No description available.

The main purpose of this research project was to test the social risk hypothesis of depression proposed by Allen and Badcock (2003). The social risk hypothesis suggests that mild to moderate depression has evolved to promote belonging in small communities by making members sensitive to signs of rejection and motivated to restore their social value. Using self-report data from 397 working adult participants, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the relationships between secure attachment, social comparison, defeat, self-esteem, depression, submissive behaviours, social risk taking, and interpersonal sensitivity. Two further studies were also performed. The first tested whether the social risk hypothesis could explain anxiety as well as depression. The second tested gender invariance within the models of depression and anxiety. The dissertation is organized into three papers, preceded by a general introduction and followed by a general conclusion. The first paper is focused on the general test of the social risk hypothesis, the second on the comparison test of anxiety, and the third on the role of gender in the models generated. In the first paper, the SEM analysis indicated a good fit between the data and Allen and Badcock's (2003) algorithmic model, providing empirical support for an evolved adaptive mechanism functioning in mild to moderate depression. Paper 2 reports a test of Allen and Badcock's (2003) claim that the social risk hypothesis is exclusive to depression. In general, the anxiety model provided a fairly good fit to the social risk hypothesis; however, anxiety did not mediate the relationship between secure attachment and the two outcome variables (i.e., interpersonal sensitivity and submissive behaviours) suggesting that depression and anxiety have not evolved to function in exactly the same way. The goal of Paper 3 was to examine how the variables within the social risk hypothesis might operate differently for men and women given that past research strongly indicates that gender may have differential effects on the depressive (or anxious) mechanism. Two differences were found in the gender invariance analysis: i) the relationship between secure attachment and depression was much stronger for men; ii) men and women differed on the relationship between social comparison and anxiety. The papers discuss the findings from the perspective of evolutionary theory. / Counselling Psychology

Hard economical situations, unemployment and inadequate governmental social policies provide fertile conditions for alcoholism, violence, drug use and child neglect in families. The minor aged children are the most vulnerable. The number of the socially disadvantaged families and the number of children in these families is constantly rising. The purpose of this thesis is to elucidate the characteristics of the children in socially disadvantaged families. To this end a questionnaire was prepared and responses from 191 persons solicited. 120 of the persons were school aged children, grades 5-9, coming from socially disadvantaged families. The balance of the respondents was their teachers and 50 family members. The anonymous survey����s intent was to evaluate how well the children feel in the family and the school, to evaluate the relationship between these children and their parents, to learn how the children feel about their educational activities and finally also to evaluate what the parents and teachers predict will be the children’s responses in these categories. The survey revealed that children see poverty and alcoholism as the two most important problems in the family. The teachers concurred that poverty and alcoholism were the most important problems. Additionally the children identified that parents not living together is a problem. Children from socially disadvantaged families have weak motivation for education or show an interest in just one kind... [to full text]

<p>This dissertation is a three-part analysis examining how the welfare state in advanced Western democracies has responded to recent demographic changes. Specifically, this dissertation investigates two primary relationships, beginning with the influence of government spending on poverty. I analyze two at-risk populations in particular: immigrants and children of single mothers. Next, attention is turned to the influence of individual and environmental traits on preferences for social spending. I focus specifically on religiosity, religious beliefs and religious identity. I pool data from a number of international macro- and micro-data sources including the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), International Social Survey Program (ISSP), the World Bank Databank, and the OECD Databank. Analyses highlight the power of the welfare state to reduce poverty, but also the effectiveness of specific areas of spending focused on addressing new social risks. While previous research has touted the strength of the welfare state, my analyses highlight the need to consider new social risks and encourage closer attention to how social position affects preferences for the welfare state.</p> / Dissertation

