Contacting the base is a common injury mechanism for base runners in softball, with ankle sprains being the most common type of injury, but it is not known how the base affects lower extremity mechanics. The purpose of this study was to analyze lower extremity biomechanics while rounding a base. Sixteen recreationally active females with previous softball experience completed two base rounding conditions. A base was securely placed on the force place for the with base (WB) condition, and an outline of the base was taped on the force plate for the no base (NB) condition. Three-dimensional right-leg hip, knee, and ankle kinematics and kinetics were measured during the stance phase of the base rounding and analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). The WB condition resulted in decreased hip abduction ( p = 0.034), increased dorsiflexion ( p = 0.012), and decreased inversion ( p < 0.001) angles. Increased hip extension ( p < 0.001) and hip abduction ( p = 0.016) moments were exhibited during the WB condition. Decreased hip abduction ( p = 0.026), ankle plantarflexor ( p < 0.001), and ankle eversion ( p < 0.001) moments were also exhibited in the WB condition. The base acts as a lateral banking surface, reducing variables associated with ankle sprains, and likely assists in propelling base runners to the next base without injury.

Since its inception in 1916 the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) has trained and commissioned more than half a million individuals and, therefore, produced more officers for the United States (US) Army than any other commissioning source (US Army,2020a). However, there have been high attrition rates among cadets. While the reasons for people's engagement in the military are complex and include a multitude of tangible and intangible factors, motivation has been found to be a vital contributor to individuals' ongoing service in the armed forces. Accordingly, utilizing the framework of self-determination theory, the current research was designed to: (a) examine the validity and reliability of existing instruments in measuring cadets' perceived cadre behavior, basic psychological need satisfaction, and motivation, (b) assess cadets' perceived cadre behavior, basic psychological need satisfaction, and motivation, and (c) explore potential differences in cadets' perceived cadre behavior, basic psychological need satisfaction, and motivation based on their class in the program, age, gender, and race. A total of 728 US Army ROTC cadets participated in this survey-based study. Overall, individuals reported relatively high levels of involvement from their cadre, need fulfillment, and self-determined motivation. In contrast, they perceived limited autonomy support from their cadre. In sum, further research appears warranted to gain an in-depth understanding of cadets' motivation.

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule, is the observation that 20% of input (e.g., workers) produce 80% of the results. Consistent with this principle, previous research has identified a group (20%) of families, the Vital Few, who provide a disproportionate amount of foster care and are more willing to foster children with special needs. The ability to predict the emergence of these families has important implications for recruitment, support and placement stability, as well as longevity of foster families. This study replicated and extended previous research by conducting a follow-up study of 107 families (90% response rate) 17 years after pre-service training. Consistent with previous research we found a small proportion (10%) of families who provide a disproportionate amount of care in terms of length of service and number of children fostered, approved to foster, adopted, and removed at families' request. At the completion of pre-service training Vital Few families were more likely to have had previous foster parent experience and one or more children in their homes; mothers and fathers in the Vital Few were older, and fathers reported less education. Also, at pre-service training more Vital Few families said they would foster sibling groups (100 vs. 64%), but there were no other differences in terms of willingness to foster children with special needs. This study further validates the utility of the Pareto Principle for understanding foster families and, by extension, has important implications for the well-being and stability of foster children.

Public defenders are increasingly welcoming social workers into their practice, but there is little understanding of the impact of social work services in this context. This study used propensity score matching to determine the effect of social work services on public defense clients in terms of the number and severity of criminal charges when statistically controlling for pre-existing criminal history and demographic characteristics. Findings indicate that social work and non-social work clients were similar in terms of demographics and that clients in both groups were more likely to have incurred misdemeanor charges, but clients in the social work group experienced more, suggesting greater life disruption. When comparing clients who did and did not receive social work services, results indicate that the number of misdemeanor charges incurred during a two-year time period was lower for clients who received social work services. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

There is a small, methodologically diverse body of research indicating that approximately 20% of families provide disproportionate amounts of foster caregiving, place fewer restrictions on characteristics of children they are willing to foster and actually do foster, and provide caregiving environments as good as or better than those provided by other foster families. Cherry and Orme (2013) conceptualized this phenomenon in terms of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule or the Vital Few, and they refer to these 20% of families as the Vital Few and the remaining 80% as the Useful Many. This review will examine and synthesize the available research on Vital Few foster families and explore next steps in the development of this body of research.

