This article presents and summarizes the special issue entitled: Practice, Research, and Scholars... more This article presents and summarizes the special issue entitled: Practice, Research, and Scholarship on African American. The authors examine the professions’ contradictory actions in partnering with African American scholars, communities, and people to achieve its social justice and civil rights mission. It reintroduces the reader of this collection to June Gary Hopps who originally rung the clarion call to action about the profession’s waffling nature regarding African Americans. The authors overview the collection, which depicts the professions’ lack of focus on issues of race, African American well-being, and oppression experiences. This issue unravels the role played by social work in its meager attention to the plight of African American leaders and faculty, their achievements, and challenges. It also conveys the realities of too few research studies on key issues impacting African Americans. This article concludes with a nudge to the reader to weigh the evidence contained in ...
ABSTRACT This study examined the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), sex trading, and oth... more ABSTRACT This study examined the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), sex trading, and other HIV risks among a random sample of 356 men in heterosexual relationships who were enrolled in methadone treatment in New York City. Mediational analyses were performed to test a hypothesis that selected dimensions of substance use history and psychopathology mediate the relationship between CSA and sex trading and HIV risks. Thirty-eight percent (n = 135) of participants reported a history of CSA. CSA history was significantly associated with sex trading (adjusted OR = 2.80, 95% CI [1.67, 4.64]) and HIV risks (adjusted OR = 2.10, 95% CI [1.22, 3.62]). The relationship between CSA and sex trading was partially mediated by substance use and psychopathology. The relationship between CSA and HIV risks was completely mediated by substance use and psychopathology. These findings highlight the need for targeted HIV prevention, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment for drug-involved men with a history of CSA.
ABSTRACT This article highlights institutional inequalities and cultural insensitivities that con... more ABSTRACT This article highlights institutional inequalities and cultural insensitivities that contribute to African American underutilization of mental health care service systems. The paper discusses how African Americans encounter barriers to accessing mental health systems and the issues and challenges to achieving culturally relevant assessments and diagnostics, treatment modalities, evaluations, and research. A cultural competency framework is used to address critical service delivery and service implementation issues that have potentially negative effects on therapeutic treatments for African Americans. Finally, recommendations for modification and enhancement are made in order to achieve culturally sensitive and responsive mental health services for African Americans.
ABSTRACT This study examined the relationship between community adversity and childhood internali... more ABSTRACT This study examined the relationship between community adversity and childhood internalizing and externalizing problems, and whether this relationship is moderated by service utilization and race. The study involved 3225 children ages 2–17, and their caregivers, who participated in the second cohort of the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Bivariate correlation and regression analysis indicate that childhood internalizing problems were correlated with sex and community adversity. Children externalizing problems were correlated with race, sex, service utilization, and community adversity. Childhood internalizing and externalizing problems were highly correlated. Regression analysis reveals a strong relationship between community adversity and childhood externalizing problems. Service utilization was found to significantly and positively moderate the relationship between community adversity and externalizing problems. While a strong correlation between race and childhood externalizing problems exist, race did not moderate the relationship between community adversity and externalizing problems. Internalizing problems were excluded from the regression analysis since it did not correlate with any of the moderator variables. The findings are discussed and the study limitations are examined. Implications for child welfare practice, policy, and research are highlighted.
ABSTRACT This study examined whether the influences of multiple maternal criminal justice involve... more ABSTRACT This study examined whether the influences of multiple maternal criminal justice involvement (MCJI), community adversity, and violence exposure on children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors were moderated by race. The study included 409 children of criminal justice and child welfare involved mothers, ages 5–15 who participated in the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). Results indicated that race, defined as Black vs. non-Black, moderated the associations between multiple MCJI and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Decomposition of the regression effects indicated that non-Black children exposed to multiple MCJI, as compared to non-Black children who were not exposed to multiple MCJI, exhibited significant increases in both internalizing and externalizing behaviors, while Black children who experience multiple MCJI, on average, showed no increases. Similarly, race moderated the association between exposure to community adversity and externalizing behaviors. The decomposition of regression effects indicated that non-Black children who experienced higher levels of community adversity exhibited increases in externalizing behaviors, while Black children showed no increases. Criminal justice and child welfare practice and policy implications are discussed.
