Review of \u3cem\u3eThe Dismal Science: How Thinking like an Economist Undermines Community.\u3c/em\u3e Stephen A. Margin. Reviewed by Christopher R. Larrison.

Book review of Stephen A. Marglin, The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community. Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2008. $35.00, hardcover

Review of \u3cem\u3eA Prelude to the Welfare State: The Origins of Workers\u27 Compensation.\u3c/em\u3e Price V. Fishback and Shawn Everett Kantor. Review by Christopher R. Larrison

Book review of Price V. Fishback and Shawn Everett Kantor, A Prelude to the Welfare State: The Origins of Workers\u27 Compensation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. $37.50 hardcove

Review of \u3cem\u3eBeyond Segregation: Multiracial and Multiethnic Neighborhoods in the United States.\u3c/em\u3e Michael T. Maly. Reviewed by Christopher R. Larrison.

Book review of Michael T. Maly, Beyond Segregation: Multiracial and Multiethnic Neighborhoods in the United States. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2005. $68.50 hardcover,$22.95 papercover

Examining the Relationship between Community Residents\u27 Economic Status and the Outcomes of Community Development Programs

In designing and implementing community development interventions the economic status of targeted participants is a demographic characteristic worth considering. The findings from this research indicate that even within the limited economies of rural Mexican villages there are variations in economic status that affect the ways in which the outcomes of community development programs are perceived. The poorest of the poor are likely to be less satisfied with development projects than those with average or better-off economic status. This is true whether a development project uses a bottomup approach or a top-down approach. The more participatory approach does not attenuate the relationship between economic status and satisfaction with development programs. On the contrary, it may exacerbate it

A New Perspective on Families that Receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

A review of the scholarly literature shows that a number of analyses of welfare are mistakenly based upon the premise that the overwhelming majority of welfare recipients receive benefits because they are young single women who are undereducated and caring for a child either born out of wedlock or abandoned by divorce/separation. The term welfare can encompasses a number of social programs (e.g. Food Stamps, state general assistance programs, Medicaid), but in this paper it refers specifically to Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) or its contemporary Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). In an attempt to calibrate the accuracy of this long held stereotype, the authors surveyed a representative stratified random sample of individuals who received TANF in the state of Georgia. The resulting profile led to the identification of four distinctive groups on the welfare rolls. These groups or groupings, as they are referred to in the paper, show that only some families fit the traditional stereotype while others are accessing the welfare system because of health problems, child abandonment, limited retirement assets, poor education, and fluctuating labor markets

Student Loan Debt and Mental Health: A Comprehensive Review of Scholarly Literature from 1900 to 2019

Purpose The review had two purposes. The first was to examine the nature and extent of published literature on student loan and the second was to systematically review the literature on student loans and mental health. Materials and Methods Data from academic databases (1900–2019) were analyzed using two methods. First, topic modeling (a text-mining tool that utilized Bayesian statistics to extract hidden patterns in large volumes of texts) was used to understand the topical coverage in peer-reviewed abstracts (n = 988) on student debt. Second, using PRISMA guidelines, 46 manuscripts were systematically reviewed to synthesize literature linking student debt and mental health. Results A model with 10 topics was selected for parsimony and more accurate clustered representation of the patterns. Certain topics have received less attention, including mental health and wellbeing. In the systematic review, themes derived were categorized into two life trajectories: before and during repayment. Whereas stress, anxiety, and depression dominated the literature, the review demonstrated that the consequences of student loans extend beyond mental health and negatively affect a person’s wellbeing. Self-efficacy emerged as a potential solution. Discussion and Conclusion Across countries and samples, the results are uniform and show that student loan burdens certain vulnerable groups more. Findings indicate diversity in mental health measures has resulted into a lack of a unified theoretical framework. Better scales and consensus on commonly used terms will strengthen the literature. Some areas, such as impact of student loans on graduate students or consumers repaying their loans, warrant attention in future research

Twitter Sentiments and Mental Health Services in the United States: Is there an Association?

Objective. To examine if an association exists between the availability of mental health services and the sentiments expressed on Twitter by people who have social media markers that indicate they have direct experience with mental health disorders. Methods. Pearson’s Correlation was used to test an association between aggregated Twitter sentiments data for three years (2016-2018) and data from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) on the number of mental health services providers. Results. Statistically significant negative association was found between the normalized Twitter sentiments and SAMSHA counts of mental health services reported for each of the 50 States across the three years. Conclusions. Findings indicate that limited access to mental health services manifests itself on Twitter and the value of naturalistic data from Twitter to assist in identifying how people who have direct experience with mental health disorders perceive the availability of mental health services in their communities