Programming of the stress response system during gestation has lifelong effects that put the infant at risk for multiple stress-related pathologies. Populations most vulnerable to prenatal stress are African-Americans and individuals of low socioeconomic status. The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) research project, a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and individual state health departments, was employed for this study. Tennessee data from 2009 were compiled from individual birth certificates and PRAMS questionnaire responses to examine the influence of maternal stressors, race and low income on birth outcomes. The number of stressors was only a significant predictor of having an infant small for gestational age when moderated by Medicaid status. Medicaid status was a positive predictor of both problematic birth and preterm delivery, but did not predict small or large for gestational age. The relationship between race and birth outcomes overall was moderated by age, with young African-American mothers less likely than European-Americans and older African-American mothers to have adverse birth outcomes.

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80–20 rule or the Vital Few, has been successfully used as a framework to identify the small proportion of highly productive foster parents who provide a disproportionate amount of care. This study replicated and extended this research using a nationally representative sample of foster families (N=876) with a focus on willingness to foster, and actually fostering, children with special needs.Using latent class analysis, two classes of foster parents were identified: one accounted for 19% of respondents and the other 81%. We refer to the former as the Vital Few and the latter as the Useful Many. Vital Few respondents fostered 74.2% of foster children — 11 times more than the Useful Many, although only fostering two times longer. They also had almost 1-1/2 times as many foster children in their homes at the time of the study. Notably, the Vital Few were willing to foster more types of children with special needs and a higher percentage had actually fostered children with each of the seven types of special needs studied. The classes were similar demographically except that Vital Few respondents were less likely to work outside the home and Vital Few mothers were slightly less educated as compared to Useful Many mothers.This study further validates the utility of the Pareto Principle for understanding foster parents and, by extension, has important implications for the well-being and stability of foster children with special needs. Considerations for supporting the Vital Few, including education and training needs, are discussed.

PURPOSE:Health disparities research seeks to understand and eliminate differences in health based on social status. Self-rated health is often used to document health disparities across racial/ethnic and immigrant groups, yet its validity for such comparative research has not been established. To be useful in disparities research, self-rated health must measure the same construct in all groups, that is, a given level of self-rated health should reflect the same level of mental and physical health in each group. This study asks, Is the relationship between self-rated health and four indicators of health status--body mass index, chronic conditions, functional limitations, and depressive symptoms--similar for adolescents and young adults of different races/ethnicities and immigrant generations?METHODS:Ordinary least squares regression was used to examine associations of self-rated health with the four indicators of health status both cross-sectionally and longitudinally using four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.RESULTS:Health indicators explained similar amounts of variance in self-rated health for all racial/ethnic and immigrant generation groups. The cross-sectional association between the health indicators and self-rated health did not vary across groups. The longitudinal association between depressive symptoms and chronic conditions and self-rated health also did not differ across groups. However, an increase in body mass index was associated more negatively with later self-rated health for Asians than for whites or blacks.CONCLUSIONS:Self-rated health is valid for disparities research in large, population-based surveys of US adolescents and young adults. In many of these surveys self-rated health is the only measure of health.

The number of school resource officers (SROs) placed at schools has increased dramatically. These officers are tasked with making schools safer, yet the effect of interacting with SROs on students’ feelings of safety needs more investigation. To address this need, 1,956 middle and high school students were surveyed. Latent class analysis identified two groups of students, one who felt safe and another who did not. Regression showed that interacting with SROs was unrelated to these feelings of safety; instead, African American students and victimized students felt less safe while males, students with more school connectedness, and students with more positive attitudes about SROs felt safer.

Background: Despite the high breastfeeding initiation rate in China (> 90%), the low exclusivity rate is of concern. Some traditional behaviors, combined with increasing popularity of infant formula, may negatively affect future breastfeeding rates. As suggested by the theory of planned behavior, understanding breastfeeding beliefs of young adults may help identify and address misperceptions of future parents, supporting maintenance of the current initiation rate while increasing rates of exclusivity and duration. No research has evaluated these factors among young adults in Mainland China. Objective: The objective was to explore any relationships between breastfeeding knowledge, attitudes, previous experiences, and future intention among undergraduate students in Mainland China. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, quantitative study conducted from May to June 2012. A convenience sample of 395 students from a major public university in southwest China participated in the survey. Results: Breastfeeding knowledge was moderate (76.7% of total score), and breastfeeding was considered to be painful (34.2%), to make breasts sag (43.1%), and to restrict the freedom of mothers (52.5%). In addition, 58.2% of students reported that they would feel embarrassed if they or their partners were to breastfeed in public, and acceptability of breastfeeding in public was low (34.7%). Three-fourths of the students (75.1%) expressed future breastfeeding intent, though males were more likely to report this intention (ie, to support a partner in breastfeeding) than were females (81.3% vs 71.7%, P = .04). Conclusion: To create a more breastfeeding-friendly culture, future research is warranted to explore these negative beliefs about breastfeeding and to counter misunderstandings among future parents in Mainland China.

