Not life but the world is at stake: Hannah Arendt on citizenship in the age of the social

This article evaluates Hannah Arendt's contribution to ‘thinking citizenship’ in light of her controversial account of the modern rise of ‘the social’. It argues that Arendt's writing on the social is best understood not primarily as analytical and normative but as an historical argument about the effect of capitalism and modern state administration on meaningful citizenship. This short piece analyses one important element of Arendt's story about the historical rise of the social: that it is a peculiar hybrid of polis and oikos, a scaled-up form of housekeeping, and its threat to the public, political world.     

African American Caregivers and Substance Abuse in Child Welfare: Identification of Multiple Risk Profiles

Despite the strong correlation between caregiver substance abuse and child maltreatment, little information exists to understand the typology of African American caregivers with substance abuse problems in the child welfare system. Research shows African American caregivers contend with multiple problems stemming from substance abuse. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how to best tailor resources to be responsive to varying groups of African American caregivers. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW), this investigation tested for distinct multivariate profiles among a subset of African American caregivers with substance abuse problems (n=258). Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to classify caregivers, and five classes were identified among this high risk sample - each with distinct risk profiles. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for tailored practices to enhance the safety and stability of children involved with child welfare.     

Childhood Violence Exposure: Cumulative and Specific Effects on Adult Mental Health

Childhood exposure to violence and victimization is a significant public health problem, with potentially long-lasting, deleterious effects on adult mental health. Using a longitudinal study design, 123 young adults—identified in adolescence as at-risk for high school dropout—were examined for the effects of multi-domain childhood victimization on emotional distress and suicide risk, net of adolescent risk and protective factors, including family dysfunction. The hypothesis that higher levels of cumulative childhood victimization would be significantly associated with mental health maladjustment in young adulthood was confirmed by the analysis. However, the victimization predictors of adult emotional distress were different than the predictors of adult suicide risk. These findings indicate the need for prevention and intervention approaches that include thorough assessment, and focus on the childhood and adolescent problem areas that are most consequential for long-term psychological well-being.     

WHEN THE COST IS TOO GREAT: THE EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT ON CHILDREN OF INCARCERATING THEIR PARENTS FOR DRUG OFFENCES1

The advent of the modern “war on drugs” and its accompanying “lock 'em up and throw away the key” crime policies largely explain the evolution of mass incarceration in the U.S. and account for much of the emotional and psychological pain caused to children who have lost their parents to long prison sentences. It is by reducing reliance on incarceration to tackle the “drug problem” in the United States that there will be a positive impact on reducing the number of parents being separated from their children for inordinate amounts of time, thereby potentially reducing the negative emotional and psychological impact on children. Aiding parents combat their addiction outside of prison walls is perhaps to most sensible criminal justice policy in addressing the needs of children who are caught in the cross‐fire of the war on drugs. In the meantime, as policy makers review, assess, and, eventually, reform draconian drug laws and sentencing policies, it is imperative that front‐line service providers who work with children and family and juvenile court judges be mindful of the emotional and psychological impact that parental incarceration has on youth. A more in‐depth understanding of the complexities of these young people's life experiences will hopefully enable the development of appropriate support services.     

Coping in adolescence: Empirical evidence for a theoretically based approach to assessing coping

The present study was designed to examine the reported Stressors and patterns of coping strategies used by adolescents and extend the 1989 work of Carver et al. by reporting internal reliability, factorial validity, and normative data on the COPE for a sample of middle adolescents. A sample of 484 ninth through twelfth graders (ages 14–18) attending a Laboratory High School participated in the study. The COPE inventory developed by Carver et al. in 1989 for use with college students, was administered with a battery of measures to all adolescent participants in their classrooms. Results indicated sufficient internal consistency for the measure and significant gender differences. Factor analysis of the COPE indicated that the subscales consistently fell into four factors rather than the traditional two (i.e., problem focused vs emotion focused). Implications for using the COPE in research on adolescent were discussed.Partial support for this project was obtained from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and by Illinois State University's Graduate Student Association, Graduate School, and Psychology Department.Received master's degree at Illionos State University. Research interests include social development in adolescents.Receaved doctoral degree in experomental psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. Research interests include life span social development.