Lisa G. Colarossi

A Prospective Study of Adolescents' Peer Support: Gender Differences and the Influence of Parental Relationships

This longitudinal study investigates parent and child predictors of adolescents perceived social support from peers. Adolescents (285) and their parents filled out surveys when students were 11 and 15 years of age. Parent reports of their own social support and child reports of parental support to them, depression, and self-esteem were used as predictors of adolescents peer social support. Path analyses revealed functional dissimilarity in the predictive model, for boys and girls. For boys and girls, the amount of spousal support parents reported impacted the amount of parent to child support that children reported. For boys, this relationship impacted their perceptions of peer support indirectly through depression. However, for girls, parents own supportive relationships directly impacted both their self-esteem and depression, above and beyond parent to child support, which then impacted girls peer social support.

Interdisciplinary Social Work and Law: A Model Domestic Violence Curriculum

Collaboration between social workers and lawyers has been of particular interest to schools of social work due to the increasing frequency with which social workers intervene with clients involved in the legal system. This article presents an educational model specifically designed to teach the interdisciplinary knowledge and skills necessary to work effectively with domestic violence. The model provides training in collaborative practice between social workers and lawyers while integrating domestic violence content with the relevant legal regulations and procedures and social work interventions. The article describes course content, teaching techniques, and student assessment, and discusses special challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration.

EVALUATION STUDY OF AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL WORK AND LAW CURRICULUM FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

This article evaluates the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary social work and law curriculum for domestic violence. A pretest–posttest control group design with both law and social work students indicates that the course effectively increased: (1) knowledge about domestic violence theory and practice and differential roles, duties, and privileges of lawyers and social workers, and (2) positive attitudes about interdisciplinary work; and reduced (3) myths and stereotypes about domestic violence. Implications for interdisciplinary teaching and domestic violence services are discussed.

Assessing Depression in Childhood and Adolescence: A Guide for Social Work Practice

Depression is relatively common in children and adolescents, and if left undetected and untreated, can have long-term negative consequences. Social workers providing services to families, children and adolescents need to understand the characteristics, and conduct developmentally appropriate assessments, of depressive symptoms. This paper provides a review of current literature related to the definition, prevalence, co-occurrence, and measurement of depression in childhood and adolescence. It also highlights relevant gender, race, and ethnic influences.

Social Workers' experiences of the World Trade Center disaster: Stressors and their relationship to symptom types

The study describes New York area social workers’ experiences of nine different stressors on 9/11. It also examines their reports of working with clients within the 6 months after 9/11. These variables are then analyzed for their relationship with symptomology 6 months after 9/11. Proximity to the WTC on 9/11, knowing someone who was a primary victim, and talking with clients about events related to 9/11 were all related to symptom levels; however, these experiences differentially impacted levels of depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. Sex and race differences were found among the variables.

A Response to Danis & Lockhart: What Guides Social Work Knowledge about Violence against Women?

This article responds to Fran Danis and Lettie Lockharts editorial in the Summer 2003 Journal of Social Work Education (Vol. 29, No. 2), which questions the disconnect between the battered womens movement and the social work profession regarding knowledge and practices related to domestic violence. The author examines how two factors might influence responses to violence against women: the use of language in the social work discourse and the reluctance to use research to guide social work knowledge and practice. The ways in which these two factors guide social works ideology about violence against women and, in turn, its focus on individual pathology and treatment and away from social context, social justice, and community organization are explored.

Event-exposure stress, coping, and psychological distress among New York students at six months after 9/11.

Abstract This study examines if event-exposure stress has a significant effect on the latent mediating factors of problem-based coping, emotion-based coping, and intrinsic religious motivation, as well as on psychological distress. The study used a single-group correlational design. Data were collected from graduate social work students (N=642) in the New York metropolitan area six months after September 11, 2001. In a structural equation model, event-exposure stress was found to be positively related to problem-focused coping. The model also supported that event-exposure stress had a positive direct effect on psychological distress. While both forms of coping were positively related to levels of distress, higher levels of intrinsic religious motivation were related to lower levels of psychological distress. Professionals should provide guidance to help individuals reduce psychological distress by building upon different coping strategies to best fit the person and the situation.