Abstracts from Volume 36, Number 1
(March, 2009)
PREVALENCE AND CORRELATES OF ADOLESCENT
DATING VIOLENCE IN BANGKOK, THAILAND
Penchan Pradubmook-Sherer
This study explored the incidence and severity of violence
in dating relationships, and identified variables
that explain dating violence perpetration by Thai youths.
The sample consisted of 1,296 adolescents from high schools,
vocational schools, and out-of-school adolescents, between the
ages of 14 and 19. Findings indicate that Thai youths maintain
very intensive dating relationships. The out-of-school adolescents
hold the highest dating violent behaviors. While males’ dating violence
scores were higher, the females were involved in all types of
dating violence, exceeding the males on verbal/emotional violence.
The results provide useful information about cultural infl uences
on dating violence, and have practical policy implications
for school-based prevention programs and agencies in Thailand.
CHILD CARE DEVELOPMENT FUND: A POLICY
ANALYSIS
Colleen K. Vesely and Elaine A. Anderson
Legislated as part of welfare reform, the Child Care and Development
Fund (CCDF) is the main source of child care government
funding earmarked for low-income families. As a block grant, with
broad federal guidelines, states have signifi cant freedom in implementing
this legislation to meet the needs of their citizens. This
diverse implementation has challenged legislators and scholars
trying to assess the success of CCDF across the United States. In
considering the evaluation research of CCDF, as well as the original
goals of this legislation, several major themes related to the
diverse state implementation emerged, including access, equity,
and stability. This paper provides an overview of CCDF, explains
these themes, and uses the 2002 third wave of National Survey
of American Families (NSAF) data to demonstrate how policy
analysts and researchers might use these themes to structure comprehensive
evaluations of CCDF at both state and federal levels.
PARENTAL ASSETS: A PATHWAY TO POSITIVE CHILD
EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Yeong Hun Yeo, Kate Irish, and
Min Zhan
A growing body of evidence suggests parental assets have positive
effects on children’s well-being. Using 2004 data from the Survey
of Income and Program Participation, this study tests the effect of
parental asset holding on child educational outcomes, and explores
whether parental involvement and expectations mediate this relationship.
Results indicate that assets are a significant predictor of
all child academic outcomes of our study; however, income is not
a significant predictor for school outcomes when controlling for
assets. The mediation analyses show the effect of assets on school
outcomes is mediated by two of the three parenting measures:
parental expectations and the number of parent-child breakfast
days per week. We include implications for policy and practice.
PROMOTING POSITIVE OUTCOMES FOR HEALTHY
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: UTILIZING SOCIAL
CAPITAL THEORY
Julie Anne Laser and George Stuart Leibowitz
This article discusses the central tenets of the theories of social capital,
which include exchanges, trust, obligation, bonding, bridging, and
issues concerning the marginalization of certain groups. Included is
an exploration of the limitations of the approaches of the key theorists,
followed by the presentation of a theoretical framework and model of
the development of social capital among youth. Additionally, the article
discusses the relevancy of social capital for social work practice.
THE FAILURES OF AMERICAN POVERTY MEASURES
Stephen Pimpare
How we think about need or deprivation—how we judge its severity,
its causes and effects, and the progress we have made (or not
made) over time in reducing it—has much to do with how we define
and then measure it. And, we measure it poorly. The insufficiencies
of official data on American poverty are reasonably well known, yet
they continue, nonetheless, to be the principal means by which we
gauge need in the United States. After a review of such offi cial measures,
this article discusses alternative means of evaluating need in
the United States, highlighting the benefits of examining poverty
across the life-course, and attending to inequality and other indicators
of a relative poverty; it then discusses the advantages of turning
toward human rights- and human development-based frameworks
for better defining and quantifying deprivation. It concludes
with a brief review of the political obstacles to such policy reform.
