Social Work Today E-Zine

There is no question that the recent economic crisis has wreaked havoc on companies and on families across the country. Now, a recent study of 300 married, working couples conducted by Wayne Hochwarter, PhD, the Jim Moran Professor of Management at Florida State University’s College of Business, is revealing just how deeply the crunch is being felt.

In the study, Hochwarter sought to find out how the financial crisis is affecting people both at work and in their personal lives. His results show that in the workplace, large numbers of people are feeling more stress, more pressure from management, and more concern about their job security and are witnessing more incivility.

The following are among Hochwarter’s findings:

*More than 70% of both men and women in the survey confirmed that the recession has significantly increased the stress levels of employees in recent months.

*More than 65% predicted significant job changes to occur within one year, causing employees to grow progressively more concerned about job status; 80% of employees reported being nervous about their long-term financial well-being.

*More than 40% of employees reported increased incivility (i.e., “backstabbing,” “sucking up,” and politicking) as a means to stay employed in the event of a layoff.

The study also explored the shifts in home life due to the financial crisis. More than 70% of both men and women admitted making significant spending changes, including a decision to limit or eliminate the purchase of items deemed nonessential. More than 80% of both men and women also admitted that it was unlikely they would be able to retire when they wanted and with the amount of money anticipated as recently as one year ago.

— Source: Florida State University

Ageism is still rampant in America, and many old people themselves trade in unflattering stereotypes of the elderly, including helplessness and incompetence. Such caricatures are not only false and cruel, they are also unhealthy. Research has shown that old people who believe in negative age stereotypes tend to fulfill them.

And it may not just be elders who are harmed by ageism. A new study in Psychological Science, suggests that young, healthy people who stereotype old people may themselves be at risk of heart disease many years down the road. Researchers examined data on hundreds of men and women who have been studied for almost four decades as part of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

The researchers examined the health histories of all the volunteers, focusing on cardiovascular disease, and they discovered that there was a striking link between ageism early in life and poor heart health later on. That is, those who viewed old age in negative terms were much more likely to experience some kind of cardiovascular disorder over the next four decades. The scientists also looked at a subset of volunteers who didn’t have any heart problems until after they were 60—at least 21 years later—and found that these people were likely to have been negative about aging from early on. The episodes of heart disease could not be explained by smoking, depression, cholesterol, family history, or any of a myriad other possible risk factors.

What this suggests, the authors wrote, is that people are internalizing stereotypes of old age when they are still quite young—with far reaching consequences. This is the first scientific look at people maturing into the very people they have been unkindly caricaturing. It could be taken as a cautionary tale for those who think they’ll never grow old.

— Source: Association for Psychological Science

Children and teens of parents with bipolar disorder appear to have an increased risk of early-onset bipolar disorder, mood disorders and anxiety disorders, according to a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Boris Birmaher, MD, of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues compared 388 offspring (aged 6 to 18) of 233 parents with bipolar disorder to 251 offspring of 143 demographically matched control parents. Parents were assessed for psychiatric disorders, family psychiatric history, family environment, and other variables, and were also interviewed about their children. Children were assessed directly for bipolar disorder and other psychiatric disorders by researchers who did not know their parents’ diagnoses.

Compared with the offspring of control parents, children of parents with bipolar disorder had an increased risk of having a bipolar spectrum disorder (10.6% vs. 0.8%) and having any mood or anxiety disorder. Children in families where both parents had bipolar disorders also were more likely than those in families containing one parent with bipolar disorder to develop the condition (28.6% vs. 9.9%); however, their risk for other psychiatric disorders was the same as offspring of one parent with bipolar disorder.

“Consistent with the literature, most parents with bipolar disorder recollected that their illness started before age 20 years and about 20% had illness that started before age 13 years,” the authors wrote. “In contrast, most of their children developed their first bipolar disorder episode before age 12 years, suggesting the possibility that parents were more perceptive of their children’s symptoms early in life or perhaps that bipolar disorder has more penetrance and manifests earlier in new generations.”

— Source: American Medical Association

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) joins its profession in celebrating March as Social Work Month, a month to reflect on the progress made in advancing social work education internationally and domestically and among both current and future leaders. The theme for 2009 is “Social Work: Purpose and Possibility.”

