Parental Depression in the Context of Divorce and the Impact on Children

The impact of divorce on children has been well documented over the past 30 years. Divorcing parents who are also experiencing clinical depression often have a compromised ability to parent well and to give the children needed support. Children are then impacted both by the divorce itself and the effects of parental depression. They are at higher risk of numerous problems including poorer physical health, deficits in academic performance not attributable to intellectual limitations, poor social functioning, conduct disorder and other disruptive behavior problems, phobias, and other anxiety disorders. Because children of depressed parents are at higher risk for depression themselves, they should be monitored for depressive symptoms. If there are concerns, the child should be assessed by a mental health professional.     

The Illusions and Juxtapositions of Commercial Sexual Exploitation among Youth: Identifying Effective Street-Outreach Strategies

To explore sexually exploited youths' perspectives of how street outreach workers can effectively provide outreach and connections to services, we conducted qualitative interviews with 13 female participants, ages 14 to 22, in a Midwest U.S. city. Participants reported multiple types of exploitation, most first exploited by age 13, plus substance use and recurrent homelessness. Nearly all had a pimp, and all used the internet as a venue for sexual exploitation. Participants wanted outreach workers to use “soft words” to refer to exploitation. They expressed contradictory images of their “boyfriend” pimps and their exploitation. They wanted outreach workers to “provide resources,” “be nonjudgmental,” “listen,” and “care.” Street outreach can be one way to support sexually exploited youth but should occur in multiple settings.     

Child Abuse Prevention During Infancy: Intervention Implications for Caregivers' Attitudes Toward Emotion Regulation

Increasing numbers of states are in the process of passing laws requiring all new parents to receive educational materials to prevent shaken baby syndrome (SBS). These laws create powerful opportunities to reach large numbers of families with an important prevention effort. Results from the effort to raise SBS awareness described here indicate that not only is the content of SBS prevention (e.g., consequences of shaking; emotion regulation/coping skills; safety planning) an important consideration; so too is the approach any given prevention program utilizes. By incorporating social work theory on family-centered practice, social workers, home visitors, and other prevention professionals strengthen the likelihood of having a meaningful impact on caregivers' safe strategies for coping with the frustrations of caring for an infant.     

The Impact of Emotions on Practicum Learning

Nine mature aged, experienced practitioners enrolled to gain a BSW qualification in social work were interviewed regarding a course requirement to complete the first placement. At the time of interview no recognition of prior learning for previous experience in the field was made possible for these students. As educators we had experienced considerable hostility from students who believed they should be exempt from completing this course requirement. This paper reports on interviews with the nine students, where we consider how student sentiment about completing the practice learning component might impact upon their learning experience. As anticipated, some students expressed strong negative views about being on placement. However, others were much more positive about the experience. These mixed views prompted us to explore further the relationship between emotion and practice learning. The article begins with a review of the literature concerning mature student engagement with tertiary education, followed by an overview of theory and research related to the ways feelings and emotion influence learning. Using passages from the interviews, expressions of participant anxiety, anger and excitement about the practicum are discussed with the view to extending discourse about practicum learning to include consideration of emotional intelligence and investment.     

Gender and Aging in the Developing World: Where Are the Men?

In recent years, both population aging and gender issues have gained prominence in international forums concerned with population. It is frequently asserted or implied that older women are universally more vulnerable to social, economic, and health disadvantages than older men. The most significant manifestation of this exclusive concern with women when considering gender and aging is the Plan of Action adopted by the Second World Assembly on Aging in 2002. The assumed relative disadvantage of elderly women is commonly attributed to gender differences in earlier life experiences. But are older women truly disadvantaged globally with respect to all or most essential aspects of well‐being? The authors provide empirical evidence that clearly shows that older women are not invariably disadvantaged vis‐à‐vis men. In particular, they call into question the wisdom and equity of a virtually exclusive emphasis on the needs of women when incorporating gender concerns into policies and programs related to aging. A more balanced perspective that recognizes gender as a potential, but not necessarily central, marker of vulnerability for various aspects of well‐being in specific settings and times, and that allows for male as well as female disadvantage, would serve the current and future elderly generations far better.     

Repairing the nest: A psychodynamic developmental approach to clients with severe behavior disorders

In this article, the authors explicate concepts from psychodynamic developmental theory that can foster affirmative assessment and intervention with clients who have developmental disabilities and present severe behavior disorders. A case example illustrates how making bonding the primary goal of intervention appears to facilitate positive behavior change in these clients while reducing feelings of helplessness and discouragement in their caregivers.     

The Career-Personal Dichotomy: Perceptual Reality,Practical Illusion,and Workplace Integration

The implicit definitions we give to career and personal counseling reflect a dichotomy between the two areas of research and practice. The field's research focus and counseling trainees' early practice experience probably reinforce the idea that career counseling is prototypically concerned with young adult career choice. A case study of targeted coaching in business is presented to illustrate how career and personal issues are intertwined in adult career adjustment.     

Cohabitation and social background: Trends observed for Swedish women born between 1936 and 1960

This paper throws some light on changing family-building patterns in Sweden during the 1960s and 1970s. The family-building events analyzed are first informal cohabitation, first marriage, birth of first child (both outside a union and within a consensual union), and separations from childless informal cohabitation. Results from three previous studies are first summarized. These analyze the patterns by socio-economic and regional origin, applying multiple-decrement techniques separately for each background factor. The new results presented here are based on analyses that use multiplicative hazard models, permitting isolation of the effects of socio-economic background and region of childhood and adolescence respectively. It is generally found that socio-economic background is more important than the region where the woman grew up. Marriage intensities, however, which exhibit a clear regional pattern, are exceptions to this.     

Who is responsible for household tasks in long term marriages of the “young-old” elderly?

Little is known about the way in which golden anniversary couples divide the responsibility for household tasks. This article examines the division of responsibility for 12 households tasks within a sample of 18 couples. At least one partner is under 75 years of age, the findings indicate that these young-old couples have developed interdependent, gender differentiated divisions of household tasks, although they share several tasks. There is congruence between what they expect and how they actually divide the responsibility for household tasks.