Children with disabilities represent a significant and increasing proportion of children in foster care. In a national sample of 304 foster mothers we identified two groups of mothers, one willing to foster children with any type of disability except HIV/AIDS (51%) (Unconditional mothers), and a second group who were more selective (49%) (Selective mothers). Unconditional mothers fostered longer, fostered more children, and had more foster children in their homes.

Many foster parents serve only briefly, and foster and adopt few children. Anecdotal reports suggest that a small percentage of foster parents provide a disproportionate amount of care; however, we know virtually nothing about these parents. This study applied the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80–20 rule or Vital Few, as a framework to conceptualize these foster parents. Using latent class analysis, two classes of mothers were identified: one accounted for 21% of mothers and the other 79%. We refer to the former as the Vital Few and the latter as the Useful Many. Vital Few mothers fostered 73% of foster children — 10 times more than Useful Many mothers although only fostering three times longer. They adopted twice as many foster children while experiencing half the yearly rate of placement disruptions. Vital Few mothers were less likely to work outside the home, had better parenting attitudes, more stable home environments, more time to foster, and more professional support for fostering, but less support from kin. Further, they were as competent as the Useful Many on numerous other psychosocial measures. Understanding characteristics of these resilient Vital Few can inform recruitment and retention efforts and offer realistic expectations of foster parents.

Almost two-thirds of children in non-relative foster care live in homes headed by married couples. However, the literature includes little about either the role of foster fathers or the complexity and importance of the marital context for fostering. This study examined family functioning, overt interparental hostility, depression, and parental acceptance in a sample of 111 heterosexual foster parent couples and the relationship between family context and potential to foster parent successfully. Latent class analysis revealed three distinct types of foster parent couples, “Good Context” (33%), “Typical” (56%), and “Bad Context-Discordant” (11%) couples. “Bad Context-Discordant” couples are notable for having much lower scores on all context measures, for differences between mothers and fathers, and for the fact that most fathers had depression scores in the clinical range. Finally, results indicated that better family context was related to greater potential to foster successfully and that on three of five dimensions measured mothers exhibited greater potential.

In this article, the authors present the Willingness to Foster Scale-Disabilities and Medical Conditions (WFS-DMC) and report results concerning its psychometric properties. The WFS-DMC is a new measure designed to accurately and efficiently assess the willingness of parents to foster children with special needs, in particular, disabilities and special medical conditions. The authors tested the WFS-DMC with a national sample of 298 foster mothers. Internal consistency reliability was excellent (alpha = .90). With reference to construct validity, mothers with higher WFS-DMC scores fostered longer, fostered and adopted more children, and requested the removal of a smaller proportion of foster children. Furthermore, the mothers' WFS-DMC scores were unrelated to demographic characteristics. The WFS-DMC could help guide the decision-making process involved in matching children who have special needs with parents willing to care for them.

Abstract Single-system designs (SSDs) are a family of user-friendly empirical procedures that can be used to help professionals to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the services they provide to clients and to guide practice. SSDs can be used to evaluate interventions based on any theory or approach. Repeated measurement of the target(s) of intervention is an intrinsic and key element of SSDs. Dozens of SSDs exist, and each has its own strengths and limitations. The most basic and most widely used design is the A-B design. Data from SSDs are analyzed visually, using simple, descriptive or inferential statistics, or using criteria for practical or clinical significance.

The current study was designed to explore the cognitions of African-American mothers about the importance of the first 3 years of life for brain development, and to determine the relations between those cognitions and important parenting beliefs. We collected survey data over a 1-week period from a diverse sample of 222 African-American mothers waiting for preventive and minor acute care appointments in six pediatric waiting rooms in Memphis, TN. Latent Class Analysis revealed two groups of mothers: one that was aware of the importance of the first 3 years for brain development (about 56 %), and one that is less aware (about 44 %). Mothers in the two latent classes had significantly different parenting beliefs about spoiling versus nurturing and the importance of stable child care arrangements, but not about corporal punishment of infants. Poverty and education significantly affected latent class membership. Parenting education interventions might be better targeted and more effective when informed by participants’ understanding of early brain development.

This study examined the Casey Foster Applicant Inventory-Applicant–Co-Parenting Scale (CFAI-CP), a new scale developed to measure foster parent applicants' co-parenting potential. Also, this study illustrates statistical methods used to analyze the psychometric properties of dyadic data. Factor structure and measurement invariance were tested with 111 approved foster couples. Mplus was used to accommodate ordinal-level data. Exploratory factor analysis supported a 10-item, unidimensional measure with excellent internal consistency reliability (.88 fathers, .89 mothers). Confirmatory factor analysis supported scalar measurement invariance but not structural invariance, as expected. Good construct validity was evident. Findings support the CFAI-CP as an empirically sound measure to assess foster parent co-parenting.