Social Work Commons^™

Review Of The Price Of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future. Joseph E. Stiglitz. Reviewed By Mary Huff Stevenson., Mary Huff Stevenson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Joseph E. Stiglitz, The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future. New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2012). $27.95 (hardcover).

Review Of To Promote The General Welfare: The Case For Big Government. Steven Conn (Ed.). Reviewed By Sheila D. Collins, Sheila D. Collins

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Steven Conn, (Ed.), To Promote the General Welfare: The Case for Big Government. Oxford University Press (2012). $19.95. (paperback).

The Role Of Children’S Support In Elders’ Decisions To Live In A Yanglaoyuan (Residential Long-Term Care), Lin Chen, Minzhi Ye

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of children’s support in elders’ decisions to live in a yanglaoyuan (residential long-term care) in Shanghai based on their intentions and actual experiences, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data. The 2005 Shanghai Elderly Citizen Longitudinal Tracking Study (SECLTS) examines a stratified sample of community-dwelling elders and their intention to live in a yanglaoyuan (N = 1,512). Eleven semi-structured, retrospective interviews described how children participated in residents’ decision-making to live in a yanglaoyuan. Logistic regression analyses reveal that satisfaction with children’s support—financial, instrumental, and emotional—is negatively associated with …

Review Of Taking It Big: C. Wright Mills And The Making Of Political Intellectuals. Stanley Aronowitz. Reviewed By Gordon Fellman., Gordon Fellman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Stanley Aronowitz, Taking It Big: C. Wright Mills and the Making of Political Intellectuals. Columbia University Press, (2012) $32.50 (hardcover).

Paperwork First, Not Work First: How Caseworkers Use Paperwork To Feel Effective, Tifany Taylor

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A great deal of research has explored welfare agency caseworkers, especially how they use discretion. Paperwork in county welfare bureaucracies, however, is often taken-for-granted by caseworkers and researchers studying welfare. In this case study of a county welfare program in rural North Carolina, I focus on how caseworkers use paperwork through document analysis, interviews, and observation data. My findings illustrate caseworkers spend far more time on paperwork than they actually spend assisting program participants find employment. Finally, I show how caseworkers use paperwork to feel effective in a job that offers little to help clients move from welfare to work.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 40, No. 1 (March 2013)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• PAPERWORK FIRST, NOT WORK FIRST: HOW CASEWORKERS USE PAPERWORK TO FEEL EFFECTIVE - Tifany Taylor
• INFLUENCES OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON THE PHYSICAL FUNCTIONING OF OLDER ADULTS IN URBAN CHINA - Fei Sun, Chuntian Lu, and Jordan I. Kosberg
• ARE HOUSING FIRST PROGRAMS EFFECTIVE? A RESEARCH NOTE - Danielle Groton
• PHENOMENOLOGY AND HBSE: MAKING THE CONNECTION - Phillip Dybicz
• THE FIRST AND THE LAST: A CONFLUENCE OF FACTORS LEADING TO THE INTEGRATION OF CARVER SCHOOL OF MISSIONS AND SOCIAL WORK, 1955 - Tanya Smith Brice and T. Laine Scales
• HEALTH INEQUALITIES AND THE WELFARE STATE IN EUROPEAN FAMILIES …

Are Housing First Programs Effective? A Research Note, Danielle Groton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper briefly reviews studies comparing the effectiveness of various Housing First programs to Continuum of Care programs for outcomes related to housing retention, substance use, and mental health. A literature search was completed entering the search term "Housing First" in electronic databases (PsycINFO, JSTOR, and Web of Science) to find potential studies. Of the 67 items produced by the literature search, after screening for outcome studies of Housing First programs that evaluate housing retention, substance use, and/or mental health in comparison to other programs or treatment as usual, 5 final studies were selected for inclusion in the review. Of …

Phenomenology And Hbse: Making The Connection, Phillip Dybicz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A number of postmodern practitioners have turned to theorists such as Foucault, Derrida, and Wittgenstein to inform their intervention efforts. Yet it may be difficult for the average practitioner, or educator teaching HBSE, to make the connection between these theorists and human behavior. Phenomenology, as a theory of ontology, serves as afundamental theory of the postmodern paradigm. As such, phenomenological concepts such as existence and essence, presence and absence, and distinctness and vagueness offer much in illustrating the link between postmodern theories of meaningmaking and intervention efforts seeking change in human behavior.

