Sociology Commons^™

The Effectiveness And Enforcement Of A Teen Curfew Law, Richard D. Sutphen, Janet Ford

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article examines the effect of a teen curfew on juvenile arrest rates and reviews the first year of the curfew's implementation in a city of over 200,000 population. Juvenile arrest rates were compared for three years prior to the curfew's enactment and three years of curfew enforcement. Data related to 377 curfew violations and 83 parent citations issued in 22 police beats during the first year of implementation were analyzed to determine whether the curfew was primarily enforced in areas with serious juvenile crime or targeted low income, minority neighborhoods. Results indicate that the curfew had no effect on …

The Financial Vulnerability Of People With Disabilities: Assessing Poverty Risks, Andrew I. Batavia, Richard Beaulaurier

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The economic self-sufficiency and independence of people with disabilities depend largely on their capacity to maintain financial stability. As a group, such individuals have among the highest poverty rates, lowest educational levels, lowest average incomes, and highest out-of-pocket expenses of all population groups. Any substantial shock to the financial stability of people with disabilities can threaten their access to necessary housing, nutrition, medical care, and other resources, the absence of which may result in further vulnerability and possible poverty. This article offers a theoretical framework for understanding disability poverty risk. Empirical studies are needed to test this model, quantifying the …

Review Of Adolescents After Divorce. Christy M. Buchanan, Eleonor E. Maccoby And Sanford M. Dornbusch. Reviewed By Dorinda Noble, Louisiana State University., Dorinda N. Noble

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Christy M. Buchanan, Eleonor E. Maccoby and Sanford M. Dornbusch, Adolescents after Divorce. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. $19.95 papercover. [August 1, 2000].

Residential Mobility And Youth Well-Being: Research, Policy, And Practice Issues, Edward Scanlon, Kevin Devine

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite an extensive body of sociological work suggesting that residential mobility reduces child well-being, the subject of relocation has been largely overlooked in social work and social welfare literature. Recent social policies threaten to increase the incidence of moving among low-income families in the United States. This paper reviews theoretical and empirical literature in this area and finds evidence that residential mobility reduces children's academic functioning, and may negatively affect other aspects of child well-being. These effects are especially strong for poor children from single parent families, making this issue of particular relevance for social work. The authors suggest implications …

The Intergenerational Transmission Of Grandmother-Grandchild Co-Residency, Richard K. Caputo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examined national data from two women's cohorts to determine the likelihood that Black grandmothers who resided with grandchildren were more likely than other grandmothers were to have daughters who resided with grandchildren. Of 1098 co-resident grandmothers, 390 (36%) were in the younger of the two cohorts, 603 (55%) were in the older, and 105 (9%) were in both, comprising the sub-sample of grandmothergrandchild mother-daughter pairs. A significantly higher proportion of mothers in the grandmother-grandchildm other-daughterp airs were Black (83%) compared to 37% of the mothers among the non-paired ever coresident grandmothers. The study also found, by proxy, that …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 24, No. 4 (December 2000)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• A COMMUNITARIAN CRITIQUE OF THE CHILD PROTECTIVE SYSTEM - Toni Terling-Watt
• ESTIMATING POVERTY RATES IN A METROPOLIS: THE EXAMPLE OF LOS ANGELES/LONG BEACH - Robert G. Mogull
• JOB STABILITY AND WAGE PROGRESSION PATTERNS AMONG EARLY TANF LEAVERS - Steven G. Anderson, Anthony P. Halter, George Julnes, and Richard Schuldt
• WELFARE REFORM: A SOCIAL WORK PERSPECTIVE FOR ASSESSING SUCCESS - Dennis D. Long
• THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS [ESAPs] ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN: IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL WELFARE IN ZIMBABWE - Saliwe M. Kawewe and Robert Dibie
• THE HIGHER EDUCATION OPTION FOR POOR WOMEN WITH CHILDREN - …

A Descriptive Analysis Of Skin Color Bias In Puerto Rico: Ecological Applications To Practice, Ronald E. Hall

