Psychology and public policy affecting children, youth, and families.

Although US children and youth remain an underserved group, some members of the psychological community have become deeply involved since the 1970s in shaping public policy toward this population. Efforts include examination of the relationship between knowledge and policy, the process of policy formulation, the efficacy of programs for children, and training programs in child development and social policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and social policy for children: Introduction to the section.

The relationship between developmental psychology and social policy has led to work on topics such as the lack of a national policy on children's welfare and research on children, consideration of how judicial and psychological interests may complement each other in the area of children's rights, child advocacy, and the interface between psychology and education. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Normalizing the ideal: Psychology, schooling, and the family in postwar Canada.

Reviews the book, Normalizing the ideal: Psychology, schooling, and the family in postwar Canada by Mona Gleason (1999). The history of psychology in Canada has not received the attention it deserves. This book is a bold attempt to sketch the development of the discipline and its influence on child-rearing practices and education in post-war Canada. Unfortunately, the author appears to have been guided by a theoretical perspective that can best be characterized as an uninspiring blend of Michel Foucault, Christopher Lasch, and reductionist 1970s feminist scholarship. Gleason's portrayal of the development of psychology, is inadequate on several counts. First, throughout the book, psychology is presented as a monolithic discipline characterized by complete consensus, theoretical unity, and a single-minded purpose of influencing society. Second, Gleason claims that psychologists forced their definitions of normalcy upon an unsuspecting and innocent population by intruding into previously private realms and extending the tentacles of its expertise in building up a professional tyranny. Third, Gleason frequently criticizes psychology for reinforcing and reproducing the social status quo and presenting the ideal family in terms of white, middleclass, heterosexual, and patriarchal ideals. Fourth, she seems to condemn psychologists for inflicting their ideas on an unsuspecting population because they were driven by ulterior motives such as self-aggrandizement and an attempt to increase their own professional power. Gleason's is the first book to provide an overview of the influence of psychology on Canadian society after World War II. Her analysis would have gained from investigating and highlighting the different and at times mutually exclusive ideas, motives, and theories of Canadian psychologists instead of assuming their uniformity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, research, and social policy.

Contends that although it is important and timely for psychologists to be concerned with the interface between psychological research and social policy, academic and research psychologists may encounter problems in relating or adapting their research to matters of policy. For some researchers, there are few problems because their focus of research has both theoretical and policy relevance (e.g., those exploring the scientific question at hand with relevant populations or in policy-connected settings). However, it is suggested that the larger group of behavioral scientists are engaged in research that is more removed from immediate practicality or policy relatedness. It is argued that the ideal solution is not to promote the wholesale conversion of research scientists to redirect their scientific inquiry so that it deals directly with issues of policy. Rather, suggestions are tendered for the melding of policy concerns into research that maintains its relevance to the discipline and to issues of psychological theory or practice while touching also on issues of relevance to social policy. A classification model of social scientists involved with policy is included. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and public policy.

Discusses ways to increase the involvement, awareness, knowledge, and education of psychologists in the public policy process. Psychologists have functioned effectively in a variety of roles that are relevant to the policy sector. For example, they are increasingly called upon as expert witnesses. There is a great need for people who can translate the findings of psychology and the behavioral sciences into language and recommendations easily comprehended by the public. Probably the most common role for a psychologist in public policy is that of researcher or evaluator, which uses the psychologist's methodological skill to help policymakers determine whether a program, intervention, or treatment was effective. Psychologists have also increasingly taken positions as administrators in education, health, mental health, welfare, correctional, and human service organizations, where they are directly responsible for the formation and implementation of social policies. Psychologists can also function as activist-collaborators by advocating solutions to social problems. It is concluded that greater involvement of psychology in the public policy process will facilitate the growth of psychological knowledge and the application of that knowledge to the world of which psychology becomes continually a larger part. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and manpower policy.

Outlines 5 contributions made by psychology to manpower policy: (1) the public has been encouraged to adopt a more humane attitude toward people who are ineffective; (2) the public has acquired a positive stance toward the amelioration of social and human ills, particularly through reliance on education, but also through other approaches including supportive services; (3) psychology's study of the distribution of human attributes has contributed substantially to the decline in discrimination toward women, Negroes, and others who were formerly beyond the pale; (4) psychology has led to more constructive views and behavior with regard to the rearing of children and development of young people; and (5) psychology has thrown a searchlight on the critical importance of work for individual and social integration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Special issue introduction: Psychology, politics, and public policy.

