarify the management implications of contextual variation. Using data from a two-stage research design combining diary and survey methods, four context dimensions are identified, concerning ‘interlocking’, ‘shifting sands’, ‘ownership’ and ‘senior management view’. For analytical purposes, two extreme contexts are characterized as exposing the project manager to high and low levels of ‘vulnerability’ respectively. Project management literature typically offers a rational-linear account of change, and concentrates on ‘content’ and ‘control’ agendas, concerning technical expertise on the one hand, and planning, budgeting and monitoring techniques on the other. Sociological analyses reveal the limitations of the rational-linear account, and focus on the political and cultural dimensions of the ‘process’ agenda. The data suggest how contextual variation affects the relative priority of these agendas. The management implications of these findings are explored, for project management selection, career progression, and the development of diagnostic skills and ‘agenda management’ strategies.     

Student perceptions of the danger of drug use: a factor analysis.

Australian secondary school students from three Year levels were asked to rate the danger involved in various uses of alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, marijuana and other illicit drugs. These ratings were then factor analyzed for each Year level. The results showed a more refined discrimination among the older students, with type of drug and frequency of use being important considerations. Familiarity was a major consideration for the younger students. The cognitive factors derived from the data are consistent with expectations based on the gateway theory of drug use.     

Dutch tax simplification: Unique in an international setting?

The Dutch reformed individual income tax was implemented on January 1, 1990. The rationale of the tax reform is described, and the major changes are discussed and compared to developments abroad. As far as rate reduction and base-broadening are concerned, the Netherlands has followed the trend in international tax reforms. The Dutch tax reform process, however, focussed more on simplification than in other Western countries.     

Benefits of preventive dentistry in children: Cost factors and public policy

Dental caries in children is now recognized as a preventable disease. The use of fluoride and sealants has produced a major reduction in caries prevalence among school aged children in the United States and other countries. A portion of the child population who are educationally and socioeconomically disadvantaged are not fully receiving these benefits. Public policy, insurance and medicaid groups must be made aware of these preventative measures and strategies developed to implement them.     

ACCOUNTING PRACTICES AND ORGANIZATIONAL DECISION MAKING

In this paper we argue for the importance of a sociologically informed study of organizational accounting practices. By making the nexus between accounting and decision making problematic, instead of given, we move issues of interpretation and hierarchical control to the center stage of understanding the social construction of accounting practices. We suggest that inductive case studies of the organizational setting is a promising methodological strategy for identifying how accounting operates as an organizational control system. We focus on debates and proceedings of the board of directors as an overlooked source of data on decision making and organizational practices. We show how accounting practices are part of the strategic control system that functions to interpret the environment and direct the adaptation of the organization in a manner particular to the substantive rationality of corporate decision makers. We illustrate these contentions with a case study of accounting practice changes over a six year period.     

Gender-specific changes in students' sexual behaviors and attitudes at a southeastern university between 1973 and 1988.

This study investigated the gender-specific, self-reported sexual behaviors and attitudes of never-married college students attending a southeastern university in 1973 and 1988. Data were collected by means of a mailed questionnaire that remained essentially unchanged for both years. The authors found that both men and women reported an increase in heterosexual relationships that included sexual intercourse and a decrease in nonsexual relationships with the other gender. The majority of the students perceived themselves as adequately informed about sexuality and satisfied with their relationships, although the proportion of men who reported being satisfied with their relationships declined over the 15 years. The students indicated that sexuality education should focus primarily on information about AIDS and on preparation for marriage.