Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Financial Knowledge And Child Development Account Policy: A Test Of Financial Capability, Jin Huang, Yunju Nam, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

This study examines how study participants’ financial knowledge and participation in a Child Development Account (CDA) intervention affect 529 College Savings Plan account holding among caregivers of infants. The study uses data from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment (SEED OK, N=2,51), a statewide randomized experiment using a probability sample of infants selected from birth records. SEED OK is a policy test of universal and progressive CDAs that encourage families to accumulate assets for their children’s future. Results of logit regression show that participants’ financial knowledge is positively related to the account holding in the treatment group, but not in …

Individual Development Accounts And Post-Secondary Education: Evidence From A Randomized Experiment, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Michael Sherraden, William Gale, William M. Rohe, Mark Schreiner, Clinton Key

Center for Social Development Research

This paper presents evidence from a randomized field experiment testing the impact of a 3-year matched savings program on educational outcomes 10 years later. We examine the effect of an Individual Development Account (IDA) program on educational enrollment, degree completion, and increased education level. The IDA program, which ran from 1998 to 2003 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, provided low-income households with financial education and matching funds for qualified savings withdrawals, including a 1:1 match for educational uses. We find a significant impact on education enrollment and positive, but non-significant impacts on degree completion and increase in level of education. We also …

"You Pay Your Share, We'll Pay Our Share": The College Cost Burden And The Role Of Race, Income, And College Assets, William Elliott, Terri Friedline

Center for Social Development Research

Changes in financial aid policies may place too much of the burden of paying for college on students. In addition, incentives for accumulating college assets may exacerbate the college cost burden on minority and lower income students. Our study investigated the impacts of these policy changes on college cost burden using trivariate probit analysis with predicted probabilities. We find that recent changes in the financial aid system place a higher responsibility on African American, Latino/Hispanic, and moderate-income students to pay for college themselves. an implication is that greater opportunities for more and higher dollar grants and scholarships at 4-year colleges …

Parental Educational Expectations By Race/Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status, Youngmi Kim, Michael Sherraden, Margaret Clancy

Center for Social Development Research

Research has linked parents’ educational expectations to children’s educational attainment, but findings regarding differences in educational expectations by race/ethnicity have been inconsistent. In addition, existing studies have focused on school-age children and their parents. In this study, we examine educational expectations in mothers of newborn children using a state representative sample. a series of logistic regressions are conducted for the full sample (N=2,572) and for individual racial groups to investigate parental educational expectations by race and Hispanic origin. The study finds that non-Hispanic Whites hold higher educational expectations for their children compared to African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanics. However, …

Testing An Asset-Building Approach For Young People: Early Access To Savings Predicts Later Savings, Terri Friedline, William Elliott, Gina Chowa

Center for Social Development Research

A major hypothesis of asset-building is that early access to savings accounts leads to continued and improved educational and economic outcomes over time. This study asks whether or not young adults (ages 18 to 22), particularly lower-income young adults, are significantly more likely to own savings accounts and to accumulate more savings when they have access to savings accounts at banking institutions as adolescents (ages 13 to 17). We investigate this question using longitudinal data (low-to-moderate income sample [LMI; N = 530]; low-income sample [LI; N = 354]) from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its supplements. Results from …

Substance Abuse Treatment Stage And Personal Networks Of Women In Substance Abuse Treatment, Elizabeth M. Tracy, Hyunsoo Kim, Suzanne Brown, Meeyoung Oh Min, Min Kyoung Jun, Christopher Mccarty

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study examines the relationship among 4 treatment stages (i.e., engagement, persuasion, active treatment, relapse prevention) and the composition, social support, and structural characteristics of personal networks. The study sample includes 242 women diagnosed with substance dependence who were interviewed within their first month of intensive outpatient treatment. Using EgoNet software, the women reported on their 25 alter personal networks and the characteristics of each alter. With one exception, few differences were found in the network compositions at different stages of substance abuse treatment. The exception was the network composition of women in the active treatment stage, which included more …

A Critical Analysis Of The Epas Competencies And Practice Behaviors, William A. Anderson, Paul Force-Emery Mackie

Social Work Department Publications

This papers reviews the changes in the expectations regarding EPAS Competencies and Practice Behaviors since first presented by CSWE and how that has affected program development and outcome assessment. The language of the EPAS is critiqued from several perspectives, including Bloom's Taxonomy, face validity, and exhaustiveness.

