Applied developmental scientists are often interested in how school contexts-critical proximal environments that shape students' developmental pathways-relate to long-term outcomes. However, school contexts are dynamic, and student mobility is common, creating challenges for researchers attempting to model developmental processes within changing school environments. Traditional multilevel models assume that each student is nested within a single, stable school context, an assumption that is violated when students attend multiple schools over time. Multiple membership multilevel modeling is an approach that can be used to account for students' experience of multiple school contexts, yet it has not been widely applied in practice. In this manuscript, we demonstrate multiple membership modeling and compare it to single membership multilevel modeling approaches, highlighting the differences that emerge. We provide implications for selecting modeling strategies that align with the research question, developmental theory, and the dynamic nature of school contexts.

Synthetic data hold strong potential to increase access to administrative data systems while protecting privacy for individuals. This paper details the approach taken to evaluate the synthesis of Maryland’s State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) using fully synthetic Classification and Regression Tree (CART) models. Results demonstrate low disclosure risk (near zero) and high research utility, validated through robust evaluations. Practical insights and best practices from this case provide valuable lessons for other organisations seeking balanced synthetic data solutions for administrative data. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.

Interracial and interethnic marriages have been increasing in the United States, growing from 7.4 percent in 2000 to 10.2 percent by 2016. Given the growing number of such marriages, more research is needed to inform social work practice, policy, and programming to effectively serve these couples, and their multiracial families. The current research reports on findings from a 2022 survey of 413 partners in interracial or interethnic marriages. Respondents were asked whether over the past five years they felt things have been getting better, about the same, or worse for intermarried couples in our society. Predictive of feeling things had been getting better included reporting support from extended family, living in a community with a number of multiracial and/or multiethnic families, intentionally seeking out social groups or settings with other interracial/interethnic couples, and having children. A few variables predicted feeling things have been about the same or getting worse. These included being male, the couple discussing recent racially related traumatic events such as the murder of George Floyd, and reporting being more frequently consciously aware of the interracial or interethnic nature of their marriage. Implications for practice with interracial and interethnic couples are discussed.

The number of interracial marriages in the United States has increased to one-in-six among recently married couples. Therefore, researchers and clinicians need the knowledge and skills to effectively serve such families. The current qualitative study, part of a larger mixed-methods project, reports on findings from interviews with 10 Black men married to White women. A central theme emerged related to experiences of these Black men of safety, threats, and feeling the need to provide protection for his family across different social spheres related to their interracial relationship. This theme emerged across six social spheres: the Couple, their Children, the men's Extended Family, In-laws, Friends, and the larger Macrosystem. These six spheres were experienced as protected, threatening, or mixed in terms of safety related to race issues. Direct quotes are provided to illustrate these six spheres and their levels of protection. Implications for clinical practice with interracial couples are offered.

Intermarriage, defined here as the marriage between people of different races or different ethnicities, is on the rise in the United States, with one in six newlyweds intermarrying. While public opinion approval of interracial marriage is at an all-time high, racial and ethnic hate crimes are also on the rise, which can affect spouses differently based on their identity. Drawing on a 2022 Qualtrics sample of 287 spouses who intermarried and have children, authors of this article sought to learn what is related to their holding a positive view of intermarriage. Talking openly with one's spouse about differences, children initiating discussions about race, and being consciously aware of the interracial or interethnic aspect of the marriage were predictors. Implications for social work practice, which are predicated on the ability to have open communication between family members and the social worker's comfort with their own racial identity, are included for this growing population of intermarried couples.

With interracial marriages on the rise, a need exists to learn more about what challenges spouses in these marriages may face, especially during a period of U.S. history when race is increaingly becoming a part of the national conversation following the election of Donald Trump and the 2020 protests. While marriages between Asians, Blacks, Latinx populations, and Whites have all increased, Black-White marriages, in particular, have been in the crucible given the legacy of U.S. enslavement with Whites dominating Blacks as well as the 1967 Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court ruling related to a Black woman married to a White man. This article, based on qualitative interviews with 14 Black women married to White men, offers five themes that emerged from these interviews. These themes are: dealing with in-laws; negativity from outsiders; perspective taking and exhaustion; the impact of current events; and defining Blackness. Black Idenity Development is used as a theoretical framework.

