Financial Education is not Enough: Millennials May Need Financial Capability to Demonstrate Healthier Financial Behaviors

Financial education sans opportunities for hands-on experience and knowledge operationalization may be insufficient for promoting healthy financial behaviors. Financial capability combines financial education with financial inclusion via a savings account, thereby giving an opportunity translate knowledge into practice. This study used data from the 2012 National Financial Capability Study to examine relationships between the financial capability and financial behaviors of United States Millennials (N = 6865). Compared to their financially excluded peers, Millennials who were financially capable were 176 % more likely to afford unexpected expenses, 224 % more likely to save for emergencies, 21 % less likely to use alternative financial services, and 30 % less likely to carry burdensome debt. Interventions that focus solely on financial education or inclusion may be insufficient for facilitating Millennials’ healthy financial behaviors; interventions should instead develop financial capability.     

The Impact of the Economic Downturn,Immigrants, and Political Representation on White Supremacist Group Organization in the United States

Abstract

On the surface, groups advocating white supremacy appear similar. However, upon closer examination these groups vary in their strategies and goals as well as how they are affected by the economic downturn, immigrants, and political representation. This study utilizes resource mobilization theory to examine the relationship among political ideology, partisanship, public policy, social factors, and white supremacist group organization in the United States between 2000 and 2007. With the fifty states as the unit of analysis, I conduct a pooled time-series analysis to answer the following research questions: Is there a relationship among a state's political ideology, partisanship, public policy, social factors, and individual white supremacist group organization? Does this relationship vary by white supremacist group type? White supremacist group data disaggregated by type reveal that group dynamics are in play as groups navigate state political and social factors to determine ideal areas to organize. This study reveals the importance in examining white supremacist groups disaggregated by type, particularly the political and social factors that motivate their level of organization.     

Teaching Note—Time for a Teach-In? Addressing Racist Incidents on College Campuses

ABSTRACT

This teaching note discusses a teach-in organized in response to a racist incident on a college campus. An examination of the history of teach-ins demonstrates that social work educators have been involved with them since the beginning of the profession, and the method is a natural fit for social work given its historic role. Social work educators have unique professional and ethical responsibilities to respond to hate crimes and other racist incidents on campus and to develop the competencies of social work students to do the same. Teach-ins are a model for doing so in ways that demonstrate the profession’s commitments to social justice advocacy, social justice education, and a robust implicit curriculum.     

Analyzing propensity matched zero-inflated count outcomes in observational studies

Determining the effectiveness of different treatments from observational data, which are characterized by imbalance between groups due to lack of randomization, is challenging. Propensity matching is often used to rectify imbalances among prognostic variables. However, there are no guidelines on how appropriately to analyze group matched data when the outcome is a zero-inflated count. In addition, there is debate over whether to account for correlation of responses induced by matching and/or whether to adjust for variables used in generating the propensity score in the final analysis. The aim of this research is to compare covariate unadjusted and adjusted zero-inflated Poisson models that do and do not account for the correlation. A simulation study is conducted, demonstrating that it is necessary to adjust for potential residual confounding, but that accounting for correlation is less important. The methods are applied to a biomedical research data set.     

Global Surpluses of Extraction and Slow Climate Violence: A Sociological Framework

This review article examines the concept of slow violence in relation to the current climate collapse. It outlines the extractive relationship between states in the Global North and Global South, and explores how this relationship creates and sustains disproportionate climate violence for the Global South. It critiques proposed adaptation and mitigation solutions for the Global South that emphasize market-led proposals and a return on investments that mostly benefit the Global North. It argues that these proposals fail to critically engage with the root causes of vulnerability to climate change and Greenhouse Gas emissions that cause climate change. The review uses World Systems Theory to analyze the power differentials between South and North, and concepts such as the “Color Line,” “Necropolitics,” and “Slow Violence” to underline the post-colonial character of this relationship. These provide historical context to the current hegemonic role of the Global North in carbon emission negotiations and responses. In doing so, the article highlights the need to think about climate change, and solutions to climate change, as a driver of slow violence and surplus climate violence by the Global North against the Global South.     

Race,Religion, and Opposition to Same‐Sex Marriage*

Objective. We examine racial differences in support for same‐sex marriage, and test whether the emerging black‐white gap is a function of religiosity. We explore how religious factors play a crucial role in racial differences, and how secular factors have varying effects on attitudes for whites and African Americans. Methods. Using data from the General Social Surveys, we estimate ordinal logistic regression models and stacked structural equation models. Results. We show that the racial divide is a function of African Americans' ties to sectarian Protestant religious denominations and high rates of church attendance. We also show racial differences in the influence of education and political values on opposition to same sex marriage. Conclusions. Religious factors are a source of racial differences in support for same‐sex marriage, and secular influences play less of a role in structuring African Americans' beliefs about same‐sex marriage.     

Does the composition of financial services in a community relate to an Individual’s savings account ownership?

This study extends research on financial inclusion by exploring the composition of financial services within communities. Using propensity-score-adjusted probit regression, we explored associations with savings account ownership using restriscted-access, cross-sectional data from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study with merged financial services and community demographic data. Living in communities where the density of banks and credit unions outnumbered that of alternative financial services was associated with lower-income households’ greater probability of owning a savings account, all else being equal. These results have implications for efforts aiming to improve financial inclusion.     

Perceptions of Affectionate Communication Among People with Unfavorable and Favorable Attitudes Toward Homosexuality

People are sometimes hesitant to communicate affection if it might be misinterpreted by the intended receiver or an audience. We hypothesized that anti-gay/-lesbian attitudes might negatively affect the perceived appropriateness of expressing affection. One hundred and twenty male and female undergraduates with either very high or very low levels of anti-gay/-lesbian attitudes participated in the study. They rated the appropriateness of expressing affection toward same- and other-sex targets in a set of 2 (public or private setting)?×?3 (positive, neutral, or negative valence) scenarios. Results supported a “generalized inhibition” effect, with high levels of anti-gay/-lesbian attitudes associated with a reluctance to express affection regardless of target, setting, valence, or current relationship status. Implications for research on affectionate expression and anti-gay/-lesbian attitudes are presented.     

‘If drugs does that to you,then I don't want it.’ Resiliency among non-marijuana using adolescents

The current study utilizes an asset-based approach to examine inner-city African-American and Latino adolescent non-marijuana use. Interview findings suggest that the common theme in adolescent narratives is why they avoid marijuana use. Specifically, adolescents formulate several reasons situated in their perceptions of self, peers, and parents to avoid marijuana use. Drawing on resiliency theory and to broaden our scope of inquiry, we utilize these findings to further delve into the relationship between perceptions of self, peer communication, parental monitoring, and marijuana use avoidance utilizing survey data analysis. Findings can be used to leverage prevention programs with this population.     

Successful transition: Therapeutic interventions with the transferred client

The author discusses working with transferred clients in an agency setting and suggests interventions that enhance the new therapeutic relationship. The article includes a review of the literature and case examples which emphasize work in the first session.