Coping with Family Conflict and Economic Strain: The Adolescent Perspective

This study tested two models of family economic problems and adolescent psychological adjustment. Using adolescents’ survey data and information regarding school lunch program enrollment, the associations among family SES, perceived economic strain, family conflict, and coping responses were examined in a sample of 364 adolescents from rural New England. Two theoretical models were tested using structural equation modeling — one tested coping as a mediator of the stress – psychopathology relation and the other tested coping as a moderator. Results revealed that family economic hardship was related to aggression and anxiety/depression primarily through two proximal stressors: perceived economic strain and conflict among family members. Family conflict partially mediated the relation between economic strain and adolescent adjustment, and coping further mediated the relation between family conflict and adjustment. These analyses identified two types of coping that were associated with fewer anxiety/depression and aggression problems in the face of these stressors — primary and secondary control coping. Although primary and secondary control coping were associated with fewer adjustment problems, youth who were experiencing higher amounts of stress tended to use less of these potentially helpful coping strategies and used more of the potentially detrimental disengagement coping. The models did not differ according to the age or gender of the adolescents, nor whether they lived with two parents or fewer. No support was found for coping as a moderator of stress. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research involving coping with economic stressors are reviewed.     

Individual and Family Factors Related to Psychosocial Adjustment in Stepmother Families With Adolescents

This article presents additional data analyses from an earlier study on risk and resilience factors linked with adjustment in stepfamilies with adolescents. The primary objective addressed how individual and family-level factors impacted adjustment in a sample composed of 3 members (biological father, stepmother, and adolescent) from a subsample of 39 stepmother families. Multiple regression results showed that each stepmother family member's adjustment is affected by both shared and nonshared processes. Results also highlighted the role of triangulations and role ambiguity in the psychosocial adjustment of stepmother family members.     

Punjabi orchard farmers: an immigrant enclave in rural California

Examination of the adaptation patterns of Punjabi Sikh orchard farmers in rural California provides further evidence of ways in which strong ethnic enclaves help to promote rapid economic self-sufficiency among immigrant groups. The discussion emphasizes the need to consider not only the cultural traditions of group members, but also the historical context of immigration and the immigrants' perceptions of their particular situation. The Punjabi case indicates, too, how the 1965 Immigration Act, with its preference for family reunification, has promoted the formation of immigrant enclave.     

Peer cluster theory and adolescent drug use: a reanalysis

Peer cluster theory hypothesizes that peer drug association has a direct effect on adolescent drug use. In turn, peer drug associations are influenced by familial factors (sanctions and strength) and individual variables (religious identification, school adjustment). Oetting and Beauvais evaluated peer cluster theory in a cross-sectional survey of 415 high school students [1]. We hypothesized, evaluated, and found support for an alternative model in which poorer school adjustment was specified as a consequence of drug use, peer drug associations, lack of family sanctions against drug use, low religious identification, and absence of family strength. This reanalysis illustrates that interpretations of structural equation modeling results from cross-sectional data are especially problematic.     

Broadening the enclave debate: The labor market experiences of Dominican and Colombian men in New York city

This article provides new data on immigrant employment in ethnic firms, in an attempt to go beyond the terms of the ethnic enclave debate as it has developed so far. We contend that enclave research has focused too narrowly on wages. Using data from a survey of Colombian and Dominican immigrants in New York City, we compare enclave, primary, and secondary workers on three types of work-related resources: wages, opportunities for skill acquisition, and access to nonmonetary fringe benefits. We find little evidence that Dominican and Colombia men in the enclave comprise a protected labor market sector. On the contrary, they are disadvantaged with respect to several fringe benefits.An earlier version was presented at the 1990 American Sociological Association meetings.     

Ethnic enclaves transcending space Chinese international students’ social networks in a European University town

ABSTRACT

Each ethnic enclave has its own idiosyncrasies, leading to disagreements as to the functions they serve for the migrants inhabiting them. However, three main functions may be identified across scholarly literature: shielding, economic and cultural. This article explores to what extent the spatial organization of the ethnic enclave is necessary for fulfilling these functions by taking the case of the Chinese international students in a Norwegian town. These students comprise a relatively cohesive group, and their conational social networks serve most of the same purposes of ethnic enclaves without the need for a separate neighbourhood. While most of their material needs are met, the students still express a lack of belonging, a need for a place that is ‘for us’, and they present an example of how an ethnic space is constructed without the need for a traditional ‘Chinatown’.     

