This study was conducted to determine current business practices regarding the employment of ex-offenders. The underlying reason for this study is that yearly approximately 90,000 persons are released from correctional institutions throughout the United States. The author postulated that non-offenders are more likely to obtain employment than an ex-offender who has been incarcerated, has ineffective job skills, is male, Black and older. A self-developed questionnaire was delivered and mailed to 153 personnel managers of companies within the Metro Atlanta area. The results indicated no significant difference in the respondents' attitudes involving the test hypothesis. On the basis of the findings, it was concluded that employers in the Metro Atlanta area do not show a significant difference in the employment practices toward ex-offenders than other employees.

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The overall objective of this descriptive research was to show that there was no significant difference between the maternal attitude towards the unborn child in crack cocaine using and non-crack cocaine using mothers. The population was comprised of a total of 30 subjects, 15 crack cocaine users and 15 non-crack cocaine users, who were patients at Maternity and Infant Health in the Metropolitan Cleveland, Ohio area. The results revealed that there is statistical significance between the attitudes of crack cocaine using and non-crack cocaine using mothers. This statistical significance revealed that pregnant women that abuse crack cocaine during pregnancy have the same attitude towards their unborn child as pregnant women who do not abuse crack cocaine during pregnancy. This study was an attempt to provide a clear understanding about crack cocaine addiction, the effects the addiction has on an unborn child and school age children and how pregnant women feel towards themselves and their unborn baby.

The ownership of financial assets protects American households from experiencing the struggles of income poverty. The asset-based theory of American social welfare, which was conceptualized by Professor Michael Sherraden in 1991 and amended in 2001 by other scholars, posited that social welfare programs diminish the prevalence of poverty by enabling households to save funds to purchase assets. This theory has been scantly testedespecially among American householdsdespite a great amount of funds being invested into programs designed to help low-income American households to build assets. The only previous study that examined the intermediary role of future-orientations on the effect of asset-ownership on a financial outcome operationalized assets as comprised primarily of farm animals (i.e., oxen, chicken, pigs, etc.), in a manner that deviates substantively from the original conceptualization of the asset-based theory of American social welfare. This dissertation research endeavored to remedy this limitation within the asset-ownership literature by utilizing data from a representative survey sample of American householdsnamely the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the accompanying Transition-to-Adulthood Supplementto empirically test the theory using structural equation modeling analyses. Structural equation modeling analyses of the data suggested that young adults future-orientations positively partially mediated the effect of parental asset-ownership on young adults financial responsibility. Specifically, parental asset-ownership had an important direct effect (β = -0.174, z = -6.91, p = 0.000) on young adults financial responsibility, coupled with an important mediation effect of young adults future-orientations (β = 0.012, z = 4.17, p = 0.000) on the relationship between parental asset-ownership and young adults financial responsibility. The mediation effects implied that the design of asset-development programs should integrate components into the structure of the programs that empower the low-income participants to think and talk about their future-orientations and plans.

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The overall objective of this study was to compare the attitudes of psychiatric social workers and psychiatric nurses, and its impact of service delivery to the dual diagnosed population. To attain this objective the following areas were addressed by the researcher; Professionals' attitudes, values, and beliefs about the dual diagnosed population and their families; and how the professionals' view of self effects the attitudes, values, and beliefs. A comparative research design was used in this study. A self-administered questionnaire was given to thirteen psychiatric social workers and thirteen psychiatric nurses from the professional population located in the Atlanta area. In this study, there was no statistical significant difference found between psychiatric social workers and psychiatric nurses' values, attitudes, and beliefs toward working with the dual diagnosed patient.

The overall objective of this study was to determine whether an intervention of social skills training would increase the self-concept of a 16 year old African-American, homeless youth. To obtain this objective, this single system design focused on the subject's level of negative and positive self-talk and independent thinking. The results indicated a decrease in the subject's negative self-talk, an increase in his positive self-talk and an increase in his independent thinking. The results imply that social skills training can have a very positive impact on the field of social work as an intervention with homeless children. The study attempts to encourage homeless shelters to implement this training as a pro-active measure.