The First And The Last: A Confluence Of Factors Leading To The Integration Of Carver School Of Missions And Social Work, 1955, Tanya Smith Brice, T. Laine Scales

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Carver School of Missions and Social Work, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, was an all-female social work program that eventually became the first seminary-affiliated social work program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. This article examines Carver's efforts towards racial integration during the late 1950s, which was a time of heightened racial tensions across the United States. This article is informed by a series of oral histories of the two African American women who integrated Carver in 1955.

Health Inequalities And The Welfare State In European Families, Simone Sarti, Marco Alberio, Marco Terraneo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using EU-Silc data from 2005, our aim in this article is to estimate how self-assessed health and the gradient between education and health vary among individuals in different European countries, considering their contextual socioeconomic vulnerability. In order to do this, we use a hierarchical model with individuals nested in households at the second level, and in various European countries at the third level. Our main research interest is on the modelling variables associated with better health conditions and their improvement or worsening according not only to micro/ individual and macro/national levels but also to the household: a level on which …

Perceived Discrimination And Subjective Well-Being Among Rural-To-Urban Migrants In China, Juan Chen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using data from a 2009 national household survey (N = 2,866), this study investigates the differential experience of perceived institutional and interpersonal discrimination among rural-to-urban migrants in China, and the consequences of these two types of discrimination on measures of subjective well-being. The results indicate that rural-to-urban migrants perceive institutional discrimination more frequently than interpersonal discrimination. However, perceived interpersonal discrimination has a more detrimental effect than perceived institutional discrimination for rural-to-urban migrants, and this effect takes the form of self-rated physical health and depressive distress. The research calls for a more equitable social environment and equal distribution of resources and …

'We Are Radical': The Right To The City Alliance And The Future Of Community Organizing, Robert Fisher, Yuseph Katiya, Christopher Reid, Eric Shragge

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper seeks to situate current efforts of The Right to the City Alliance and selected member groups in a longitudinal and cross-sectional qualitative study of the limits and potential of contemporary organizing. For three decades politicians, policy makers, advocates, academics, and even activists have promoted community-based efforts as the primary vehicle for contemporary social change. Local organizing has been seen as the best site and strategy for initiatives as diverse as community economic development, public school reform, social service delivery, and challenging the powers that be. In almost all cases these efforts have been constrained and moderated by a …

Review Of Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity. Katherine Boo. Reviewed By Edward U. Murphy., Edward U. Murphy

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Katherine Boo. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. Random House (2012). $27.00 (hardcover).

Review Of Three Worlds Of Relief: Race, Immigration, And The American Welfare State From The Progressive Era To The New Deal. Cybelle Fox. Reviewed Bymarguerite G. Rosenthal., Marguerite G. Rosenthal

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Cybelle Fox, Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal. Princeton University Press (2012). $35 (paperback); $80 (hardcover).

Review Of The New Religious Intolerance. Martha C. Nussbaum. Reviewed By John Tropman., John Tropman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Martha C. Nussbaum, The New Religious Intolerance. Belknap/ Harvard (2012). $26.95 (hardcover).

Review Of Mother-Talk: Conversations With Mothers Of Lesbian Daughters And Ftm Transgender Children. Sarah E Pearlman. Reviewed By Melinda Mccormick., Melinda Mccormick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Sarah F. Pearlman, Mother-Talk: Conversations with Mothers of Lesbian Daughters and FTM Transgender Children. Demeter Press, (2012). $24.95 (paperback).

