Showing papers in "Social Work Research in 2006"

Imputing Missing Data: A Comparison of Methods for Social Work Researchers

Abstract: Choosing the most appropriate method to handle missing data during analyses is one of the most challenging decisions confronting researchers. Often, missing values are just ignored rather than replaced with a reliable imputation method. Six methods of data imputation were used to replace missing data from two data sets of varying sizes; this article examines the results. Each imputation method is defined, and the pros and cons of its use in social science research are identified. The authors discuss comparisons of descriptive measures and multivariate analyses with the imputed variables and the results of a timed study to determine how long it took to use each imputation method on first and subsequent use. Implications for social work research are suggested. KEY WORDS: data analysis; data imputation methods; missing data; research methods ********** "Five hundred high school students completed the longitudinal study ... The analysis suggests that a significant difference was found between ..." These hypothetical results may appear to be positive, but the researcher failed to report that originally 850 students were in the study, and that each year 5% to 6% of the sample could not be found because they had moved, no longer had a phone, or chose not to participate. Furthermore, because of incomplete data for some variables, researchers had to drop other cases from the analysis. So in reality, more than 50% of the original sample might not be included, or accounted for, in this statement. It is possible that the participants not included in the final analysis have different characteristics from those who were included. How does this dearth of data affect the outcomes reported? Unfortunately, this scenario is all too common in the social work research reported in the literature. This article summarizes the hazards of ignoring missing data and identifies six data imputation methods that can resolve this problem. To examine how results might differ based on the imputation procedure selected, each of these methods was used on two different data sets, each with missing values. The results effectively demonstrate the importance of dealing with missing data and the many issues confronting the social work researcher in this regard. The researcher's goal is to conduct the most accurate analysis of the data to make valid and efficient inferences about a population to guide practitioners and researchers alike (Schafer & Graham, 2002). Accomplishing this goal requires choosing the most appropriate method to handle missing data. Too often, social work researchers ignore missing data and their effects on data analysis, thus limiting the researcher's ability to achieve this goal. Ignoring missing data typically occurs when there is a widespread failure to understand the significance of the problem or a lack of awareness of the solutions to the problem of missing data (Figueredo, McKnight, McKnight, & Sidani, 2000). The handling of missing data is not typically addressed in research reports; literature reviews prove this point. Of approximately 100 articles reviewed between 2001 and 2003 from three social work research journals (Journal of Social Service Research, Social Work, and Social Work Research), only 15 percent reported any information about the amount of missing data or how missing data were handled in the analysis. Because virtually all social science survey research involves some incomplete data, treatment of missing data should be a universal concern and addressed in all research reports. Numerous methods exist to handle the problem of missing data. They include both "old" methods requiring just a few mathematical computations and "new" methods requiring more complex computations that are increasingly easier for social work researchers to perform with statistical programming software. Here we examine the traditional methods, including listwise deletion (the least sophisticated method), mean substitution, hotdecking, and regression imputation. …

The Content and Process of Mother—Adolescent Communication about Sex in Latino Families

Abstract: Research has shown that Latino parents discuss sexual topics with their children less often than do parents from other ethnic groups; however, communication about sex in Latino families is not well understood. The present study explored the content and process of mother-adolescent communication about sex to better understand how to facilitate communication in urban Latino families. Focus-group interviews were conducted with 63 Latino mother-adolescent pairs in New York City. Latina mothers were able to discuss certain sex-related topics, such as the consequences of sexual activity, but not others, including sexual intercourse and birth control. Adolescents wanted to discuss sexual topics with their mothers, yet most did not because of fears their mothers would assume they were sexually active and would punish them. Our findings suggest that Latino culture and the urban environment play a large role in mother-adolescent conversations about sex. Latina mothers were raised in a culture not supportive of open discussions about sex in the home, yet they recognize the risks their adolescents experience in an urban U.S. environment. The present study provides information on the nature of communication about sex in Latino families and can help tailor interventions aimed at reducing adolescent sexual risk behavior. KEY WORDS: adolescent sexual behavior; Latino families; mother-adolescent communication ********** Adolescents continue to be at risk of the negative outcomes associated with sexual risk behavior. Approximately 840,000 adolescents 15 to 19 years of age become pregnant each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2000a), and each year teenagers account for one-quarter of new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States (CDC, 2000b). Between 2000 and 2003, 13% of HIV cases in 32 states were diagnosed in young people 13 to 24 years old (CDC, 2004). Latino youths may be particularly at risk of these outcomes. Although Latinos represent 13% of the U.S. population, they accounted for 20% of new AIDS cases reported in 2003 (CDC, 2004). Latinos are also less likely to receive preventive care than non-Latinos (Carrillo, Trevino, Betancourt, & Coustasse, 2001; Carter-Pokras & Zambrana, 2001) and have less access to health education, health care, or culturally and linguistically competent health care providers than do white or African Americans (Carrillo et al.; Carter-Pokras & Zambrana). Earlier research has explored parental influences on adolescents' sexual risk behavior, often with a focus on parent--adolescent communication about sex. Although findings have been mixed (for a review of this literature, see Jaccard & Dittus, 1993; Miller, Benson, & Galbraith, 2001), more recent research with improved methodology has found negative associations between parental communication and sexual initiation (East, 1996; Jaccard, Dittus, & Gordon, 1996; Pick & Palos, 1995; Ward & Wyatt, 1994) and number of sexual partners (Holtzman & Robinson, 1995) and positive associations between parental communication and contraceptive and condom use (Whitaker, Miller, May, & Levin, 1999) and communication with sexual partners about condoms (Hutchinson & Cooney, 1998; Shoop & Davidson, 1994; Whitaker et al.). In all of these studies, greater frequency and higher quality of parent-adolescent communication about sex were associated with reduced sexual risk among adolescents. Research on the influence of parent--adolescent communication about sex within Latino families has also yielded inconsistent results. Studies focusing on Latino families have generally depicted less parent-adolescent communication, of both a general and a sex-specific nature, than in families from other ethnic groups (CDC, 1991; Hovell et al., 1994; Hutchinson, 2002; O'Sullivan, Meyer-Bahlburg, & Watkins, 2001). In a study of Latinos between the ages of 18 and 49, nearly half of the respondents reported never talking to their parents about sex (VanOss Marin & Gomez, 1997). …

Integrating Substance Abuse Treatment and Child Welfare Services: Findings from the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Waiver Demonstration

Abstract: Alcohol and other drug abuse is a major problem for children and families involved with public child welfare. Substance abuse compromises appropriate parenting practices and increases the risk of child maltreatment. A substantial proportion of substantiated child abuse and neglect reports involve parental substance abuse. Once in the system, children of substance-abusing families experience significantly longer stays in foster care and significantly lower rates of reunification. To address these problems, child welfare systems are developing service integration models that incorporate both substance abuse and child welfare services. This study provides an initial examination of the effectiveness of one service integration model that emphasizes the provision of intensive case management to link substance abuse and child welfare services. The authors used an experimental design and focused particular attention on two outcomes: access to substance abuse services and family reunification. The findings indicate that the families assigned to the experimental group used substance abuse services at a significantly higher rate and were more likely to achieve family reunification than were families in the control group. KEY WORDS: case management; families; reunification; substance abuse ********** The effective collaboration of multiple service systems to deal with parental alcohol and other drug abuse (AODA) continues to challenge government efforts to ensure family permanence and the safety and well-being of neglected and abused children. Research has documented the heavy toll that parental drug addiction exacts on families and children who come to the attention of state child protection authorities. According to Young and colleagues (1998), at least 50% of the nearly 1 million children indicated for child abuse and neglect in 1995 had caregivers who abused alcohol or other drugs. A 1994 report issued by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) estimated that the percentage of foster home placements resulting in part from parental drug use rose from 52% to 78% between 1986 and 1991 in the cities of Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia (GAO, 1994). A 1998 GAO study of child protection systems in Los Angeles and Cook County, Illinois, documented that substance use was a problem in more than 70% of active foster care cases (GAO, 1998). If child welfare systems are to achieve desirable permanency and safety outcomes, the development of innovative service strategies and agency partnerships are necessary. Parental substance abuse often compromises appropriate parenting practices, creates problems in the parent--child relationship, and significantly increases the risk of child maltreatment (Famularo, Kincherff, & Fenton, 1992; Jaudes, Ekwo, & Van Voorhis, 1995; Kelleher, Chaffin, Hollenberg, & Fisher, 1994; Nurco, Blatchley, Hanlon, O'Grady, & McCarren, 1998). Once involved in the child welfare system, substance-abusing parents are more likely to experience subsequent allegations of maltreatment compared with non-substance-abusing parents (Smith & Testa, 2002). In addition to the increased risk of maltreatment, access to and engagement with treatment providers is often limited (Maluccio & Ainsworth, 2003). Consequently, children of substance-abusing parents remain in substitute care for significantly longer periods of time and experience significantly lower rates of family reunification relative to almost every other subgroup of families in the child welfare system (GAO, 1998). Access and Engagement Access to substance abuse treatment is limited for substance-abusing parents. Overall, in the United States approximately one-third of all individuals who need treatment receive it (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 1997). The supply of treatment services for women with children is especially inadequate (Price, 1997). …

