Social Work, Marriage, and Ethnicity

By looking at a variety of racial and ethnic groups in society, Social Work, Marriage and Ethnicity examines the conventional knowledge, theories and best practices relating to marriages. Contributors address marriage interventions, female empowerment, parenting, and cohabitation, as well as the variables which impact these situations, such as employment, housing, domestic violence and HIV/AIDS, within appropriate and meaningful cultural contexts. This book will be particularly useful for social workers working in many settings: clinical, community, research, policy implementation, faith-based, and other arenas that are available to couples in need of marital support. Marriage issues need to be addressed by social workers, given its status as a vital element in family strengthening and relationship stability. This book emboldens the case manager, community organizer, or immigration officer to address marital stresses and the demands faced by those couples most impacted by systemic inequality and barriers to cultural interventions. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment.

Colita Nichols Fairfax is an Associate Professor, Honors College Liaison, and Nationally Certified Online Instructor in the Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Her major research interests include community theories, practice models, and policy analysis in areas of marriage, development and mobilization strategies.

1. Social Work, Marriage, and Ethnicity: Policy and Practice 2. Strengthening American Indian Couples' Relationship Quality to Improve Parenting 3. In Circle: A Healthy Relationship, Domestic Violence, and HIV Intervention for African American Couples 4. Arab American Marriage: Culture, Tradition, Religion, and the Social Worker 5. Teenage Marriage among Hmong American Women 6. Puerto Rican Intergroup Marriage and Residential Segregation in the U.S.: A Multilevel Analysis of Structural, Cultural, and Economic Factors 7. Transnational Vietnamese American Marriages in the New Land 8. "First Train Out": Marriage and Cohabitation in the Context of Poverty, Deprivation, and Trauma 9. African American Marital Satisfaction as a Function of Work-Family Balance and Work-Family Conflict and Implications for Social Workers 10. American Indian Perceptions of Paternal Responsibility 11. Single Parenting in the African American Community: Implications for Public Policy and Practice