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Full-Text Articles in Social Work

Legislators' Perceptions About Poverty: Views From The Georgia General Assembly, Elizabeth L. Beck, Deborah M. Whitley, James L. Wolk Jul 2015

Legislators' Perceptions About Poverty: Views From The Georgia General Assembly, Elizabeth L. Beck, Deborah M. Whitley, James L. Wolk

Deborah M. Whitley

This study sought to explore legislators perspectives about causes of poverty. Members of the Georgia General Assembly rated the importance of 10 behavioral and structural explanations of poverty, and indicated whether they thought poor women and children would be better served under AFDC or TANF. Whereas all groups of legislators found behavioral explanations moderately important, there was significant variation by race, gender, and political party about the importance of structural explanations of poverty. Support for several structural explanations of poverty correlated with a preference for AFDC, but no correlations were found with behavioral explanations. This study holds implications for affecting …


Grandmother Kinship Care Providers: Predictors Of Elevated Psychological Distress, Deborah M. Whitley Jul 2015

Grandmother Kinship Care Providers: Predictors Of Elevated Psychological Distress, Deborah M. Whitley

Deborah M. Whitley

Most children in kinship care with grandmothers in the U.S. have been abandoned or maltreated. The challenges these caregivers encounter often include poverty, social isolation, and diminished health. These factors may hinder the grandmother’s ability to provide a supportive family environment. The purpose of the present study was to determine levels of psychological distress in African American caregiving grandmothers and identify predictors of increased distress in African American custodial grandmothers. We hypothesized that diminished grandmother health, family resources and support, as well as increased child behavior problems, will predict psychological distress.