Family Values: Social Workers and the General American Population

This article describes selected family values among a national sample of 483 social workers holding membership in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). The family values chosen were identified in questions contained in the General Social Survey (GSS) administered to a national sample of United States adults. When compared with this sample (n = 1,974), social workers were more supportive of diverse family forms, more accepting of suicide and abortion, more likely to affirm the effectiveness of same-sex parenting couples, but less likely to affirm hard spanking of children. Controlling for socio-demographic variables, however, differences for a question concerning working mothers with children having warm relationships with their children disappeared, as did other questions about parent/children relationships. Similarly, differences on questions related to suicide and abortion were diminished with controls. Addressed are implications for practice considering family values which differ in most cases from the families’ in the general population that social workers will potentially serve.