Competency in Establishing Positive Relationships With Program Youth: The Impact of Organization and Youth Worker Characteristics

Frontline youth workers’ ability to form strong, positive relationships with program youth is a key element in maximizing the benefits of program participation. A recent National Collaboration of Youth (2006 National Collaboration for Youth. ( 2006 ). Capturing promising practices in recruitment and retention of frontline youth workers. Retrieved from http://www.nydic.org/nydic/documents/CompletePublication.pdf  [Google Scholar]) report identified six elements associated with youth workers’ competency to complete their professional roles: compensation, training opportunities, supportive work environment, clear work roles, sense that work is valued, and networking opportunities. The current study investigated whether having these elements predicted 459 youth workers’ self-reported job competency in forming positive relationships with youth. Regression analyses revealed that job efficacy, clarity of work roles, and benefits significantly predicted competency in forming strong relationships with program youth. Findings are discussed in relation to practice implications for the youth work field.     

Freethought,Free Love and Feminism: secularist debates on marriage and sexual morality,England c. 1850–1885

This article examines the previously unexplored current of Freethinking feminism in the second half of the nineteenth century. Active in the women’s movement of this period, Freethinking feminists were nonetheless viewed as a liability—an attitude that contributed to their exclusion from much of the subsequent historiography. Such marginalisation was due not only to their vocal opposition to all forms of religion, but also their openness to discussing new ways of organising heterosexual relationships. This article focuses on Freethinking feminist critiques of marriage and support for free unions. It demonstrates that these issues continued to be debated in the Secularist movement at a time when many other radical organisations—including much of the women’s movement—kept silent on such topics. In this way, Freethinking feminists kept alive the more radical and libertarian critiques of traditional sexual morality developed by Owenite feminists in the 1830s and 40s. The author argues that the ideology of Freethought propelled its adherents to readdress questions of sex within a new ‘Secularist’ ethical framework. Fierce debate ensued, yet commitment to freedom of discussion ensured that ‘unrespectable’, libertarian voices were never entirely silenced. Freethinking feminism might, then, be viewed as the ‘missing link’ between early nineteenth‐century feminist visions of greater sexual freedom and the more radical discussions of sexuality and free love that began to emerge at the fin de siècle.     

A Randomized Clinical Trial Exploring Gambling Attitudes,Barriers to Treatment,and Efficacy of a Brief Motivational Intervention Among Ex-Offenders with Disordered Gambling

Correctional populations are disproportionately burdened by disordered gambling; yet, problem awareness is minimal among both offenders and professionals within the criminal justice system. The aims of the current study were twofold: (i) to examine gambling attitudes and problem awareness among ex-offenders, and (ii) to determine the efficacy of a brief online gambling intervention for ex-offenders. Participants (N = 126) were ex-offenders on probation and parole. Gambling attitudes, attitudes toward treatment, and disorder gambling status were assessed. Disordered gamblers (n = 102) were randomly assigned to (i) a brief intervention plus referral to treatment or (ii) referral to treatment only, and these individuals were re-assessed at a 30-day follow-up. Lifetime disordered gambling was highly prevalent (86%) in the ex-offender sample, and providing information regarding disordered gambler status and referral to treatment was effective in decreasing gambling attitudes, as well as gambling severity and frequency. The current study has direct implications for treatment and intervention efforts among ex-offenders with disordered gambling and yields a greater understanding of attitudes toward gambling among ex-offenders.     

Dimensions of Short-Term and Long-Term Self-Regulation in Adolescence: Associations with Maternal and Paternal Parenting and Parent-Child Relationship Quality

Relatively little is known about the degree to which subcomponents of self-regulation change during early to middle adolescence. This study considered familial predictors (maternal/paternal regulatory support, antagonistic parenting, and parent-child closeness) of rank-order change in behavioral, emotional and cognitive regulation and perseverance over one year. N?=?452 adolescents ages 11–16 years and their parents completed questionnaires and parent-child discussion tasks (48.7% male; 69.6% white). Results indicated minimal direct effects of parenting, though maternal and paternal parenting and parent-child closeness exerted small effects that were moderated by prior levels of cognitive regulation and perseverance. Parents may contribute to the development of complex regulatory capacities that mature after foundational emotional and behavioral regulation competencies.     

The Moderating Effects of Parenting Styles on African-American and Caucasian Children’s Suicidal Behaviors

Given that parenting practices have been linked to suicidal behavior in adolescence, examining the moderating effect of parenting styles on suicidal behavior early in development could offer potential insight into possible buffers as well as directions for suicide prevention and intervention later in adolescence. Hence, the moderating effects of parenting styles, including authoritarian, permissive, and features of authoritative parenting, on depressed and aggressive children’s suicidal behavior, including ideation and attempts, were evaluated with young children (N = 172; 72% male, 28% female) ranging from 6 to 12 years of age. African American (69%) and Caucasian (31%) children admitted for acute psychiatric inpatient care completed standardized measures of suicidal behavior, depressive symptoms, and proactive and reaction aggression. Their parents also completed standardized measures of parental distress and parenting style. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, while statistically controlling for age and gender, children who endorsed more depressive symptoms or reactive aggression reported more current and past suicidal behavior than children who endorsed fewer depressive or aggressive symptoms. The significant positive relationship observed between depressive symptoms and childhood suicidal behavior, however, was attenuated by parental use of authoritarian parenting practices for African-American and older children but not for younger and Caucasian children. The ethnic/racial difference observed for the buffering effect of authoritarian parenting practices offers potential theoretical and clinical implications for conceptualizing the moderating effects of parenting styles on African-American and Caucasian children’s suicidal behavior.     

The Impact of Maternal Relationship Quality on Emerging Adults’ Prosocial Tendencies: Indirect Effects via Regulation of Prosocial Values

Studies document that parents serve as children’s primary socialization agents, particularly for moral development and prosocial behavior; however, less is known regarding parental influences on prosocial outcomes during the transition to adulthood. The purpose of this study was to investigate how mother–child relationship quality was related to prosocial tendencies via emerging adults’ regulation of prosocial values. Participants included 228 undergraduate students (ranging from 18 to 25 years; 90% European American) and their mothers (ranging from 38 to 59 years) from four locations across the United States. Path analyses using structural equation modeling revealed that mother–child relationship quality was related to emerging adults’ regulation of prosocial values, which was, in turn, related to emerging adults’ prosocial tendencies. Specifically, emerging adults who reported higher levels of internal regulation of prosocial values were more likely to report prosocial tendencies that de-emphasized themselves, and were less likely to report prosocial tendencies for the approval of others.