Hiring Social Work Faculty: An Analysis Of Employment Announcements, Paul Force-Emery Mackie

Social Work Department Publications

An eleven-month long analysis of social work faculty position advertisements examined differences in social work faculty job descriptions between past and present findings, rural land, urban-located social work programs, doctorate and non-doctorate conferring institutions, and public and private institutions. Additionally, this investigation addressed 2008 EPAS standard 3.3.1 expectations regarding practice.

Correlates Of Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Knowledge Among African American Girls, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Purpose: To identify significant factors that distinguish African American girls who have high sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention knowledge from those lacking such knowledge. Methods: We recruited a sample of 715 African American girls from three public health clinics in downtown Atlanta. Using audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (A-CASI) technology, we assessed for age, self-mastery, employment status, attendance at sex education classes, socioeconomic status, and STI prevention knowledge. Results: Slightly more than one-third of the girls did not know that females are more susceptible to STI infections than males; and that having an STI increases the risk of contracting HIV. Almost half …

Racial Attitudes In The New Millennium: Cool Feelings In Hot Times, Sarah E. Cribbs

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In The Declining Significance of Race, William Julius Wilson (1980) stated social class was more influential than race in determining social outcomes for Blacks. This thesis remains a controversial centerpiece among race scholars. This paper examines one part of the overall puzzle of American race relations: white racial attitudes since September 11, 2001. Using Wilson's declining significance of race thesis, I question if white racial attitudes toward Blacks declined significantly from 2002 to 2004. If social class exerts greater influence on social indicators than race in the coming years, will racial prejudice, particularly toward Blacks, also decline in significance? What …

The Significance Of Race For Neighborhood Social Cohesion: Perceived Difficulty Of Collective Action In Majority Black Neighborhoods, Tara Hobson-Prater, Tamara G.J. Leech

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article explores William Julius Wilson's contentions about community cultural traits by examining racial differences in middle class neighborhoods' levels of social cohesion. Specifically, we explore the perceived difficulty of these actions--as opposed to general pessimism about their outcomes--as a potential explanation for low levels of instrumental collective action in Black middle class neighborhoods. Our results indicate that, regardless of other neighborhood factors, majority Black neighborhoods have low levels of social cohesion. We also find that this racial disparity is statistically explained by shared perceptions about the amount of effort required to engage in group action in different neighborhoods. These …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 39, No. 1 (March 2012)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Special Issue on The Declining Significance of Race-Revisited

• EDITORS' INTRODUCTION: REVISITING WILLIAM J. WILSON'S THE DECLINING SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE - Richard K. Caputo and Luisa S. Deprez
• MOVING BEYOND DICHOTOMIES: HOW THE INTERSECTION OF RACE, CLASS AND PLACE IMPACT HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS - Heather L. Storer , Joseph A. Mienko, Yu-Ling Chang, Ji Young Kang, Christina Miyawaki, and Katie Schultz
• YOUNG, JOBLESS, AND BLACK: YOUNG BLACK WOMEN AND ECONOMIC DOWNTURNS - Raine Dozier
• RACIAL ATTITUDES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM: COOL FEELINGS IN HOT TIMES - Sarah E. Cribbs
• THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE FOR NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL …

Review Of Family, Kinship And State In Contemporary Europe (3 Vols.) The Century Of Welfare: Eight Countries (Vol. 1). Hannes Grandits, Editor. The View From Below: Nineteen Localities (Vol. 2). Patrick Heady And Peter Schweitzer, Editors. Perspectives On Theory And Policy (Vol. 3). Patrick Heady And Martin Kohli, Editors. Reviewed By Natalia Sarkisian., Natalia Sarkisian

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book reviews of

Patrick Heady, Principal Editor, Family, Kinship and State in Contemporary Europe. (2010), in 3 Volumes. University of Chicago Press for Campus Verlag. $57.00 each volume (paperback). Vol. 1: Hannes Grandits (Ed.), Eight Countries. Vol. 2: Patrick Heady & Peter Schweitzer (Eds.), The View from Below: Nineteen Localities. Vol. 3: Patrick Heady & Martin Kohli (Eds.), Perspectives on Theory and Policy.

Review Of Colonialism And Welfare: Social Policy And The British Imperial Legacy. James Midgley And David Piachaud (Eds.). Reviewed By Melinda Williams Moore., Melinda Williams Moore

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of James Midgley & David Piachaud (Eds.), Colonialism and Welfare: Social Policy and the British Imperial Legacy. (2011). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. $110.00 (hardcover.)

