Conflict,regression, and narcissistic defenses in the underachieving adolescent

Underachievement in a group of adolescent students is conceptualized as an attempt to manage anxiety stemming from an array of oedipal conflicts around success and competitionand preoedipal conficts around autonomy and dependency. Many students defend against oedipal and pre-oedipal anxieties by regressing to a safer passive-dependent position of avoiding competition and autonomous functioning in the academic arena. Narcissistic defenses also allow them to deny the oedipal fear of punishment through imagined omnipotence and invulnerability, and the pre-oedipal fear of loss of love through illusions of self-sufficiency. Both the defensive regression and narcissism then lead to further academic diffuculties for these students.She is a doctoral candidate at Smith College School for Social Work     

Segmented Labor Markets in Alabama's Pulp and Paper Industry1

Abstract Alabama's forest products industry plays a dominant role in the state's rural economy. Examination of how access to employment opportunities is distributed provides insight into how the benefits of this industry are distributed. Based on a combination of available secondary data and semi-structured interviews with management and workers in the pulp and paper sector of Alabama's forest products industry, a clear picture of segmented labor markets emerges in which structural and cultural factors determine access to certain jobs. The evolution of these highly segmented labor markets is traced from deep roots in racial discrimination to contemporary efforts in support of affirmative action. Increased use of sub-contracting in logging, hauling, and mill work represents the most recent change affecting the structure of labor markets associated with the production of pulp and paper.     

An Exploration of Common Elements in Dialectical Behavior Therapy,Mentalization Based Treatment and Transference Focused Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder

A number of leading practice models have been found to be effective in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). These include Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Transference Focused Psychotherapy and Mentalization Based Treatment. This article reviews the current evidence for these dominant practice models, and concludes that no single treatment has been found to be consistently superior in the treatment of BPD. Given the lack of evidence priviledging one single model of treatment, and the fact that it is not always feasible or desirable for social workers to practice using pure manualized treatment models, there is a need to develop more integrative approaches to treatment with this vulnerable population. By highlighting specific similarities and differences between practice techniques, this paper attempts to pave the way toward developing a more integrative treatment approach to working with individuals with BPD, an approach where interventions are selected based on appraisal of the evidence, clinical expertise, and client need.     

Temporally stable and distinct fish assemblages between stream and earthen stormwater drain reaches in an urban watershed

Streams and rivers have essential roles in landscape connectivity; however, urban watersheds are frequently modified to drain stormwater from urban areas. To determine whether an earthen stormwater drain in an urban landscape provides fish habitat temporally, we compared the fish assemblage among three reaches of a contiguous urbanized watershed in Kanata, Ontario, Canada. Watts Creek is connected to an earthen municipal surface stormwater drain (herein Kizell Drain), before discharging into the Ottawa River. We delineated transects in three reaches of the system, in Watts, in the Drain, and below their confluence (Main) and assessed the fish community using single-pass electrofishing repeated across eight months covering all seasons. Fish community composition was compared among reaches using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and permutated multivariate analyses of variance (perMANOVA). Sign association tests identified indicator species driving assemblage patterns among reaches. Redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to assess the influence of physical characteristics of the transects on fish assemblage structure. Finally, fish assemblage measures were separated by month and temporal comparisons of fish assemblage were performed with NMDS and perMANOVA. Over the year, fish assemblages were distinct among the three reaches, and appear to be significantly influenced by temperature, undercut banks, and riparian vegetation type. Biotic homogenization in the Drain can be attributed to degraded physical features associated with channel modification in stormwater drains. Despite management and jurisdictional differences between streams and stormwater drains, evidence that earthen stormwater drains can maintain fish assemblages temporally demonstrates their biological potential and need to be considered as interconnected fish habitat elements within the overall watershed.     

Translating Racial Genomics: Passages in and Beyond the Lab

While qualitative studies of science have traditionally focused on sciences as bounded cultures, or cohesive communities that operate in well-defined research settings, Actor-Network Theory (ANT) helps to envision the complex processual formation of scientific associations across a diverse array of social entities and sites. Using the case of race and health disparities research in genetic science, this article explores how ANT’s emphasis on agentic symmetry, and the translation of interests between humans and nonhumans, makes visible the multiplicity of agencies and research institutes that, guided by the US federal government’s Directive No. 15, marshaled genomics to construct race as a social problem. It also examines the multiplicity of methodological strategies such an analysis entails. Here, qualitative analysis of government regulations, policy councils, funding mechanisms, scientific practices, and statements from key scientists in elite biomedical positions is used to show how it came to be that racial governance became an “obligatory passage point” for scientists, and, in a second movement, that genomics became an obligatory passage point for conceiving large-scale analysis of racial stratification. Yet, going beyond current conceptions of ANT, I consider how tracing translation in and beyond the lab can expose a third multiplicity: the multiplicity of obligatory passage points in a given network. I argue that ANT, taken to its logical end, involves study of a plurality of mutually reinforcing actors that co-constitute one another and synergistically push collective agendas.     

Blueprint for Creating a Social Work-Centered Disaster Relief Initiative

Abstract

The damage to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina and the resulting need for comprehensive and sustained assistance to affected communities and families revealed limitations in conventional disaster responses. A blueprint for creating a disaster relief initiative was developed by a school of social work and a local human service organization. This, then, became the impetus for creating a three-stage, family-focused, extended disaster relief initiative. Using ecological theory and service-learning as frameworks, the initiative helped address the needs of families who moved to Athens, Georgia in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The responsive, adaptable, and sustainable nature of this model in addressing both immediate and long-term needs of the families is presented. Process evaluation and data on the helpfulness of the model by stakeholders who participated in the project are also provided. Implications are directed to social workers, educators, helping professionals, and policymakers who respond to such disasters .     

The cultural tailoring of a substance use prevention curriculum for American Indian youth

In this article we discuss the importance of the cultural tailoring (CT) of classroom-based prevention curricula to ensure their relevance to, and increase their receptivity by, racial and ethnic minority adolescent populations. Following a review of the pertinent literature, we develop an integrated model of CT that conceptualizes such adaptations into "superficial/ peripheral," "deep structure/sociocultural," and "evidential," and subclassifies the first of these into "language" and "images." We then describe the results of the application of this model post hoc to the adaptation of a specific alcohol use prevention curriculum, "Protecting You/Protecting Me," to enhance its suitability for youth in three American Indian tribes in Nebraska. We conclude with a discussion of the adequacy of the model of CT we developed and the potential challenges and benefits of subjecting other curricula to this process.     

大型购物中心对泰国小型零售商影响的比较研究

简要介绍了泰国零售业的发展历程,从位置、商品、价格、通讯、店铺、服务、运作成本7个方面论述了大型购物中心的优势,分析了大型购物中心对小型零售商和当地经济的影响,最后提出了进一步研究的问题和方法.