As evidenced by the eclecticism of this collection of essays, the history of psychology is ripe with possibilities for additional research into the interplay of politics and public policy on the development of the discipline and its practice. After all, as this collection makes clear, a more complete rendering of the history of psychology must make sense of the profession’s longstanding immersion in politics and public policy—indeed, of its being as much a political and policymaking project as an intellectual one. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and education.

Discusses the role of psychology in educational practice. It is suggested that psychological research and theory can help (1) policy makers and administrators improve schools as organizations, (2) teachers develop more effective strategies for motivating and stimulating learning, and (3) learners construct meaning and develop new skills throughout their lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of the Young Offenders Act on recidivism rates of special needs youth: Clinical and policy implications.

Compared recidivism rates of special needs young offenders under the Canadian Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA) and the Young Offenders Act (YOA). 294 12–15 yr olds assessed under the JDA and 259 age- and sex-matched Ss assessed under the YOA had level of need measured, using the Basic Personality Inventory. Results indicate that at a 3-mo follow-up period, special needs youths appearing in court under the YOA re-offended at a higher rate with both special needs and nonspecial needs youths continuing to have more charges at a 1-yr follow-up period after court. Results are discussed in terms of their clinical and social policy implications in managing young offenders. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and education: A continuing, productive partnership.

Notes that in recent discussions about economic recovery in the US, 2 factors have fundamental behavioral and psychological correlates: One factor is a set of educational and motivational attributes of the citizenry, and the other is the accumulation of capital and its investment in equipment and research and development. Advances in a broad range of psychological research, particularly in the areas of learning and teaching, have contributed to improving educational systems. It is noted, however, that less than 5% of all federal funds allocated for education are spent on research relevant to understanding education. Opportunities for a continuing, productive partnership between psychology and education are highlighted. Interviews with 3 individuals involved in education (W. H. McGuire, Rep. P. Williams, and M. Thompson) are summarized. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strengthening couples' relationships with education: Social policy and public health perspectives.

There is some evidence that skill-based couples relationship education (CRE) enhances couples' maintenance of healthy, committed relationships. This article analyzes issues in the balancing of a limited but growing knowledge base on the effects of CRE with current social policy that is creating an impetus for widespread dissemination of CRE. It is suggested that enough is known to act now, and that by doing so, the field has a unique opportunity to substantially (and rapidly) add to the existing knowledge base. Specifically, there can be expansion of knowledge of the efficacy of CRE with diverse populations and service delivery contexts, as well as the influences on the reach of CRE to populations at high risk of future relationship difficulties. While the current article focuses on CRE, the issues discussed have relevance to warrant dissemination to many areas of family psychology intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children of lesbian and gay parents: Psychology, law, and policy.

Legal and policy questions relevant to the lives of lesbian and gay parents and their children have recently been subjects of vigorous debate. Among the issues for which psychological research has been seen as particularly relevant are questions regarding child custody after divorce, same-sex marriage, adoption, and foster care. This article provides an overview of the current legal terrain for lesbian and gay parents and their children in the United States today, an overview of relevant social science research, and some commentary on the interface between the two. It is concluded that research findings on lesbian and gay parents and their children provide no warrant for legal discrimination against these families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and the ethics of social policy.

Psychology's ability to resolve or moderate social conflicts stemming from competing moral positions depends on whether psychology is conceptualized as a mental or behavioral science. Knowledge claims from the direct observation of consciousness cannot yield consensual agreement about valid ethical principles or correct social policies. As a behavioral science, psychology is unable to validate moral principles because of the logical impossibility of inferring ethical imperatives from empirical data. Behavioral evidence can nevertheless assist society in choosing among competing social policies by revealing their empirical consequences. To do this successfully, psychology must use natural science methodology with the aim of seeking empirical and theoretical truth, not political goals or ethical ideals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, public policy, and the evidence for alcohol intoxication.