Science, Social Work, Prevention: Finding the Intersections.

Abstract: Over the past 25 years the science of prevention of adolescent health and behavior problems has matured as a result of longitudinal studies of predictors of these problems and controlled studies of preventive interventions focused on those predictors that have revealed efficacious prevention strategies. This article builds on three Aaron Rosen lectures: Aaron Rosen's call for the use of evidence-based practice in the first lecture in this series, Mark Fraser's call for more intervention research in social work, and Claudia Coulton's explorations of "The Place of Community in SocialWork Practice Research." It documents key developments in prevention science over the past 25 years and explores what these developments could mean for social work education and research over the next few years. KEY WORDS: evidence-based practice; prevention science; research; social work ********** In my early working days, I lived in a rural fishing community off the coast of Washington. I , was the county's juvenile probation officer. I had a position subsidized by the state through the intensive probation subsidy program. That program provided money for probation officers in Washington counties to do intensive counseling with reduced caseloads in hopes of sending fewer young people to state institutions. I mention this here because it was as a probation officer that I first became convinced of the importance of preventing adolescent behavior problems before young people encounter the juvenile justice system. I worked with young people ages 12 to 17 referred for delinquent behavior and drug possession. Over time, I came to see my job as akin to operating an ambulance service at the bottom of a cliff. We were the emergency workers patching up those who fell over the edge. That experience convinced me that we must broaden crime reduction efforts beyond the justice system to include prevention. I will return to the intensive probation program later in this article. Before 1980 there was little evidence that delinquency or adolescent drug abuse could be prevented. School-based drug prevention programs that were evaluated were found to be largely ineffective (Elmquist, 1995; Hansen, 1992; Moskowitz, 1989). Some studies found that school-based drug information programs were associated with increased drug use among teenagers (Tobler, 1986). In 1980 a review of the delinquency experiments conducted in the United States to that year identified nine well-controlled trials (Berleman, 1980). None of them was effective in preventing delinquency. Perhaps the most notable was the Cambridge Somerville Study, a program of wrap-around services for "high-risk" boys. Dr. Richard Cabot of Harvard believed that the intervention of a friendly, socialized adult with a vulnerable boy when the child was still young might lead the child to a normal nondelinquent life. In 1935 he funded a nonprofit foundation that sustained the delinquency prevention study for 10 years. Cabot employed community-based counselors who worked predominantly in the field in this economically disadvantaged community. Services were individualized for each boy and his parents. The model was "casework with the individual boy" (Berleman, p. 130). Counselors used their practice wisdom to address needs they encountered. The randomized controlled trial of this intervention showed that the program had no effects on police contacts for delinquency or commitments to state institutions. A long-term follow-up of the program conducted by McCord (1992) found that youths exposed to the program were more likely than the control group to develop serious behavior problems, alcoholism, and mental health problems over their lives. The Hippocratic oath requires that physicians "never do harm to anyone." This is our responsibility as social workers as well. Our best conceived interventions could do harm. We must evaluate our ideas to know what outcomes they produce. …

Rural Older Adults' Access Barriers to In-Home and Community-Based Services

Abstract: This study identified specific access barriers to seven commonly used in-home and community-based services (HCBS) and examined factors that were related to barriers to these services. The data used in this study were extracted from the 1999 National Long Term Care Survey and included 283 dyads of rural older adults and their caregivers. The HCBS to which caregivers most frequently reported access barriers were respite care, transportation, and homemaker services. Although access barriers varied depending on individual services, the main access barriers were unavailability, unawareness, and affordability of HCBS. Findings showed that predisposing, enabling, and need factors had differential influence on access barriers to individual services. The older adult's race, educational attainment, and Medicaid enrollment were significant predictors of access barriers to homemaker services. The older adult's educational attainment and annual household income were significant predictors of access barriers to home modification services. Implications of these findings for social work practice are discussed. KEY WORDS: access barriers; in-home and community-based services; rural older adults ********** Rural in-home and community-based services (HCBS) have improved greatly over the past decade. However, increasing access to HCBS remains a challenge for many rural service providers. Lack of coordination among service providers, limited funding sources, shortages of qualified professionals, and a sparsely populated clientele are major structural obstacles to the delivery of HCBS in rural communities (Coburn, 2002). Personal factors such as a preference for family caregiving, a tradition of self-reliance, and a general mistrust of government services hamper an older adult's use of needed HCBS (Coward, Netzer, & Peek, 1996; Krout, 1998; Rowles, Beaulieu, & Myers, 1996). Knowledge of these structural and personal access barriers has improved our understanding of the challenge in the development and delivery of rural HCBS. However, information linking access barriers to specific services is limited. When older adults attempt to gain access to different HCBS, we do not know whether they will encounter the same or different barriers. There is limited information on what risk factors identify rural older adults as vulnerable to access barriers (Coburn, 2002; Coward et al., 1996). This information is important to social work practice because social workers play a critical role in helping rural older adults and their caregivers overcome access barriers to needed services. Using data from the 1999 National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS), this study examined the prevalence of access barriers to seven commonly used HCBS in rural communities and identified risk factors that were related to these access barriers. LITERATURE REVIEW Rural older adults are in particular need of HCBS (Coward, McLaughlin, Duncan, & Bull, 1994; Coward, Vogel, Duncan, & Uttaro, 1995; Rogers, 1999). Compared with their urban counterparts, rural older adults are less educated, have fewer financial resources, and experience more health problems (Coward, McLaughlin, et al., 1994; Rogers). According to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly two-thirds of rural older adults assessed their health as "fair" or "poor" in 1997 (Rogers). Using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) (1990-1994), Coburn and Bolda (1999) estimated that between 37.6% and 40.5% of rural older adults reported functional impairment. Most rural older adults with functional impairment have relied on their families to help them with household, financial, and other needs (Stoller, 1998). In addition, a relatively small proportion of rural older adults have used HCBS. Data from the 1984 NHIS, for example, showed that about 17.5% of rural older adults with disabilities used formal services (Coward, Cutler, & Mullens, 1990). …

