Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Commons^™

Addressing The Needs Of African American Grandparents: An Intersectionality Perspective, Dorothy Smith-Ruiz, Kendra Jason

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study seeks to demonstrate the intersecting structural and compounding challenges African American custodial grandparents experience collectively, rather than as separate non-competing factors, which has been modeled in prior studies. Using a mixed-method research design, the study explored the challenges faced by African American and white custodial grandparents. These challenges included difficulties attaining different types of support, respite care, and programs for teens and special needs grandchildren. Results showed that caregiving challenges among African Americans were more pervasive than their White counterparts. These findings have significant implications for the development of intervention programs for custodial African American grandmothers and their …

Can A Brief Online Intervention Change Low-Income Caregivers’ Reported Use Of Spanking? A Randomized Controlled Trial, Hilary L. Richardson

Dissertations

Spanking is commonly used by parents (64-94%) in the United States as a strategy for managing undesirable child behaviors. Research has found that the use of spanking is particularly high among young mothers, low-income parents, and African American families. Decades of literature on the use of spanking has identified abundant detrimental outcomes for children such as increased externalizing behaviors, decreased long-term compliance, and less guilt following misbehavior, as well as serious outcomes in adulthood such as depressed mood and alcohol/drug use. There is also a risk for spanking to escalate to physical abuse. Thus, safer, more effective discipline strategies are …

Practice Recommendations For Mental Health Professionals: Perspectives From Grandparents And Their Adolescent Grandchildren, Kendra A. O'Hora, Megan L. Dolbin-Macnab

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Although grandfamilies are consumers of a variety of mental health services, less is known about what these families, particularly the grandchildren, want from practitioners. To gain insight into how practitioners can best meet the needs of grandfamilies, 40 custodial grandmothers and their adolescent grandchildren were interviewed. Results of a qualitative analysis indicated that grandmothers and grandchildren did not make clear distinctions between various types of services and service providers. Grandchildren, in particular, emphasized the need for mental health professionals to facilitate mentoring and to provide opportunities for grandchildren to socialize with other grandchildren who have been through similar circumstances. Grandmothers …

Review Of Social Work With Children And Their Families: Pragmatic Foundations. Christopher G. Petr. Reviewed By Dorinda N. Noble, Louisiana State University., Dorinda N. Noble

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Petr, Christopher G. (1998). Social Work with Children and their Families: Pragmatic Foundations. New York: Oxford University Press.

The Biography Of A Scale: Contextual Factors That Influence The Measurement Of Family Functioning, Ludwig Geismar

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The subject of instrument relevance is addressed by examining issues that have arisen in the use of a single scale over a forty year period. The issues revolve around the impact of varying social conditions, changing ethos, differential respondent receptiveness, and evolving research technology. Extended use of an instrument, it is argued, yields information that transcends the conventional techniques for testing instrument adequacy. The lack of opportunities in social work for accessing information on extended use of measurement tools is due, among other factors, to a preoccupation with working on subjects that are new and original and to a lack …

The Relationships Between Marital Adjustment, Family Functioning, Task Management And Family Relationship Concerns In Couples Incorporating A Second Child, Amy Diguiseppe Bade

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among variables identified as potentially significant during the transition to second time parenthood. The theoretical framework for this study was based on the Circumplex Model of family systems (Olson, Sprenkle & Russell, 1979; Olson, Russell & Sprenkle, 1983), and a five domain structural model of marital and family adaptation (Cowan & Cowan, 1988).

The convenience sample consisted of 49 Caucasian middle class couples all expecting their second child. This was a one group pretest-posttest design with the birth of the second child functioning as the independent variable. The dependent variables …

The "Significant Other" In Marital And Family Therapy, Nathan Hurvitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The significant other (SO) is derived from the social behaviorism of G. H. Mead which is comparable to contemporary cognitive behaviorism. The SO is defined as an analytical concept by examining interaction in social acts; it includes attributes associated with the family member's role-reciprocity, meanings, affect, self-concept and modeling; and it is associated with concepts such as transformation, attribution and social interchange. The process by which the therapist becomes an SO to the family members individually and jointly, and how he or she utilizes transformation, attribution and social interchange are outlined.