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This essay argues for taking fieldwork seriously, but not too seriously. It focuses on geologists and geomorphologists in the United States in the post–World War II decades who used irony, satire, and self-conscious staging to negotiate the contradictions between the tradition of frontier fieldwork that they had inherited from the late nineteenth century and the realities of mid-twentieth-century fieldwork, which they often found hard to fit into the heroic mold. Poking fun at the fieldwork tradition, the essay argues, helped them claim that tradition as their own even while constructing new scientific personas and practices that diverged from it in a number of ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary, we address the strengths and limitations of prevailing conceptualizations of family, particularly in relation to advancing health equity. To better attend to the continuing evolution and diversification of family experiences in the United States, we propose the CHIEF framework, which represents chosen , household , immediate , extended , and fictive kin families. We call on social work and its governing bodies to center diverse family structures, backgrounds and experiences in research, practice, and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Public attitudes toward immigrants influence their adaptation to new circumstances. This study examines public attitudes toward immigrants in the United States to identify the patterns of attitude change from 1996 to 2014; the relationship between individuals' income and the trajectory of attitudes toward immigrants is investigated as well. Method: I conducted a latent growth model using the General Social Survey data sets (1996, 2004, and 2014), which included a module on immigration. The total sample size was 3,639. All participants were U.S. citizens. Results: General attitudes toward immigrants have significantly worsened from 1996 to 2014 (intercept = 2.510, slope = −.025, p <.001). Respondents' annual household income influenced the trajectory of attitudes toward immigrants (β =.002, SE =.001, p =.006), with poorer households having more negative attitudes toward immigrants. Conclusions: Study findings warn of growing anti-immigrant sentiments. Further investigation is needed to correct negative stereotypes and misconceptions about the harm caused by immigration to the U.S. economy and welfare of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This scoping review examines the methods used in studies of antiracism interventions in the United States during 2014–2021. Method: Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we used a systematic search and review process to identify, screen, and summarize research on individual-level interventions intended to reduce racial bias and discrimination. Results: The search recovered 1,928 citations. After screening, 17 articles were retained for a full-text review. Of those, 9 studies used a pre- and post-intervention design without a comparison or control group, 5 used a comparison group, 1 used a randomized control group, and 2 used a single-group posttest-only approach. Except for one study with 8,634 participants, samples ranged from 20 to 721 participants (M = 112, SD = 164.8). Eleven studies used reliable/valid instruments to measure racial bias and discrimination. Thirteen studies explicitly stated theoretical models used in intervention development. Conclusions: Based on features of the 17 interventions, participants and sampling methods, analytical methods, guiding theories, and effectiveness, we recommend (a) use of more rigorous designs to enhance internal validity and (b) use of advanced analytic techniques to control selection bias. If implemented, these recommendations would substantially strengthen research on individual-level interventions designed to reduce racial bias and discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Although essential workers of color in the United States have been notably at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, less is known about the impacts of associated life stressors within this population. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand (a) the impact of life stressors among a sample of essential workers of color during the COVID-19 pandemic and (b) associations between life stressors and sociodemographic characteristics, work, mental health, substance use, and eating behaviors. Method: Essential workers of color (N = 319) completed the Holms-Rahe Life Stress Inventory to examine whether any set of 43 life stress experiences occurred because of COVID-19. We used latent class analysis to examine patterns of clustering. Results: We identified three latent classes: (a) minimally impacted, (b) moderately impacted, and (c) widely impacted. Most of our sample reported being minimally impacted (53%) or moderately impacted (35%) by life events during the pandemic. However, participants clustered within the widely impacted pattern (11%) reported significantly more concerns with substance use, binge eating, and perceived stress. Conclusions: Findings highlight distinct patterns of life-stress impacts caused by COVID-19 among essential workers of color. Social workers must consider how to implement policies to reduce the systematic challenges faced by those who are most marginalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social work profession in the United States is striving to advance antiracism amidst increasing threats of white supremacist violence. However, tensions and paradoxes in the contexts of academic research and knowledge development, education and teaching, and service undermine the profession's efforts. Structural or institutional processes—in higher education broadly and in schools of social work specifically—shape who publishes research, educates, and serves, and how labor is evaluated and rewarded. We identify practical recommendations to advance antiracism while cautioning against overemphasizing the responsibility of individual actors. Recommendations include prioritizing and generously funding scholarship on white supremacy and antiracism, providing clinical and adjunct faculty with sufficient remuneration and supports to excel in teaching, joining with students in protest against oppressive conditions in higher education, and equalizing rewards for service in accordance with those for research. Social workers must work proactively across multiple contexts to realize