School Bonding and Substance Use in Rural Communities

Abstract: Adolescent substance use in U.S. rural communities is now equal to or greater than urban use for many substances. Yet much research focuses on urban and suburban populations, raising doubt as to the generalizability of etiological models of substance use to rural populations. This study examines whether the relationship between school bonding and alcohol and drug use depends on level of rurality of the community in which an adolescent lives. Data were collected between 1996 and 2000 from a sample of junior and senior high schools in 193 predominantly white communities, stratified by region. Multilevel models were estimated for alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, and amphetamines. A strong negative relationship was found between school bonding and substance use, no matter the level of rurality. Results also suggested that school bonding might be more protective for drunkenness and marijuana use in the most remote communities. KEY WORDS: adolescents; rural populations; school bonding; substance use ********** Use of some substances among youths in U.S. rural communities is now greater than use in the nation's urban areas according to recent reports. Combining data from national surveys, numerous studies, and interviews with experts, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (2000) reported that rural eighth graders were 104% more likely to use amphetamines, including methamphetamines, and 50% more likely to use cocaine. In addition, the use of other drugs, such as marijuana and alcohol, was just as prevalent in rural communities. For 10th graders, rural use rates exceeded urban rates for every drug, except ecstasy and marijuana. Yet the majority of substance use research still focuses on urban and suburban populations, with relatively little attention paid to the nation's more rural populations (Conger & Elder, 1994; Spoth & Redmond, 1996). This one-sidedness raises doubt as to the generalizability of etiological models of youth substance use to rural populations (Botvin, Malgady, Griffin, Scheier, & Epstein, 1998). Research widely affirms that school bonding is a protective factor for adolescent substance use. That is, when youths have positive experiences and ties to school, they are less likely to participate in illegal behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use (Bryant, Schulenberg, O'Malley, Bachman, & Johnston, 2003; Guo, Hawkins, Hill, & Abbott, 2001; Maguin & Loeber, 1996; McNeely, Nonnemaker, & Blum, 2002; Rountree & Clayton, 1999; Williams, Ayers, Abbott, Hawkins, & Catalano, 1999). However, few, if any, studies have focused on understanding the relationship between school bonding and drug and alcohol use based on the level of rurality of the community. This is an important research question in a time when many rural schools are facing difficult challenges that could negatively affect students' connections to school, including inadequate funding (Beeson, 2001; Haas, 2000; Mathis, 2003), a shortage of experienced teachers because of difficulties in attracting and retaining teachers (Collins, 1999; Rural School and Community Trust, 2001), long travel/busing times for students (Killeen & Sipple, 2000; Spence, 2000), school and school district consolidation (Beeson, 2001; Killeen & Sipple; Mitchell, 2000), and an overall urban/suburban focus in national and state education policies (Kannapel & DeYoung, 1999; Parker, 2001). Our study addresses this gap in the research by explicitly examining whether the relationship between school bonding and alcohol and drug use depends on the type of community in which an adolescent lives. We were able to do this by using a national data set of a representative sample of schools located in 193 communities that differ by level of rurality. SCHOOL BONDING AS A PROTECTIVE FACTOR Control theory (Hirschi, 1969) explains the relationship between at-risk behaviors and the bond an individual maintains with important elements of society; youths who are bound by positive social ties are less likely to participate in illegal substance use (Agnew, 1993). …

How Do Welfare Sanctions Work

Abstract: Under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, families are subject to greater work requirements, and the severity of sanction for noncompliance has increased Using Wisconsin longitudinal administrative data, the authors performed event history analysis to examine the dynamic patterns of sanctioning and the patterns of benefits following a sanction They found that very high rates of sanctioning (especially partial sanctions) and multiple sanctions were fairly common but sanction spells were quite short The most common transition from a sanction was back to full benefit receipt The authors also examined the factors associated with being sanctioned and the severity of sanctions by comparing a traditional model with an event history model They found that it is important to estimate a model that takes into account the period of risk Results confirm that those who may be least able to succeed in the labor market are most likely to be sanctioned KEY WORDS: event history analysis; poverty; TANF; welfare programs; welfare sanctions ********** The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PL 104-193) ended the federal guarantee of cash assistance for single-parent families with children and replaced the entitlement program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant Work requirements were a key component of the legislation, and sanctions for noncompliance were an important part of the policy design Under TANF, sanctions have taken on much greater significance, both because fewer families are exempt from work requirements and because the new policy of full family sanctions means that failure to comply with those requirements can result in the loss of the family's entire cash grant (Pavetti & Bloom, 2001; Pavetti, Derr, & Hesketh, 2003), as well as the loss of food stamps and Medicaid (Cherlin et al, 2001; US General Accounting Office [GAO], 2000) The number of people no longer receiving benefits because they have been sanctioned has increased concern about how often sanctions are used, who is at risk of being sanctioned, and the effects of sanctions on welfare recipients A number of studies have examined the characteristics of sanctioned families, the reasons these families did not meet their participation requirements, and the later consequences to them Most of these studies did not focus on sanctions but looked more generally at families who had left welfare ("leavers"; see Colville, Moore, Smith, & Smucker, 1997; Westra & Routley, 2000) or were conducted under the old AFDC system (Colville et al; Fraker, Nixon, Losby, Prindle, & Else, 1997; Kornfeld et al, 1999; GAO, 1997) There is less known about the use of sanctions under TANF Most of the early studies of sanctions were exploratory and descriptive, assessing the characteristics and describing the experiences of sanctioned recipients or sanctioned leavers Furthermore, much sanction research has measured a sanction as a simple dichotomous variable (sanction, nonsanction) at a particular time Relatively few studies have examined the severity of sanctions or the timing and duration of sanctions We used Wisconsin longitudinal administrative data in our study These data include detailed information on the timing and severity of sanctions, enabling us to examine the dynamic patterns of sanctioning, factors associated with being sanctioned, and the relationship between sanctioning and subsequent outcomes POLICY CONTEXT States have broad authority and flexibility regarding the design and use of sanctions The triggers for sanctions and amount of reduction in the grant vary from state to state There are various types of sanctions tied to work requirements, child support enforcement, and, for teenagers receiving welfare, the requirements to attend school and live with parents …

Early Intervention and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention: Evidence from the Chicago Longitudinal Study

Abstract: This study investigated the role of an early educational intervention and child-, family-, peer-, and school-level predictors on court-reported juvenile delinquency. Data were provided from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, an ongoing investigation of the scholastic and social development of more than 1,500 low-income youths (93% of whom were African American). Preschool intervention was associated with reductions in the incidence, frequency, and severity of juvenile delinquency by age 18. Childhood classroom adjustment, special education placement for an emotional or behavioral disorder, and school mobility were also predictive of delinquency outcomes, as were gender and family and environmental risk status. Findings demonstrate the importance of early intervention and schooling factors in reducing delinquency and highlight the benefits of early intervention as one mechanism for delinquency prevention. KEY WORDS: childhood risk factors; early intervention; juvenile delinquency ********** Juvenile delinquency is often treated through a myriad child-oriented programs and services that attempt to decrease the likelihood of recidivism. This treatment paradigm has been a consistent fixture of the juvenile justice system for more than 100 years, since the birth of the juvenile court in Cook County, Illinois, in 1899. Although the intent of the juvenile court has shifted over the years from policies focused on the best interests of the child to the best interests of the public, its goals have remained the same: to intervene in the trajectories of youths after they have already engaged in delinquent acts (Feld, 1999; Tonry, 1998). This strategy has been associated with high costs and relatively low effectiveness (Feld; Tonry). In response to the treatment-oriented policies of juvenile crime control, primary prevention programs have been offered as an alternative approach to reducing negative developmental outcomes. Primary preventions have been defined as interventions that promote well-being and prevent future problems. Primary programs contrast with secondary and tertiary programs that are timed during or after a problem has manifested (Durlak, 1997). Early educational interventions, such as Head Start, have been devised as primary prevention programs to increase cognitive and academic functioning, and they have the potential to influence outcomes in other domains as well, including delinquency and crime (Barnett, 1995). PREDICTING JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Through extant research, a framework for predicting juvenile delinquency has been developed and includes four categories of predictor variables: early antisocial behavior, individual-level attributes of the child, family attributes, and social characteristics of both the child and the family (Lipsey & Derzon, 1998). Focus on these predictor domains has greatly added to the literature, especially as they help to identify the developmental trajectories of youths. However, these four domains are limited in identifying the contribution of intervention to delinquency prediction. Findings from the current study attempt to apply the structure of the existing prediction model and expand its scope to include both early intervention experiences and the early and later educational experiences that influence the social and behavioral development of youths. The inclusion of an intervention component in a large-scale longitudinal study is a unique contribution to the literature on the causes and correlates of juvenile delinquency. Evidence presented in this article uses an evaluation of a large-scale early educational intervention to examine the relation between program participation and lower rates of juvenile delinquency through age 18 in a high-risk low-income urban sample. This study also examined the contribution of child-developed abilities and social competence; family factors, including child maltreatment and parental involvement; and school-level risk and protective factors above and beyond preschool participation. …