The Impact Of Perpetrator Gender On Child Protective Services Sexual Abuse Cases: A National Picture, David Axlyn Mcleod

Theses and Dissertations

Child sexual assault is a problem of epidemic proportions in the United States with some research suggesting up to one fifth of our nations children being victimized before reaching adulthood. Research has suggested females could be responsible for up to 20% of child sexual abuse cases, and at the same time only represent only 1% of sexual offenders incarcerated the US. This creates a situation where a large group of relatively under-researched offenders are evading detection. Numerous calls for further research have been made, but relatively few studies have had the ability to shed significant light on this phenomenon on …

Sexual Orientation Differences In The Relationship Between Victimization And Hazardous Drinking Among Women In The National Alcohol Survey, Laurie A. Drabble, K. F. Trocki, T. L. Hughes, R. A. Korcha, A. E. Lown

Faculty Publications

This study examined relationships between past experiences of victimization (sexual abuse and physical abuse in childhood, sexual abuse and physical abuse in adulthood, and lifetime victimization) and hazardous drinking among sexual minority women compared to exclusively heterosexual women. Data were from 11,169 women responding to sexual identity and sexual behavior questions from three National Alcohol Survey waves: 2000 (n = 3,880), 2005 (n = 3,464), and 2010 (n = 3,825). A hazardous drinking index was constructed from five dichotomous variables (5+ drinking in the past year, drinking two or more drinks daily, drinking to intoxication in the past year, two …

Exposure To Verbal Parental Aggression And Sexual Activity Among Low Income African American Youth, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

The study examined whether witnessing verbal parental aggression (VPA) was related to sexual activity among mostly low income African American youth, and whether psychological symptoms mediated this relationship. Five hundred and sixty-three African American high school adolescents (ages 13-19) completed self-administered questionnaires, which assessed demographics, psychological problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, aggression and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms), witnessing VPA, and sexual activity. Participants who witnessed high versus no VPA were 2 times more likely to report sexual activity. This relationship was mediated by aggression for males and females, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms for females only. Youth service providers should be …

Small-Dollar Children's Savings Accounts, Income, And College Outcomes, William Elliott, Hyun-A Song, Ilsung Nam

Center for Social Development Research

In this paper, we examine the relationship between children’s small-dollar savings accounts and college enrollment and graduation by asking three important research questions: (a) are children with savings of their own more likely to attend or graduate from college, (b) does dosage (having no account; having basic savings only; or having savings designated for school of less than $1, $1 to $499, or $500 or more) matter, and (c) is designating savings for school more predictive than having basic savings alone? We use propensity score weighted data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its supplements to create …

Community Violence Exposure And Adolescent Delinquency: Examining A Spectrum Of Promotive Factors, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

This study examined whether promotive factors (future expectations, family warmth, school attachment, and neighborhood cohesion) moderated relationships between community violence exposure and youth delinquency. Analyses were conducted using N = 2,980 sixth to eighth graders (Mage = 12.48; 41.1% males) from a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample. After controlling for demographic factors, delinquency was positively associated with community violence exposure and inversely associated with each of the promotive factors. When interaction effects between all promotive factors and community violence exposure were examined simultaneously, only future expectations moderated the relationship between community violence exposure and delinquency. Specifically, community violence exposure …

Reducing Student Loan Debt Through Parents’ College Savings, William Elliott, Ilsung Nam

Center for Social Development Research

One policy rationale for promoting Child Development Accounts (CDAs) is that they may help reduce college debt, but no research provides evidence of this. Research does suggest that high-dollar student loans ($10,000 or more) can reduce the probability that lower income students in particular persist in and graduate from college. In this study, we find evidence to suggest that parents’ college savings may reduce the probability that students accrue high-dollar student loan debt across all income levels with the exception of high-income students. Based on this and evidence from separate research on small-dollar children’s savings accounts, we suggest that it …

The Effect Of Cancer On Suicide In Ethnic Groups With A Differential Suicide Risk, Ora Nakash, Micha Barchana, Irena Liphshitz, Lital Keinan-Boker, Itzhak Levav