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Travel brochures to the island of Puerto Rico aptly profess the rich variation in skin color and other phenotypes among its people. Following acts of domination vis-a-vis the island's cultural mores, invading colonizers evolved a social hierarchy to discourage any notions of merit attributable to racial diversity. According to the data herewith, the presumption of a relationship between skin color and selected values for skin color ideals is plausible. Social work practitionersa re then challenged to decipher the maze of racial traditions as pertains to discrimination. Doing so will enable an environment for knowledge based purely upon merit in order …

The Higher Education Option For Poor Women With Children, Shanta Pandey, Min Zhan, Susan Neely-Barnes, Natasha Menon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Postsecondary education is the key to exiting from poverty permanently. Yet, the PRWORA allows women only up to 12 months of vocational training while on welfare. This paper focuses on bringing back the importance of investing in the education of poor women, particularly the postsecondary education of poor women with children, to the forefront of the welfare debate. In this paper we review federal and state level welfare policies toward postsecondary education of poor women with children. Some states are interpreting federal welfare policy strictly and allowing only up to 12 months of vocational training while on welfare. Other states …

Review Of Social Work With Lesbians, Gays And Bisexuals: A Strengths Perspective. Katherine Van Wormer, Joel Wells And Mary Boes. Reviewed By Ronald J. Mancoske., Ronald J. Mancoske

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Katherine van Wormer, Joel Wells and Mary Boes, Social Work with Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals: A Strengths Perspective. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. $26.76 papercover. [December 1, 1999].

Moving The Mountain: The Women's Movement In America Since 1960. Flora Davis.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Flora Davis, Moving the Mountain: The Women's Movement in America Since 1960. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1999. $21.95 papercover.

Pathways To Prison: Life Histories Of Former Clients Of The Child Welfare And Juvenile Justice Systems, Stephen A. Kapp

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examines the relationship between child maltreatment and future offending from the viewpoint of former clients. Imprisoned adults describe their experiences in child welfare and juvenile justice system services. Specifically, those placed out of the home originally into the child welfare system have a different perspective on their path to prison than those placed into the juvenile justice system as delinquents. The study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between the services children receive in the child welfare system as well as the juvenile justice system and their imprisonment as adults from a former service recipient's point …

Race, Class, And Support For Egalitarian Statism Among The African American Middle Class, George Wilson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study uses data from the 1990 and 1987 years of the General Social Survey to assess the effects of minority status and position in the class structure in explaining middle class African Americans' support for opportunity-enhancing and outcome-based egalitarian statist policies. Findings do not provide confirmation for prior research that has found that racial effects are predominant, but has considered a more narrow range of policies and not assessed interaction effects. First, neither additive nor interactive effects of race and social class explain support for government policies that are premised on providing people with skills to compete in the …

Urban Violence Among African American Males: Integrating Family, Neighborhood, And Peer Perspectives, M. Daniel Bennett Jr., Mark W. Fraser

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Even though rates have declined in recent years, violence is a serious problem in many American cities. This paper reviews recent perspectives on violence among young, urban African American males. Special attention is afforded the "father absent" hypothesis, the effect of poverty, the character of neighborhoods, the roots of self-efficacy, and peer influence, particularly the influence of street codes. The latter are argued both to regulate some situational behavior and to promote the use of violence in disputes over social status, drugs, and money. The authors discuss implications for policy and community development.

The Potential Impact Of Gender Role Socialization On Welfare Policy Formation, Magalene Harris Taylor

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper addresses a five year welfare reform pilot project conducted at the state level. The outcome of research findings for this project indicate that factors other than the obvious are barriers to women choosing work over welfare. Gender role socialization may play an active and very significant role in this process. The reality of which may inhibit welfare reform efforts at the state and national levels.

Grandma's Babies: The Problem Of Welfare Eligibility For Children Raised By Relatives, Rebecca L. Hegar, Maria Scannapieco

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article provides a brief history of children raised by relatives and examines the welfare eligibility of these families, emphasizing changes under the Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Act of 1996 (PR&WOA). The revolution in public welfare places many care-giving relatives atfinancial risk. Depending on their states' plans for implementing the PR& WOA, children and their relative caregivers may lose state support. The article presents the social welfare policy responses of a number of states to the problems of kinship care-giving, formal kinship foster care, the PR&WOA, and other social welfare provisions. Unintended consequences of welfare reform are highlighted.