Methods and Challenges of Analyzing Spatial Data for Social Work Problems: The Case of Examining Child Maltreatment Geographically

Abstract: Increasingly, social work researchers are interested in examining how "place" and "location" contribute to social problems. Yet, often these researchers do not use the specialized spatial statistical techniques developed to handle the analytic issues faced when conducting ecological analyses. This article explains the importance of these techniques when analyzing spatial data, describes appropriate spatial statistical techniques, provides an illustration of how using inappropriate statistical techniques with spatial data can produce biased estimates of statistical tests, and discusses challenges to conducting spatial analysis. The study involved analyzing data for 941 census tracts for structural factors related to child maltreatment using traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and generalized linear squares (GLS) spatial regression. When using OLS, results showed that immigrant populations/child care burden was negatively related to rates of child maltreatment but not related when using GLS, which controls for correlations between these spatial units. Relying on OLS regression techniques to create interventions to reduce child maltreatment in spatial areas could result in developing ineffective strategies that fail to reduce maltreatment. KEY WORDS: child maltreatment; GIS; neighborhoods; spatial analysis ********** Advances in geographic information systems (GIS) technology are leading social work researchers and practitioners to think about social welfare problems more "spatially." For example, Albert and Catlin (2002) studied whether states adjusted their welfare benefits to be more like adjacent states to discourage welfare recipients from crossing state borders to receive more benefits. Essentially, their question was one of space: Are welfare benefits in states located next to each other more alike than states farther away? Social work researchers increasingly pose similar types of questions, yet the methods used in social work research to examine this greater awareness of space have not kept pace with the questions asked. One area where the biggest awareness of space in social work practice and research can be seen is through the increased use of GIS-generated maps, which show the distributions of problems across communities or neighborhoods (Noble & Smith, 1994; Queralt & Witte, 1998; Robertson & Wier, 1998). Although the use of these maps has proliferated, analyses of spatial data from these maps continue to be conducted using traditional analytic techniques, such as regression, analysis of variance, or tabulated frequencies of events across spatial areas including neighborhoods and communities. Such techniques do not account for several of the unique problems associated with analyses of spatial data. At the very least, the neglect of these techniques when studying neighborhoods or other areas may result in specification error and inconsistent findings across studies. At the very worst, interventions to reduce social problems may be recommended to policy-makers based on biased statistical tests. The purpose of this article is to explain the importance of using specialized statistical techniques for analyzing spatial data, describe these techniques, provide an example that illustrates how using inappropriate statistical techniques of spatial data can produce biased estimates of the statistical tests, and discuss challenges to conducting spatial analyses. WHY SPATIAL DATA ANALYSIS? Spatial data analysis refers to the examination of some process in space and its relationship to other spatial phenomena (Bailey & Gatrell, 1995) and can be used to describe relationships between points, lines, or areas. This article focuses on those techniques used to describe areal data--data collected from geographic areas such as cities, zip codes, and census tracts. In the past 10 years, there has been a proliferation of studies of neighborhood areas examining many different social problems (see Burton & Jarrett, 2000; Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000; Sampson, Morenoff, & Gannon-Rowley, 2002 for a review). …

Exploring the Political Diversity of Social Workers

Abstract: A barely audible conversation exists within social work on the diversity of political ideology among social workers. Although diversity is a rich area of study in social work, a comprehensive exploration of social workers' political ideologies remains largely absent (Rosenwald, 2004). The assumption that social workers subscribe to liberal economic, social, and moral values prevails, as evidenced in NASW policy statements (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2003), even though this assumption has rarely been explicitly and fully examined. This assumption occurs despite the NASW Code of Ethics's inclusion of respecting fellow social workers' diversity of political belief (NASW). As a result, ideologies of social workers that differ from liberal political ideology may not be represented. POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES Political ideology refers to individuals' support of policy positions that reflect their attitudes on society's relationship with technology, power distribution, dependency, and nationalism (Gamson, 1992). This support is commonly detailed among a multitiered ideological continuum (Brint, 1994; Knight, 1999; Lowi & Ginsberg, 1994; McKenna, 1998). At one end of the continuum is a "radical left" ideology that focuses on major systemic changes to address oppression (Wagner, 1990). "Liberal" ideology emphasizes government protection of individual rights (Lowi & Ginsberg) and the separation of church and state (Brint; McKenna). "Moderate" political ideology combines conservative and liberal views and favors rational, incremental change (McKenna). "Conservative" ideology emphasizes the for-profit and voluntary sectors' abilities to address social problems, socially traditional values, and suspicion of government control (O'Connors & Sabato, 2000). Finally, at the opposite end of the spectrum is the "radical right" political ideology, which promotes policy relating to biblical literalism, the patriarchal family, and fiscal conservatism (Hyde, 1991). The literature on political ideology provides some insight into social workers' political ideologies. Political ideology, reflected in Democratic Party membership, suggests social workers are predominantly liberal (Abbott, 1988, 1999; Epstein, 1969; Reeser & Epstein, 1990). However, when ideology was examined as political philosophy, findings were mixed; most social workers were liberal in Abbott's (1988, 1999) research but were fairly evenly liberal and moderate (Hodge, 2003) or more moderate (Varley, 1968) in other studies. Hodge also found MSWs tended to be slightly more liberal than BSWs. Social workers tended to be more liberal on general political ideology and specific policy positions than people in other professions (Abbott, 1988, Hendershot & Grimm, 1974;Jensen & Bergin, 1988; Rubinstein, 1994) and the general public (Koeske & Crouse, 1981; Hodge). Scant attention has been given to studies involving social workers who identify as radical left (but see Fisher, Weedman, Alex, & Stout, 2001; Wagner, 1990) or radical right. Although the literature provides a good introduction, the full range of social workers' political ideology was rarely examined as the central focus of any study. No study examined multiple measures of political ideology as dependent variables. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to identify both the range and correlates of social workers' political ideologies. METHOD The dependent variable of political ideology was principally measured by the 40-item Professional Opinion Scale (POS) (Abbott, 1988). The POS was selected as the main measure because it appeared to be the most comprehensive and reliable scale that gauged political ideology by examining policy statements linked to the social work profession. The POS was based on NASW policy statements from 1985. Since that time, the positions reflected in these policy statements have not substantially changed as compared with current NASW policy positions (personal communication with A. …

