Adolescents Conceived through Donor Insemination in Mother‐Headed Families: A Qualitative Study of Motivations and Experiences of Contacting and Meeting Same‐donor Offspring

This study interviewed adolescents conceived using sperm donation to examine their experiences of contacting and meeting ‘same‐donor offspring’ (i.e. donor‐conceived offspring raised in different families who share the same donor), their motivations for this contact, and how they make meaning of these relationships. This in‐depth qualitative study involved semi‐structured interviews with 23 young people aged 12–19 years (mean = 14 years). Interviewees were motivated by curiosity about their biological relations and by wanting to extend their family. Contact with same‐donor offspring was described as being either normal/neutral or as a unique experience that was integrated into their identity. This study highlights the importance of contact between same donor offspring, particularly during adolescence, a developmental stage associated with identity formation. The findings have important policy implications as they suggest that donor‐conceived individuals may benefit from contact with others conceived using the same donor prior to the age of 18 years.     

Coming of Age among Blind People in Israel

Based on ethnographic observations amongst adults blinded in childhood, this paper extends the study of stigma and handicap into the domestic setting. The respondents described their sighted parents' patronising practices towards them. Parents were reported to have attempted to channel their blind offspring into less-than-optional occupations and marriages. Social conditions were frequently such that blind youths were in a situation of status inconsistency—their educational achievements were superior to their occupational achievements. Current social conditions have also improved marital chances for blind women of Middle-Eastern background. All this leads to a chasm between the traditional outlook of sighted parents and the reality in which their blind offspring live. The latter relate ambivalently towards their parents, and sometimes distance themselves from them and their communities of origin.     

Intergenerational transfer of time and risk preferences

There is a growing interest in individual time and risk preferences. Little is known about how these preferences are formed. It is hypothesised that parents may transmit their preferences to their offspring. This paper examines the correlation in offspring and parental time and risk preferences using data from an annual household survey in Australia (the HILDA survey). Both time and risk preferences are examined and we explored whether the correlation in time and risk preferences varies across the distribution of preferences and across the across the four parent–child dyads (mother/daughter, mother/son, father/daughter, father/son). The results show that there is a significant relationship between parents and their young adult offspring risk and time preference measures. The correlation varies across the distribution of time preferences. The correlation was largest for longer planning horizons. Risk averse parents are more likely to have risk averse children. Except for the father/daughter dyad risk seeking parents are more likely to have risk seeking offspring. Some gender differences were found. The association in parental and offspring time preference was larger for mothers than fathers. Daughters are more likely to be influenced by their mother’s risk preferences, however, sons are equally influenced by both parents. The results of this study suggest that the transmission in preferences is more nuanced than previously thought and parental gender may be important.     

The Role of Parental Posttraumatic Stress,Marital Adjustment,and Dyadic Self‐Disclosure in Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma: A Family System Approach

Research indicates that posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) induced by war trauma may be transmitted to veterans’ wives and offspring (secondary traumatic stress; STS). However, the interplay between family members’ characteristics has not been accounted for in such processes. Taking a family systems perspective, we examine the contributions of fathers’ PTSS, mothers’ STS, marital adjustment, and self‐disclosure of both parents to offspring's STS and test whether marital quality applies as a mechanism of parent–child transmission. Combat veterans and former prisoners of war (N = 123), their spouses, and adult offspring were investigated in a multiple‐step mediation analysis. The results highlight the mother's crucial role in trauma transmission and suggest that strengthening the marital relationship may buffer the transmission of fathers’ PTSS to offspring.     

A critique of arguments supporting disability avoidance

Many prominent bioethicists argue that positive consequences follow from avoiding disability in offspring by preconceptual, preimplantation or prenatal means. This paper critiques two variants of these positions: ‘Open future’ arguments that avoiding disability is in the interest of the persons who will be affected by it if born and ‘non‐person‐affecting’ claims that failures to avoid disability in offspring are wrong for reasons independent of their effect on affected offspring. Difficulties with both person‐affecting and non‐person‐affecting accounts are discussed in support of the charge that these arguments do not show that positive consequences follow from disability avoidance.     

Family Dilemmas and Secrets: parents' disclosure of information to their adult offspring with learning disabilities

This paper describes the role parents play in providing knowledge of learning disability to their adult offspring with learning disabilities. Data were derived from an in-depth qualitative study of the nature of parent-adult-offspring co-residence. The findings reveal that while parents recognised and had to deal with the stigma learning disability exerted in their own lives, they had taken steps to prevent their adult offspring from having to deal with similar difficulties. It is argued that it remains the case that learning disability is treated as a stigmatised identity and as such is rendered invisible through the strategic control of information. However, findings point towards the conclusion that there has been a cultural reversal in how this process is managed.     