Moving Beyond Dichotomies: How The Intersection Of Race, Class And Place Impacts High School Graduation Rates For African American Students, Heather L. Storer, Joseph A. Mienko, Yu-Ling Chang, Ji Young Kang, Christina Miyawaki, Katie Schultz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Over thirty years ago, William Julius Wilson declared that class trumped race as the more significant determinant of social mobility and economic opportunity. Despite the acclaim and scrutiny for Wilson's work, the United States has grown increasingly divided by intersecting factors of race, class and other demographic factors such as place (Massey, 2007). These divisions are especially evident in the public education system. We analyze how race, class and place interact to predict high school graduation rates in a national sample of schools and students. Results confirm that a singular focus on race, class, or locale is insufficient to explain …

Review Of New Deal, New Landscape: The Civilian Conservation Corps & South Carolina's State Parks. Tara Mitchel Mielnik. Reviewed By Marguerite G. Rosenthal., Marguerite G. Rosenthal

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Tara Mitchel Mielnik, New Deal, New Landscape: The Civilian Conservation Corps & South Carolina's State Parks. (2011). The University of South Carolina Press. $34.95 (paperback).

Young, Jobless, And Black: Young Black Women And Economic Downturns, Raine Dozier

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This research challenges William Julius Wilson's (1980) postulation that social class has superseded race in predicting economic outcomes among African Americans. Among the evidence Wilson used to support his claim was the strong position of black degree holders, particularly women. Shortly after the publication of The Declining Significance of Race, however, the United States experienced a severe recession and slow recovery, contributing to a marked growth in the black-white wage gap among women. Young black women were particularly hard hit. Over the 1980s, their cumulative work experience became increasingly correlated with educational attainment, leading to an absolute loss in experience …

"Waiting For The White Man To Fix Things:" Rebuilding Black Poverty In New Orleans, Robert L. Hawkins, Katherine Maurer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper revisits William Julius Wilson's thesis that class has surpassed race in significance of impact on African Americans. Our study uses qualitative data from a three-year ethnographic study of 40 largely low-income families in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. We also include a review of the recent U.S. Census study assessing New Orleans's current economic state. Participants in our study viewed race and class as major factors in four areas: (1) immediately following the devastation; (2) during relocation to other communities; (3) during the rebuilding process; and (4) historically and structurally throughout New Orleans. Our analysis concludes that racism …

Towards A Practice-Based Model For Community Practice: Linking Theory And Practice, Amnon Boehm, Ram A. Cnaan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Careful examination of the literature of community practice shows that existing community practice models do not adequately respond to the unique and changing needs of various communities. This article provides an alternative model that challenges the existing models. Based on extensive content analysis of the literature and practice knowledge, this alternative model offers sufficient flexibility to adapt to any particular community. The model is also participatory, process-oriented, and reflective. Herein we first review existing models, provide criteria for assessing their applicability, then introduce the new model, and subsequently discuss its applicability and merit.

The Criminalization Of Immigration: Value Conflicts For The Social Work Profession, Rich Furman, Alissa R. Ackerman, Melody Loya, Susanna Jones, Nalini Negi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article examines the impact of the criminalization of immigration on non-documented immigrants and the profession of social work. To meet its aims, the article explores the new realities for undocumented immigrants within the context of globalization. It then assesses the criminal justice and homeland security responses to undocumented immigrants, also referred to as the criminalization of immigration. It subsequently explores the ethical dilemmas and value discrepancies for social workers that are implicated in some of these responses. Finally, it presents implications for social workers and the social work profession.

Review Of Homelessness, Housing, And Mental Illness: Broadening Our Understanding Of Wellness. Russell K. Schutt With Stephen M. Goldfinger. Reviewed By Geoffrey Nelson., Geoffrey Nelson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Russell K. Schutt with Stephen M. Goldfinger, Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness: Broadening our Understanding of Wellness. (2011). Harvard University Press. $49.95 (hardcover).

Review Of Citizenship Social Work With Older People. Malcolm Payne. Reviewed By Edward J. Gurnz., Edward J. Gumz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Malcolm Payne, Citizenship Social Work with Older People. (2011). Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books. $36.95 (paperback).

Review Of What Every Environmentalist Needs To Know About Capitalism: A Citizen's Guide To Capitalism And The Environment. Fred Magdoff And John Bellamy Foster. Reviewed By Paul Saba., Paul Saba

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Fred Magdoff and John Bellamy Foster, What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism: A Citizen's Guide to Capitalism and the Environment. (2011). Monthly Review Press. $13.95 (paperback).