A new work–life balance: gender and employment in young people’s perceptions in Chile

The paper explores perceptions regarding family and paid employment expressed by university students in Chile, based on the analysis of quantitative data from the Maule region (southern Chile). We argue that the increasing unpredictability of labor markets has eroded the role paid employment historically has had as the lynchpin of individual’s – particularly men’s – life project, altering the expectations about both work and family life. Likewise, changes in gender roles have shaped youngsters’ ideals about family life. This seems to be the case especially for women, who strongly affirm their economic independence and personal projects, departing from traditional family views. We conclude that young people are demanding a new balance between life (understood mainly as personal and family time) and work. There is also a strong affirmation of the individual project, including a demand for greater gender equality. Although still at the level of projected visions of the future, these findings signal changes in the way the relation work–family is traditionally organized, bringing new challenges for public policy.     

Enclave deliberation and social movement mobilization: the DDays in Occupy Central

ABSTRACT

Scholars have called for a synergy between studies of deliberative democracy and social movements for their mutual enhancement. The existing literature generally applies the principle of deliberation to evaluate social movements, but few studies have examined the corresponding practice of deliberative democracy within a movement. The Occupy Central (OCLP) campaign in Hong Kong is a rare case in which the organizers incorporated Deliberation Days into a social movement; however, participant self-selection turned it into an instance of ‘enclave deliberation’. This paper studies the impact of enclave deliberation on social movements based on the case of the OCLP campaign and argues that enclave deliberation can be a powerful tool for mobilization, particularly for gaining public support and for recruiting core participants. However, the coherence and support of the movement can decline when enclave deliberation is used to make decisions for the general public, because enclave deliberation incorporates only a small spectrum of like-minded participants who might not seriously engage with opposing views. The findings of this study imply that enclave deliberation could facilitate mobilization, but it has its inherent limitations for decision-making in a movement. Given the selective nature of social movements, deliberation within social movements is likely to be enclave deliberation in most cases. This study thus has significant implications for the practice of deliberation in social movements in other contexts.     

Testing Family Stress and Family Investment Explanations for Conduct Problems Among African American Adolescents

The recent U.S. recession has resulted in higher rates of unemployment, underemployment, and child poverty, with African Americans disproportionately represented among the financially disadvantaged. Although past research has established the relationship between family financial hardship and various child adjustment problems, African Americans remain an understudied group. In the current study the authors used longitudinal data from the Family and Community Health Study (n = 422), an all African American sample, to investigate the impact of economic distress on adolescent conduct problems. They examined the extent to which this relationship can be explained by 2 frequently employed models: (a) the family stress model and (b) the family investment model. The authors extend past research by assessing the relative contributions of each model while controlling for the paths proposed by the other model. The results suggest that the family processes identified by the family stress model provide a more accurate explanation for why economic hardship is associated with increased conduct problems among African American adolescents.     

Structural adjustment,women, and agriculture in Cameroon

This article assesses the impact of economic structural programs on the agricultural activities of women's groups in Cameroon, and explores women's ways of coping with the reduction in individual and family income and the loss of public services. It examines the role of 25 women's groups in both rural and urban areas of Cameroon's northwest and southwest provinces in a study conducted from April to June 1999. Economic structural adjustment caused a tremendous increase in the workload of women that are farming usually in lots distant from their homes that yield poor returns. Land for food-crop cultivation has become increasingly scarce, and inputs have become substantially unaffordable. Income generated from the sale of crops is inadequate to supply the economic and social needs of the family. Moreover, the burden of their work has increased as they cope with housework, child-care, and food production, in addition to an expanded participation in paid employment. Moreover, women spend longer working hours than men, meeting both household responsibilities and their outside work. Women have devised strategies to cope with this economic crisis, but they need organizations that will support them with the important resources to be able to operate. Rural women seem to be coping better than urban women cope. In extreme cases, some women in urban areas resort to prostitution to cope with life in this crisis setting.     

