Maternal Welfare and Employment Experiences and Adolescent Well-Being: Do Mothers' Human Capital Characteristics Matter?

Using a representative sample of over 900 low-income urban families from the Three-City Study, analyses assessed whether maternal human capital characteristics moderate relationships between mothers' welfare and employment experiences and young adolescents' well-being. Results indicate synergistic effects whereby greater maternal education and literacy skills enhanced positive links between mothers' new or sustained employment and improvements in adolescent cognitive and psychosocial functioning. Greater human capital also enhanced the negative links between loss of maternal employment and adolescent functioning. Mothers' entrances onto welfare appeared protective for adolescents of mothers with little education but predicted decreased psychosocial functioning among teens of more educated mothers. Results suggest that maternal human capital characteristics may alter the payback of welfare and work experiences for low-income families.     

Teaching Note—Educating Public Health Social Work Professionals: Results From an MSW/MPH Program Outcomes Study

Dual-degree programs in public health and social work continue to proliferate, yet there has been little research on master’s of social work (MSW)/master’s of public health (MPH) graduates. The purpose of this study was to describe and better understand the self-reported professional experiences, identities, roles, and outcomes associated with 1 group of graduates from an established MSW/MPH program. A 57-question electronic survey was administered to 214 alumni in 2010; the response rate was 71.4% (n = 153). Findings provide a snapshot of public health social work alumni experiences, including diverse employment opportunities, high career satisfaction, and a strong sense of reported public health and social work integration in the workplace.     

Using process data to explain outcomes. An illustration from the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH)

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the use of process evaluation for understanding study outcomes. Data from the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH), a large school-based field trial, are used. Teacher characteristics, measures of classroom curriculum implementation, and competing influences are linked to changes in dietary knowledge, intentions, and self-efficacy of students in the intervention schools. Multiple regression analyses indicate that teacher characteristics did not predict program implementation. Teacher characteristics and program fidelity, or the number of modifications made to the classroom curriculum during implementation, had direct and independent effects on student outcomes.     

政策调整适应劳动力市场灵活性

20世纪90年代以来,是中国从计划经济向市场经济转轨、市场经济体制逐步形成的过程。在这一过程中,政府对市场的直接干预程度弱化,劳动力市场机制对资源配置的基础性作用不断增强。与此同时,劳动立法和执法工作滞后,导致正规就业岗位越来越少,灵活就业和非正规就业比重极大增加,工作任期普遍缩短,劳动力流动率提高,而社会保障、就业服务机会不足,劳动者就业的稳定感极大地降低,劳动力市场的总体就业安全性降低。在这一过程中,政府进行了一系列的立法、制度和政策调整,来适应不断增强的就业灵活性。本文主要从劳动力市场制度政策的角度,对这些调整进行评价,并提出建议。     

A Cultural-Psychological Theory of Contemporary Islamic Martyrdom

What political, economic, religious, and emotional factors are involved in a person's decision to kill civilians and military personnel through the sacrifice of his or her own life? Data for this research were secondary analyses of interviews with Islamic martyrs, as well as their leaders’ speeches. This investigation into the cultural‐psychological explanations for Islamic martyrdom leads to a model explaining a person's decision to carry out the mission as resulting from a combination of four factors: the historical‐cultural context, group processes, immediate and anticipated rewards, and mechanisms to eradicate possible doubts and guilt regarding this decision. Compared to existing models, this model is more integrative and focused on the psychological processes involved.     

How Academic Achievement,Attitudes, and Behaviors Relate to the Course of Substance Use During Adolescence: A 6‐Year,Multiwave National Longitudinal Study

Self‐report data regarding alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use were collected biennially from ages 14 to 20 in a nationally representative panel sample of adolescents (N=1,897) from the Monitoring the Future study. Growth curve analyses were performed using hierarchical linear modeling to consider psychosocial background, motivation and school attitudes, and parental and peer influences at age 14 as predictors of concurrent substance use and change in substance use. Results indicated that school misbehavior and peer encouragement of misbehavior were positively associated with substance use at age 14 and with increased use over time; school bonding, school interest, school effort, academic achievement, and parental help with school were negatively associated. The protective effects of positive school attitudes and perceptions of high status connected to academics were stronger for low‐achieving compared with high‐achieving youth. Implications for a developmental perspective on substance use etiology and prevention are discussed.     

Variations in provider capacity to offer accessible health care for people with disabilities

Since social workers are likely to practice in a range of health care settings, their training focusing on human behavior in the social environment could help providers develop strategies to improve access to care for people with disabilities. In this article, results from a comprehensive survey of providers about access to health care for people with a broad range of disabilities are reported. Results suggest that a minority of providers report difficulty serving people with disabilities. However, dentists and mental health/substance abuse providers are significantly less likely than other providers to report that they provide accessible services to individuals with disabilities. These providers are less likely to report having had training related to mobility impairments, providing mirrors at their facility, having an accessible door, or providing assistance with personal care needs, and are more likely to report that their building poses a barrier for people with disabilities. Social workers are well positioned to take a leadership role in working with providers and patients to improve access to health care for people with disabilities. A social work framework of understanding the individual in a social environment may be the most appropriate perspective for creating innovative strategies for addressing the complex, multidimensional needs of people with disabilities who experience limited access to care.     

Operational research in Indian defence

The paper gives an outline of the areas of Operational Research (OR) where work in the Defence Department in India has been successful, even though it has not been fully implemented due to certain reservations on the part of the users and some limitations of OR scientists. There is an ad hoc quality in the decision making of the customer, and no large scale OR models are available which give a total effect of defence spending on social measures and human resources development. OR would be able to contribute to a balanced spending on defence in developing countries, if effort were made to analyse defence problems in the wider context. The author was formerly Director of Scientific Evaluation, Ministry of Defence, India.     

Reengineering a health care facility. Turning an organization on its head

How can you foster change in your organization? Accomplishing major organizational change is difficult and extremely risky. However, change is necessary if health facilities are to survive in a competitive managed care world. Thrust into this environment, military health facilities are finding they must improve access and quality, while reducing costs. Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point was reengineered to meet this challenge. The results? A nontraditional hospital structure and management philosophy. Pipeline hierarchical chains of command and traditional professional boundaries have been modified. The strategy and transition process, as well as the obstacles to change, are explored in this article. Three years into a multi-year process, expected obstacles to change have been experienced, and success is predicted.