Adolescent Runaway Episodes: Application of an Estrangement Model of Recidivism

Abstract: Adolescents who run away represent a unique and understudied subgroup of the homeless population, and estimates suggest that between 1.3 and 2.8 million youths in the United States run away or are forced out of parental homes each year (Greene, Ringwalt, & Iachan, 1997). These youths are at increased risk of a variety of problems, including drug and alcohol use, emotional and conduct disorders, school failure, criminal behavior, and victimization (Rotheram-Borus, 1993; Yoder, Hoyt, & Whitbeck, 1998). Although research of delinquency among adolescents has used theory to guide research (Thornberry, 1987), most studies of youths who run away have not drawn on a theoretical framework. Furthermore, limited research has addressed the issue of recidivism--specifically, youths who run away, return home, and run away again. In the few studies conducted to explore factors associated with recidivism to shelter services, results suggested significant differences between youths who run away once and those with repeated episodes (Baker, McKay, Hans, Schlange, & Auville, 2003; Thompson & Pillai, 2006). Youths who run away once appear to be responding to a specific incident, often parental maltreatment or intense conflict; youths who run away repeatedly experience prolonged and lingering problems that often originate from poor family relationships (Stefanidis, Pennbridge, & MacKenzie, 1992). Given the paucity of research concerning the characteristics and antecedents associated with runaway recidivism, research must address escalation of runaway behavior by developing conceptual models that identify factors contributing to runaway behaviors. CONCEPTUAL MODEL Research on homeless adults has begun to focus on issues associated with the total duration of homelessness, referred to as the "homeless career" (Grigsby, Baumann, Gregorich, & Roberts-Gray, 1990; Piliavin, Sosin, Westerfelt, & Matsueda, 1993). Piliavin and colleagues hypothesized that adults who experience longer periods of homelessness differ systematically from those with shorter homeless careers and in terms of estrangement from societal institutions. They also suggested a conceptual model of homeless careers as a function of four sources of estrangement: (1) institutional disaffiliation, (2) psychological dysfunction, (3) identification with homeless culture, and (4) human capital. This estrangement framework can be applied to understanding youth, family, and social systems pivotal in the progressive accumulation of behavioral problems leading to youths' running away. Using these four concepts is an exploratory and novel approach to developing a framework for identifying factors associated with multiple versus single runaway episodes. Institutional disaffiliation has been defined as the weakening of ties to societal institutions (Bahr & Caplow, 1973). Disaffiliation suggests that childhood antecedents of poor cohesion, adaptability, and family coping might be related to future difficulty with social support networks (Jackson-Wilson & Borger, 1993).Youths who run away are clearly vulnerable to weak interpersonal and family relationships (Whitbeck, Hoyt, & Ackley, 1997) and experience social disaffiliation and isolation (Malloy, Christ, & Hohloch, 1990). Educational detachment, criminal behavior, and other deviant behaviors represent this impoverishment and disaffiliation with societal institutions (Castel, 2000; Malloy et al.).Any one of these factors could complicate the developmental transitions normally associated with adolescence; collectively these factors constitute a condition of social marginalization that jeopardizes the course of normal development (Sullivan, 1996). Psychological dysfunction, or mental health difficulties, have long been linked to homelessness (Piliavin et al., 1993) and are disproportionately high among youths who run away (Yoder et al., 1998), particularly depression, low self-esteem, impulsivity, and suicidal thoughts and attempts. …

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adult Work Outcomes.

Abstract: The authors explored the relationship among childhood sexual abuse (CSA), physical and mental health work barriers, and employment outcomes using a large panel study of current and former welfare recipients. Controlling for human capital and demographic characteristics, they found CSA was associated with significantly fewer months worked over the 33-month period immediately following the 1996 welfare reform legislation. CSA was also strongly associated with presence of a mental or physical health work barrier during that same time period, and those variables mediated the relationship between CSA and employment. The data suggest that human capital variables alone do not account for women's work outcomes and that intervention is needed in the welfare system to address women's work barriers, including the long-term consequences of CSA. KEY WORDS: child sexual abuse; employment; mental health; welfare; work barriers ********** Employment is increasingly a reality of life for poor women as a result of the 1996 welfare reform law Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) (P.L. 104-193). PRWORA ended the long-standing federal welfare entitlement and requires that most welfare recipients work or engage in work-related activities to receive benefits. Welfare caseloads declined by more than half, from 4.55 million families in 1996 to 2.13 million families in 2001 (Brookings Institution, 2002). Although caseloads have increased since the economic down-turn of 2001, they remain well below their pre-welfare reform levels. Research has shown that the transition to work may not be easy for many welfare recipients who face serious barriers to work, including physical and mental health problems (Danziger, Corcoran, et al., 2000; Danziger, Kalil, & Anderson, 2000; Jayakody, Danziger, & Pollack, 2000; Taylor & Barusch, 2004). A study of former and current welfare recipients found that one-third met the diagnostic criteria for major depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and generalized anxiety disorder (Danziger, Corcoran, et al., 2000). Similarly, the National Survey of American Families documented that about one-third of the welfare caseload reported very poor mental or physical health, and four out of 10 recipients had two or more barriers to work (Zedlewski, 2003). Although mental and physical health work barriers are known to reduce work levels among welfare recipients (Danziger, Corcoran, et al., 2000; Danziger & Seefeldt, 2002), not enough is known about the etiology of work barriers. Little attention has been given to how childhood trauma might reverberate throughout women's lives, potentially contributing to work barriers and limited work outcomes in adulthood. Few empirical studies have looked at employment outcomes among women sexually abused as children, although poor women's personal narratives point to childhood sexual abuse (CSA) as an important factor that hinders the ability to obtain and maintain work (Shipler, 2004). To address this gap we examined the prevalence of CSA using data from the Women's Employment Study (WES), a nonclinical, representative sample of current and former welfare recipients. We tested the hypothesis that CSA is negatively related to women's employment outcomes, measured by the percentage of months worked over the 33-month period following enactment of PRWORA. We propose that the connection between CSA and employment is mediated by mental and physical health work barriers that may directly or indirectly result from CSA. We discuss the implications of this study for welfare policy and intervention strategies. CSA PREVALENCE According to the National Comorbidity Study (NCS), a nationally representative study of mental health disorders (Kessler et al., 1994), approximately 13.5% of female respondents retrospectively reported molestation, rape, or both before the age of 18 (Molnar, Berkman, & Buka, 2001). …

What about Me? Siblings of Children with an Anxiety Disorder

Abstract: Sibling relationships are enduring and influential and can have a profound impact on children's development (Dunn, 2000). Positive sibling relationships are associated with better friendships, higher self-esteem, and lower levels of loneliness, depression, and delinquent behaviors (Yeh & Lempers, 2004). Although there has been research on siblings of children with chronic illnesses, there has been limited research on the impact of children's anxiety disorders on the functioning of siblings (Lindhout et al., 2003). This lack of research is surprising because anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in children and adolescents, with an estimated six-month prevalence rate of 10.5% to 16.5% (Verhulst, van der Ende, Ferdinand, & Kasius, 1997). In addition, anxiety disorders tend to run in families (Skre, Onstad, Edvardsen, Torgersen, & Kringlen, 1994), and first-degree relatives, such as siblings, of a patient with an anxiety disorder are at greater risk of developing an anxiety disorder compared with the general population (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). In addition to possible genetic risk factors, the family context may also be related to the development of anxiety disorders. For example, the quality of attachment to the caregiver is an important antecedent to a generalized psychological vulnerability to anxiety (Thompson, 1998). Parents of children with anxiety disorders may be overprotective, offer excessive reassurance, or engage in negative and adverse parent--child interactions, which may affect family functioning and sibling relationships (Eisen & Kearney, 1995). In addition, anxious children may perceive more differential treatment by parents than nonanxious children (Lindhout et al., 2003). The few studies of siblings of children with an anxiety disorder examined how the sibling relationship affects the anxious child or how the siblings interact (for example, Fox, Barrett, & Shortt, 2002; Hudson & Rapee, 2002). This limited research on sibling relationships in families with a child with an anxiety disorder has yielded inconsistent findings. Some research suggests that there may be no difference in perceived affection or hostility between siblings and children with an anxiety disorder (Lindhout et al., 2003). However, others have found that the interactions between siblings and children with an anxiety disorder were characterized by more conflict and control and less warmth as compared with a nonclinical control group and that the anxious children engaged in more controlling behaviors than the children in the control group (Fox et al.). Given the prevalence of anxiety disorders in children and the inconsistent findings in the research done to date, more research is needed on siblings of children with anxiety disorders. In this article, we describe an exploratory study aimed at examining the psychosocial functioning (that is, internalizing and externalizing behaviors) of children who have a sibling with an anxiety disorder. Because we found no descriptive research, the first purpose of this study was descriptive. We expected to find some of the sibling children suffering from an anxiety disorder because anxiety disorders tend to run in families (Skre et al., 1994). The second purpose of this study was to examine predictors of siblings' internalizing and externalizing behaviors. On the basis of the limited research available, gender, anxious child's diagnosis, length of treatment (used as a proxy for severity),interference in family functioning, and parental history of mental health diagnosis (Cobham, Dadds, & Spence, 1998) were examined. METHOD Sample and Procedure We used a one-time survey with a convenience sample. Data were collected on 65 siblings of anxious children. The anxious child's average age was 11.4 years (SD = 2.5); 36 (55%) were male and 29 (45%) were female. The average length of treatment was two years (SD = 2. …