Discusses the legal requirement that alcoholic beverage purveyors not serve apparently intoxicated persons in terms of the ability of nonmedical observers to detect intoxication. Three experiments tested the ability of 49 members of a university community (aged 18–25 yrs), 12 bartenders (aged 21–39 yrs), and 30 police officers (aged 23–50 yrs) to identify sober, moderately intoxicated, and legally drunk targets after observing them for several minutes. All of the S groups correctly rated the targets' level of intoxication less than 25% of the time, and the accuracy of ratings deteriorated as the targets' level of intoxication increased. Police officers performed somewhat better in an arrest analog than in a laboratory condition, and a subgroup of 5 officers showed a high level of accuracy. Findings indicate that the detection of intoxication requires special skill and that the standard of judgment legally required of bartenders is unreasonable. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The discovery of southern childhoods: Psychology and the transformation of schooling in the Jim Crow south.

Although the psychology of race in America has been the subject of significant research, psychological science in the principal region of racial interaction before Brown v. Board of Education-the South-has received little attention. This article argues that the introduction of psychological ideas about children by means of school reform in the South during the half-century before the Brown decision established a cultural foundation for both Black resistance to segregated schools and White determination to preserve them. In 1900, southern children and their schools were an afterthought in a culture more committed to tradition and racial stability than innovation and individual achievement. The advent of northern philanthropy, however, brought with it a new psychology of childhood. Although the reformers did not intend to subvert segregation, their premises downplayed natural endowment, including racial inheritance, and favored concepts highlighting nurture: that personality is developmental, childhood foundational, and adversity detrimental. Decades of discussion of children in their learning environment gave southern Blacks a rationale for protest and Whites a logical defense for conservative reaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, public affairs, and public policy: A strategy and review.

Discusses psychology and public image problems in relation to public policy and public affairs. The American Psychological Association's (APA) strategy, past and present efforts, effectiveness, and suggestions for future directions are reviewed. Public policy issues for the APA involve the appropriate corporate role in commitment to a process of establishing, maintaining, and expanding a credible public presence regarding the field. Members of the field cannot expect to play a constructive role in policy development if people are misinformed about psychology and psychologists. Suggestions for future APA strategies include surveying members' opinions on a routine basis; focused, topic-specific projects with radio and TV; more frequent task reports on specific issues; increased efforts to educate writers and members of the media; and the establishment of liaison committees or joint task forces with other professional groups. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Legislation, advocacy, and the rights of children and youth.

The forces that have markedly slowed progress in mental health services for children and youth in the US are listed. Recent years have seen an increase in the use of psychological information by all branches of the US Government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial). Nevertheless, marked ambivalence has been shown in the struggle to define and develop the rights of children and youth. These center around developmental issues related to the protection of the helpless and around the struggle with the rights of parents. The need to develop an organized, effective system of different types of advocacy based on sound child-development knowledge is stressed. Hopefully, this will lead to child and youth impact studies of all relevant legislation and eventually to a comprehensive national child, youth, and family policy. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social and Industrial Psychology.

From time to time, there is presented evidence on who did what first in psychology. In this column, I should like to submit five entries dating back from 2000 B.C. to 400 B.C. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and Social Work.

The comments concerning social work and psychology which have appeared in the American Psychologist in recent years (Andriola, December 1951; Singer, December 1952; Joyce, January 1957; Andriola, January 1957) have been both heartening and disturbing: heartening in that they reflect an increasing awareness of the need for greater mutual understanding and disturbing in that the implication is conveyed that the other profession should assume primary responsibility for interpreting itself. The present concern with understanding the role of the other profession, and the desire to be understood ourselves, reflects in part, I think, the current struggle each profession is going through in defining its own role, responsibilities, and limitations. The goal, it would seem, is to develop an understanding and awareness of the related profession which enables one to work harmoniously and effectively with members of that profession and utilize their special services to the benefit of the client. How can this best be accomplished? I would suggest by each profession taking an increasing responsibility for providing adequate opportunities for their aspirants to come into interactive relationship with members of the related profession, and at a graduate training level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in youth: Treatment implications.

Reviews the empirical literature on the comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders in youth, emphasizing prevalence of comorbidity, difficulties in assessment and measurement, familial factors, and developmental differences. The nature of anxiety and of depression in youth is examined (e.g., differentiating cognitive deficiencies from cognitive distortions), and treatment recommendations are presented from a cognitive-behavioral framework. Components of the treatment include affective education, enactive programming, addressing reinforcement difficulties, correcting cognitive distortions, and enhancing problem-solving skills. Peer and familial factors are discussed. Successful treatment of comorbid children relies on a flexible application of these strategies with consideration of the developmental level and particular symptom constellation of the individual child. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)