In this article, I address the issue of comorbidity and its prevalence in the prior "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" ("DSM") classification systems. The focus on the topography or form of presenting problems as the venue for determining mental disorders is scrutinized as the possible cause. Addressing the…

Recent advances in the field of prevention have led to a deeper understanding of the causes of adolescent problem behavior and to the identification of efficacious strategies to prevent delinquency, drug use, and other antisocial conduct. This 2009 Aaron Rosen lecture to members of the "Society for Social Work and Research" traces the evolution of…

Abuse, neglect, or both often result in removing children from their homes and placing them in foster care. As a result of these experiences, many children learn unhealthy behaviors. These "behavioral challenges" often lead to a cycle of multiple placement disruptions and progressively more restrictive placements. The philosophy,…

This article presents propensity score matching as a method to implement randomized conditions to analyze service effects using nonexperimental data. Most social work research is challenged to implement randomized clinical trials, whereas administrative and survey data are often available and can provide valuable information about services…

Child welfare service agencies provide parent training as part of their legally mandated responsibility to provide services to assist families to keep their children at home or to achieve reunification. The use of parent-training programs for families in the child welfare system has undergone relatively little examination. Mental health, special…