Psychometric Properties of the Elementary School Success Profile for Children

Abstract: The Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP) is a multidimensional instrument for school based practitioners that assesses the social environmental domains of neighborhood, school, friends, and family, as well as the well-being, behavior, and school performance of students in the third, fourth, and fifth grade. This article presents the psychometric properties of the computerized child self-report component of the ESSP--the ESSP for Children. Previously, extensive cognitive testing with children established that children's ESSP responses mean what the instrument's developers intended. In the present study, results of analyses of factor characteristics, internal consistency reliability, standard error of measurement/percentage of error, criterion-related validity, construct validity, and test-retest reliability indicate that the child questionnaire contains 12 factors in five domains with adequate to excellent psychometric qualities. Triangulated with data collected from the ESSP for Parents and the ESSP for Teachers, the data from the ESSP for Children provide information that is directly applicable to intervention planning by school staff. KEY WORDS: assessment; elementary school; scale development; social environment ********** This article presents the psychometric properties of the child self-report component of a new ecological assessment instrument, the Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP).The ESSP was developed in response to a critical lack of instruments for assessing the social environmental factors that contribute to the well-being and performance of elementary school children. The literature is replete with examples of how critical the social environment is to child development in such perspectives as ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1992), developmental contextualism (Lerner & Sinai, 2000), risk and resilience (Rutter, 2001; Sameroff, 2000), and developmental psychopathology (Sroufe, 1997). Empirical support for considering the role of the social environment in children's development is also evident. Studies guided by ecological, developmental, and transactional models of development consistently indicate the importance of family, school, neighborhood, and peer influences on outcomes (for example, Bowen & Bowen, 1999; Laird, Jordan, Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 2001; Simons et al., 2002).The growing number of interventions endorsed as effective and "evidence-based" that focus on aspects of the social environment also indicates that the social environment offers powerful leverage points for effecting change (Hill, Howell, Hawkins, & Battin-Pearson, 1999; McDonald et al., 1997; Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic, 1999). Despite the ongoing theoretical, empirical, and intervention support for ecological models of development, a predominant assumption in mental health practice is that "problems" reside primarily in the individual and that the individual is the appropriate target of interventions (Sroufe, 1997). Consistent with this assumption, many of the most commonly used mental health assessments for children primarily aim to document the nature and severity of the behaviors or symptoms that children display. Books that review existing instruments (Corcoran & Fischer, 2000; Merrell, 2003), and a series of articles in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry that review rating scales (Myers & Winters, 2002, for example) demonstrate this focus. Little or no information is gathered with these instruments related to the environmental circumstances or interactions that bear on the individual child's behavior. The emphasis in existing instruments on describing problematic behavior is consistent with certain goals of assessment, such as "problem clarification, diagnosis, [or] classification" (Merrell, 2003, p. 10), and monitoring change in outcomes over time (Corcoran & Fischer, 2000). However, Merrell also listed intervention planning as a goal of assessment and suggested that "ideally the end result of assessment is to gather information that may be used to help solve specific problems" (p. …

Comparing Psychiatric Service Use among Low-Income Women and Women in a General Household Population

Abstract: This article examines the use of outpatient mental health services in a sample of low-income women (Mothers' Well-Being Study [MWS]) and compares the findings with a sample of similar-aged women in the general population (National Comorbidity Survey [NCS]). Overall, the prevalence of any 12-month mental health disorder was significantly greater for MWS respondents compared with NCS respondents. Only a quarter of each sample with any disorder had received treatment at an outpatient mental health service in the past year. The authors identify implications for social workers who seek to improve access and quality of care for women in need of specialty mental health and substance use services. KEY WORDS: low-income women; mental health services; substance abuse; welfare ********** The landmark release of Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General called for Americans to "seek help if you have a mental health problem or think you have symptoms of a mental disorder" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999, p. 453). The surgeon general's report facilitated widespread attention to the detrimental effects of mental health problems, identified barriers that many people face in seeking treatment, and compiled evidence supporting the positive effects of appropriate treatment. It indicated that recent population studies, such as the Epidemiologic Catchment Area survey (Regier et al., 1993) and the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) (Kessler et al., 1994), provided benchmark data on the prevalence of service use among people with psychiatric disorders and substance use problems; such population-based prevalence data offer valuable indicators for comparative purposes. The NCS, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), was the first survey to administer face-to-face structured psychiatric interviews to a nationally representative U.S. sample. The NCS has served as a benchmark for the prevalence of mental health and substance abuse disorders in the United States and has also provided data on the level and type of service use for these disorders. It has allowed researchers examining underrepresented groups to compare their findings regarding psychiatric disorders and service use rates with national norms. For instance, in previous studies of homeless women (Bassuk, Buckner, Perloff, & Bassuk, 1998) and Native Americans (Beals et al., 2005), researchers have compared their findings with the NCS as a way of identifying unique needs and possible inequities in vulnerable populations. The Mothers' Well-Being Study (MWS), also funded by NIMH, replicated the NCS, but with a sample of women who were receiving welfare in 1998. This population was underrepresented in the NCS, and the MWS was an opportunity for researchers, service providers, and policymakers to attain a better understanding of welfare mothers' service needs. The NCS and MWS used similar diagnostic instruments to assess a range of 12-month psychiatric disorders and used the same questions about service use in four service sectors (that is, general medical, specialty mental health and substance abuse services, human services, and self-help). The present study contributes to social workers' understanding of welfare clients' service needs and the extent to which their need for psychiatric and substance abuse services is met. We evaluated outpatient mental health services use in a random sample of low-income women (the MWS) and compared the findings with results of analyses conducted on a sample of similar-aged women in the general population (the NCS). Given prior research and the relatively resource-poor environment of the area from which the MWS women were sampled, we expected that MWS women would have lower rates than NCS women of general medical and specialty service use. Because of their contacts with the welfare system, we expected that MWS respondents would have higher rates than NCS respondents of treatment seeking in the human services and self-help sectors. …