Financial Strain,Neighborhood Stress,Parenting Behaviors,and Adolescent Adjustment in Urban African American Families

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, we tested a theoretical model linking financial strain, neighborhood stress, parenting behavior, and adolescent adjustment. The sample consisted of 305 African American families living in inner city neighborhoods. Of the families, 40% were living at or below the U.S. poverty threshold. The primary caregiver and a focal adolescent (mean age 13.5 years) were interviewed separately in each family. The results indicated that the income‐to‐need ratio was significantly related to financial strain and neighborhood stress, both of which were positively associated with psychological distress in parents. Parent psychological distress was positively related to more negative and less positive parent–adolescent relations, which predicted a lower positive and higher negative adjustment in adolescents. The results extend previous findings by demonstrating that neighborhood characteristics are an important mediator between economic hardship and parent and adolescent behaviors.     

“Is This How I'll Be for the Rest of My Life?”

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder affecting 2% to 3% of populations throughout the world. This paper provides an overview of symptoms (obsessional thoughts and compulsive behaviours) and current treatment options (medication and cognitive-behaviour therapy). A case study involving data obtained from an OCD sufferer and her mother is presented. Analysis of the data within the context of past literature highlights the economic and emotional costs of OCD which include years of psychiatric treatment, therapy, and medication, loss of productivity due to long-term unemployment, and individual and family stress. A framework for mental health social work practice assumes three key foci: (1) the family system as a whole; (2) individual family members; (3) a broader perspective that takes into account the need for adequate resources, community education and further research.     

Marriage and State-level Economic Outcomes

Past research has examined various state-level measures that predict state economic growth and other economic and social indicators. This research has largely ignored the potential role of family structure in contributing to state-level outcomes, despite the extensive literature on links between family structure and economic outcomes at the individual level. We estimated a state-level panel model and found that both the proportion of adults and the proportion of parents who are married are strongly related to important state-level economic outcomes, including economic growth, median household income, median personal income, and poverty.     

