Divorce experiences of African-American working women: Their use of social work services in a union setting.
Item
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Title
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Divorce experiences of African-American working women: Their use of social work services in a union setting.
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Identifier
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AAI9224841
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identifier
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9224841
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Creator
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Molina, Olga.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Michael Smith
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Social Work | Women's Studies | Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies | Sociology, Individual and Family Studies | Sociology, Industrial and Labor Relations
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Abstract
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The study examined the effect of divorce on working-class Black women and the degree to which the provision of social work services can ameliorate divorce's negative effects. The sample population selected were 30 divorced African American working women, members of District Council 37, American Federation of State and County Municipal Employees, (AFSCME), labor union. All of the women had received free legal and social work services at the Municipal Employees Legal Services (MELS) to obtain a divorce.;One hour face-to-face interviews were used to explore, in-depth and describe the predivorce, divorce, and postdivorce phases from the woman's perspectives. The structured interviews focused on the women's ability to adapt to divorce on six areas of functioning: emotional, interpersonal, financial, parental, occupational, and educational.;The findings demonstrate a marked improvement from the predivorce to postdivorce phase of divorce adjustment on all areas of functioning, except financial. The postdivorce financial problems faced by African American working women was the result of low salaries, lack of child support payments, in many instances, and lack of alimony. The consequences of divorce are usually compounded by problems of discrimination and poverty. However, the women had a wide range of supportive cultural networks, such as their strong belief in God, close family relationships, strong achievement orientation, 50% returned to college, and their improved occupational functioning, which enabled them to adjust better to divorce.;In addition, all of the clients, (100%), were very satisfied with the social work services at MELS, which included individual, group, and children's short-term counseling during the divorce process. The women's openness to professional social work services offered by their labor union helped improve their adjustment to the divorce. If it had not been for the MELS program, most of the clients could not have afforded the legal or social work services they needed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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D.S.W.