Advances and Challenges in Preventing Childhood and Adolescent Problem Behavior

Abstract: Prevention has recently been heralded as an effective way to reduce the adverse effects associated with childhood and adolescent problem behavior. Bolstered by new evidence indicating that empirically based curricula can prevent or delay the onset of problems such as drug use or delinquency, many communities have strengthened their commitment to providing prevention programs in local neighborhoods and schools (Gottfredson & Wilson, 2003). This renewed interest in strategies aimed at preventing childhood and adolescent problems follows a period of unprecedented advancement in the general field of prevention (Greenberg, 2004; Hawkins, Catalano, & Arthur, 2002). Prevention has changed significantly in the past several decades. In 1984, I was a doctoral student at the University of Washington studying the etiology, prevention, and treatment of juvenile delinquency and substance abuse. During my studies at the School of Social Work, I was fortunate to work on a federally funded intervention trial led by Professors J. David Hawkins and Richard f. Catalano of the Social Development Research Group (SDRG). When I began my doctoral training, SDRG was a small group of committed researchers interested in identifying risk and protective factors associated with the onset and persistence of childhood and adolescent antisocial behavior. Knowledge of risk and protective traits, guided by theoretical constructs from the social development model of antisocial behavior (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996), was being used by SDRG members to design and test interventions for high-risk children and families in longitudinal controlled trials. Today SDRG is composed of a nationally recognized community of scholars who have made significant contributions to understanding the developmental processes leading to antisocial conduct and to developing and testing prevention programs aimed at interrupting these processes. As a testament to this progress, I am pleased to publish in this issue the Aaron Rosen Lecture presented by J. David Hawkins at the 2005 meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). Recent advances and current challenges in prevention are chronicled in the following section and in remarks to the SSWR membership offered by Professor Hawkins. PREVENTION: AN ABBREVIATED HISTORY School and community prevention programs in the United States date back at least 40 years. Early efforts can be traced to the 1960s, when intervention approaches based on information dissemination and fear-arousal approaches were implemented in many of the nation's schools. These strategies stressed the adverse consequences and dramatized the dangers of drug use and delinquent conduct in an attempt to discourage young people from participating in problem behaviors. Experts agree that conveying information about the consequences and risks associated with problem behaviors such as delinquency and drug use is an important component of prevention programs. However, the effects of knowledge-based or fear-arousal techniques were largely unsuccessful in changing attitudes, intentions, or individual behaviors in children and youths (Bangert-Drowns, 1988; Moskowitz, 1989; Tobler, 1986). Affective education strategies and alternative programs and structured activities for children and youths took center stage in the late 1970s. Affective education was designed to increase responsible decision-making skills and enhance self-esteem. In this model, students were exposed to problem-solving and experiential activities based on the assumption that effective decision-making skills would deter involvement in antisocial behavior. Unfortunately, early affective education programs did not prevent or reduce antisocial behavior itself (Botvin & Griffin, 2003). Alternative programming was based on a belief that extracurricular activities could serve as a deterrent to antisocial behavior. This assumption implied that students who participated in after-school programs such as sports, arts, academic tutoring, or community activities would avoid involvement in problems like delinquency and drug use. …

Research and the Public Good

Abstract: Robert Berdahl, a former chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley, stressed the importance of higher education's commitment to serving the public good in a 1999 speech at the National Press Club. In Berdahl's words, "We cannot lay claim to greater public investment--to which we must lay claim if we are to serve our function in a knowledge-intensive society that also subscribes to democratic values--unless we are seen to serve the public good" (London, 2003, p. 2). Public and private colleges and universities have accepted Berdahl's challenge in recent years (Kezar, Chambers, & Burkhardt, 2005; Lewis & Hearn, 2003). Many institutions of higher learning have highlighted education, research, and service on behalf of the public good as a guiding principle. For example, the University of Denver (2001) declares that it aims to be "a great private university dedicated to the public good." My colleagues in Denver have taken this charge seriously by developing and testing community-based interventions aimed at increasing public service and civic engagement among undergraduate and graduate students. Not surprisingly, the words "public service" or "public good" appear in the mission statements of many universities, including the University of California (2004), the University of Wisconsin (2006), and the University of North Carolina (2004). Higher education's commitment to public service and the public good, however, extends beyond simple public declaration. For example, the University of Michigan's National Forum on Education for the Public Good, supported in part by the Kellogg Foundation, has identified strategies necessary to expand public service activities among institutions of higher education in the United States (London, 2003). These strategies include a variety of approaches aimed at increasing student and Faculty interest in service learning classes, volunteerism, and research. RESEARCH FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD One might argue that nearly all social work research is related to the public good. After all, social work researchers design and conduct studies that seek to help vulnerable individuals and groups in high-risk schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Wouldn't the results of such studies by their very nature contribute to enhancing the well-being of society? Perhaps, but close examination of the nature of social work research reveals that many published social work reports are descriptive in nature and offer only modest implications for promoting positive change in social issues or policies (for example, Rosen, Proctor, & Staudt, 1999). Although complex in theory, purpose, and design, other studies fall short on matters of practical application. Among the major challenges of conducting research in the interest of the public good are the following: designing and implementing investigations that are compatible with the goals of public service; applying rigorous research designs in real-world settings; creating university--community partnerships; and disseminating the results of investigations. Studies Compatible with the Public Good In general terms, research in the social sciences includes studies that aim to describe and explain social phenomena. All types of well-conducted investigations afford the opportunity to advance knowledge in a particular area. Etiological studies yield important information about the onset of problem behaviors. Descriptive and exploratory investigations have the potential to inform the public about the nature of service delivery patterns in health, justice, child welfare, aging, mental health, and other service sectors. On the other hand, social work research that examines the effects of services and interventions may be most consistent with goals identified as compatible with the mission of promoting the public good. Intervention studies across all populations are needed to add to the knowledge base of efficacious prevention and treatment approaches for client, neighborhood, and community problems. …

A Call for Social Work Research from the National Institutes of Health

Abstract: Previous editorials in this journal have noted the importance of expanding the capacity and improving the quality of social work research. Topics discussed in these editorials have addressed the nature and rigor of social work research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and research infrastructure in schools of social work (Fortune, 1999; Jenson, 2005; Proctor, 2002, 2003). Although improvements have occurred in each of these areas, considerable work remains in the quest to increase the impact and status of social work research. A new development in meeting this goal emerged recently with the release of a program announcement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) aimed at advancing social work research (see http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-081.html). NIH SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE In December 2005, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) released a program announcement (PA) with three award mechanisms targeting social work research. Research on Social Work Practice and Concepts in Health is a call for proposals to investigate the effects of theoretically and empirically based social work practice on health outcomes for people experiencing medical and behavioral problems (PA-06-081). The PA is the product of efforts led by the Social Work Research Working Group, a team composed of representatives from NIH Institutes and Centers charged by Congress to develop a social work research agenda across NIH. In NIH Plan for Social Work Research (NIH, 2003), the group identified nine recommendations to enhance social work research. One proposed a new initiative by NIH to solicit empirical studies examining the effects of social work services and interventions on medical and behavioral outcomes for people receiving assistance in health care and nonspecialty health care settings (in schools, social services agencies, or correctional facilities, for example).The Research on Social Work Practice and Concepts in Health announcement is an outcome of this recommendation. This new NIH announcement is important for several reasons. The PA publicly acknowledges the contribution of social work practice to the enhancement and efficacy of medical interventions targeting health problems. Significantly, the language in the PA goes beyond the proposition that social work strategies are mere enhancements to existing services and interventions. The existence of a social work knowledge base that offers unique and significant clinical expertise to interdisciplinary intervention efforts with client groups across multiple systems of care is clearly recognized. Specifically, the PA calls for investigations that apply empirically derived knowledge of efficacious interdisciplinary and coordinated intervention strategies aimed at improving health outcomes. Finally, the initiative seeks to advance sound scientific studies that will develop and test innovative social work approaches to ameliorating adverse health conditions. The need for at least four types of social work investigations are highlighted in the announcement: (1) studies that assess the effectiveness of existing social work services and interventions on health outcomes; (2) investigations to develop and test the effects of innovative social work interventions on client functioning; (3) proposals that aim to improve health outcomes through interventions delivered in nontraditional health care settings; and (4) studies that examine effective program implementation strategies in communities. The initiative emphasizes collaborative and interdisciplinary projects based on a public health framework. The standard R01, R03, and R21 NIH award mechanisms are identified in the PA. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES The NIH Research on Social Work Practice and Concepts in Health PA gives long-overdue recognition to the unique and shared strengths of social work intervention. …

Assessing Capacity for Self-Care among HIV-Positive Heads of Household: Bilingual Validation of the Parental Self-Care Scale