Best Practices In Professional Distance Education: A Hybrid Social Work Distance Education Program In South Texas, Denise A. Longoria, Héctor Luis Díaz

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

The operation of distance education programs can be quite challenging especially when offering professional programs that require internships, practica and teaching courses that focus on skill development. It is difficult for instance to teach counseling and other skills through the internet. Nevertheless, the department of social work at The University of Texas – Pan American has developed a hybrid distance education program that enables it to effectively deliver a bachelor’s and a master’s in social work in the two remote locations of Laredo and Brownsville, Texas with the assistance of modern educational technology. This program provides access to accredited social …

Cash-Flow And Savings Practices Of Low-Income Households: Evidence From A Follow-Up Study Of Ida Participants, David W. Rothwell, Nahid Sultana

Center for Social Development Research

This study uses a survey of participants from an Individual Development Account (IDA) matched savings intervention to examine self-reported financial practices (cash flow and savings) five years after the intervention terminated. Latent class analysis produced three groups of financial practices - high, medium, and low functioning. Results showed that some low-income households are carefully managing their finances. Psychological sense of mastery was positively related to high functioning cash-flow and savings. The IDA intervention had no association with latent class membership. Antipoverty interventions should assess the financial practices of participants at the time of service enrollment. Further, social service providers should …

Discerning Reported Suicide Attempts Within A Youthful Offender Population, Christopher A. Mallett, Leaanne Derigne, Linda M. Quinn, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare

Social Work Faculty Publications

With suicide being the third leading cause of death among young people, early identification of risk is critical, particularly for those involved with the juvenile courts. In this study of court-involved youth (N = 433) in two Midwest counties, logistic regression analysis identified some expected and unexpected findings of important demographic, educational, mental health, child welfare, and juvenile court-related variables that were linked to reported suicide attempts. Some of the expected suicide attempt risk factors for these youth included prior psychiatric hospitalization and related mental health services, residential placement, and diagnoses of depression and alcohol dependence. However, the most unexpected …

Hiv And Aids Education: The Tanzanian Case, Katherine Ellison

Social Sciences

This project takes a look at the cultural, religious, and socio-economic roles that affect the spread of education regarding HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. A personal experience in Zanzibar, Tanzania was the incentive to spark interest in teaching. HIV/AIDS is a powerful epidemic that has taken the lives away from millions. This article takes a deeper look at the transmission, stigmas, and pathways for change.

Chicago's Public Housing Transformation: What Happened To The Residents?, Mark L. Joseph

Faculty Scholarship

Twelve years after the start of the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation (the Transformation), more than 16,000 families have been relocated into a variety of housing contexts including new mixed-income developments, private rental housing subsidized with vouchers, scattered-site public housing units, and rehabilitated traditional public housing developments. Tese households have been relocated with the stated goals of reducing concentrated poverty, revitalizing neighborhoods, and improving well-being, but questions remain about what has happened to the residents. Where did families end up? Are diferent types of households moving to diferent housing contexts? Does family well-being difer based on housing type? In …

Why Do So Few Residents Return To Mixed-Income Developments? Insights Into Resident Decision-Making, Mark L. Joseph

Faculty Scholarship

In this brief, we explore the factors that infuenced relocated public housing residents’ decisions to return or not return to a mixed-income development. Trough interviews with relocated public housing residents of three mixed-income developments in Chicago—Jazz on the Boulevard, Oakwood Shores, and Westhaven Park—as well as a group of residents who chose not to return, we fnd that the following issues signifcantly infuenced resident decision-making: Attachments to place and people; Time pressures and other constraints; Anticipated benefts from the mixed-income environment; Trade-offs and risks associated with moves to mixed-income developments.

Parenting Stress Among White, Black, American Indian, And Hispanic Mothers, Yunju Nam, Nora Wikoff, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Parenting stress can have long-term effects on parents and children, but little is known about racial and ethnic differences in parenting stress. Using baseline survey data from a probability sample in the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment (N = 2,26), we examine parenting stress among White, Black, American Indian, and Hispanic mothers. This study employs OLS regressions and Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions. Parenting stress scores among Whites and American Indians were on average significantly lower than among Blacks and Hispanics. Regressions indicate that across all four groups, parenting stress is positively associated with maternal depression and negatively associated with social supports. Decomposition …