Work attitudes, employment barriers, and mental health symptoms in a sample of rural welfare recipients

Most of the extant research on welfare reform has neglected to consider the experiences of families in rural settings. Fifty women receiving welfare for their dependent children in a rural community were interviewed about their work experiences and aspirations, barriers to employment and service use, as well as mental health and social support. The findings indicate that the majority of participants were connected to the labor force and expressed positive attitudes about work. Barriers to employment (lack of available jobs, child care) and service use (transportation, inconvenient office hours) were endorsed. Perceived social support was negatively related to depression symptoms and positively related to self-efficacy and self-esteem. The importance of understanding the life experiences of welfare recipients in different contexts is discussed.     

Determinants of social support among low-income mothers: a longitudinal analysis

This study examined the reciprocal relationships between perceived mastery, stress, and three functional areas of social support: tangible support, informational support, and belongingness support. Data were collected during two face-to-face interviews with a sample of low-income, primarily African-American mothers, conducted approximately 1 year apart. Consistent with predictions, initial levels of mastery predicted higher subsequent levels of instrumental social supports (tangible and advice support), but were unrelated to belonging support. Conversely, initial levels of tangible support were predictive of later mastery. Perceived stress did not account for any additional variance in subsequent support, although initial levels of belonging support only did predict reduced stress at Time 2. Results suggest that successful attempts to garner instrumental supports is an important contributor to individuals' sense of self-efficacy, at the same time, self-efficacy leads to more successful use of existing social support systems. These findings point to the importance of having both available tangible support networks as well as close emotional supports for low-income parents. The importance of using longitudinal, multidimensional analyses to better understand the social support process is discussed.     

The Crisis Support Scale: psychometric qualities and further validation

The objective of the present study was to provide a further validation of the Crisis Support Scale, which is a short scale for measuring social support after a crisis has occurred. The data from eleven trauma studies of 4213 subjects were used to investigate the psychometric properties of the scale and the differences that emerge due to age, gender, and type of trauma. The scale appears to be very robust. Some aspects of crisis support seem to decrease as time goes by while others increase. Women survivors report less support than men both right after the trauma and later on. The younger survivors tend to report the least support in the acute phase although this picture is reversed later on. The various types of trauma have different item profiles, which supports the concurrent validity of the scale.     

"Oh Those Crazy Cards Again": A History of the Debate on the Nazi Rorschachs, 1946–2001

This essay provides a critical history of the debate on the Rorschach Inkblot Tests administered to 22 leading figures of the Third Reich who were imprisoned in Nuremberg in 1945–1946. This debate occurred in two stages. The question at the heart of the first stage was whether the Nazi leaders were sane or psychopaths. Despite a strong disagreement concerning the use of these diagnostic labels, there was a surprisingly broad agreement on the actual substance of the discrepant diagnoses. Divisions of opinion, however, arose from political dissension in two areas: the nature of liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes, and the possibility of trust in any political leadership. The second stage was marked by an ideology of convergence aimed at establishing a consensual "scientific truth" on the Nazi Rorschachs. Thus, the politics of the second phase were motivated by interests and ambitions internal to the field of Rorschach expertise, rather than by extraneous political anxieties.     

Life Stressors, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms Among First-Time Welfare Recipients

This paper examines the associations among stressful life events, social support, and depressive symptoms in a sample of 580 first-time welfare recipients. Self-reported number of depressive symptoms was greater than in corresponding community samples. Stressors and social supports made independent main effect contributions to depressive symptoms in a multiple regression analysis. Women with transportation barriers to employment, those experiencing greater numbers of stressful life events, and those who were less satisfied with their housing situation reported greater numbers of depressive symptoms. In contrast, women who were more satisfied with their social support and those with higher attendance at religious services reported fewer depressive symptoms. Implications for welfare reform policy and programs are discussed.     

The Role of Life Stress and Social Support in the Adjustment of Sexually Victimized Pregnant and Parenting Minority Adolescents

Associations among sexual victimization and the psychosocial functioning of African American and Latina pregnant and parenting adolescents were examined. Forty-seven (17.7%) of the 265 participants reported histories of sexual victimization, most of which was unwanted sexual intercourse. The victimized adolescents reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, and life stress and, although the two groups reported no differences in their levels of social support, support was found to be differentially related to depression and anxiety in the two groups. In particular, victims derived benefits from social support at low levels of stress, but social support provided no protection against depression and anxiety at average or high levels of stress. For nonvictims, social support provided no benefits at low levels of stress, but protected against depression and anxiety at moderate levels of stress and against depression at high levels of stress. Implications of these findings for research, theory, and intervention are discussed.     

The Role of Network Support and Interference in Women's Perception of Romantic,Friend, and Parental Relationships

This study examined the association between support/interference from the best friend and closest parent to women's (a) satisfaction with the parent–daughter relationship, (b) satisfaction with the friendship, and (c) love for the romantic partner. The respondents (n = 162 females; 84% Caucasian, 1% Asian American, 10% Hispanic, 4% African American, and 1% Multiracial) completed a questionnaire packet to assess each of the factors. Results revealed that romantic love was unrelated to friend support, friend interference, or parental interference, but positively related to parental support. Parent support was a significant correlate of parent satisfaction, and a similar pattern emerged between friend support/friendship satisfaction. Further, best friend support moderated the relationship between friend interference and friendship satisfaction, such that interference was negatively related to satisfaction in low support conditions. Overall, the results suggested that network reactions to romance played a limited role in romantic affection, but were more strongly associated with network satisfaction.     

Marginalisation Is Not Unbearable. Is It Even Undesirable?

Marginalised movements in psychology and psychotherapy tend to retain their identity, and the writings of their founders continue to exercise an influence. Once absorbed into the mainstream the identity is lost, and the founders are relegated to the forgotten past. Movements are kept marginalised when they are at odds with the central, untested assumptions (the hard core) of the mainstream. Many of REBT's insights have already been assimilated by the mainstream, which is currently an alliance between experimental psychology and CBT. But the mechanistic hard core of the mainstream is at odds with normative assumptions about self-worth held by REBT. As long as that continues REBT is likely to remain marginalised, but will keep its most significant insights.     

养老院老人社会支持网络和生活满意度研究

本研究所用问卷的编制参照了《中国心理卫生评定量表手册》中的PASS、GWB和社会支持评定等量表。以企了解上海市区养老院老人的社会支持网络状况及其与生活满意度之间的关系。研究表明：(1)养老院老人的社会支持与其生活满意度之间存在极其显著的相关;(2)经回归分析,影响养老院老人生活满意度的最主要因素是养老院的软硬件设施条件与院中老人之间的相互支持;但在生病等特殊状况下,子女仍是最主要的支持来源;(3)对养老院中的老人来说,精神支持的需求比物质支持和认知支持更重要。