ABSTRACT This study examined the relationships between caregiver alcohol dependence, drug depende... more ABSTRACT This study examined the relationships between caregiver alcohol dependence, drug dependence, and serious mental illness and internalizing and externalizing behaviors and whether these risks were moderated by social support. The study included 3,225 children ages 2–17 and their current caregivers, who participated in the second cohort of the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Regression analysis indicated that caregiver alcohol dependence, serious mental illness, and social support were significantly associated with internalizing behaviors and caregiver serious mental illness and social support were significantly associated with externalizing behaviors. Results indicated that social support moderated the associations between caregiver alcohol dependence and internalizing and caregiver drug dependence and externalizing behaviors. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Juvenile justice has long grappled with its parallel aims of rehabilitation and accountability. T... more Juvenile justice has long grappled with its parallel aims of rehabilitation and accountability. The system is rife with tensions related to the principle of blindness in justice amid clear disproportionality in the involvement of youth of color in juvenile corrections. It also faces changes in the involvement of girls in corrections and the need for more critical attention to the role of gender (masculinities and femininities) in juvenile justice practices. This chapter highlights these trends, focusing on how gender, race, and culture play out and must be addressed more directly in contemporary juvenile corrections, with attention to both entry into the system and treatment under its supervision. We include vignettes to illustrate these challenges and facilitate discussion about current and potential future policy/practice responses to them.
ABSTRACT The factors contributing to observed racial disproportionality and disparity in the chil... more ABSTRACT The factors contributing to observed racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system have been the subject of national discourse for decades. This qualitative study used focus groups to engage child welfare and collaborating system decision makers, community partners, and families in a subjective interpretive analysis of racial disproportionality and disparity that had been demonstrated by a previous quantitative analysis of Oregon’s child welfare system. Thematic analysis yielded eleven themes from the participant focus groups, four of which clustered around individual and structural/systemic bias and are examined in this paper: visibility bias; cultural bias and insensitivity; personal influences on determination of minimally adequate care; and foster and adoptive parent recruitment and licensing practices. Participants offered recommendations to improve outcomes for children and families of color in light of these observations: increase awareness of bias, create checks and balances in decision-making, contract with and hire culturally and racially diverse professionals, and increase funding for training.
This article presents and summarizes the special issue entitled: Practice, Research, and Scholars... more This article presents and summarizes the special issue entitled: Practice, Research, and Scholarship on African American. The authors examine the professions’ contradictory actions in partnering with African American scholars, communities, and people to achieve its social justice and civil rights mission. It reintroduces the reader of this collection to June Gary Hopps who originally rung the clarion call to action about the profession’s waffling nature regarding African Americans. The authors overview the collection, which depicts the professions’ lack of focus on issues of race, African American well-being, and oppression experiences. This issue unravels the role played by social work in its meager attention to the plight of African American leaders and faculty, their achievements, and challenges. It also conveys the realities of too few research studies on key issues impacting African Americans. This article concludes with a nudge to the reader to weigh the evidence contained in ...
ABSTRACT This study examined the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), sex trading, and oth... more ABSTRACT This study examined the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), sex trading, and other HIV risks among a random sample of 356 men in heterosexual relationships who were enrolled in methadone treatment in New York City. Mediational analyses were performed to test a hypothesis that selected dimensions of substance use history and psychopathology mediate the relationship between CSA and sex trading and HIV risks. Thirty-eight percent (n = 135) of participants reported a history of CSA. CSA history was significantly associated with sex trading (adjusted OR = 2.80, 95% CI [1.67, 4.64]) and HIV risks (adjusted OR = 2.10, 95% CI [1.22, 3.62]). The relationship between CSA and sex trading was partially mediated by substance use and psychopathology. The relationship between CSA and HIV risks was completely mediated by substance use and psychopathology. These findings highlight the need for targeted HIV prevention, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment for drug-involved men with a history of CSA.
ABSTRACT This article highlights institutional inequalities and cultural insensitivities that con... more ABSTRACT This article highlights institutional inequalities and cultural insensitivities that contribute to African American underutilization of mental health care service systems. The paper discusses how African Americans encounter barriers to accessing mental health systems and the issues and challenges to achieving culturally relevant assessments and diagnostics, treatment modalities, evaluations, and research. A cultural competency framework is used to address critical service delivery and service implementation issues that have potentially negative effects on therapeutic treatments for African Americans. Finally, recommendations for modification and enhancement are made in order to achieve culturally sensitive and responsive mental health services for African Americans.
