Role of social welfare in European suicide prevention

Yur'yev A, Värnik A, Värnik P, Sisask M, Leppik L. Role of social welfare in European suicide prevention The aims of this study were to assess the relationship between suicide mortality and social expenditure in 26 European countries, explore attitudes towards welfare systems and their relationship with suicide mortality, and compare attitudes towards welfare provision in Eastern and Western Europe. The World Health Organization suicide data and Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development social expenditure data for 1980–2005 were used. Data on attitudes towards welfare systems were taken from the European Social Survey. Differences between mean scores for attitudes in Western and Eastern European countries were calculated. Correlations between social expenditure and suicide trends were negative in most countries for both genders. Inverse correlations between attitudes towards welfare provision and suicide mortality rates were demonstrated for males only. Differences in attitudes were found between Eastern and Western European countries; for example, confidence in the welfare system was found to be stronger in Western Europe. Higher social expenditure and greater confidence in welfare provision appear to have suicide‐preventive effects.     

Children and global social policy: Exploring the impact of international governmental organisations

Axford N. Children and global social policy: exploring the impact of international governmental organisations International governmental organisations (IGOs) seek to influence child welfare policy and practice in individual sovereign states. But do they succeed and, if so, in what way? This article outlines the nature of selected IGOs' work, explores the nature of their impact and seeks to explain the pattern that emerges. It also notes areas for further research.     

Social Contexts and Coping Strategies of Foreign Wives in Korea: Using a Conceptual Framework of Social Identity Theory

This study aimed to address the social contexts of Korean society in which diverse social interactions of foreign wives take place and to identify coping strategies to construct positive social identities. Social identities are often reconstructed as a result of dynamic interactions with various situations. Using the conceptual framework of social identity theory, this study attempted to uncover the social contexts that shape foreign wives' social identities. This study, using the qualitative approach, selected nine Filipino and Vietnamese participants who were married to Korean men. The data were collected by in‐depth interviews, a focus group with three Vietnamese participants, field notes, participant observation, and photo documents. In the section on study findings, this study addressed Korean social contexts, in which Korean government has been providing a variety of multicultural policies and services for helping foreign wives successfully adapt to Korea. This study also found various forms of stereotypes and discrimination against foreign wives and presented their discrimination experiences. Diverse ways to cope with such negative experiences are presented in the last section. Given the findings, the researcher suggests that policies and programs should promote foreign wives' integration in Korean society.     

Close encounters: Exclusion and marginalization as an intersubjective experience

The following paper will review current writings in intersubjective literature in order to examine how the issues of race and ethnicity color the therapeutic encounter in relation to paradigms of power and authority, transference, and countertransference and the “ethnic third.” It will then use two case vignettes to illustrate that therapists and clients coming from different cultural and ethnic groups can find ways to bridge their differences around race and culture through mutual experiences of exclusion and marginalization. The vignettes will illustrate some of the intersubjective interplays that are possible through the use of cultural rituals and symbols, both in order to form an empathie connection and in order to examine how race and culture shape the therapeutic relationship.     

扩张的中国高等教育：教育质量与社会分层

本文利用2011年首都高校生发展状况调查的数据,分析北京高校学生的分层现状,并讨论了1999年高等教育扩张对大学生入学和就业分层的影响,发现这一轮扩张强化了社会阶层的复制而非再生产。一方面,在其他条件不变的情况下,来自社会优势阶层家庭的学生有更大概率进入具有更好教育质量的精英院校,这说明中国高等教育在这一时期具有排他性的特征;家庭的社会阶层背景对子女教育分层的影响在中学阶段更加明显;家庭背景对专业选择没有显著影响。另一方面,在控制家庭社会经济背景的影响后,教育质量与学生选择市场化部门就业的概率和工作起薪显著正相关。如果高等教育扩张降低了教育质量,就可能削弱高等教育对社会阶层流动的促进作用。     

障碍研究论述与社会参与：无障碍、通用设计、能力与差异

障碍研究在过去40年的发展奠定了其对公共政策影响的基础。障碍者社会参与的责任逐渐由以往个人承担与调适,转向社会与国家承担。本文简述西方国家障碍研究的两个主要论述--社会模式与普同主义取向,对比这两个主要论述所衍生出的政策：由早期的无障碍设施到通用设计,至最近的能力取向。障碍者参与社会生活与活动是其基本权利的一部分,这项权利内涵具有积极性,需要政府与社会投入资源,改善外部社会结构与环境,使环境对障碍者更为友善,为其社会参与权利提供保障。     

社会网络对生活满意度的影响研究——基于京、沪、粤三地的分析

本研究以2008年和2009年在北京市、上海市和广东省进行的“中国家庭追踪调查”的数据为基础,运用多层线性模型和协方差模型探讨了社会网络对生活满意度的影响程度。研究表明,拜年网中朋友的比例、邻里互动频率和非正式社会参与都对生活满意度有积极影响,生活满意度与拜年网规模之间则呈现出“∩”型的相关关系。协方差分析结果表明,社会网络规模的扩大、朋友比例的上升和非正式社会参与频率的增加都有助于提高个人的生活满意度,但邻里互动频率的变化对个人生活满意度的提升作用还有待进一步的研究。     

Continuity in Children's Relations with Peers

Social competence with peers of 55 (27 girls) children was examined from ages one to nine. In the toddler and preschool periods, social competence with peers was observed and rated by independent observers and rated by teachers. Teachers reported on children's social competence with peers at age nine. Children who engaged in more complex play with peers as toddlers were more prosocial, engaged in complex play, were less withdrawn as preschoolers, and were less aggressive and withdrawn as nine-year-olds. Children who were more aggressive and withdrawn as preschoolers were more aggressive as nine-year-olds.     

Linking the university and the social agency in collaborative evaluation research: principles and examples

This paper presents an analysis of components of successful social work evaluation research practice. Among the key obstacles to successful evaluations of social work intervention are the impoverished knowledge base on which many social work interventions are based, the isolation of researchers and practitioners in the conduct of evaluations, and during research implementation failure to cope with the changing field context. To remedy this situation social work needs to invest in university and social agency partnerships focussed on knowledge building for the profession. In such partnerships the traditional roles of the researcher and the practitioner are altered so that shared responsibility for knowledge development is possible. In addition, to deal with changing field contexts the research team needs to be continuously engaged in problem solving and redesign. An initial example of such a partnership is described together with a case study illustrating implementation of a multi-site field experiment evaluation.     

Disciplinary research agendas and institutional arrangements for evaluation research

An evaluation agenda for social work to strengthen the research foundations for practice requires more replication, an extension of the range of outcomes it is possible to study and a narrowing of the gap between research, policy and practice. Enlarging understanding of social work's political functions and its relationship to welfare entails research programmes, strongly rooted in the social sciences, which include analysis of community interventions, social work's regulating and mediating functions, and exploration of the personal and social circumstances of those who achieve success and well-being despite their vulnerabilities and limited life chances.Universities, independent research institutions and social work agencies are the necessary locations for this substantial and diverse agenda.