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Concerns about the cost of higher education and student loan debt have resulted in increasing efforts by policymakers and university administrators to find alternative ways to support the financing of higher education for students. The authors present a case study of a student-led philanthropy campaign to generate funding for social work student scholarships. Three-year outcomes reveal that student and faculty participation rates reached 53% and 100%, respectively. An average student gift of $15.03 nearly tripled to $43.21 one year postgraduation. The campaign illustrates how grassroots fundraising can help unburden future social workers while improving sense of community among students, faculty, and alumni.

The purpose of this study was to examine the risk and protective factors of peer victimization among young children with disabilities. This study analyzed data from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (n =1,130) to test a path model that included child, family, and school characteristics at Year 1 and peer-relation difficulties and social skills at Year 2 to predict peer victimization among children with disabilities at Year 3. Children's family and school factors had direct effects on children's poorer social behaviors and language development, which had direct effects on peer-relation difficulties, which in turn increased peer victimization. Children's prosocial skill development, facilitated by children's receptive language ability, protects children with disabilities from peer victimization. Intervention implications are discussed.

Research has highlighted the role of intrapersonal and family characteristics on stress, but less attention has been paid to the potential influence of the community context and racial-ethnic differences in early parental experiences. Using an ecological model, this study examines the impact of neighborhood-level social disorder and social cohesion on parenting stress and whether this is universal across mothers of different race-ethnicities in a sample of mothers of young children in large U.S. cities. Study findings show that neighborhood context is significantly associated with parenting stress and minority parents experience less stress than White parents in higher-disordered neighborhoods. Findings highlight the need to improve community conditions, social support, and resources to reduce parenting stress. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Using a vignette-based, mailed survey of 1,401 experienced psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, the authors examined how clients' race/ethnicity and clinicians' professional and social characteristics affect their judgment of mental disorder among antisocially behaving youths. Vignettes described problematic behaviors meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for conduct disorder but contained contextual information suggesting either disorder or nondisorder, following DSM-IV guidelines. Clinicians depended on contextual information to decide whether a mental disorder existed, and they judged White youths to have a disorder more frequently than Black or Hispanic youths. Clinicians' occupation, theoretical orientation, and age also were associated with disorder judgments, whereas their gender, race, and experience were not. Research and training implications of these variations in clinical judgments are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the risk and protective factors of peer victimization among young children with disabilities. This study analyzed data from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (n = 1,130) to test a path model that included child, family, and school characteristics at Year 1 and peer-relation difficulties and social skills at Year 2 to predict peer victimization among children with disabilities at Year 3. Children's family and school factors had direct effects on children's poorer social behaviors and language development, which had direct effects on peer-relation difficulties, which in turn increased peer victimization. Children's prosocial skill development, facilitated by children's receptive language ability, protects children with disabilities from peer victimization. Intervention implications are discussed., Peer victimization is a serious social problem that negatively affects children's psychosocial development and adjustment in schools, and may have lasting effects for victims. Peer victimization typically be comes increasingly [...]

Using a vignette-based, mailed survey of 1,401 experienced psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, the authors examined how clients' race/ ethnicity and clinicians' professional and social characteristics affect their judgment of mental disorder among antisocially behaving youths. Vignettes described problematic behaviors meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM--IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for conduct disorder but contained contextual information suggesting either disorder or nondisorder, following DSM--IV guidelines. Clinicians depended on contextual information to decide whether a mental disorder existed, and they judged White youths to have a disorder more frequently than Black or Hispanic youths. Clinicians' occupation, theoretical orientation, and age also were associated with disorder judgments, whereas their gender, race, and experience were not. Research and training implications of these variations in clinical judgments are discussed. Keywords: adolescent mental health, clinical judgment, conduct disorder, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, race/ethnicity bias

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2005.11.008 Byline: Lynn A. Warner (a), Kathleen J. Pottick (b) Keywords: Preschoolers; Mental health services; Child development; Medicaid; Global Assessment of Functioning Abstract: Serious emotional disturbance that develops before the age of 6 can interfere with crucial developmental processes, presaging a lifetime of problems. We identify the social stress and illness characteristics of children under the age of 6 years in U.S. specialty mental health programs, and estimate the relative influence of these characteristics on functional impairment with data from the national Client/Patient Sample Survey in order to recommend strategic interventions. Between one-third and three-quarters of preschoolers were seriously impaired, based on Global Assessment of Functioning scores of [less than or equal to]50 and [less than or equal to]60, respectively. Nearly 40% were admitted to mental health services without a psychiatric diagnosis or were identified as having psychiatric problems that stemmed from family stress (e.g., assigned an adjustment disorder). Factors associated with functional impairment in multivariate analyses were (1) minority versus non-minority, (2) public-insurance versus private insurance coverage, and (3) a psychiatric diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder versus no diagnosis. Programming that addresses the complexities of early childhood development and the social stresses that contribute to poor outcomes will be necessary for effective preventative services and psychiatric treatment for the youngest youths in mental health care. This will require collaboration between mental health clinicians and child welfare professionals. Author Affiliation: (a) School of Social Welfare, University at Albany, State University of New York, Richardson Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, United States (b) School of Social Work and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers University, United States Article History: Received 9 September 2004; Revised 24 November 2004; Accepted 27 November 2004

Surveys of 102 mothers of inner-city youths with mental health problems and their clinicians examined discrepancies in mothers' and professionals' causal and solution attributions for the children's problems. Greater causal responsibility was attributed to mothers by professionals than by mothers, while they agreed on the children's responsibility. They disagreed about their respective solution responsibilities, though agreeing that causally responsible children should help with solutions. Mothers considered many more community resources for solutions than did professionals. Implications for improvement of services to urban children are discussed.

Maximizing response rates of hard-to-reach populations can improve survey research. In a study of inner-city families which included adolescents with problems, survey designs were systematically manipulated to determine which would produce the highest response rate. A research-team design using a journalistic-style letter and personal telephone call was found to be more effective, representative, and efficient as well as less costly than other designs. This approach required less time in the field and secured response rates comparable to those in general population household surveys in urban areas.

Analyzed data comparing women white-collar workers in 1957 (N=258) and 1976 (N=372) on the basis of decline in job satisfaction, and the effects of sex-segregation of occupation on this decline. Results indicated that decline in job satisfaction, especially affiliation and achievement, was greater for women in sex-segregated occupations. (LLL)

It has been understood for some time that working has a positive impact on a woman's self image and a negative impact on her husband. This study looked at the husband in greater detail and found that a component of his negative reaction involves his work attitude. Husbands of working wives feel less adequate as breadwinners than do husbands of nonworking women. This inadequacy affects husbands' job satisfaction and performance negatively.