Development of Parenting Skills in Individuals with an Intellectual Impairment: an epigenetic explanation

Current changes in legislation in the United States support the rights of individuals with an intellectual impairment to marry and have children. Current societal views, however, are heavily influenced by our history of viewing these individuals as inadequate parents. This historical view is based upon the assumption that those with intellectual impairments are genetically inferior. Changing views of development, however, suggest that the issue of how individuals with intellectual impairments develop is somewhat more complex. The epigenetic model is one that proposes that development is the result of the complex transaction between the individual and the environment. This paper applies this model to persons with an intellectual impairment to better understand the parenting skills they display. It is argued that by intervening and changing developmental pathways, the development of parenting skills of those with intellectual impairments can be facilitated.     

Applying Image Norms Across Super's Career Development Stages

D. E. Super's (1957) theory of career development has long been of interest to careers researchers (M. Savickas, 1994; S. C. Whiston & B. K. Brecheisen, 2002). Its insightful illustration of career stages has made it widely applied by careers practitioners. Image norms may influence the career decisions and developmental tasks inherent in each stage. An image norm is the belief that individuals must present or possess a certain image, consistent with occupational, organizational, or industry standards, in order to achieve career success. Understanding the effects of image norms across D. E. Super's (1957) career stages has important implications for individuals, organizations, and career counseling professionals.     

Sexual Behavior in Parked Cars Reported by Midwestern College Men and Women

In an anonymous survey of 195 men and 511 women (M_age = 19.8) at a small Midwestern university, 119 men (61%) and 303 women (59.5%) reported that they had engaged in sex while parked. Of these 422, 14% lost their virginity in a parked car. Having sex in parked cars was more likely to involve relational dating partners than hookups. In most recent incidents, the majority of respondents were with a serious but noncohabiting romantic partner (56.9%) in the back seat (63.4%) of a standard car (56.4%) parked out in the country (56.0%). The most common sexual acts were penile-vaginal sex and genital touching, reported by 84.6% and 57.5% of respondents, respectively. Condoms were used by 58.2% of respondents. Less than 1% of respondents reported sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or pregnancy outcomes. These data, including personal stories of memorable incidents, revealed that despite discomfort, body bumps, and risk of being caught, sex while parked was primarily a positive sexual and romantic experience for both men and women. A dark side of parked-car sex existed in that 2.5% of men and 4.3% of women reported being sexually coerced. The future study of sex in parked cars in urban environments is recommended.     

Égalité entre hommes et femmes et gouvernance des chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales: promouvoir les droits des travailleuses

La gouvernance privée telle qu'elle découle des différentes initiatives prises par les multinationales pour promouvoir le respect de normes sociales et l'égalité hommes‐femmes a eu peu d'effet sur les discriminations fondées sur le genre dans les chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales. Les auteures soulignent l'intérêt des Principes directeurs des Nations Unies relatifs aux entreprises et aux droits de l'homme en la matière, estimant qu'il est indispensable de recourir à une gouvernance «stratifiée» associant public, privé et acteurs sociaux pour lutter contre cette discrimination et intégrer le souci de l'égalité des sexes dans l'exercice de la diligence raisonnable exigée en matière de droits de l'homme.     

Domestic violence screening and service acceptance among adult victims in a dependency court setting

Many child welfare systems are unable to effectively identify and address co-occurring domestic violence and child maltreatment. In response, the Dependency Court Intervention Program for Family Violence implemented a protocol to identify indicators of domestic violence in families involved with child protection proceedings. This article highlights data that demonstrate the ability of an outreach and screening process to identify adult victims of domestic violence in dependency court and to offer them appropriate intervention services.     

Demographic differences in response rates for PHQ9 in a university student population

Objective: To examine differences in complete response rates for depression screening questions based on demographic characteristics. Methods: Cross-sectional study examining associations between demographic characteristics and completely responding depression-screening questions. Participants: “Healthy Minds Study” data, collected in a public University in February 2016, where 7,326 students participated. Results: women (AOR: 0.69; 95% CI =0.57–0.83) and gay/lesbian students (AOR: 0.24; 95% CI =0.10–0.60) had better complete response rates. Non-US (AOR: 1.46; 95% CI =1.03–2.07), black (AOR: 3.32; 95% CI =1.92–5.77), and Middle-Eastern students (AOR: 3.73; 95% CI =1.73–8.02) had lower complete response rates. Conclusions: Our study shows sex, gender, citizenship, and race categories have significant differences in complete response rates for the outcome. Our findings have several implications; including recognizing interventions for depression based on responders may not target those that tend to be “partial-responders”. Efforts in survey design, recruiting and completion of surveys should be maximized.     

Teaching International Social Work in a Global Classroom

Social work educators are challenged with preparing students for international social work and work with immigrant and refugee populations. This pilot project aimed to develop an online global classroom to teach an international social work course to social work students participating from five different locations: United States (N=25), South Africa (N=4), Mexico (N=11), Hong Kong (N=6), and Australia (N=2). Qualitative data were collected from students regarding their experiences in this global classroom. Thematic analysis revealed the development of rich authentic learning, where their interactions with international classmates led to a transformative learning experience and a beginning sense of social work in a global context. Implications for future leaning and teaching of social work content across global borders are discussed.     

Perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness within a Moroccan Higher Education Institution

The purpose of this research was to determine what behaviourally distinguishes effective and ineffective managers within a Moroccan Higher Education Institution (HEI). The critical incident technique (CIT) was the methodology deployed to collect data from participants in terms of how they perceive managers as either effective or ineffective. The collected data (CIs) were subjected to content and thematic analysis that resulted in derived positive and negative behavioural statements (BSs). A total of 42 participants/informants were interviewed and revealed a total of 418 CIs, of which 189 were positive CIs and 229 were negative. The analysis revealed a total of 49 BSs, of which 19 were positive and 30 were negative behavioural indicators. The findings of this investigation bring empirical evidence to understand what and how managers are perceived as effective or ineffective in the Moroccan academic context and, therefore, adds to the literature. The information obtained can also provide rich information/knowledge that can be used as a basis to address the behavioural developmental needs of managers in HEIs. This research adds value by following by following two previous replication studies in a French and a Hungarian HEI; moreover, this study is the first to be conducted in the Moroccan/North African region.