STRUCTURATION THEORY AND CRITICAL
CONSCIOUSNESS: POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS FOR
SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE
Jennifer Wheeler-Brooks
Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory provides concepts that
can be used to think differently about oppression and consciousness
raising. Structuration sees society as being recursively created
through its members’ social practices, and oppression as being
but one of these social practices. Consciousness raising, then, is
recognizing that a given social practice is oppressive, and then
deliberately working to change the practice. This is done by altering
one’s social performance and disrupting the recursive process
that maintains the oppressive practice. Implications follow
for empowerment-oriented social work practice and narrowing
the gap between clinical and community social work practice.
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD: DOES
WHERE YOU LIVE AFFECT THE USE OF NUTRITION,
HEALTH, AND WELFARE PROGRAMS?
Molly De Marco and Allison C. De Marco
Despite the recent upsurge in neighborhood effects research, few
studies have examined the impact of neighborhood characteristics on
the use of nutrition, health, and welfare programs. To explore these
issues, this study used data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A
Three-City Study, a longitudinal dataset comprised of low-income
neighborhoods in Boston, San Antonio, and Chicago (n=1,712).
Using hierarchical linear models, the results indicated that both
individual (education, employment, and marriage) and perceived
neighborhood disorder factors were related to social service use.
TESTING THE RELATIONSHIP OF FORMAL
BONDING, INFORMAL BONDING, AND FORMAL
BRIDGING SOCIAL CAPITAL ON KEY OUTCOMES
FOR FAMILIES IN LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS
Daniel Brisson
The development of social capital among families living in low-income
neighborhoods has become a popular poverty reduction
and economic advancement strategy. However conceptual scholarship
suggests the broad use of social capital has diminished its
importance. Scholars have begun to identify the multiple and overlapping
characteristics of social capital and the field now needs
empirical studies to show how specific types of social capital are
important for families living in low-income neighborhoods. This
study tests the relationship between three types of social capital
(informal bonding social capital, formal bonding social capital
and formal bridging social capital) and important outcomes for
families in these neighborhoods. Data for the study come from a
national neighborhood survey conducted by the Annie E. Casey
Foundation (N=6,031). Findings confirm a differentiated relationship
between the three types of social capital and family
outcomes. Study findings suggest that applying a broad understanding
of social capital to interventions in low-income communities
may be inadequate and instead interventions should match
a “type” of social capital to the community’s presenting issue(s).
BOOK REVIEWS
The Political Sociology of the Welfare State: Institutions, Social
Cleavages and Orientation. Stefan Svallfors, Editor.
Reviewed by Richard J. Smith.
Differential Diagnosis: A Comparative History of Health Care
Problems and Solutions in the United States and France.
Paul V. Dutton.
Reviewed by Krista Drescher Burke.
The Battle for Welfare Rights: Politics and Poverty in Modern
America. Felicia Kornbluh.
Reviewed by James Midgley.
Why America Lost the War on Poverty—And How to
Win It. Frank Stricker.
Reviewed by Mary Ager Caplan.
The Origins of the Welfare State: Women, Work, and the
French Revolution. Lisa DiCaprio.
Reviewed by James Midgley.
Challenges of an Aging Society; Ethical Dilemmas, Political
Issues. Rachel A. Pruchno and Michael Smyer, Editors.
Reviewed by Erica Yoonkyung Auh.
The Other Invisible Hand: Delivery Public Services through
Choice and Competition. Julian Le Grand.
Reviewed by James Midgley.
Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America.
Lynn R. Horton. Reviewed by Ian W. Holloway.
Mexican Immigration to the United States.
George J. Borjas, Editor. Reviewed by Michelle Johnson.
The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and
Kids-First Politics. David L. Kirp.
Reviewed by James Midgley.
Blue-Chip Black: Race, Class, and Status in the New Black
Middle Class. Karyn R. Lacy.
Reviewed by Paul G. Wright.
The Great American Crime Decline. Franklin E. Zimring.
Reviewed by Matthew T. Theriot.