Abstract: For many people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA), coping with a lifelong and life-threatening illness is complicated by the roles and responsibilities of parenting (Antle, Wells, Goldie, DeMatteo, & King, 2001). The demands of child rearing, taken together with experiences of stigmatization, injustice, and uncertainty about one's own future, underscore the need for professionals to better understand the circumstances of HIV-positive parents and to develop constructive means of support. Interviewing English- and Spanish-speaking HIV-positive women, Aranda-Naranjo, Portillo, Schietinger, and Norgan (2002) found that caring for self was often secondary to caring for family. Respondents valued creating an atmosphere of normalcy for their children despite their own illness, spent considerable time on children's needs, and identified them as their primary reason for living. Fullilove and colleagues (2002) identified challenges faced by women of color in obtaining culturally sensitive services, reporting that ancillary services (transportation, child care, and mental health and substance abuse treatment) may be especially difficult to obtain. Such women may find themselves disadvantaged when competing for service funding and may be least likely to effectively advocate for their own financial, political, or social needs. Balancing obligations as caregiver and care recipient may mean taking care of basic survival needs, negotiating care for infected and affected household members, managing adherence to one's own medical regimen, and finding providers who communicate well and can be trusted (Aranda-Naranjo et al., 2002). These issues may be further complicated by immigrant status. Celia and colleagues (1998) observed the importance of developing assessments of health-related quality of life that could be usefully compared across differing populations, while Miller, Guarnaccia, and Fasina (2002), acknowledging the disproportionate impact of AIDS on people of Latino origin, called for increased Spanish translation of tools for prevention education and health-related assessment. Bandura's (1997) concept of self-efficacy, the belief that one's behavior would result in a certain desired outcome, has been associated with numerous health-related conditions. Generally considered to be variable with circumstances rather than characteristic of individuals, it is best conceptualized for measurement as being specific to particular experiences and expressed as real-world challenges that people of interest are likely to face (DeVellis & DeVellis, 2001). For women in advanced stages of HIV/AIDS who have young children, successful adherence to antiretroviral medications has been significantly related to self-efficacy regarding their treatment, and outcome expectancies regarding its benefits (Murphy, Greenwell, & Hoffman, 2002). Among people affected by HIV/AIDS, parents' beliefs in their abilities to care for their children have been assessed by Dorsey, Klein, and Forehand (1999) using Allen's (1993) Parenting Efficacy Scale to measure five dimensions: love, control, communication, education, and general self-efficacy. Shively and colleagues (2002) reported an initial validation of the HIV Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, capturing six domains of PLHA experience (managing mood, medications, symptoms, and fatigue; communicating with the health care provider; and getting support). The need for measures allowing comparisons among differing cultural and social groups is particularly strong in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, where so many different groups require assistance in varying health care and social service settings (Skevington, 2002). Our instrument represents the first effort to capture self-efficacy from the perspective of parents in HIV-infected or -affected households, referenced to the challenges of caring for self while remaining responsible for others, and is the first assessed for its potential use with both English- and Spanish-speaking respondents. …

Income Class and the Accumulation of Net Worth in the United States

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the differential rates of accumulating net worth among low- and high-income households. To achieve this objective, the authors, using a sample drawn from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances, investigated the degree of elasticity of household net worth (or wealth) to household income among five income quintiles of households. The major finding was that among the lowest quintile, the elasticity was less than zero, meaning that as income increased, net worth declined. The elasticity increased as the quintile moved from the first to the fifth quintile. On the basis of the regression results, the authors concluded that income is a powerful determinant of the accumulation of net worth. The higher the income quintile, the greater the rate of accumulation of net worth. Implications for policy are discussed. KEY WORDS: elasticity; income class; low-income households; net worth ********** It is increasingly recognized that along with income, net worth (or wealth) is an important indicator of economic well-being. Observing the growing inequality in the distribution of net worth, Burtless (1999) warned that the growing net worth disparity in the United States may decrease the sense of social cohesion, creating a segmented society. Increasing inequality in net worth adversely affects the social and psychological conditions of U.S. households (Lynch et al., 1998). With these concerns as a backdrop, the major objective of our study was to compare the rate of accumulation of net worth among different income quintiles of households. To achieve this objective, we investigated the degree of elasticity of household net worth to household income among five income quintiles of households. The paragraphs that follow provide the background of the study and the rationale for identifying relevant variables that are treated as control variables in the study. BACKGROUND Economists say that there is no general theory of the accumulation of net worth (Diaz-Gimenez, Quadrini, & Rios-Rull, 1997). Thus, researchers in this field have dealt with certain hypotheses and concepts to guide their research. Broadly categorized, their concerns are the life-cycle hypothesis, structural variables--demographic and educational, individual psychological disposition regarding saving and investing, the necessity to consume, and others. These concepts are not mutually exclusive. The life-cycle hypothesis states that rational individuals accumulate net worth so that when they become old, they can ensure a continuous flow of income by dissaving what they accumulated while they were young (Land, 1996). In particular, it states that after a worker enters the labor force, his or her earnings and net worth rise and reach a maximum at a certain point and decline thereafter, at which time the accumulated net worth begins to be dissaved. This hypothesis implies that the size of net worth depends on which point in the life cycle a person has achieved (Tin, 1998). Aizcorbe and colleagues (2003) reported that the growth in net worth peaks between ages 55 and 64, and Wolff (1992) showed that the accumulation of net worth peaks at age 69 and then declines at age 70 and older. Because this hypothesis implies a nonlinear relationship between age and the accumulation of net worth, researchers normally include age and age-squared as part of regression models. Structural factors include employment status, education, and marital status, as well as age. Employment provides an opportunity to accumulate net worth through employer-provided pension plans and, therefore, a better chance of generating savings out of ongoing income. Governmental data have shown that the ratio of the net worth of working compared with nonworking people is about 3:1 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2001a). Diaz-Gimenez and colleagues (1997) indicated that education has a positive effect on economic performance in terms of efficient consumption, saving, and investment. …

Child Care in the United States: Who Shapes State Policies for Children?

Abstract: Child care research is traditionally interested in the effects of the child care experience on child development. This article examines a different question: Who shapes state child care policy in the United States? The study, based on 49 states, shows that contrary to expectations, women's political representation, governor's party affiliation, and state wealth are not related to regulatory requirements for higher standards of care. The results, however, indicate a negative association between the size of ethnic minority groups and two of the standards of care indicators relating to number of staff. There is also some support for the influence of state opinion liberalism. If the findings are indeed robust, they represent important policy implications for the well-being of children. KEY WORDS: child care; ethnicity; public opinion; race; state policy; women's political representation ********** For many families in the United States, child care and child development have become a joint responsibility among families and child care providers. However, unlike many Western European countries where early childhood care and education have become a public responsibility, it remains a private responsibility in the United States. Although public subsidies for child care are available in the United States, assistance is means-tested and mainly targeted at welfare families. Most U.S. families have to purchase care from the private market, which is more expensive than the costs of public college education in 49 states (Schulman, 2000). These families pay an average of $4,000 to $6,000 per year for a four-year-old in a child care center. Infant care and better quality care cost substantially more. Notwithstanding the availability of child care subsidies, children from poor families generally receive cheaper and poorer quality care, placing them at a higher risk of school failure. Critics lament the irony of the United States: It is a wealthy nation and produces the most influential body of research on early childhood programs, hut lacks a coherent policy for early childhood care and education and has no political will to produce better quality of care for all children (Boocock, 1995; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2000, 2001). There is vast research confirming the value of good quality child care. The gap in knowledge is who in the United States influences public policy and has the power to shape policies for children in need of early care and education. Who are the more powerful political actors--individuals, groups, and institutions--who speak for the estimated 14.4 million children younger than age five in regular child care and improve their well-being? This article examines the influence of political actors on a specific child care policy: setting quality standards for children. The political actors of interest are female legislators, public opinion, state governors, and state legislatures. Although other political actors, such as bureaucrats, business leaders, and the media, also have influence over policy making, data availability is a challenge, especially in cross-state comparisons. The study presented in this article contributes to child care research by focusing on child care policy and the factors that shape state policy choices. Much of the child care research to date has focused on the effects of the child care experience on child development. Using the research evidence on inaccessibility, nonaffordability, and poor quality of care, children's advocates argue for more public resources in delivery and funding of child care services. Policymakers do not necessarily base their considerations and decisions on research evidence, however, as other factors, such as ideology, budget constraints, and competing interests, come into play (Jansson, 2003). Research on child care policies is less prolific and concentrates heavily on monitoring the impact of the 1996 welfare reform. …