Challenges & Choices August 28, 2011

1. Challenges & ChoicesAugust 28, 2011 The University of Oklahoma Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work Knee Center for Strong Families Presents: Family Values: What Are They and What Do They Mean? Annie Smith, Knee Scholar & Kenneth R. Wedel Ph.D., Coordinator

2. Outline of Presentation • The Knee Center for Strong Families • Take the Family Values Survey • The Importance of Values • The Conflictual Nature of Values • Values Defined • Social Work on Values • Family Values Defined (Review of Literature) • Survey on Family Values • Results • Discussion

3. The Knee Center for Strong Families • Founded in 2009 through a bequest of Ruth Irelan and Junior Koenig Knee • Ruth Knee was an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma School of Social Work and a pioneer in the advancement of professional social work practice and interdisciplinary engagement in social policy development • The Knee Center was established to devote its work to building theory, knowledge, practice, and education for the development of strong families in their diverse forms

4. The Knee Center Mission “The Knee Center for Strong Families is dedicated to strengthening families in Oklahoma through research, service, policy, and practice.” Ruth Irelan Knee

5. Overview of the Knee Center The Knee Center is dedicated to sponsoring academic and community-oriented programs in the fields of social work, public health (including mental health), and fine arts in the following three core areas: • Visiting lectureships, workshops, seminars, meetings of scholars, conferences, symposia, and forums • Planning grants or “seed money” to develop programs that might have continuous funding from other sources • Underwrite research on the planning and development of educational programs to enhance family life in Oklahoma

6. Goals of the Knee Center • Contribute new knowledge in quality of life for Oklahoma families • Foster collaboration for outreach activities directed toward solving social problems for families • Increase current research capacity (including evaluation research) of the center’s faculty, investigators, and students through the creation of research teams • Increase the amount of externally funded training and research grants conducted by the center by increasing the number of investigator-initiated training and research grant submissions; and developing multidisciplinary research teams to conceptualize, plan, develop, and conduct service and research initiatives

7. Features of the Knee Center • Collaborative civic engagement in areas in which strong family development is an integral part of practice, including: • child welfare • law • family services • mental health • substance abuse recovery • health care/promotion • Curriculum innovation supporting the preparation of a new generation of social workers and helping professionals • Building awareness among key constituencies and stakeholders of how policy can support strong family development. • Development of new intervention models to advance strong family development within Oklahoma and beyond • Formation of strong partnerships with state and local organizations and groups to advance knowledge and practice of strong family development

8. The Importance of Values • Values connect individuals to society: • Help ease the conflict between individuals and collective interests. • Enable individuals to work together to realize collectively desirable goals.

9. The Importance of Values (continued) • Values: • Have an effect on aspects of choice, decisions regarding courses of action and outcomes, goals, attitudes, and behavior. • Mold our beliefs and perceptions.

10. The Conflictual Nature of Values • The nature of values is often fraught with conflict: • “…Often contaminated by the connotation that values inherently contain a right-wrong, good-bad component (Trotzer, 1981). • Results in “judgments of affirmation or condemnation” (Trotzer, 1981).

11. Values Defined • The concept of values is considered broad & encompasses numerous definitions: • Kluckholn and Stodtbeck (1961) – “Values answer basic existential questions, helping to provide meaning in people’s lives.” • Building Family Values (2000)-“Values are a reflection of who we are, of our culture, and of our own unique heritage.”

12. Values Defined (continued) • Rokeach (1979)- “Values are core conceptions of the desirable within every individual and society. They serve as standards or criteria to guide not only action, but judgment, choice, attitude, exhortation, rationalization, and one might add, attribution of causality.” • Rokeach (1973)-“They (values) lead us to take particular positions on social issues and they predispose us to favor one ideology over another.”

13. Family Values Defined • All families possess values which vary with the diversity of families: • Trotzer (1981)– “Families and family members espouse certain identifiable values characteristic of their peculiar heritage in interaction with their surrounding environment.”

14. Family Values Defined (continued) • Families and family values have changed in American culture over the years: • Thornton (1989)– Study examined changing values and norms in regards to family life over a period of 30 years. • Revealed changes in norms regarding marriage, childbearing, and the roles of men and women. • Similarity between family values and broader social trends.

15. Family Values From a Political Perspective • Family Values Rhetoric: • The concept of family values is conflictual. • Has subsequently been used as controversial political ammunition. • Cahn and Carbone (2010)- Red Families v. Blue Families. • Cloud (2010)-performed an extensive analysis of the political use of the term family values. • 1992 Presidential Elections.

16. A Nation Divided: Red vs. Blue States 2008 Electoral Map = Republican States = Democratic States

17. Families on the Front Lines “Families are on the front lines of the culture wars. Controversies over abortion, same-sex marriage, teen pregnancy, single parenthood, and divorce have all changed our images of the American family. Some Americans seek a return to the ‘mom, dad, and apple pie’families of the 1950s, while others embrace all of our families, including single mothers, gay and lesbian parents, and cohabitating couples. These conflicting perspectives on life’s basic choices affect us all-at the national level, in state courts and legislatures, in drafting local ordinances, and in our own families.” -Cahn and Carbone (2010)- Red Families v. Blue Families.

