Relationship education research: current status and future directions

The overarching aim of this article is to review the research on relationship education programs and approaches that has been published or accepted for publication since the last review article in 2003. This article provides a critical overview of the relationship education field and sets an agenda for research and practice for the next decade. A theme weaved throughout the article is the ways in which relationship education is similar and different from couples therapy, and we conclude that there can be a synergistic, healthy marriage between the two. We then provide recommendations for future directions for research in the relationship education field. Finally, the coauthors comment on our experiences in both the relationship education field and the couples therapy field as both researchers and interventionists.     

Role Performance and Person Perception: Toward an Interactions Approach*

This paper examines and critiques the manner in which one strand of attribution theory has addressed the relationship between role performances and person perception. An interactionist approach is formulated as an alternative, and an experiment is designed to test its viability. The experiment supports our hypothesis that the informational value of “in-role” performances is similar to the informational value of “out-of-role” performances, and that neither type of performance is consistently more informative than the other. Further, it is suggested that the informational value of role performances is not adequately explained by the in-role/out-of-role dichotomy. The interactionist conception of role, combined with a notion of informal role types, provides a more accurate understanding of role performance and person perception.     

The political economy of sociology: An interview with David Goslin,national research council

In this interview, David A. Goslin responds to a variety of questions concerning the relationship between the federal government and the political economy of sociology. He addresses the identity of sociology in Washington, the treatment of behavioral and social sciences as a special case in science policy, the greater acceptability of the behavioral sciences, the battle of 1981, the recurring need for reviews of the discipline, the role of the National Research Council and the National Academy of Sciences, the current status and rising prospects of the social sciences, and emerging areas of national concern. Lawrence J. Rhoades has been on the Washington scene for more than a decade. During the first four years, he served as executive associate of the American Sociological Association and wrote a social science and government series forFootnotes. He has since served in research policy, planning, and evaluation positions in the federal government. He currently is Washington correspondent forThe American Sociologist.     

Moving Beyond Housing: Service Implications for Veterans Entering Permanent Supportive Housing

As a result of efforts to end homelessness among U.S. veterans, more former service members are entering permanent supportive housing (PSH). While PSH has been successfully used to house homeless veterans, more research is needed about services beyond housing placement and retention. This study uses the Gelberg–Andersen behavioral model for vulnerable populations to determine associations between predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics and recent service use (i.e., services to satisfy basic needs, occupational development, financial, healthcare, mental health) among unaccompanied homeless veterans (N?=?126) entering PSH in Los Angeles. Among the significant findings, as indicated using univariable logistic regression models, were veterans who had incarceration histories were more likely to utilize basic needs services, compared to those without incarceration histories. Veterans who received an honorable discharge were more likely to utilize occupational development services, compared to veterans with other discharge statuses. Veterans who had a case manager were more likely to utilize mental health services than those without a case manager, while those who received social security were less likely to utilize mental health services compared to veterans who did not receive social security. Veterans who met criteria for a psychological disability and veterans who met criteria for probable PTSD were more likely to use basic needs services and mental health services than veterans who fell below these thresholds. Clinical implications for social workers including “equal access to services,” “enhancing economic stability,” “providing safe and affordable housing with trauma-informed services,” and “training service social workers to deliver well-informed linkages and services” are discussed.     

The level and uncertainty of inflation: results from OECD forecasts

There is considerable evidence that inflation variability and the level of inflation are positively related across countries. Evidence of a within-country relation is mixed. Evidence for a significant positive relation comes mostly from studies using some survey measure; contrary evidence comes mostly from studies using regression errors. Our measure of uncertainty is the squared forecast-error from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development inflation forecasts. Most countries do not exhibit a positive and significant relation. The greatest number of positive coefficients is for relative uncertainty regressed on contemporaneous inflation.     

