Neighborhood and Community Environments


Book Description

This ninth volume in the series deals with a fascinating and complex topic in the environment and behavior field. Neighborhoods and com munities are in various stages of formation and transition in almost every society, nation, and culture. A variety of political, economic, and social factors have resulted in the formation of new communities and the transformation of older communities. Thus we see nomadic people set tling into stable communities, new towns sprouting up around the world, continuing suburban sprawl, simultaneous deterioration, re newal and gentrification of urban areas, demographic changes in com munities, and so on. As in previous volumes, the range of content, theory, and methods represented in the various chapters is intended to be broadly based, with perspectives rooted in several disciplines-anthropology, history, psychology, sociology, urban studies. Although many other disciplines also play an important role in the study and understanding of neigh borhoods and community environments, we hope that the contributions to this volume will at least present readers with a broad sampling-if not a comprehensive treatment-of the topic.




Human Behavior and the Social Environment


Book Description

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Explores traditional and alternative models in human behavior. This title is also available as a more affordable e-book with embedded media to illustrate key concepts. Human Behavior and the Social Environment, 6/e challenges students to explore both traditional and non-traditional paradigms in examining human behavior and the social environment. Through this examination, readers will better understand individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities and globalization. Students will recognize the range of social systems in which people live and the ways these systems promote or deter people in their health and wellbeing. Connecting Core Competencies Series - This title is part of the Connecting Core Competencies Series, designed to guide students in becoming skilled at the Council on Social Work's core competencies. Each chapter reflects and integrates the latest CSWE competency standards (EPAS). End-of-chapter assessment reinforces this integration.




Human Behavior and Environment


Book Description

The papers comprising this second volume of Human Behavior and the Environment represent, as do their predecessors, a cross section of current work in the broad area of problems dealing with interrelation ships between the physical environment and human behavior, at both the individual and the aggregate levels. Considering the two volumes as a unit, we have included papers covering a broad spectrum of problems ranging from the theoretical to the applied, and from the disciplinary-based to the interdisciplinary and professional. Approxi mately half of the papers are written by psychologists, with the remainder coming, in part, from such other disciplines as sociology, geography, and from such diverse applied and professional fields as natural recreation, landscape architecture, urban planning, and opera tions research. The volumes thus provide an overview of work on current topical problems. Yet, as the field is developing, specialization is inevitably increasing apace, and the editors as well as the publisher have become convinced of the desirability for futu're volumes in this series to be organized along topical lines, with successive volumes devoted to different aspects of this rather sprawling field. Thus, Volume 3, currently in the planning stage, will be devoted exclusively to the interaction of children with the physical environment, considered from diverse viewpoints, again including authors from diverse fields of specialization.







Home Environments


Book Description

The present volume in the series focuses on homes, residences, and dwellings. Although many fields have had a long-standing interest in different aspects of home environments, the topic has recently come to the forefront in the interdisciplinary environment and behavior field. Researchers and theorists from many disciplines have begun to meet regularly, share ideas and perspectives, and move the investigation of psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of home environments to the central arena of environment and behavior studies. This volume representative-though not comprehensive attempts to provide a sampling of contemporary perspectives on the study of home environments. As in previous volumes, the authors are drawn from a variety of disciplines, including environmental design fields of architecture and planning, and from the social science fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and history. This diversity of authors and perspectives makes salient the principle that the study of homes in relation to behav ior requires the contributions of many disciplines. Moreover, the chap ters in this volume reflect an array of research and theoretical view points, different scales of home environments (e.g., objects and areas, the home as a whole, the home as embedded in neighborhood and communities, etc.), design and policy issues, and, necessarily, a com parative and cross-cultural perspective. Home environments are at the core of human life in most cultures, and it is hoped that the contributions to this volume display the excite ment, potential, and importance of research and theory on homes.




U.S. Health in International Perspective


Book Description

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.




Human Behavior in the Social Environment


Book Description

Human Behavior and the Social Environment: A Macro, National, and International Perspective is a textbook for one of the primary courses in the social work curriculum titled Human Behavior in the Social Environment. The course is offered usually over two semesters, with one focusing on micro issues (how the individual develops in relation to their social enviroment on an individual, family, and group level). The second section of the course typically focuses on macro issues pertaining to how an individual is shaped by their social environment by macro issues including social institutions, community, and the government. This book is intended for the second sequence of the course. It takes a unique approach by incorporating international issues of globalization, which has been an emerging issue in social work. Although it takes this unique perspective, it still covers the basics of macro social work on a national level. Other important areas that are not well represented in competing texts includes coverage of rural issues, the impact of hurricane Katrina on social and community resources, human rights and social justice, the increasing impact of increasing rates of incarceration, and a special section focusing on crisis theory. This book has a number of key selling points. They include: A broad national and international perspective A timely approach that examines issues such as rural communities, the impact of disaster on communities, and increasing incarceration rates Provides special emphasis on human needs and social justice End of chapter discussion questions A student glossary Chapter opening photos An appendix that includes three additonal higher level macro theories which would make the book applicable to Master's level program This book will also contain a number of features that are essential for any book to be adopted in a HBSE course. They include: End of chapter discussion questions Instructor's manual featuring powerpoint slides and a test bank Student study site for recommended reading, chapter summaries, and flash cards




From Neurons to Neighborhoods


Book Description

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.




Place Attachment


Book Description

In step with the growing interest in place attachment, this volume examines the phenomena from the perspective of several disciplines-including anthropology, folklore, and psychology-and points towards promising directions of future research.







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