Calibrated Ambitions: Low Educational Ambition as a Form of Strategic Adaptation Among Chinese Youth in Spain

Deemed “model minorities,” second‐generation Chinese‐Americans have, on average, high levels of educational attainment and, as a result, they have experienced more upward mobility than other groups. Yet, on the other side of the Atlantic, a strikingly different story about Chinese immigrants and their offspring emerges. Based on analysis of the Longitudinal Study of the Second Generation in Spain, findings from this study show that Chinese youths in Spain have substantially lower educational ambitions and attainment than youths from every other nationality. Met with discrimination at school and in the labor market, yet finding financial success in niche markets as small business owners, I argue that the Chinese in Spain have, at least temporarily, forged an alternative pathway of mobility based on entrepreneurial endeavors rather than educational accomplishments – a formula passed on from immigrant parents to their offspring. The way Chinese youths in Spain have calibrated their ambition represents a form of strategic adaptation to the barriers put up against immigrant minorities in Spanish society.     

The Transmission of Marital Instability Across Generations: Relationship Skills or Commitment to Marriage?

We used national, longitudinal data from 2 generations to assess 2 explanations for the intergenerational transmission of marital instability, one based on relationship skills and the other based on marital commitment. Parental divorce approximately doubled the odds that offspring would see their own marriages end in divorce. Offspring with maritally distressed parents who remained continuously married did not have an elevated risk of divorce. Divorce was most likely to be transmitted across generations if parents reported a low, rather than a high, level of discord prior to marital dissolution. These results, combined with other findings from the study, suggest that offspring with divorced parents have an elevated risk of seeing their own marriages end in divorce because they hold a comparatively weak commitment to the norm of lifelong marriage.     

Assessing Variations in Developmental Outcomes Among Teenage Offspring of Teen Mothers: Maternal Life Course Correlates

This study investigated potential heterogeneity in development among offspring (age 17) of teen mothers and maternal life course as correlates of variation. Using latent class analysis, subgroups of developmental outcomes were identified. Maternal standing in two life course realms (i.e., socioeconomic and domestic) was considered as a potential explanation for heterogeneity in offspring's development. Offspring reported on measures assessing their psychological, academic, and behavioral development. Teen mothers reported on measures of life course realms. Three subgroups of developmental outcomes were identified: on track (52%), at risk (37%), and troubled (11%). Findings suggest that economic hardship and number of pregnancies among teen mothers distinguish developmental patterns among teenage offspring, whereas teen mothers' educational attainment and marital status do not.     

Couple Forgiveness and its Moderating Role in the Intergenerational Transmission of Veterans’ Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

This study examined the moderating effect couple forgiveness (as perceived by the wives/mothers) may have on the intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among families of combat veterans and former prisoners of war (ex‐POWs). The sample included 123 (79 ex‐POWs and 44 control combatants) Israeli father–mother–adult offspring triads. Self‐report measures were administered at 2008 to veterans, at 2010–2011 to wives, and at 2013–2014 to offspring. The findings indicated that ex‐POWs’ PTSS were positively related to their offspring's PTSS, while couple forgiveness buffered this effect, particularly, and detrimentally, when couple forgiveness was low. These findings imply that apprehending the quality of the forgiving atmosphere within the marital relationship may be important for understanding the apparatus of intergenerational transmissions of trauma.     

Maternal Age and Offspring's Educational Attainment

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), the current study examines which maternal age at birth provides offspring with optimal opportunities for higher educational attainment. The results show that maternal age has a curvilinear relationship with offspring's educational attainment, that is, the offspring of younger and older mothers are distinctly disadvantaged. Maternal ages 31 through 40 are associated with the highest offspring educational attainment, suggesting that women who give birth in their 30s have more favorable characteristics than younger or older mothers. The analysis demonstrates that—with the exception of early teenage childbearing—the association between maternal age and offspring's educational attainment likely reflects selection patterns in fertility timing, rather than direct within‐family effects of maternal age on offspring's educational attainment. Thus, the results provide insufficient evidence to conclude that delaying childbearing beyond age 18 directly benefits or harms offspring's educational attainment.     

A Genetically Informed Study of the Intergenerational Transmission of Marital Instability

Environmental or genetic influences, or both could account for the increased risk of divorce among the offspring of separated parents. Previous studies have used covariates to statistically control for confounds, but the present research is the first genetically informed study of the topic. The investigation used the Children of Twins Design with twins, their spouses, and their young adult offspring (n = 2,310) from the Australian Twin Registry to test whether selection on the basis of genetic or shared environment factors accounted for part of the intergenerational association. The analyses also controlled for measured characteristics of both parents. The results suggest that both environmentally mediated and genetic risk account for the intergenerational transmission, supporting the roles of both selection and causation.     

Married women's resource position and household food expenditures in Cebu,Philippines

This study analyzes how married women use their access to and control over economic resources to increase household spending on food. Using data from Cebu, Philippines, where child malnutrition is high, this study finds that the more income women earn and control, the more households spend on food. Women's control over their income is particularly important for increasing food expenditures in the poorest households. In richer households, women who earn little of their own income also use spouse income transfers to increase food expenditures. The findings from this study suggest that in a developing country setting, improving women's economic status so that they earn and control more household resources can increase household spending on goods that benefit children.     