18. Social Work on Values NASW Code of Ethics – “The Code identifies core values on which social work’s mission is based.” • “They (social workers) should be aware of the any conflicts between personal and professional values and deal with them responsibly.” • “Social workers also should be aware of the impact on ethical decision making of their clients’ and their own personal values and cultural and religious beliefs and practices.”

19. Survey Study on Family ValuesImportance • Little is known about family values espoused by social workers and how these values might impact their practice with families.

20. Survey Study on Family ValuesPurpose • In 2011, The Knee Center conducted an online survey of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) – Oklahoma Chapter members to obtain information about family values and their priorities for professional practice.

21. Survey Study on Family ValuesPurpose • Study represents an initial look at family values of social workers • Will attempt to explain how congruent they may be with those of the individuals and families for whom they provide services or administer policy practice. • Focuses on one aspect of core values that addresses the importance of human relationships • Purposeful efforts to promote, restore, maintain and enhance the well-being of families.

22. Survey on Family Values : MethodsExperimental Design and Study Participants • Research Survey Design • The Knee Center acquired a list of NASW-OK members and their e-mail addresses from the NASW-OK office • We drew a sample of 900+ from a participant pool of NASW-OK members to be surveyed and invited them to participate in the study • An email survey was administered using the Qualtrics online survey methodology • 283 respondents completed the survey

23. Results:1. Homeschooling is the best form of education vs. Formal education (public/private) schooling is the best form of education Number of Respondents Homeschooling is the best form of education ----Formal schooling is the best form of education Mean=6.902

24. Results:9. Marriage should only be allowed with strict lifelong conditions (covenant marriage) vs. Marriage should only be allowed without strict lifelong conditions (non-covenant marriage) Number of Respondents Marriage with strict lifelong conditions----Marriage without strict lifelong conditions Mean=5.071

25. Results:11. The teaching of values to children should occur only in the home vs. The teaching of values to children may occur in venues outside of the home Number of Respondents The teaching of values to children only in the home----The teaching of values to children outside of the home Mean=6.447

26. Results:17. There should be no active role of religion in child-rearing vs. There should always be an active role of religion in child-rearing Number of Respondents No active role of religion in child-rearing----Active role of religion in child-rearing Mean=6.243

27. Results:18. Lifelong cohabitation should never be allowed outside of marriage vs. Lifelong cohabitation should be allowed outside of marriage Number of Respondents No lifelong cohabitation outside of marriage----Lifelong cohabitation outside of marriage Mean=6.869

28. Results:19. Single parent families provide sufficient opportunities for children vs. Single parent families do not provide sufficient opportunities for children Number of Respondents Single parent families provide sufficient opportunities----Single parent families do not provide sufficient opportunities Mean=4.064

29. Results:25. Individuals should only have children within wedlock vs. Individuals should be free to have children outside of wedlock Number of Respondents Should only have children only within wedlock----Free to have children outside of wedlock Mean=5.541

30. Results:27. Religious values should always be taught in schools vs. Religious values should always be taught outside of schools Number of Respondents Religious values taught in schools----Religious values taught outside of schools Mean=6.543

31. Results:32. The Bible (or other religious texts) is the only adequate source for the teaching of values vs. There are many different sectors for the teaching of values Number of Respondents The Bible (or other religious texts) for teaching values----Many different sectors for teaching values Mean=7.504

32. Results:34. Abstinence before marriage is preferred vs. Abstinence before marriage is not preferred Number of Respondents Abstinence before marriage is preferred----Abstinence before marriage is not preferred Mean=4.257

33. Results:39. Gun control vs. No gun control Number of Respondents Gun control----No gun control Mean=2.989

34. Results:41. Pro-choice vs. Pro-life Number of Respondents Pro-choice----Pro-life Mean=3.450

35. Results:44. It is acceptable to have firearms in the household with children vs. It is not acceptable to have firearms in the household with children Number of Respondents Firearms in the household with children----No firearms in the household with children Mean=5.509

36. References Building Family Strengths: Values. (2000, March). Clemson Extension: Family Relationships. Retrieved from: http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/psapublishing/PAGES/FYD/FL523.pdf Cahn, N. & Carbone, J. (2010). Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Cloud, D. (1998). The rhetoric of <family values>:Scapegoating, utopia, and the privatization of social responsibility. Western Journal of Communication, 62(4), 387-419. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database. National Association of Social Workers. (approved 1996, revised 2008). Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved from http://www. naswdc.org /pubs/code/code.asp Rokeach, M. (1973). The Nature of Human Values. New York, NY: The Free Press. Rokeach, M. (1979). Understanding Human Values: Individual and Societal. New York, NY: The Free Press. Thornton, A. (1989). Changing Attitudes toward Family Issues in the United States. Journal of Marriage and Family, 51(4), 873-893. Retrieved from http://www. jstor.org/stable/ 353202 Trotzer, J.P. (1981). The Centrality of Values in Families and Family Therapy. International Journal of Family Therapy, 3(1), 42-55. doi:0148-8384/81/1300-0042$00.95

37. Discussion • Thank You! • Questions?