The Development of a Screening Tool for the Adult Children of Alcoholics Traits (STACAT)

In order to develop a valid tool for screening the traits of adult children of alcoholics (ACOA), this study focused on finding common characteristics among ACOA and developing a tool based on those characteristics. An item pool was generated targeting three distinct characteristics discussed in the alcohol literature related to ACOA, and the items were reviewed by a panel of experts. Using data from the sample, a confirmatory factor analysis, t -test and correlation analysis were conducted to gather various validity evidences for the screening tool. Cronbach's coefficient alpha test was used to check the internal consistency of the tool. The evidence of the reliability and validity for the ACOA traits screening tool provide the social work practice with an empirically validated method of measuring these traits in the children of alcoholics.     

The power series distribution wite unknown truncation parameter: Two sample problem

The uniformly most powerful unbiased tests are formulated for the two sample problem of the power series distribution with unknown truncation parameter.     

Types of stressors and bullying perpetration among female adolescents in Korea

ABSTRACT

Research concerning bullying among female adolescents in Korea remains extremely limited. This study examined the impact of three different types of stressors (family stress, friendship stress, and school stress) on bullying perpetration among Korean female adolescents. Five middle schools were randomly selected from 11 schools in Pyeongtaek, Korea. Participants in the study were 374 female students in 7–9th grade. A linear regression analysis based on the different types of stressors was conducted. Findings indicate that family and school related stressors were significantly associated with bullying perpetration. Results supported Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory. Interventions to decrease family stress and school stress are supported for Korean female adolescents engaged in bullying perpetration.     

Commercially arranged marriage and the negotiation of citizenship rights among Vietnamese marriage migrants in multiracial Singapore

Globalization and increased mobilities have multiplied cross-border transactions not only in the economic sphere but have also a major impact on human relationships of intimacy. This can be seen in the increased volume of differently mediated forms of international marriage, not just straddling ‘east’ and ‘west’, but within Asia and across different ethnicities and nationalities. International marriage raises a host of social issues for countries of origin and destination, including challenges relating to the citizenship status and rights of the marriage migrant. This paper examines the negotiation of citizenship rights in the case of commercially matched marriage migrants – namely Vietnamese women who marry Singaporean men and migrate to Singapore as ‘foreign brides’. While they are folded into the ‘family’ – what is often thought of as the basic building block of the nation in Asian societies – they are not necessarily accorded full incorporation into the ‘nation’ despite Singapore's claims to multiculturalism. This is particularly salient at a point when cross-nationality, cross-ethnicity marriages between Singapore citizens and non-citizens are on the increase, accounting for over a third of marriages registered in Singapore in recent years. Vietnamese women who marry Singaporeans are positioned within the nation-state's citizenship regime as dependents of Singaporean men, having to rely on the legitimacy of the marriage relationship as well as the whims of their husbands in negotiating their rights vis-à-vis the Singapore state. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic work with 20 Vietnamese women who are commercially matched marriage migrants, the paper first focuses on the vulnerable positions these women find themselves, particularly given difficulties in forging their own support networks as well as weaknesses of the civil society sector in what has been called an ‘illiberal democracy’ characterized by a political culture of ‘non-resistance’. The paper then goes on to examine the way they negotiate rights to residency/citizenship, work and children within webs of asymmetrical power relations within the family and the nation-state. We draw on our findings to show that citizenship is ‘a terrain of struggle’ within a multicultural nation-state shaped by social ideologies of gender, race and class and negotiated on an everyday basis within spheres of family intimacy.     

Quantifying the similarity of 2D images using edge pixels: an application to the forensic comparison of footwear impressions

We propose a novel method to quantify the similarity between an impression (Q) from an unknown source and a test impression (K) from a known source. Using the property of geometrical congruence in the impressions, the degree of correspondence is quantified using ideas from graph theory and maximum clique (MC). The algorithm uses the x and y coordinates of the edges in the images as the data. We focus on local areas in Q and the corresponding regions in K and extract features for comparison. Using pairs of images with known origin, we train a random forest to classify pairs into mates and non-mates. We collected impressions from 60 pairs of shoes of the same brand and model, worn over six months. Using a different set of very similar shoes, we evaluated the performance of the algorithm in terms of the accuracy with which it correctly classified images into source classes. Using classification error rates and ROC curves, we compare the proposed method to other algorithms in the literature and show that for these data, our method shows good classification performance relative to other methods. The algorithm can be implemented with the R package shoeprintr.     

Pathways from workplace flexibility to turnover intention: Role of work–family conflict,family–work conflict,and job satisfaction

This study examined the prevalence of workplace flexibility and the mechanisms that allow workplace flexibility to influence turnover intentions through work–family and family–work conflicts and job satisfaction among low‐wage workers in South Korea. Participants included 250 low‐wage workers whose monthly salary was less than 2 million Korean won (approx. $1,900). The study results indicate that low‐wage workers have limited access to workplace flexibility and that workplace flexibility plays a significant protective role in reducing their turnover intention, indirectly by decreasing work–family conflicts and enhancing job satisfaction. This article also discusses the implications of these findings for labor policy and social work practice.     

The 2015 welfare reform of the National Basic Livelihood Security System in South Korea: Effects on economic outcomes

In July 2015, South Korea’s National Basic Livelihood Security System (NBLSS) was reformed for the purposes of eliminating welfare blind spots and reducing poverty. The reform is expected to affect the recipients’ economic behaviours and choices. In this study, we used changes in benefits and eligibility for the NBLSS under the customised benefit system to identify the effects of the change in the NBLSS on a proposed set of economic outcomes – income, labour supply, consumption, savings, poverty reduction. To estimate the effects, we used data from the 10th–12th waves of the Korea Welfare Panel Study and employed a difference‐in‐differences framework integrated with the propensity scores. We found that the NBLSS helps the poor to reduce financial and material hardships through income and consumption increments, but that it does not provide disincentives to the recipients from participating in the labour market or from saving.     

A qualitative case study of a Korean former addict’s existential self‐interpretation and identity transformation

This study explored the case of a former addict, focusing on his existential self‐interpretation and identity transformation process. This study began from the question of whether philosophical processes related to existential self‐interpretation could lead to the formation of the concept of bottoming out and of identity transformation. To answer this question, the study analyzed the case of a male in his mid‐forties who was addicted to drugs for approximately 30 years and has only recently maintained abstinence. The study used the phenomenological approach to determine the meaning drugs held for him in each stage, and what drug‐related identity he had in each stage. Further, this study identified the integrative implications of these meanings in terms of existential self‐interpretation and identity transformation. The four different identities the man identified for the four stages of his life were juvenile delinquent, gang member, half‐gangster, and breadwinner, and the associated meanings drugs had for him during each period were “glue,” “filthy,” “leeches,” and “abstinence,” respectively. Finally, this study elucidated the integration of these meanings through the hermeneutic circle, identified the social welfare implications of the findings, and developed educational recommendations.