Political practice and the rise of an ethnic enclave

Summary The Cuban American community shares many of the structural features commonly associated with other types of immigrant enclaves. But its specific mode of political incorporation into the United States distinguishes it from other enclaves, making it a unique sociopolitical formation: authoritarian enclave. The Cuban American enclave arose out of Caribbean geopolitics as an unintentional byproduct of four state-sponsored movements. These movements interlocked in an uneven manner, sometime via the civil, other times via the military, and still other times based on a combination of both. The internally divided Batistianist movement interlocked via its military wing with Trujillo's relatively unified Dominican state. In contrast, the highly unified Conservative movement interlocked with the military wing of the internally divided U.S. state. The Liberal movement, like the previous movement, was internally unified but, unlike them, its contacts were with the civil, not military, wing of the U.S. state. Preliminary research on the Terrorist movement, a community-generated movement that responds to changing geopolitical situations, suggests that its civil and military wing are discreetly and flexibly linked to each other. These movements had the cumulative and unintentional effect of creating a new organizational space within the Caribbean geopolitical system from which the Cuban American community was later to emerge. The Cuban American enclave rooted in Miami is today an important actor in the Caribbean Basin.The four movements under review left an indelible imprint on the material and ideational contours of the enclave. The Batistianists, Conservatives, and Terrorists contributed to the formation of an emigre moral economy where politics and profit were fused. The Batistianists, by investing their smuggled capital in the Miami area, by relying on the civil wing of their movement to rejuvenate old allegiances and networks, and by boycotting and harassing politically heterodox merchants, established a type of political monopoly over the local economy. The Conservatives, by misappropriating C.I.A. funds and reselling weapons, learned the art of buying and selling, developed sympathetic sources of credit from politically like-minded militants, and gathered enough investment capital to establish small enterprises in the Miami area. The Terrorists, by bombing Liberal merchants, prevented their discourse from gaining a local material base of power. The militant Liberals, through their inactivity in the community, facilitated, unintentionally, the rise of the enclave.The community's collective identity and sources of normative integration remain partly rooted in its militant past. Batistianism, Conservatism, and Terrorism, with its characteristic concerns for custom, patriotism, anti-communism, order, and community, concerns which have always been lacking in Liberal thought, a current of thought that in any case never circulated widely in the community, contributed, ironically enough, to the enclave's subsequent success. If the enclave entrepreneur can today invoke collective claims in order to legitimize his patriarchal system of capital-labor relations and contribute to group cohesion, it is because the militants and terrorists had earlier inculcated the community with these very same notions. In the next few years the Cuban American entrepreneurs, the community's leading strata, will need to generate a new set of ideal interests similar to the ones they inherited from their predecessors.The extreme conservatism of the Cuban Americans is in direct opposition to the political practices of all other immigrant groups, enclave or otherwise. Immigrant groups tend to support politically liberal causes and, among recent arrivees, this tendency is even more pronounced. But the Cuban American enclave, itself a relatively recent group, defies this pattern. But the mid-1970s the Cuban Americans had established themselves as the single most conservative minority group in the United States. Cuban American exceptionalism is not, as some neo-Marxists scholars have claimed, the product of their privileged background in Cuba nor their relative economic success in the United States. Political practices, after all, cannot be deduced from simple market locations. Cuban American conservatism was constructed during the early years of community formation as the result of the interaction of discourse and power.The community's shift toward extreme conservatism runs counter to the early composition of the exiles. Recall that in demographic-political terms the base of the community shifted in 1962 from the Batistianists and Conservatives, to the Liberals. The political practices of the community, however, travelled a reverse path: from Liberal, to Conservative and Batistianist. Political practice, in other words, had defied the very same organizational and demographic determinants that until now had served to structure its existence. Emigre politics had become unhinged from its base and was flowing downwards and shaping the material and ideal interests of the community at a time when it was undergoing a transition from exile to ethnic minority. The discursive practices and power maneuvers of the Batistianists and Conservatives infused the community's collective identity, economic life, and group cohesiveness with their own moral-political preferences. The Liberals, due to their insurrectionary strategy, failed to do so. During deactivation, the Liberals who advocated normalizing relations with Cuba successfully disorganized Conservative thought, but the Terrorists prevented them from circulating their views or gaining local power. Thus, emigre politics preceded the rise of ethnic markets and the availability of federal aid, and influenced Cuban American group and identity formation.The Cuban American community, to summarize my argument, is an expression of exploitation and domination along with representation. In typological terms, the community ought to be characterized as an authoritarian enclave, a type of formation that fuses economic entrepreneurship, social communalism, and authoritarian politics. Those unacquainted with the Cuban American community sometimes view it as a sociological aberration, an idiosyncratic enclave when compared to other ones in the United States, yet its trajectory reconfirms two of history's oldest lessons: the boundaries of nations and states rarely coincide; and, words and silences matter... as does power.

---

     

Missingness Amount and Mechanisms in Family Economic Stress Research: Mapping (Non)answers to Economic-Related Variables of Fathers,Mothers, and Emerging Adult Children

The percentage of missing data among economic-related items is likely to be particularly high. This study aimed at examining the amount, mechanisms, and variables associated with missingness of different family members participating in a family economic stress study. Portuguese emerging adults (N?=?418) and their parents (N?=?748) were required to answer objective and subjective economic items and complete measures assessing individual and family psychological functioning. Results showed that, for all participants, non-response was more likely to occur among objective economic items than among subjective ones. Children presented higher percentages of item/construct-level missingness than parents, which could reflect a reduced financial awareness on the part of these family members. Although the identification of mechanisms explaining missing data proved to be complex, family members’ missingness was associated with sociodemographic and psychological indicators, suggesting that non-answers do not occur purely by chance. Implications of these findings for further family economic stress research are discussed.