our professional commitment to dismantling white supremacy and advancing antiracism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective : Racial economic disparities are wide and persistent in the United States. This study aims to expand our knowledge of racial economic disparities by examining the role of parental financial assistance for college in maintaining racial income disparities across generations. Method : Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I applied Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition to separate the Black–white income disparity into an explained component (disparity due to compositional differences in parental socioeconomic status and financial assistance) and an unexplained component. Results : Black children have a lower chance of receiving parental financial assistance for college mostly due to their parents' lower levels of socioeconomic resources compared to white parents. Parental financial assistance explains a significant portion (7%) of the Black–white income disparity, but it loses its statistical significance when children's own educational attainment is considered. Conclusions : Parental financial assistance for college is one mechanism through which parents' socioeconomic resources perpetuate the Black–white income disparity across generations. Findings support the need for social policies to promote equal educational opportunity for all children and to reduce racial economic disparities. Lowering financial barriers to college would improve all children's economic prospects and reduce racial economic disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Housing insecurity strains low-income families throughout the United States. Children exposed to housing problems face increased risk of adverse parenting and maltreatment. Despite a large body of research on parenting of young children, less is known about pathways to adverse parenting behaviors toward adolescents. The present study investigated the roles of maternal depression and parenting stress in mediating the link from housing insecurity in early childhood to adverse parenting in adolescence. Method: The present study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (N = 2,719) in structural equation models with latent variables. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tested whether observed variables were valid indicators of latent constructs. A structural model tested direct and indirect pathways from housing insecurity to adverse parenting behaviors via maternal depression and parenting stress. Results: The CFA and structural models showed excellent fit to the data. Housing insecurity was indirectly associated with adverse parenting via parenting stress but not via maternal depression. Conclusions: Parenting stress is a significant factor in the link between housing insecurity and adverse parenting toward adolescents. Timely mental health screening and supports for unstably housed families offer opportunities for maltreatment prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to and the delivery of behavioral health services for social work providers and their clients. This study examined the use of tele-behavioral health by social workers before and during the pandemic, as well as the perceived barriers and supports to technology use. Method: We developed an electronic survey, which was distributed to a convenience sample of practicing social work professionals in the United States through a national listserv. A mixed-methods study design was used to analyze responses (N = 585). Results: Over 92% of social workers reported using tele-behavioral health since the beginning of the pandemic, compared to 28% prior. About half of respondents received training on tele-behavioral health since COVID-19, whereas only 23% had received training prior. The vast majority (87%) indicated one or more barriers to the use of tele-behavioral health, with client barriers (73%) being the area of greatest concern. Yet, social workers overwhelmingly reported the desire for tele-behavioral health to continue beyond the pandemic. Conclusions: Based on our findings, we propose the following recommendations: (a) Ensure parity and reimbursement for tele-behavioral health; (b) train current and future social work practitioners in tele-behavioral health; and (c) provide supports for client use of tele-behavioral health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1794 the exiled chemist Joseph Priestley found asylum in the United States, where science was seen as both an international endeavor that depended upon human rights and a tool that would enhance national development. The arrival of Priestley, the first of many scientific exiles to relocate to the United States, seemed to fulfill Jeremy Belknap's 1780 description of the United States as "the Mistress of the Sciences, as well as the Asylum of Liberty." By declaring the United States the best, freest place to practice science, American scientists began to realign scientific internationalism according to U.S. interests and linked the universal ideals of science to the national mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study is to develop and initially validate a psychometrically sound instrument to assess the extent to which Latinx immigrants are viewed as a threat. Method: Drawing on the integrated threat theory (ITT), we developed an initial pool of scale items to represent realistic and symbolic threats. Following best practices in scale construction, we used exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis to identify, calibrate, and cross-validate the scale structure. A triadic random split of the sample (N = 958) of U.S.-born white college students was used to carry out the three-stage study. Results: Across all stages, findings support the unidimensionality of the 12-item Latinx Immigrant Threat Attitudes Scale (LITAS). Offering evidence of criterion validity, higher LITAS scores were associated with lower support for policies integrating unauthorized immigrants. Conclusions: The LITAS fills a significant gap in the measurement literature. The instrument supports the design and testing of interventions aimed at improving intergroup relations and the lived experience of Latinx immigrants in the United States. Contrary to the widely-used ITT, an undifferentiated, global notion of threat perception is salient; the implications of empirical divergence from the ITT are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]