Living Together and Eating Together: Changes in Food Choice and Eating Habits during the Transition from Single to Married/Cohabiting

In 1995 we recruited twenty-two heterosexual couples from Edinburgh and Glasgow to examine the changes which took place in their eating habits and food related activities when they began to live together. Semi-structured interviews were carried out three months before and after moving-in dates and on each occasion both men and women were interviewed separately. Both felt that eating together had a symbolic importance when they set up home together and most couples made efforts to eat a main meal together most evenings, while shopping and eating patterns tended to become more regular and formalised than they were at the pre-marriage/cohabitation stage. In a small majority of cases the women were mainly responsible for buying and preparing food. A significant difference between these women and those of other, earlier studies is that they tended to be less deferential to their husbands' food choices. However, associations between women, food and nurturing were evident in the efforts women made to improve their husbands' diets. Where food purchase and preparation were shared, so was choice of food. The goal of enjoying food together was achieved by learning, influence and compromise but no significant gendering of power in food choice was identified.     

Understanding Food Insecurity Among Latino Immigrant Families in Rural America

Using ecological theory, this study investigated how low-income rural Latino immigrant families succeeded or failed to meet their food needs over time. Interviews with ten families purposively selected to represent consistently food secure, fragile, and consistently food insecure groups were intensively analyzed using a case study approach. Achieving and maintaining food security was a complicated task and a constant struggle for families. Success or failure was influenced by factors at multiple ecological levels including family characteristics, access to social networks and community support, and the local economy. These findings can inform practitioners and policymakers seeking to identify strategies and policies that will support Latino immigrant families as they work toward improving their well-being.     

“It’s Give and Take”: Australian Families’ Experiences of Negotiating Financial and Domestic Contributions When Young Adults Return Home

Young adults are increasingly reliant on parental support, with co-residence as a result of a return home increasingly common. Despite this, little is known about how family members negotiate financial and domestic contributions post-return. This qualitative study used a phenomenological methodology to explore the experiences of Australian parents and young adults who returned to co-residence in terms of the younger family members’ contributions to their household. Findings revealed that the young adults acknowledged the need to contribute but often varied in how much assistance they offered. For the most part, the extent of this contribution reflected their parents’ actions; the tendency not to ask for assistance and undertake tasks themselves meant offspring were not given incentives to contribute. While this at times resulted in unmet expectations and frustration among parents, they continued to act in ways that favourably accommodated their offspring. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the negotiation between parents and young adults in regards to household contributions, and the need for further qualitative investigation in this area.     

Food Waste and Quality of Life in Elderly Populations Living in Retirement Living Communities

Food waste is an increasingly important issue in all food-service establishments, including retirement living communities. With residents of these communities having faced food insecurity as children and young adults, they have unique and very strong feelings regarding this issue. We interviewed 16 Canadian residents and used manifest content analysis to gain an understanding of how their experiences, behaviors, and feelings toward food waste may impact their quality of life. The results of this study may have implications for how retirement living communities approach their food-service operations.     

The Effects of Parental Divorce: A Culture-Specific Challenge for Young Adults in South Korea

Extensive research into the offspring of divorced parents has indicated associations between parental divorce and developmental outcomes for young adults. Nevertheless the impact of cultural variation on the lives of young people with divorced parents has been neglected. Qualitative research using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to examine the experiences of six Korean adults of divorced parents, who detailed the impact of parental divorce on their lives and told us how their feelings toward their parents and their own ideas about family formation had been reevaluated. Overall, participants expressed concerns in common with other children of divorce and concerns specific to their Confucian cultural context, namely ambivalent feelings toward their parents' divorce, confusion about traditional filial piety, and a view of the self as damaged and needing reinvestment.     

Squaring Farm Security and Food Security in Two Types of Alternative Food Institutions*

Abstract Even though both farmers' markets and community supported agriculture were first developed to provide markets for farmers, recently the goals of food security have been attached to these market‐based alternative food institutions, based on their potential to be 'win‐win” economic solutions for both small‐scale farmers and low‐income consumers. This article reports on survey and interview research conducted in California during 2004–2005 designed to examine to what extent CSAs and farmers' markets are addressing food security in both concept and practice. Findings show that managers of these institutions generally support the idea of improving the affordability of the food they provide, and most have made an effort to do so, although these efforts vary with institutional capacity. Still, some hedged their interest in supporting food security goals with countervailing concerns such as the need to support farmers first. It is ironic, then, that the way that private CSAs and farmers' markets achieve some elements of food security is by virtue of the support of public food assistance programs.     

The Intergenerational Transmission of Union Instability in Early Adulthood

Research on the intergenerational transmission of divorce should be expanded to incorporate disrupted nonmarital cohabitations. This study (a) examined the transmission of union instability from parents to offspring using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, (b) replaced binary variables (divorced vs. nondivorced) typically used in this literature with count variables (number of disrupted unions), (c) relied on independent sources for data on parents' and offspring's union disruptions to minimize same‐source bias, (d) assessed the mediating role of theoretically derived variables (many not previously considered in this literature), and (e) incorporated information on discord in intact parental unions. Parent and offspring union disruptions were positively linked, with each parental disruption associated with a 16% increase in the number of offspring disruptions, net of controls. The mediators collectively accounted for 44% of the estimated intergenerational effect. Parent discord in intact unions was associated with more offspring disruptions.