Performing counter-narratives and mining creative resilience: using applied theatre to theorize notions of youth resilience

As part of a nationwide study of growing socio-spatial inequality, researchers collaborated with a Toronto youth shelter and a theatre company, Project: Humanity, to use drama methods to explore local manifestations of poverty and social polarization. Together, shelter-dwelling youths and researchers challenged understandings of ‘resilience’ beyond their normative framings that fail to consider youth perspectives. Provoking affective encounters, the drama methodology activated a youth critique of structural inequalities and a peer mentoring for developing tactics to confront incidents such as unwelcome police interactions. The authors propose the concept of creative resilience, which draws from the idea of the ‘ensemble’ in drama, to collectively devise and rehearse strategies of survival and resistance for application in the real world. Such creative and critical improvised encounters catalyse, they further argue, a critical-affective stance in participants, facilitators, and researchers. Such a critical-affective stance demands theoretical sophistication in the analysis of empirical accounts because it values affect as constitutive to knowledge production. Using an illustrative case, the authors put forward a new theoretical frame for youths resilience as an ensemble practice. The findings of this study support the experiential and cultural knowledge of youth as critics and agents of resistance in the face of growing global socio-spatial inequality.     

Social Context of Service Use Among Homeless Youth in Los Angeles,California

ABSTRACT

Little is known about rates and correlates of service use or the role that social context plays in service engagement among homeless youth. This study compares two distinct service areas and uses a social network approach to examine how environmental factors (e.g., neighborhood), social factors (e.g., social capital and network engagement) and individual level factors that relate to service use patterns among homeless youth in Los Angeles, California. A sample of 938 youth was recruited from three drop-in centers in two distinct service sites. Individuals were surveyed about their individual and social network attributes. Univariable and multivariable analyses were utilized to understand the influence of social-contextual variables on service use. Service use behaviors varied across site and service type with youth in Hollywood showing greater engagement than youth at the Beach site. Across both sites and several service types, staff emotional support was positively correlated with levels of service use. The site comparisons also point to the fact that even within a single geographic area, like Los Angeles County, client profiles and rates of service use can significantly vary. Future research needs are presented with specific emphasis on understanding the needs of non-service-seeking youth.     

“I’m not homeless,I’m houseless”: identifying as homeless and associations with service utilization among Los Angeles homeless young people

Little is known about homeless young people’s identification of being homeless and how that identity may or may not be associated with service utilization. This study of 444 homeless young people attending Los Angeles area drop-in centers explores the associations of demographic characteristics, homelessness characteristics, negative lifetime experiences, mental health symptoms, technology use, and past month service utilization with identifying as homeless. Fifty-two percent of the sample identified as being homeless. Being Black, a current traveler, and history of injection drug use were all significantly associated with a decreased likelihood in identifying as homeless. However, having fair/poor health, accessing shelter services, and reporting one’s own substance use as a reason for homelessness were all significantly associated with identifying as homeless. There are important service implications for reaching young people who are in need of services but may not identify with the target population label of homeless.     

Changes in couple,parenting, and individual functioning following Family Expectations program participation

The current study investigated changes in couple, parenting, and individual functioning following participation in Family Expectations, a relationship and parenting education program for new or expectant parents. The sample comprised 339 couples who participated in most sessions of the Family Expectations program and completed assessments at three different time points over a 12-month period. Study analyses examined: (a) change shortly following completion of the program, (b) associations between short-term change and subsequent change in outcomes at 12-month follow-up, and (c) differences in short-term change between married and unmarried couples. Significant improvements were observed in all three domains at short-term follow-up. Short-term changes, particularly for psychological distress, were predictive of long-term change in multiple domains. Few moderation effects by marital status were evident; those that appeared suggested stronger effects for married participants compared to unmarried. Study findings inform ongoing discussions into the utility of federally-funded relationship and parenting programming.     

Within‐ and Between‐Family Associations of Marital Functioning and Child Well‐being

This study clarifies within‐family and between‐family links between marital functioning and child well‐being. Expanding on existing prospective research, this study tests whether changes in parents' marital functioning are associated with corresponding changes in their children's well‐being, independent from associations that exist when comparing different families. Participants (N = 1,033) were members of married, opposite‐sex couples with children who participated in five waves of a larger study of marriage in the U.S. Army. Spouses' constructive communication, verbal conflict, and marital satisfaction each showed between‐family associations with parent‐reported child internalizing and externalizing problems. In contrast, within‐family associations were significant only for parents' communication behaviors. That is, parents who reported lower levels of marital satisfaction also reported lower child well‐being, whereas change in parents' communication was associated with change in child well‐being over time. Isolating within‐family effects is important for understanding marital and child functioning and for identifying potential targets for effective intervention.