Šeimos krizė ar pokyčiai gali sąlygoti kokybiškai naują šeimos raidos etapą, tačiau neretai šeimos, atsidūrusios krizinėje situacijoje, nebegali atkurti pažeistos pusiausvyros ir prisitaikyti prie pokyčių, todėl tampa pažeidžiamomis, „neatspariomis“ socialinės rizikos veiksniams, kitaip tariant, tampa disfunkcinėmis arba socialinės rizikos šeimomis, kuriose narių poreikiai yra netenkinami, neatliekamos pagrindinės pareigos bei nepuoselėjamos bendražmogiškos vertybės. Socialinis darbuotojas, dirbdamas su tokia šeima, susiduria su pasipriešinimu, nenoru keisti nusistovėjusio gyvenimo būdo ir įpročių. Todėl socialiniam darbuotojui, norinčiam padėti spręsti socialinės rizikos šeimų problemas ir pagerinti jų funkcionavim��, tikslinga išsiaiškinti, kaip šių šeimų nariai patys vertina savo funkcionavimą, kokios yra jų stipriosios ir silpnosios pusės. Tai palengvintų šeimos poreikių nustatymą bei padidintų socialinio darbo efektyvumą. Taigi darbo tikslas – atskleisti socialinės rizikos šeimų narių požiūrį į savo šeimos funkcijas ir jų atlikimą. Tikslo siekiama išsikeliant šiuos uždavinius: 1. Apibūdinti šeimą kaip kintančią socialinę instituciją. 2. Išskirti funkcionalios ir socialinės rizikos šeimos bruožus bei aptarti pagrindines jų funkcijas. 3. Išsiaiškinti, kokioms šeimos funkcijoms socialinės rizikos šeimoje skiriama daugiausia dėmesio ir kaip jos atliekamos. 4. Aprašyti socialinio darbuotojo veiklą gerinant šeimos funkcijų atlikimą socialinės rizikos šeimose. Tyrimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The crisis and the changes in the family can influence a qualitative new stage in the family‘s development, but usually families, when they find themselves in a difficulty situation, cannot recreate a broken balance and adjust themselves to the changes. Such kind of families become broken, „not resistant“ to the factors of social risk, in other words, they become functionless or social risk families, where the needs of the members and the main duties are not fulfilled or the human values are not cherished. A social worker, who performs his/her duty in such kind of a family, meets with resistance, unwillingness to change the present lifestyle and habits. The social worker, who would like to help solve the problems in social risk families and improve their functions, it is necessary to find out how the members of those families value their functions themselves and what the benefits and drawbacks are. These things would facilitate the establishment of the family’s needs and improve the effectiveness of the social work. The paper aims to reveal the attitude of the social risk families towards the functions of their families and their performance. Goals: 1. Describe the family as a changing social institution. 2. Choose the features of the functional and social risk family and discuss their main functions. 3. Find out, where the main emphasis on family‘s functions and their performance is placed in the social risk families. 4. Describe the activity of the social worker in... [to full text]

Decisions made under risk have been primarily studied within economic contexts (Platt & Huettel, 2008). This has led to the development of sound methods and models for studying risky choice behavior (Rangel, Camerer & Montague, 2008). In particular, these models are helpful for estimating how much risk an individual is willing to tolerate. However, there may be a limit in the extent to which we can generalize these estimations, in that economic models do not take into account the underlying social preferences that often guide decision makers (Fehr & Camerer, 2007; Fehr & Schmidt, 2004). This suggests that an individual's propensity for risk may be different depending on social or non-social information present within the environment (Bohnet, Greig, Herrmann & Zeckhauser, 2008). The present study aimed to: (i) assess how risk preferences may differ across social and non-social contexts; (ii) identify common and distinct neural correlates of social and non-social risk; and (iii) determine neural characteristics associated with individual sensitivities to social and non-social risk. Subjects (N=30) played an adaptation of the Trust Game while their blood-oxygen-level-dependent response was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Differences in risk preferences across social and non-social conditions as well as neuroimaging correlates of social and non-social risk will be discussed. / Master of Science

Families which tend to face various problems are commonly called the families at risk. This term is widely used both in official acts of law, both by public institutions ensuring the protection of rights of children and giving social support for families. Social Services act of 2006 provides the definition of family at risk which we are using in this Work. We could exclude such risks: addiction, lack of responsibility or social skills as well as psychological, physical and sexual abuse against children. The analysis of the needs of families at risk is extremely relevant nowadays, when support of families at risk ensuring rights of children they are growing is priority field of the Country. It was expected that qualitative research of the needs of families at risk would induce the deeper recognition of families at social exclusion because we would try to look to various expressions from their point of view. Deeper perception of the needs of families at risk would help social workers in preventive and interventional work with these families. The aim of this Work is on the ground of qualitative research to disclose the needs of families at risk, the causes of dismissal of those needs and the support provided for families at social exclusion. During the analysis we use the ethnographic qualitative research method. For the collection of documents two methods – interview (group and individual) and observation – were used. Eight families participated in the analysis and twelve... [to full text]

