Factors Associated with Having Flextime: A Focus on Married Workers

To examine flexible work scheduling of married workers a conceptual framework was developed and tested using the 1997 Current Population Survey Work Schedules Supplement. Odds of flextime use were higher for married males, non-Hispanic whites, those with relatively higher levels of education and income, those with a preschool aged child, residents of the Midwest or West (as compared with the South), managers or professionals, and employees of the federal government.     

Data collection: are social workers reliable?

Social workers are required to collect a considerable amount of personal information about clients and their families which may be unrelated to direct clinical work. Administrators often use this for the purpose of payment, service documentation, agency planning, and accountability. The worker's concern about the appropriateness of collecting this data may result in poor compliance or even falsification of information. In a survey of Minnesota social workers, noncompliance with data collection requirements was substantial. The authors also found a significant degree of conflict about privacy and confidentiality issues. These findings suggest a basis of concern for those who must rely on accurate data for administrative planning.     

Using the contradiction paradigm to assess ageism

Ageism is an important topic in our society, considering the burgeoning older adult population. Ageism is often measured using explicit questionnaires; however, given the impact of social desirability, implicit measures of ageism have been developed. In this study, the contradiction paradigm, an implicit measure of stereotypes (Lassonde, under review) was used to measure age-related stereotypes in passages describing older adults. Participants read passages with target sentences more slowly when these sentences described behaviors that were inconsistent rather than consistent with age-related stereotypes. Participants also completed a series of self-report questionnaires measuring ageism. Results demonstrated that reading times using the contradiction paradigm were not related to outcomes on the self-report questionnaires. A comparison of the contradiction paradigm to a social desirability scale revealed that it was not vulnerable to social desirability. This confirms the contradiction paradigm's use as an implicit measure of age-related stereotypes. Although there is no clear relation between the contradiction paradigm and popular explicit measures, a next important step would be to determine the point in which implicit knowledge and intentional behavioral responses interact.     

Connecting the gendered door: women, violence and doorwork

This paper explores the emerging role of women who work as 'bouncers', or doorstaff, in the night-time economy and examines how the cultural capital of the female bouncer is connected to the methods utilized to control licensed premises. It is drawn from a study that combined ethnographic observations and interviews in five major UK cities which explored a diverse range of issues such as gendered bodies, femininities and violence; the changing needs of the night-time economy in the UK and the experiences of women engaged in 'non-traditional' occupations. In this paper, we draw on interview data with one particular category of female door staff; women who share similar histories of exposure to violence and violent cultures, and we examine how their experiential knowledge of violence equips them with the resources to 'work the doors'. Our attention focuses on this group of women, who we refer to as 'The Connected', and examine how they are 'doing gender' when they negotiate violence 'on the door'     

Before you open the doors: ten lessons from Florida's Faith and Community-Based Delinquency Treatment Initiative

In 2003, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provided Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) with a $3.5 million grant to design and implement a faith- and community-based program for incarcerated juveniles. Florida's experience developing a completely new program has provided valuable lessons regarding important issues to consider and address before clients are referred to the program. This article enumerates 10 key lessons from Florida's experience that can provide important guidance to other sites across the country hoping to develop faith-related services for youths in institutions.     

Allegations of child sexual abuse in parenting disputes: An examination of judicial determinations in the Family Court of Australia

This study examined Family Court of Australia (FCA) judicial determinations in parenting disputes when allegations of child sexual abuse (CSA) are made by an interested party, usually the mother. For the study, 156 published judgments from 2013–2015 were examined to measure how often allegations of CSA are substantiated, suspected to be true, and disbelieved. The characteristics most common in substantiated versus unsubstantiated cases, evidence of abuse presented, and resulting parenting orders were assessed. Findings indicate that, against international comparisons, FCA judges substantiate cases very conservatively, with rates of substantiation much lower than in other studies. Allegations made by mothers against fathers were disproportionately unsubstantiated, as were those which did not fall under the Magellan case management system. Cases where the only evidence of CSA was a child’s disclosure and parent’s allegation were common in both substantiated and unsubstantiated cases, meaning that a lack of other evidence does not preclude a positive finding of risk of CSA by the FCA. Those cases also involving a protection order against the accused were more likely to be substantiated. Confirmation biases and a judicial tendency to err on the side of false negatives are discussed.     

The Role of Household Social Organization in the Structure of Rural Economies: Comparing Forest Resource Dependent and Agriculturally Dependent Regions in Russia

Sociologists have examined how structural economic change affects household social organization and generation of household income from different sources. The introduction of elements of a market economy into rural Russia in the early 1990s provides a unique opportunity to examine these relationships. Much of the work on this topic, however, has been conducted in black earth zone, agriculturally dependent regions. Less attention has been given to non‐black‐earth zone, forest resource dependent regions. This article addresses this limitation by comparing the relationships between household income generation strategies and household social organization in a 2009 survey of villages in three forest resource dependent regions in northwest Russia with findings from a 2006 survey of households in nine agricultural regions of Russia. Income generated from enterprises based on household social organization—household labor and social helping networks—is substantially greater in agriculturally dependent than in forest resource dependent regions. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding intranational regional differences in the relationship between economic systems, household social organization, and rural household economies as well as the obstacles facing policymakers and environmentalists who attempt to shift household income generation strategies away from an environmentally harmful lumber industry to income generation activities that are less harmful to the environment.     

Deporting Fathers: Involuntary Transnational Families and Intent to Remigrate among Salvadoran Deportees

One‐fourth of deportees from the United States are parents of US‐citizen children. We do not know how separation from families affects remigration among deportees, who face high penalties given unlawful reentry. We examined how family separation affects intent to remigrate among Salvadoran deportees. The majority of deportees with children in the United States were also separated from their spouse, and the vast majority had US‐citizen children. Family separation was the single most important factor affecting intent to remigrate. We interpret these findings in light of immigration policy debates.     

Ideas in Action: Teaching Qualitative Analytic Methods in Social Work Research through the Analysis of Song Lyrics

This article describes the innovative use of a pop culture source-song lyrics to augment the teaching of qualitative methods in social work research. The use of pop culture sources as learning tools in the MSW curriculum has the potential to enhance the learning experience for students. These techniques have not been applied in the content of MSW research classes. This approach could be advantageous over other typical data sources because it is more accessible to students while also being reflective of a collective identity of people in society. Future work should assess student and educator responses to this pedagogical approach.     

Mindful of the Intersession Break in Family Therapy: The Time to Think Experiment

The Time to Think Experiment researches the experience of clinicians, consumers, and families of an intersession break, which has been used historically in various models of family therapy training. This qualitative pilot study explores the experiences of 21 clinicians, 19 consumers, and six family members using this break for reflection, across the domains of family and couple therapy, individual therapy, group work, and supervision in a mental health service covering the whole age range. Using a phenomenological design, the analysis included narrative, thematic, content, and comparative techniques. The paper considers the impact of privileging reflection in the therapy process, in a climate where models, work cultures, and general lifestyles may not encourage it. Using the intersession break to create space to ‘be’ in the therapy process is one way to integrate mindful and family therapy practice. The emerging themes of an intersession break to promote a richer and deeper therapy experience, and the apparent shift of responsibility for change from clinicians to consumers is discussed.