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This study examined the suicide risk among persons with cancer in ethnic groups with differential suicide mortality in the general population. We calculated the suicide standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) among Europe-America and Asia-North Africa-born Israelis with cancer, relative to the respective rates in the general population. The SIRs were higher in the European-American group [men: 1.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.62-2.30; women: 2.03, 95% CI 1.51-2.56], but not significantly different in the Asian-North African group (men: 0.86, 95% CI 0.52-1.20; women: 0.80, 95% CI 0.10-1.50). Assessment of suicide risk must consider the 'suicide culture' of the person with cancer.

The Determinants Of Within Metropolitan Immigrant Moves, Richard J. Smith, Catherine Schmitt-Sands

Social Work Faculty Publications

While the role of immigration and neighborhood change has been studied since the days of the Chicago School of Sociology, recent restrictions to immigration in concert with state and local initiatives to both enforce immigration policy or welcome immigrants raises new questions about neighborhood sorting within metropolitan areas. Policy makers are interested in recruiting high skilled and wealthy immigrants to attract investment and create jobs for native-born citizens. Some have endorsed welcoming immigrants as a solution to regional economic development and to stabilize high poverty urban neighborhoods. Are these immigrant recruitment policies realistic given existing patterns of immigrant housing location …

Social Services For Sexual Minority Youth: Preferences For What, Where, And How Services Are Delivered, Elizabeth A. Wells, Kenta Asakura, Marilyn J. Hoppe, Kimberly F. Balsam, Diane M. Morrison, Blair Beadnell

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

As part of an internet-based study to investigate experiences of sexual minority youth in the U.S., 544 youth, ages 14-19, were surveyed about their need for services, where they preferred to receive these services, and their preferred method of service delivery. The survey was anonymous and youth were recruited from LGBTQ-specific listservs and venues as well as through social networking sites as a way of reaching youth often not represented in LGBTQ surveys. Youth highly endorsed many types of services, settings, and modes of delivery. Some subgroup differences emerged. Transgender youth and those uncertain about their gender identity expressed stronger …

The Organizational Context Of Research-Minded Practitioners: Challenges And Opportunities, Bowen Mcbeath, Michael J. Austin

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

If some practitioners are more research minded than others, then promising approaches for bridging the research to practice gap may be developed by describing research-minded practitioners and examining how to locate and support them. This article follows this basic logic in providing an overview of organizational development and practitioner support models for increasing knowledge use in human service organizations. The article begins with a conceptual profile of research-minded practi- tioners—individuals with an affinity for empirical inquiry, critical thinking, and reflection allied with a commitment to data- driven organizational improvement—and the organizational settings needed to host research-minded practice. This is followed …

Negotiating Accommodations At The Workplace: Perspectives Of Human Resource Professionals And Parents Of Children With Mental Health Disorders, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Jennifer R. Bradley, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at the 11th annual conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries, San Francisco, CA., Jan. 2007.

Youth And Their Health In Ghana, Gina Chowa, Rainier Masa, Isaac Osei-Akoto

Center for Social Development Research

Youth and Their Health in Ghana

Parental Involvement And Academic Performance In Ghana, Gina Chowa, David Ansong, Issac Osei-Akoto

Center for Social Development Research

Parental Involvement and Academic Performance in Ghana

Empowerment In Community-Based Participatory Research With Persons With Developmental Disabilities: Perspectives Of Community Researchers, Erin Elizabeth Stack

Dissertations and Theses

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a research approach that benefits from the expertise of community members being involved in the research along all stages of a project (Israel et al., 2003). CBPR is often utilized with marginalized populations in order to amplify a community's voice on important issues in their lives (Bastida, Tseng, McKeever, & Jack, 2010; Minkler & Wallerstein, 2008). In the past, persons with disability have been excluded from research in order to protect them from exploitation. This practice of exclusion undermines opportunities for persons with disabilities to be independent and make decisions that are important for themselves …