Šio darbo objektas – darbas su socialinės rizikos šeimomis ir jaunimo subkultūromis. Darbo hipotezė – vaikams iš socialinės rizikos šeimų dažniau yra tarpininkaujama dėl konsultacijų su kitais specialistais bei įvairių dokumentų, susijusių su pašalpomis, tvarkymu, o šeimoms, kurių vaikai priklauso subkultūroms, dėl vyraujančių įvairių konfliktų sprendimo. Darbo tikslas - ištirti darbo su socialinės rizikos šeimomis ir jaunimo subkultūrų atstovais ypatumus. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Išsiaiškinti socialinės rizikos šeimų atsiradimo pagrindinius veiksnius. 2. Nustatyti veiksnius, turinčius įtakos jaunimo subkultūrų susiformavimui. 3. Palyginti specialistų, dirbančių su socialinės rizikos šeimomis ir su šeimomis, kurių vaikai priklauso subkultūroms, darbo ypatumus. Išvados: 1. Tyrimo metu nustatėme, kad bendrų interesų, tikslų nebuvimas šeimoje, nepatikimumas, nepasitikėjimas vienas kitu šeimoje bei tarpusavio supratimo nebuvimas – tai pagrindinės priežastys, kurios skatina rastis socialinės rizikos grupės šeimas. 2. Veiksniai, turintys įtakos jaunimo subkultūrų susiformavimui, tai nepatenkinti saviraiškos poreikiai; ieškojimas „kitoniškumo“; tam tikroje subkultūroje vyraujančios idėjos bei bendravimas; paauglių problemos šeimoje ir patyčios mokykloje. 3. Socialiniai darbuotojai, labdaros teikimo organizacijos, socialiniai pedagogai, mokyklos ir kiti mokyklos darbuotojai, dirbdami su socialinės rizikos šeimomis ir (ar) jų vaikais, teikia paramą ir pagalbą, sprendžiant... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The object of this work - social risk families and subcultures of youth in Kaunas city. Hypothesis of this work – for children from social risk families are mediating for consultation with other specialists and are handling various documents relating to the benefits, and for families, which children are in subcultures, are prevailing the resolution of various conflicts. The aim of this work - to explore the peculiarities of work of social risk families and subcultures of youth. Tasks of work: 1. Find out the main occurrence factors of the social risk families. 2. Identify the factors, which influence formation of youth subculture. 3. Compare the peculiarities of experts work with social risk families and families, which children are in subcultures. The main conclusions are: 1. In research it had been set that when in families there are not common interests, goals, unreliability, distrust of each other – there are main reasons, which encourage the emergence of families of social risk. 2. Factors, which are affecting to the formation of youth subcultures are expressions of unmet needs, for „otherness“, prevailing ideas and communication in the particular subculture, the problems of teen in the family and bullying at school. 3. Social workers, organizations of charity, social workers, schools, and other school staff provide support and aid, deal various questions, when they work with families of social risk and (or) their children. Arranging for consultations with other... [to full text]

Teikiant socialinę pagalbą šeimai ir vaikui, skatinamas tarpžinybinis bendradarbiavimas, pasitelkiant įvairių sričių specialistų komandos. darbo tikslas - išnadrinėti vaikų dienos centrų ir įvairių institucijų, įstaigų tarpžinybinę sąveiką, įvertinti bendradarbiavimo galimybes, pateikti rekomendacijas šiai veiklai tobulinti. / On providing a social support to a family and children growing in it, an interdepartmental co-operation is encouraged and teams of experts from various spheres are engaged. The goal of the research work: to discuss upon the interdepartmental interaction of children day-time centers and various institutions, to assess the opportunities of co-operation, to provide recommendations for improvin these activities.

För att uppnå social hållbarhet är det grundläggande att människor känner en trygghet i sina bostadsområden. Syftet med studien är att undersöka den brottsförebyggande och trygghetsskapande samverkan Trygg i Göteborg som sedan 2015 bedrivs mellan stadsdelar och polis i Göteborg. En fallstudie genomfördes med hjälp av intervjuer av representanter från fyra stadsdelar och polis ansvariga för dessa stadsdelar. Intervjuerna analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att det föreligger ett gott arbetsklimat och tillit mellan de samverkande parterna, men att organisationen inom staden kan vara en försvårande faktor främst för trygghetssamordnaren i staden. Vidare uppfattas inte den evidensbaserade modellen vara till fullo tillämpad i alla stadsdelar. / To obtain social sustainability it is crucial that people feel safe in their neighborhoods. The purpose of this study is to examine the crime preventative and safety building inter-organizational cooperation called Trygg i Göteborg (Safe in Gothenburg) between the city districts and police in the city of Gothenburg. A case study was made using interviews with representatives from four city districts and the police responsible for these districts. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that there is a good working climate and trust between the two parties, but that organizational issues within the city can be an aggravating factor mainly for the city’s representative. Furthermore the evidence based model does not seem to be fully applied in all city districts.