Review Of World's Apart: Why Poverty Persists In Rural America. Cynthia Duncan. Reviewed By William Rainford, University Of California, Berkely., William Rainford

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Cynthia Duncan, World's Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. $27.50 hardcover.

The Strengths Of African American Families: 25 Years Later. Robert B. Hill.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Robert B. Hill, The Strengths of African American Families: 25 Years Later. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999. $49.00 hardcover, $19.50 papercover.

Lives On The Line: American Families And The Struggle To Make Ends Meet. Martha Shirk, Neil G. Bennett And J. Lawrence Aber.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Martha Shirk, Neil G. Bennett and J. Lawrence Aber, Lives on the Line: American Families and the Struggle to Make Ends Meet, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999. $24.00 hardcover.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 27, No. 3 (September 2000)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• SECOND-GENERATION PARENTHOOD: A PANEL STUDY OF GRANDMOTHER AND GRANDCHILD CORESIDENCY AMONG LOW-INCOME FAMILIES, 1967-1992 - Richard K. Caputo
• MAKING A DIFFERENCE: HUMAN SERVICE INTEREST GROUP INFLUENCE ON SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAM REGULATIONS - Richard Hoefer
• THE DISCOURSE OF DENIGRATION AND THE CREATION OF OTHER - Joshua Miller & Gerald Schamess
• PATHWAYS TO PRISON: LIFE HISTORIES OF FORMER CLIENTS OF THE CHILD WELFARE AND JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEMS - Stephen A. Kapp
• RACE, CLASS, AND SUPPORT FOR EGALITARIAN STATISM AMONG THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS - George Wilson
• URBAN VIOLENCE AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES: INTEGRATING FAMILY, NEIGHBORHOOD, AND PEER PERSPECTIVES …

The Victim Rights Movement: A Social Constructionist Examination, Angela Renee Evans

Dissertations

What has been termed the victim rights movement has made great progress in promoting legislative changes regarding victim rights in the United States. This research examines the victim rights movement from a social constructionist perspective by focusing on two pieces of federal legislation passed in the 1980s: the Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982 and the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. Using the social constructionist perspective, the research examines who was involved in the claims-making activities and which claims were most likely to be heard and acted upon. Rather than seeing social movements as the result of some …

The Organizational Culture In Community Foundations, Nanette Marie Keiser

Dissertations

Because of the current and future critical roles community foundations play in their geographical areas, the limited research to inform the community foundation field, and the importance o f studying organizational culture, there was a need to study the organizational culture of community foundations. A questionnaire was sent to 179 community foundation staff members in one state in the Midwest. Responses were received from 98 of the 179 staff members.

It was found that the actual organizational culture of the community foundation “industry” was differentiated across all variables (staff overall, paid staff size, asset size, and age of foundation). Organizations …

Coping With Chronic Fatigue, Susan Lynne Jensen

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine sense of coherence in those individuals diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and to explore its relationship to age, gender, work status, duration of illness, fatigue and functional ability/ disability in this population.

This study used a combined methods approach, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. A sample of thirty individuals diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome was surveyed by means of a self-administered questionnaire, including Antonovsky’s 13-item shortened Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale. A subset of 12 participants participated in the qualitative portion of the study, and answered specific questions regarding their …

Childcare And Experiential Knowledge: Expanding Definitions Of Childcare, Lori L. Mcneil

Dissertations

Childcare is traditionally defined as care for children while their parents/guardians are in the workforce or attending school. While technically accurate, it is argued that traditional definitions of childcare are partial and consequently do not fully describe childcare based on an experiential dimension. Thus, this research project sought to augment normative definitions of childcare by including the voices of children in childcare, parents using childcare and those caregivers providing childcare.

