Recovering from the Effects of Domestic Violence: Implications for Welfare Reform Policy

This article highlights the importance of understanding how the impact of domestic violence renders participation in welfare‐to‐work programs highly problematic since the symptoms of post‐traumatic stress disorder (a not uncommon outcome of domestic violence experience) can undermine the victim's best efforts to benefit from training and return to work programs. A short history of PTSD is provided with the cautionary note that definitions of PTSD remain in flux. Sub‐categories of PTSD, such as Battered Women's Syndrome, are also reviewed. Recovery from PTSD is not described in psychotherapeutic terms, but in rehabilitative terms with an emphasis on those recovery processes which facilitate restoration of psychological and functional capacities, leading to participation in welfare‐to‐work or retraining programs with labor market participation as the goal.     

The Impact of African American Fathers on Adolescent Sexual Behavior

A common finding in past research on adolescent sexual behavior is that initiation of sexual intercourse is more frequent in households where the teen does not live with both biological parents. The present study examined this result in greater depth by examining the impact that father attitudes toward premarital sexual intercourse have on the sexual behavior of the father's adolescent. Approximately 750 inner-city African American youth between the ages of 14 and 17 were interviewed in a survey on parent–teen communication. Results showed that adolescent perceptions of paternal attitudes were predictive of teen sexual behavior independent of adolescent perceptions of maternal attitudes and that the effects of live-in status on sexual behavior were mediated by adolescent perceptions of paternal attitudes. This result was robust across gender and age of the adolescent.     

Go west,young women

Polly Welts Kaufman Women Teachers on the Frontier (Yale University Press) New Haven, 1984.     

The transfer of Federal technology and the community college

The State of Ohio has developed a transfer mechanism using its technical and community colleges. A pilot program began in 1979. The program includes eleven of the State's technical and community colleges and the Ohio State University acting as program manager. This paper reports on a program which is a cooperative effort with the Federal Laboratory Consortium that represents some 200 Federal laboratories and the Ohio technical and community college network. The role of the Ohio Technology Transfer Organization (OTTO) is explained and Federal Laboratory Consortium demonstration projects are discussed.     

Juror common understanding and the admissibility of rape trauma syndrome evidence in court

Expert testimony on rape trauma syndrome has been used in sexual assault cases to corroborate the victim's complaint and to educate the jury. One of the primary arguments against the admissibility of this testimony is that it is not helpful because most jurors are adequately informed about rape and rape victim behavior. To test this assumption, a Sexual Assault Questionnaire (SAQ) was administered to experts on rape and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and two nonexpert comparison groups. Results indicated that the nonexperts were not well informed on many rape-related issues and were significantly less knowledgeable than the expert groups. The data also showed considerable consensus among the experts about the current scientific database on rape trauma. The implications of these results for the use of expert psychological testimony on rape trauma syndrome in court are discussed.