Internationally, the CSWE’s Katherine A. Kendall Institute (KAKI) is planning a disaster management seminar in China to build on the successes of programming held in Barbados and South Africa over the last 2 years. KAKI is co-organizing this seminar with the China Association of Social Work Education, China Journal of Social Work, the International Association of Schools of Social Work, the Joint PolyU-PekingU China Social Work Research Centre, and the department of applied social sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

CSWE’s volunteer leadership bodies—CSWE’s Commissions on Curriculum and Educational Innovation, Diversity and Social and Economic Justice, Global Social Work Education, and Professional Development—are working to improve social work education as a profession. One of the most significant developments is the emerging CSWE Leadership Institute. Spearheaded by the Council on Leadership Development, the Leadership Institute will offer special sessions at the CSWE’s annual program meeting designed to develop leadership among its members.

— Source: The Council on Social Work Education

A new study shows that people who are socially active and not easily stressed may be less likely to develop dementia. The research is published in Neurology.

The study involves 506 older people who did not have dementia when first examined. The group was given questionnaires about their personality traits and lifestyle. The personality questions identified people with different degrees of neuroticism and measured extraversion. Those who were not easily distressed were calm and self-satisfied, whereas people who were easily distressed were emotionally unstable, negative, and nervous. Outgoing people scored high on the extraversion scale and were socially active and optimistic compared with people with low extraversion who were reserved and introspective.

The lifestyle questionnaire determined how often each person regularly participated in leisure or organizational activities and the richness of their social network. Participants were followed for six years. During that time, 144 developed dementia.

The study found that people who were not socially active but calm and relaxed had a 50% lower risk of developing dementia compared with people who were isolated and prone to distress. The dementia risk was also 50% lower for people who were outgoing and calm compared to those who were outgoing and prone to distress.

“In the past, studies have shown that chronic distress can affect parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus, possibly leading to dementia, but our findings suggest that having a calm and outgoing personality in combination with a socially active lifestyle may decrease the risk of developing dementia even further,” says study author Hui-Xin Wang, PhD, with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

— Source: American Academy of Neurology

Spending time with a grandparent is linked with better social skills and fewer behavior problems among adolescents, especially those living in single-parent or stepfamily households, according to a new study.

The study, appearing in the Journal of Family Psychology, found that children and adolescents whose parents have separated or divorced see their grandparents as confidants and sources of comfort.

“Grandparents are a positive force for all families but play a significant role in families undergoing difficulties,” says lead author Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz, PhD, of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “They can reduce the negative influence of parents separating and be a resource for children who are going through these family changes.”

The researchers asked 1,515 English and Welsh 11 to 16 year olds from 1,010 schools who lived with two biological parents (66.3%), a single parent (18%), or within stepfamilies (15.7%) how much involvement they had with their closest grandparents to see if this relationship made a difference in the children’s emotional and behavioral adjustment.

Students reported that the more they talked to a grandparent about social and school activities, got advice, or felt they could ask for money, the less hyperactive and disruptive they were, says Attar-Schwartz. They were also more likely to get along with their peers. “This was found across all three family structures,” she says. “But adolescents in single-parent households and stepfamilies benefited the most. The effect of their grandparents’ involvement was stronger compared to children from two biological parent families.”

These findings can be generalized to the U.S. population, the authors said. “It is likely that those adolescents in the United States who have regular contact with their grandparents also reap the same benefits,” says Attar-Schwartz.

— Source: American Psychological Association

Diagnosing and treating college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) presents several challenges, a University of Alabama expert says. Dr. Mark Thomas, staff physician at the university’s Student Health Center and the University Medical Center, says doctors prescribing drugs to control ADHD in college students need to make sure the drugs control students' ADHD throughout the day. The drugs need to cover students' active lifestyles.

"After all, a college student's day is typically much longer than most persons and ADHD affects so much more than class and studying," Thomas says.

Doctors can use at least two methods of medicating for extending ADHD mediation coverage throughout the day: Students can take multiple doses of the same medication or combine long- and short-acting medication. There are two limitations, according to Thomas. First, ADHD medication tends to be short-acting unless it is delivered via a specialized, controlled-release product. Also, too much medication at night may keep students awake. Thomas says students may think staying awake is a symptom of the medication and avoid taking it; however, it also can be a symptom of ADHD itself. Students need to keep taking their ADHD medications every day including weekends and holidays to help them succeed in college and life.

Thomas also notes that skipping medication as prescribed by a physician makes any side effects from the medication stronger than they would be if a student's body was accustomed to taking the drug. He says he hears of students worrying about becoming addicted to the medication, but the prescribed levels are safe and are nonaddictive. Students are more likely to have an addiction to the medication or have other substance abuse problems if they do not take medication as prescribed.

Students with ADHD also face challenges beyond regulating medication. Negotiating the campus environment and managing their time wisely without the day to day assistance of their parents can be daunting.

— Source: University of Alabama