Several theoretical frameworks were used for this research. First, standpoint theory (Harding, 1987) was presented in order to inform an alternative perspective of childcare based on “experiential” rather than “expert” …

An Examination Of Voir Dire From An Interactionist Perspective, Peter R. Stevenson

Dissertations

Trial attorneys, historically, have used both scientific and unscientific selection techniques to empanel a jury, and these methods continue to be used in contemporary courtrooms. The ability of these techniques to pick a 'good” jury has been shown to have limited utility. This ineffectiveness may be due, in part, to a false assumption about the passivity of prospective jurors during questioning. An interactionist perspective sees individuals as much more active in that they control the information given out. Most potential jurors offer genuine presentations of self during jury selection in that they truthfully respond to the questions posed by courtroom …

Capital Punishment: A New Perspective On Race And Ethnic Differences In Punishment And Death Sentence Outcomes, Martin G. Urbina

Dissertations

A review of the existing literature on death sentence outcomes (i.e., executions, commutations) shows evidence of discrimination against minority defendants (e.g., African Americans). Prior studies, however, have followed a Caucasian/African American and/or execution/commutation approach. Latino defendants have either been excluded or treated as a monolithic group. Thus, little is known about death sentence outcomes for Latinos, whose experiences differ from those of African Americans and Caucasians. Additionally, little is known about the treatment of the various ethnic groups (e.g., Cubans, Mexicans) that constitute the Latino community. And, since the focus has been on executions and/or commutations, little is known about …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 27, No. 2 (June 2000)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• DO INNER-CITY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALES EXHIBIT "BAD ATTITUDES" TOWARD WORK? - Jill Littrell & Elizabeth Beck
• EXPLOITATION-THE INVISIBLE HAND GUIDED BY A BLIND EYE: CONFRONTING A FLAW IN ECONOMIC THEORY - Phillip Dybicz
• WORK AND ECONOMIC OUTCOMES AFTER WELFARE - Thomas P. Vartanian & Justine M. McNamara
• THE SPATIAL SHIFT IN THE GROWTH OF POVERTY AMONG FAMILIES HEADED BY EMPLOYED FEMALES, 1979-89 - W. Richard Goe & Anisa Rhea
• CONFLICTING BUREAUCRACIES, CONFLICTED WORK: DILEMMAS IN CASE MANAGEMENT FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS - Linda E. Francis
• RACIAL AND GENDER VARIATIONS IN THE PROCESS SHAPING EARNINGS' POTENTIAL: THE …

Work And Economic Outcomes After Welfare, Thomas P. Vartanian, Justine M. Mcnamara

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using data from the 1969 to 1993 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this article examines a number of models to determine the characteristics of AFDC recipients who fare well economically after they initially leave the welfare system. The study includes analyses of income levels, time spent employed and not employed, and time spent below the poverty line. Hypotheses regarding state welfare payments, area economic conditions, human capital and time spent receiving welfare are examined. The findings indicate that area employment conditions and the ability to quickly find work greatly affect the likelihood of faring well economically after welfare. We found …

The Spatial Shift In The Growth Of Poverty Among Families Headed By Employed Females, 1979-89, W. Richard Goe, Anisa Rhea

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The number of working poor families in the United States increased substantially during the 1979-89 period. This increase was found to disproportionately consist of families headed by employed females. The growth in poverty among families headed by employed females during this period was found to be nonstructural in nature and inequitably distributed across labor markets in the U.S. It was found that at the onset of the 1980s, high rates of poverty among families headed by employed females were predominantly concentrated in labor market areas in the South. Over the 1980s, the highest increases in poverty rates among such families …

Racial And Gender Variations In The Process Shaping Earnings' Potential: The Consequences Of Poverty In Early Adulthood, C. Andri Mizell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This research investigates the effects of poverty in early adulthood on future earnings. While social scientists are beginning to amass a considerable literature on the effects of poverty on outcomes for children, few have investigated the damage that impoverishment may do in early adulthood when individuals are in the midst of completing education and planning careers. The findings in this study indicate that poverty does dampen earnings' potential. However, individual characteristics (e.g., aspirations, esteem and ability) and structural location (e.g., educational attainment, occupational status and job tenure) may assuage the otherwise negative effects of poverty. Other findings reveal that the …

The Impact Of Education And Family Attributes On Attitudes And Responses To Unemployment Among Men And Women, Liat Kulik

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The study deals with differences between jobless Israeli women (n = 361) and men (n = 253) in relation to the following aspects of unemployment: Reasons for rejecting potential jobs, job search intensity, and responses to unemployment. The women mentioned more reasons for rejecting potential jobs, and their health-related responses to unemployment were more extreme than those of the men. However, the men tended to seekemployment more intensively than did the women.

Married respondents of both sexes showed the greatest tendency to reject potential employment due to conflict with family responsibilities. Married women were also more likely than their male …