ABSTRACT This study examined the relationship between community adversity and childhood internali... more ABSTRACT This study examined the relationship between community adversity and childhood internalizing and externalizing problems, and whether this relationship is moderated by service utilization and race. The study involved 3225 children ages 2–17, and their caregivers, who participated in the second cohort of the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Bivariate correlation and regression analysis indicate that childhood internalizing problems were correlated with sex and community adversity. Children externalizing problems were correlated with race, sex, service utilization, and community adversity. Childhood internalizing and externalizing problems were highly correlated. Regression analysis reveals a strong relationship between community adversity and childhood externalizing problems. Service utilization was found to significantly and positively moderate the relationship between community adversity and externalizing problems. While a strong correlation between race and childhood externalizing problems exist, race did not moderate the relationship between community adversity and externalizing problems. Internalizing problems were excluded from the regression analysis since it did not correlate with any of the moderator variables. The findings are discussed and the study limitations are examined. Implications for child welfare practice, policy, and research are highlighted.
ABSTRACT This study examined whether the influences of multiple maternal criminal justice involve... more ABSTRACT This study examined whether the influences of multiple maternal criminal justice involvement (MCJI), community adversity, and violence exposure on children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors were moderated by race. The study included 409 children of criminal justice and child welfare involved mothers, ages 5–15 who participated in the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). Results indicated that race, defined as Black vs. non-Black, moderated the associations between multiple MCJI and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Decomposition of the regression effects indicated that non-Black children exposed to multiple MCJI, as compared to non-Black children who were not exposed to multiple MCJI, exhibited significant increases in both internalizing and externalizing behaviors, while Black children who experience multiple MCJI, on average, showed no increases. Similarly, race moderated the association between exposure to community adversity and externalizing behaviors. The decomposition of regression effects indicated that non-Black children who experienced higher levels of community adversity exhibited increases in externalizing behaviors, while Black children showed no increases. Criminal justice and child welfare practice and policy implications are discussed.
ABSTRACT This study examined the relationships between caregiver alcohol dependence, drug depende... more ABSTRACT This study examined the relationships between caregiver alcohol dependence, drug dependence, and serious mental illness and internalizing and externalizing behaviors and whether these risks were moderated by social support. The study included 3,225 children ages 2–17 and their current caregivers, who participated in the second cohort of the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Regression analysis indicated that caregiver alcohol dependence, serious mental illness, and social support were significantly associated with internalizing behaviors and caregiver serious mental illness and social support were significantly associated with externalizing behaviors. Results indicated that social support moderated the associations between caregiver alcohol dependence and internalizing and caregiver drug dependence and externalizing behaviors. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Juvenile justice has long grappled with its parallel aims of rehabilitation and accountability. T... more Juvenile justice has long grappled with its parallel aims of rehabilitation and accountability. The system is rife with tensions related to the principle of blindness in justice amid clear disproportionality in the involvement of youth of color in juvenile corrections. It also faces changes in the involvement of girls in corrections and the need for more critical attention to the role of gender (masculinities and femininities) in juvenile justice practices. This chapter highlights these trends, focusing on how gender, race, and culture play out and must be addressed more directly in contemporary juvenile corrections, with attention to both entry into the system and treatment under its supervision. We include vignettes to illustrate these challenges and facilitate discussion about current and potential future policy/practice responses to them.
ABSTRACT The factors contributing to observed racial disproportionality and disparity in the chil... more ABSTRACT The factors contributing to observed racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system have been the subject of national discourse for decades. This qualitative study used focus groups to engage child welfare and collaborating system decision makers, community partners, and families in a subjective interpretive analysis of racial disproportionality and disparity that had been demonstrated by a previous quantitative analysis of Oregon’s child welfare system. Thematic analysis yielded eleven themes from the participant focus groups, four of which clustered around individual and structural/systemic bias and are examined in this paper: visibility bias; cultural bias and insensitivity; personal influences on determination of minimally adequate care; and foster and adoptive parent recruitment and licensing practices. Participants offered recommendations to improve outcomes for children and families of color in light of these observations: increase awareness of bias, create checks and balances in decision-making, contract with and hire culturally and racially diverse professionals, and increase funding for training.
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