The Children First Program: The Effectiveness of a Parent Education Program for Divorcing Parents

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the 2nd and 3rd editions of the Children First parent education programs for parents experiencing divorce or separation. Participants were 678 parents experiencing separation or divorce in 2 Midwestern counties. Changes from pretest to posttest on participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and likelihood of adaptive coparenting were assessed. Both editions of the program had a significant positive effect on all 3 measures of adaptive coparenting. The effect sizes from pretest to posttest for the 2nd edition were small, whereas the effect sizes for the 3rd edition of the program were nearly twice as large. Superiority of the 3rd edition might be due to an increased focus on explicit training on adaptive coparenting behaviors.     

Financially Overextended: College Attendance as a Contributor to Foreclosures During the Great Recession

Although subprime mortgage lending and unemployment were largely responsible for the wave of foreclosures during the Great Recession, additional sources of financial risk may have exacerbated the crisis. We hypothesize that many parents sending children to college were financially overextended and vulnerable to foreclosure as the economy contracted. With commuting zone panel data from 2006 to 2011, we show that increasing rates of college attendance across the income distribution in one year predict a foreclosure rate increase in subsequent years, net of fixed characteristics and changes in employment, refinance debt, house prices, and 19-year-old population size. We find similar evidence of college-related foreclosure risk using longitudinal household data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Our findings uncover a previously overlooked dimension of the foreclosure crisis, and highlight mortgage insecurity as an inadvertent consequence of parental investment in higher education.     

Police interviews of sexual assault reporters: do attitudes matter?

Sexual assault is underreported in the United States. Survivors are often reluctant to make police reports for various reasons; one is fear of revictimization by criminal justice professionals. Conversely, police officers often lack skills for interviewing crime victims. Posttraumatic stress reactions among victims can exacerbate the problem. Although some victims prefer female interviewers, it is not known whether they are more skilled. A sample of 429 police officers completed a written survey testing their rape myth acceptance and knowledge of how to interview rape reporters. A significant relationship between rape myth acceptance and interviewing skill was discovered. Although officer gender was related to interviewing skill, the effect was mediated by rape myth acceptance. Specific officer behaviors related to high rape myth acceptance were identified. Implications for selection of police to conduct victim interviews were discussed.     

“It Depends on How You Define Integrated”: Neighborhood Boundaries and Racial Integration in a Baltimore Neighborhood1

There are a significant number of racially integrated neighborhoods in the United States, many of which have been stable over time. However, very little is known about the characteristics of these neighborhoods and of the residents who live in them. With data taken from a larger study of an integrated neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, this article discusses homeowners’ perceptions of their community and racial integration. Fifty semi‐structured interviews were completed with 67 homeowners to investigate their perceptions and experiences of race, class, and change in their community. This study shows that statistical racial integration and perceptions of racial integration are two different factors. Residents define true racial integration as both residential and social. As a result, homeowners reported that their neighborhood is both segregated and integrated—a type of “qualified” integration. Perceptions of racial integration are also affected by inconsistently defined neighborhood boundaries and racial clustering, block by block.     

Mothers’ ideals and experiences of raising children in inner and outer suburban Melbourne,Australia

Parents’ perceptions of their neighbourhoods are important for child health outcomes. This study compared views among mothers in inner versus outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia using a mixed methods approach. Mothers of preschool-aged children were recruited via playgroups, mother’s groups and preschools and interviewed face-to-face regarding their local area as a good place to raise a family, with a second open-ended interview focussing on mothers’ ideals and experiences of raising children in their current location. Findings demonstrated that mothers had different ideals for, and experiences of, raising their children in their neighbourhoods. Inner suburban mothers valued a manageable work/family balance and access to public transport over the size of their homes. However, access to childcare, secondary schooling and heavy traffic were issues, with the latter two being reasons for moving from the municipality. In contrast, outer suburban mothers preferred a larger home in neighbourhoods that they perceived as low crime, over accessibility to work. Access to a car and activities for their children were also important. Findings suggest no ‘one size fits all’ in respect to what features mothers expect from a good place to raise a family, or how they experience these features. This has implications for service delivery and social planning of suburbs.     

All My Friends Are Doing It: Potentially Offensive Sexual Behavior Perpetration Within Adolescent Social Networks

The current study used social network analysis to investigate peer network and individual predictors of potentially offensive sexual behaviors among high school students. Ninth‐grade students (n = 308; 158 girls) completed surveys assessing their perpetration of potentially offensive sexual behaviors against their peers, as well as measures of their sexualized gender stereotypes and propensity to self‐monitor. Participants selected up to eight of their closest friends from a roster. Results revealed homophily of potentially offensive sexual behaviors, such that adolescents perpetrated similar amounts of physical/verbal, electronic, and homophobic behaviors as their friends. Characteristics of the peer network (e.g., mean network perpetration, centrality of individual, and gender composition) and the individual adolescent (e.g., gender, sexualized gender stereotypes, self‐monitoring) predicted adolescents’ own behavior.     

The impact of risk aversion and ambiguity aversion on annuity and saving choices

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty - We analyze the impact of risk aversion and ambiguity aversion on the competing demands for annuities and bequeathable savings using a lifecycle recursive utility...