With the number of interracial marriages rising, family therapists need to know what issues these married couples and their families face. The authors analyzed qualitative interviews with 11 White women married to Black men, who were part of a larger study on interracial couples. The authors identified four themes that were relevant to the participants’ experiences and could guide therapy with the family. These were: (1) racial perspective taking; (2) communication patterns; (3) microaggressions; and (4) raising children. Three sub-themes were also identified that were tied to racial perspective taking. These were: (a) White privilege; (b) safety; and (c) social justice. Clinical suggestions for family therapists working with these couples are provided.

Attrition is a critical concern for evaluating the rigor of prevention studies, and the current study provides rates of attrition for subgroups of students and schools who are often sampled for prevention science. This is the first study to provide practical guidance for expected rates of attrition using population-level statewide data; findings indicated that researchers using K-12 school-based samples should plan for attrition rates as high as 27% during middle school and 54% during elementary school. However, researchers should consider the grade levels initially sampled, the length of follow-up, and the specific student characteristics and schools available for sampling. Postsecondary attrition ranged from 45% for bachelor's degree seekers to 73% for associate degree seekers. This practical guidance can help researchers to proactively plan for attrition in the study design phase, limiting bias and increasing the validity of prevention studies.

Despite the emerging research on in-law relationships and its impact on building healthy families, the majority of studies focus on women. Therefore, the evidence on male in-law relationships is scant. Even less is known about how Black families experience male in-law relationships. Drawing from the Afrocentric Intergenerational Solidarity (AIS) model, this qualitative study explored the situational factors and interpersonal exchanges that contribute to the fostering of positive relationships for Black sons-in-law and their fathers-in-law. Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with Black/African American sons-in-law about their relationship with their father-in-law. Study findings suggest that sons-in-law believed having similar interests and putting forth an effort to engage in family activities and gatherings helped shape the relationship. Explicit communication, mutual support, and shared values were also perceived as critical components to building a healthy and positive relationship. These interactions provided opportunities for fathers-in-law to express their expectations of sons-in-laws in their roles as husbands and fathers, as well as offer support to sons-in-law. As a result, in-laws were able to discuss culturally masculine values and establish a mutual respect for one another. Study findings indicate that the Black male in-law relationship is a complex and unique process that may facilitate cohesion within the family. Additionally, understanding the role of Black fathers-in-law in strengthening sons-in-law's spousal and parenting efficacy may lead to evidence-based interventions that include multigenerational approaches to healthy family functioning.

After school programs provide low income students and students of color with learning opportunities across both academic and non-academic domains that such students would otherwise not get. In this study, we examined the intersection of school characteristics (e.g., enrollment size, percent minority enrolled, and percent eligible for FARM) and the types of after school programming schools offered (e.g., fee-based, 21st CCLC, and other types) using binary logistic regression models. I n a sample of schools (n = 1,601) surveyed by the National Center on Education Statistics 2008 FRSS, we found that under-resourced schools had lower odds of having a 21st CCLC program and higher odds of having a fee-based after school program (than schools with a lower percentage of students receiving FARM). That is counter to the stated goals of the 21st CCLC program. These findings highlight the need for a re-prioritization of 21st CCLC funding such that financial assistance provided to schools to support after school programs is allocated to schools serving students from low income families and communities.