     

Economy and Divorces: Their Impact Over Time on the Self-Employment Rates in Spain

The paper used time-series data and examined the effect of economic and social variables on the male and female self-employment rates in Spain. We also employed cointegration analysis (with and without) structural breaks. We thus find strong evidence that long run relationships exist among the variables. More precisely, we find that the unemployment rates and the ratio of self-employment to employees’ earnings have a positive effect on self-employment, whereas, economic development and divorce rates have a negative effect. Importantly, we find that the economic variables have equal or stronger long run impact on females than males, with both groups reacting to changes in family circumstances. Finally, we show that the short run family circumstances are better predictors of self-employment choices rather than economic factors, with self-employment being a means of adjustment to new personal circumstances and economic needs.     

Mental health and psychological adjustment in adults who were adopted during their childhood: A systematic review

In the two last decades, research of the psychosocial needs of adopted children and adolescents has advanced dramatically. Nevertheless, less is known about their mental health when they reach adulthood. The aim of this paper is to systematically review the evidence about mental health and psychological adjustment in adult adoptees. A systematic search was conducted on Web of Science and PsycInfo. The review includes 27 studies that fulfilled the selection criteria (ages between 20 and 40, domestic adoptions and articles published since 1995). Evidence suggests that psychological adjustment in adult adoptees is more unfavourable (with higher levels of depression, anxiety, personality and behavioural disorders and neuroticism) than in non-adoptees. A small group of studies shows similar psychological adjustment of adoptees and non-adoptees. Moreover, there is evidence that the adopted population is quite heterogeneous, involving individual and contextual variables. There are clear diagnostic differences when gender is taken into account. Some family variables (e.g., attachment, parenting styles) emerge as mediating factors of the effects of the adoptive status on psychological adjustment. Other risk and protective factors have been insufficiently studied (e.g., age at the time of adoption), so additional research is needed.     

Individual vs. household determinants of the demand for medical care: A study of rural families

This article investigates, from a household perspective, the demand for medical care. Earlier (economic) studies have typically focused on individual utilization patterns; however, the data set employed here allows for an investigation of the role of other family members on individual demand. The theoretical results suggest that the labor force status (via the wage rate) of one family member may, in addition to influencing that person's rate of medical care use, effect the utilization of other household members. Separate physician visit demand equations are estimated for husbands, wives, and the household unit. The empirical results indicate that the wife's (full) cost of receiving medical care is a significant determinant of utilization by both the husband and other family members. Overall, the findings suggest that demand studies should take the presence of other household members and family structure into consideration when analyzing the determinants of individual medical care utilization.This study was supported in part by grant no. 1R03 HSO 2417-01 from the National Center for Health Services Research, HHS.Laurence Miners received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is currently an Associate Professor at Fairfield University and his research interests are focused mainly in the areas of health and labor economics. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Laurence Miners, Department of Economics, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT 06430.     

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Red States,Blue States,and Postmodern Family Patterns, 2000 and 2004

In this article, we propose a new way of understanding presidential election outcomes in red and blue states in 2000 and 2004, one that takes into account state‐level variation in postmodern family patterns. Using data from the Statistical Abstract, Census, the American Community Survey, and National Vital Statistics Reports, we construct two measures of state patterns of postmodern family formation (a father‐absent family scale, and a small/delayed family scale). We find that these patterns of postmodern family formation are powerful predictors of states' percentage of votes cast for the Democratic candidate in 2000 and 2004, even after controlling for differences in the composition of states' populations and for differences in states' economic characteristics (rates of economic growth, unemployment, and poverty). We suggest ways that this approach could contribute to the literature on how individual‐level factors, such as demographic characteristics and moral values, shape voting behavior and electoral outcomes.     

Gene - Environment Interplay, Family Relationships, and Child Adjustment

This paper reviews behavioral genetic research from the past decade that has moved beyond simply studying the independent influences of genes and environments. The studies considered in this review have instead focused on understanding gene - environment interplay, including genotype - environment correlation ( rGE) and genotype × environment interaction (G × E). Studies have suggested that rGE is an important pathway through which family relationships are associated with child adjustment. Also important are direct causal influences of family relationships on child adjustment, independent of genetic confounds. Other studies have indicated that genetic and environmental influences on child adjustment are moderated by different levels of family relationships in G × E interactions. Genetically informed studies that have examined family relations have been critical to advancing our understanding of gene - environment interplay.