R. L. McNeely

Is Domestic Violence a Gender Issue, or a Human Issue?

Abstract Domestic violence, like all violence, is a human issue. It is not merely a gender issue. Classifying spousal and partner violence as a womens issue, rather than a human issue, is erroneous. In domestic relations, women are as inclined as men to engage in physically abusive acts. Yet most reports appearing in the popular press, and in scholarly journals, have framed the issue as essentially a masculine form of assaultive behavior, thereby imbedding into the national consciousness a false and inaccurate view of the problem. This article presents the results of selected empirical studies that contradict the popular view of domestic violence, briefly focuses on the phenomenon as it relates to race, offers several elucidating case accounts, and suggests that the popular view of domestic violence not only contributes to mens increasing legal and social defenselessness, it also leads to social policies that obstruct efforts to address the problem of domestic violence successfully.

Organizational Patterns and Work Satisfaction in a Comprehensive Human Service Agency: An Empirical Test

Specified organizational dimensions hypothesized to bear strongly upon the job satisfaction of human service workers are detailed. A conceptual framework is advanced focusing upon the salience of decision-making modes, performance guides, interpersonal relations, and the division of labor as explanators of both overall and intrinsic work satisfaction. Findings support the proposition that human service workers are affected substantially by these factors.

Job satisfaction differences among three age groups of female human service workers.

Abstract Data obtained from more than 900 “young”, “middle-aged” and “older” female human service workers located in disparate areas of the nation were analyzed to determine job satisfaction levels as assessed by two standardized indices. The data indicate members of one of these groups to be significantly more satisfied than other women and that factors such as income, educational attainment and occupational rank explain very marginal amounts of the variance in accounting for these differences.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy in the Process of Dying: Focus on Aged African Americans and Latinos

Abstract Demographic data on population, poverty levels, and the life expectancies of African Americans, including some that contrast aged African Americans to European Americans, and Latinos, are presented briefly in this article. Attention also is directed briefly to the death and dying process occurring when aging African Americans have reached the final stages of the life cycle, and selected other topics pertinent to death and dying, such as deficits in the empirical literature on the death and dying of elderly African Americans and Latinos, developmental changes occurring during adulthood, and what constitutes a “good death.” Emphasized as this article closes is a case account and a description of how rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) can be useful in assisting African Americans and, possibly, Latinos, to cope in a dignified fashion with prospects of imminent death.