The current study examined the relation between two sets of survey scale measures of adult sibling relationships. The first set of three scales assesses what adult siblingsfeelabout,thinkabout, and how theybehavetoward their siblings. These three subscales of the Lifespan Sibling Relationship Scales have established validity and reliability, with those psychometric properties confirmed in the current sample of 262 adults. The second set of nine survey items assess adult sibling comfort communicating with siblings about potentially sensitive issues and were developed by the authors for a larger longitudinal study, therefore had not been previously examined psychometrically. An exploratory factor analysis revealed two factors, comfort talking with siblings aboutfamilyandlifeissues, both factors showed acceptable reliability. Those two factors were then used in structural equation models to explore associations with the three Riggio subscales. The final model revealed acceptable fit, chi(2) = 907.51, df = 467, p < .01; RMSEA =.06, C.I. = .05.-07; CFI = .93, IFI = .93, TLI = .91, and indicated that what adults feel about and how they behave toward their siblings was predictive of what they think about their siblings, which was in turn was predictive of their reported comfort communicating with their siblings about sensitive family and life topics.

Welcome to this special issue of JFSW on Siblings Across the Life Course. Special issues can be motivated by divergent rationales, such as catching a wave of new, expanding, or interesting research...

Each marriage is the beginning of multiple intergenerational in-law relationships. Drawing on a survey of 351 women about their relationships with their mothers-in-law (MILs), this article reports on the impact of family triangles and boundary ambiguity on the quality of the relationship. In a three-block regression analysis, predicting a seven-item relationship quality scale, the first block included six demographic variables. The second and third blocks included three survey items each of reported relationship triangles and boundary ambiguity in a woman's interactions with her MIL. Results revealed that although the couple having children predicted worse relationship quality in the demographic block, that result was no longer significant once family triangle measures were entered. All three measures of boundary ambiguity were also significant. The three measures of boundary ambiguity eclipsed two of the three family triangles when entered in the third block, leaving only the daughter-in-law feeling comfortable going directly to the MIL about important issues still significant.

There is demand among policy-makers for the use of state education longitudinal data systems, yet laws and policies regulating data disclosure limit access to such data, and security concerns and risks remain high. Well-developed synthetic datasets that statistically mimic the relations among the variables in the data from which they were derived, but which contain no records that represent actual persons, present a viable solution to these laws, policies, concerns, and risks. We present a case study in the development of a synthetic data system and highlight potential applications of synthetic data. We begin with an overview of synthetic data, what it is, how it has been utilized thus far, and the potential benefits and concerns in its application to education data systems. We then describe our federally-funded project, proposing the steps required to synthesize a statewide longitudinal data system covering high school, postsecondary, and workforce data. Last, for use as a template for other agencies considering synthetic data, we review the challenges we have confronted in the development of our synthetic data system for research and policy evaluation purposes.

With marriage between lesbians and between gays now legal in the United States, it is important to gain an understanding of how in-law relationships function for this population. Five case studies, part of a larger study of in-law relationships, are presented that help further knowledge of the potential obstacles that some couples may face in relation to their in-laws. Common experiences include relationships improving over time; struggling with acceptance; feeling closer to parents-in-law because other adult children or adult children-in-law have fallen out of favor; recognizing the significant role that the child-in-law’s spouse plays in the relationship between the child-in-law and the parent-in-law; understanding the role that the larger community plays; considering both parents-in-law as separate voices in the in-law dyad; and experiencing feelings of ambivalence that arise between family members. Practice implications for clinicians are included as are implications for future research.

ABSTRACT With more than 2 million couples marrying each year in the U.S. (CDC, 2015), the need for understanding in-law relationships that are newly formed with the marriage and continue for decades, is important. While women’s in-law relationships have been explored, little is known about how men view their in-law relationships. The focus here is on sons-in-law’s relationship with their fathers-in-law. We explore relationship dynamics from the perspective of sons-in-law with a focus on those whose relationships seem to be close and those that seem to be distant based on analyses of qualitative interviews. Six cases are highlighted: three cases where the sons-in-law feel close and three where the sons-in-law feel distant. For those who feel close, relationships tend to coalesce around sons-in-law joining families where fathers-in-law have warm relationships with their daughters, value family, are well-liked, and maintain boundaries. For those who feel distant, relationships are characterized by the emotional withdrawal and physical absence of the fathers-in-law, by some emotional distance between the fathers-in-law and their daughter, and by the sons-in-law being open to more contact but resigned to it not being forthcoming. Clinical implications and areas of future research are offered.