This exploratory study examined delinquency among the Seminole Indians of Florida. First, it measured a variety of delinquent acts committed by Seminole youths residing on and off the three Florida Reservations. Second, it applied concepts central to social control theory. The control variables examined were attachment, commitment, and belief The data came from one primary source, a self-administered questionnaire anonymously filled out by youths aged 10 to 17. The 129 completed questionnaires represent 70 percent of the Seminole youth population in that age range. Even though the findings are known to underrepresent delinquency in the population, the self report data reflected very high rates of delinquency on all three Reservations. In addition to statistical data, unstructured interviews were used to provide illustration The study found that Seminole youths who commit delinquent acts are free to do so inasmuch as they believe that their behavior is not wrong and that the consequences for their law-breaking will not be severe Further, the findings suggest that conventional ideas about bicultural socialization and Indian marginality must be questioned. Seminole youth have skillfully acquired functional behaviors for both Indian and non-Indian cultures and may be viewed as transcultural / acase@tulane.edu

Community organization continues to be a viable part of the social work profession, involved in influencing others in order to achieve social change. Many of those who are a part of the change process give of their time, their material donations and/or their financial contributions. As the trend toward fewer government services for disadvantaged and ill individuals continues, the need for others to give on a voluntary basis continues to increase. Failing to address the factors that motivate people to give may cause a decline in the free talent of volunteering, the material donations of in-kind goods, or the monetary resources of financial contributions The present study has an aim to describe the main motivational factors that influence voluntary giving to a non-profit community agency in Clinton, Mississippi. The purposes of this study were (1) to explore the underlying motivational factors of people who give voluntarily to community agencies through volunteering, in-kind (material) donations, and/or financial contributions and (2) to explore the sociodemographics of voluntary givers with the purpose of identifying a target population of voluntary givers for further recruitment, replacement, and retention The results of the present study supported considerable extensive existing research on factors that motivate people to give. This study's results also verified portions of the research that certain socio-demographic characteristics were present in the majority of those voluntary givers who participated in the study. This study's results demonstrate the need for more attention by researchers to comprehend the nature of volunteer motivation more holistically in order to recognize what it means to those who give and what causes them to remain committed. Understanding what motivates people to become and remain voluntary givers will be valuable to social workers, who are in the community setting, to use as a tool to analyze and compare different levels of voluntary giving to community agencies. The study provides a rationale for developing empirical-based social work interventions that can be used with community agencies and voluntary givers Index words. Volunteer Motivation Inventory, voluntary giver, volunteer, in-kind (material) donation, financial contribution, community organization, Social Work / acase@tulane.edu

The study was designed to develop and explicate the Personal Development Seminar, to empirically test its efficacy for enhancing the self concept of seminar participants, and to examine their assessment of the experience A pre-test--post-test control group design was used to test self concept change. The Tennessee Self Concept Scale was employed as the measuring instrument. A self-report questionnaire was used to obtain the participants' evaluations of the experience. Experimental subjects participated in the Personal Development Seminar which consisted of 8 weekly sessions of 2 hours duration, led by the researcher Seventeen staff members of a Jewish Community Center and 8 university students comprised the two experimental groups of the study; the respective control groups were composed of 19 staff members from a similar Jewish Community Center and 6 students from the same university The results of the study indicated that participation in the Personal Development Seminar did not change self concept at the accepted level of significance (0.05). A possible positive trend in the mean scores of the experimental groups not evidenced in the control groups was noted, though viewed cautiously. Examination of the Questionnaire responses indicated that a preponderance of the participants considered the seminar helpful and recommended it for others Modifications that may enhance the utility of the seminar are suggested and directions for further research are offered / acase@tulane.edu

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This study assessed the value of Goal Attainment Scaling as a program evaluation devise. It also assessed the effects of Goal Attainment Scaling on therapist behavior and treatment outcomes for emotionally disturbed children in group homes. Thirty three children, ages 11 to 19, residing in 3 group homes were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. Group home therapists collaboratively set three month treatment goals with the experimental subjects. Comparable goals were set for the control group residents by the group home treatment team. In weekly sessions, therapists for the experimental subjects were instructed to include three specific references to treatment goals and give feedback on level of goal attainment. Residents in the control group received insight oriented psychotherapy. To assess the effects of Goal Attainment Scaling on therapist behavior, random samples of taped therapy sessions were scored using an interval recording system. Significantly higher rates of therapist goal statements, client goal statements and client self-reinforcing statements were found in experimental group sessions. No significant differences occurred between the two treatment groups on level of goal attainment. No significant correlations were found between goal attainment scaling scores and staff rating systems for overall adjustment and progress / acase@tulane.edu

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Since its inception, the profession of social work has pursued the objectives of individual change and social reform. In reference to social reform, the social work literature is replete with efforts exhorting professional social workers to become more involved in the political process at the local, state, and national levels as the appropriate road to social change. Part of the discussion on political activity both in social work and in related fields generally includes the utilization of strategies and techniques for participation. One of the more common techniques mentioned is manipulation. The purpose of this research was to ascertain the extent of political activity and manipulative tendencies by professional social workers and to explore the relationship between them This study employed three questionnaires in order to gather data relative to the research questions. Besides the questionnaire that sought demographic characteristics, one was a modified version of Woodward and Roper's Political Activity Index while the other was the Machiavellian Scale developed by Christie and others at Columbia University. These three questionnaires were mailed to a sample of 470 professional social workers selected at random from the approximately 3000 members of the Michigan chapter of the National Association of Social Workers Of the 470 questionnaires mailed, 314 were returned by the final cut-off date, but 25 were unusable leaving a very respectable sample size of 289 or 61%. The demographic characteristics of this study coincided very closely with comparable information received from NASW's Manpower Data Bank. The findings of this study revealed that by any existing benchmark of participation, professional social workers are more politically active than the general population. In addition, when social workers are compared with other professional groups, they are at least as politically active. Within the profession itself, the most politically active are blacks, older workers, and those earning between $20-$25,000. Interestingly, those individuals working in Public Welfare, Education, and Politics are significantly more politically active, while those individuals in Administration, Community Organization, and Teaching are also significantly more politically active The findings also demonstrated that professional social workers have greater manipulative tendencies than the general population and have at least the manipulative tendencies as others in the helping professions. Within the profession itself, only age was a significant demographic characteristic. As age increased, the Mach score decreased which was in direct contrast to the finding for political activity. It was surprising to find that individuals who are high in manipulative tendencies are not concentrated in any single field or area of practice, but permeate every facet of the profession, though individuals in Mental Health demonstrate significantly greater manipulative tendencies than those who are not. On the crucial question of the relationship between political activity and manipulative tendencies, no correlation is apparent It is concluded from this research that professional social workers in Michigan are politically active and they have manipulative tendencies though these two variables are not related. It does seem clear from this study that social work as a profession concerned with the policies and legislation that impact the poor and disenfranchised needs to realistically debate such controversial concepts as manipulation, power, and conflict in a more constructive and empirical manner. The appropriate operationalization of these concepts within the profession is essential from both a practice and educational perspective / acase@tulane.edu

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