Assimilation or Acculturation Problems of Aboriginal Families

Policies of colonisation and assimilation have had devastating consequences for Aboriginal people. Emphasis must be given to strategies far more diverse than economic development.     

Understanding variation in marital sexual pleasure: an impossible task?

Over the past twenty years, sociologists have begun to explore the social and cultural context within which sexual relationships are constructed and in Western society, given such importance. However, although it is commonly recognised that the contraceptive pill has changed the meaning of sexuality (Giddens, 1992; Ferguson, 1989) comparatively little attention has been paid to locating the level of pleasure married women derive from marital sex within the situational, structural and cultural parameters of their lives. The material in this paper is based on intensive interviews with 60 married women, aged 20–42 years old and randomly selected from the records of general medical practitioners in North London. The paper indicates that methodological squeamishness about the viability of a study of sexual pleasure is unwarranted. It shows that only just over one third of these respondents had a high level of sexual pleasure on the scale devised in the study (weighted kappa=.89). For the most part, such pleasure was not associated with other aspects of the marital relationship. Drawing on illustrative material, it locates such pleasure within the context of their marital and family situation and suggests future lines of enquiry.     

Running Against a Woman: Do Female Opponents Shape Male Candidate Behaviors?*

Objective. The male‐dominated nature of U.S. politics still means that the vast majority of women who run for office face a male opponent. As a result, one dramatic change in U.S. politics—the increase in women candidates—may contribute to another change, that being the experience of men who run for office. The research reported here begins to consider how running against a woman might have influenced the behavior of male candidates for Congress in 2002 and 2006. Past research suggests that men who run against women feel that they need to take steps to appeal to women voters by giving attention to issues of concern to women in their campaigns. Methods. To test the hypothesis that men will alter their attention to women's issues in the face of a woman candidate, I use campaign websites to examine the issue priorities of men who ran against women and compare them to a sample of men who ran against other men. Results. Counter to expectations, I find no evidence that men “play” to women voters through their attention to women's issues and instead demonstrate the relatively limited visibility that men give to these issues when they run against a woman. Conclusions. Running against a woman may have some limited impact on male candidate behaviors, but does not appear to be a significant influence.     

Improving Risk Management: From Lame Excuses to Principled Practice

The three classic pillars of risk analysis are risk assessment (how big is the risk and how sure can we be?), risk management (what shall we do about it?), and risk communication (what shall we say about it, to whom, when, and how?). We propose two complements as important parts of these three bases: risk attribution (who or what addressable conditions actually caused an accident or loss?) and learning from experience about risk reduction (what works, and how well?). Failures in complex systems usually evoke blame, often with insufficient attention to root causes of failure, including some aspects of the situation, design decisions, or social norms and culture. Focusing on blame, however, can inhibit effective learning, instead eliciting excuses to deflect attention and perceived culpability. Productive understanding of what went wrong, and how to do better, thus requires moving past recrimination and excuses. This article identifies common blame‐shifting “lame excuses” for poor risk management. These generally contribute little to effective improvements and may leave real risks and preventable causes unaddressed. We propose principles from risk and decision sciences and organizational design to improve results. These start with organizational leadership. More specifically, they include: deliberate testing and learning—especially from near‐misses and accident precursors; careful causal analysis of accidents; risk quantification; candid expression of uncertainties about costs and benefits of risk‐reduction options; optimization of tradeoffs between gathering additional information and immediate action; promotion of safety culture; and mindful allocation of people, responsibilities, and resources to reduce risks. We propose that these principles provide sound foundations for improving successful risk management.     

Cell Phone Survey Feasibility in The U.S.: Sampling and Calling Cell Numbers Versus Landline Numbers

In 2004, we conducted a nationwide dual frame survey of landlineand cell phone numbers to evaluate the feasibility of includingcell phone numbers in a random digit dial telephone survey.Households with both landline and cell phones were eligiblefor selection in both samples. This article describes our designand data collection methods; compares the results from the twosamples (with an emphasis on operational characteristics); andpresents the outcomes of two experimental manipulations designedto improve the cell phone response rate.     

Rhetoric and Reality of Economic Self-sufficiency Among Rural,Low-Income Mothers: A Longitudinal Study

This study examined the contributions of maternal labor force participation and marital status on economic self-sufficiency over time for rural mothers. Data were from 174 rural families participating in three waves of data collection in Rural Families Speak. χ ² and multiple logistic regression were utilized. Results revealed only one-third of mothers moved toward economic self-sufficiency over three years. Maternal education, employment status, and weekly work hours were associated with improved economic well-being. Compared to single-parent families, unmarried-couple and married-couple families had increased odds of improving economically. In an analysis of all mothers with partners, married or unmarried, martial status was not significant in economic improvement. Findings suggest the role of marriage in welfare reform for rural families should be reconsidered.

Family support in practice: voices from the field

This paper revisits core family support messages for social work practice in working with children and families, linking to findings from high-profile child protection cases in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on a comparative study where these identified practice messages were explored through the lens of testimony of family support workers in the UK and Ireland, these core messages are examined. Operating with hard-to-engage children and parents, we hear how families and family support worker colleagues now view the core functions of child and family work across both jurisdictions (Ireland and England). The authors argue that by naming a more detailed set of practices that are deemed as most useful by families, based on the benefits and challenges of intensive family support work, key messages arise that have major resonance for social work and multiagency practice into the future. A basic message from this study is that valuable lessons on engagement and intervention with families can be drawn for professionals by examining the practice elements of this group of paraprofessionals in the child and family arena. This paper adds to debates on the role of support and intervention in social work and family support work.