Shifting sex roles: The silence of the family therapy literature

This article suggests that it is important for family therapists to be attuned to the struggles families are experiencing in relation to their changing sex role mores. Traditional ideas about what is feminine and masculine still exist while new realities with new values are emerging. Although one would expect the family therapy literature to be discussing and clarifying the implications of sex role shifts for individuals within the family and for the family as a whole, it has been surprisingly silent. This article reviews the concept of sex roles and discusses it from the perspective of the dichotomization of gender. Object relations theory is suggested as a framework by which sex role differentiation and particularly its more polarized aspect can be understood.This article was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the certificate in Family Therapy, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, MA, 1979.     

The relationship of modernity of sex roles to pregnancy planning

This study investigates the relationship of women's role modernity to pregnancy planning. The subjects were 59 married primiparous women aged 18 to 33 who had given birth in a metropolitan midwestern hospital. Over 1/2 the sample had some college eduction. The pregnancy planning variable is operationalized as the implementation of family planning goals. Subjects who desired pregnancy and actively attempted to conceive are considered to be planners. In contrast, nonplanners are defined as women who preferred to avoid pregnancy but were not successful and women who did not actively seek or avoid pregancy. The modernity of sex roles variable is operationalized through use of the Scanzoni instrument. This instrument is constructed from a series of items that measure 3 social positions related to sex roles in the family context: those of wife, husband and mother. The instrument is modified in this investigation, leaving 21 5-point scale items to be included in the data analysis. Smallest space analysis of the inter-item correlation matrix demonstrate that the social positions of wife and husband do not clearly reflect different aspects of sex role modernity. A comparison of the average inter-item correlation for the variables within each social position with the average inter-item for the variables across the positions reveals that the dimensions proposed by Scanzoni are not empirically different. In light of these findings, further exploratory data analysis of all items was conducted to discern which items do empirically cluster together. Scanzoni's 21 sex role items were submitted to principal component factor analysis; 3 factors emerged. 1) wife-husband equlity; 2) flexibility in role integration; and 3) values regarding primary role. 3 new sex role modernity values were created to correspond to the 3 factors and were then used to explore the relationship between sex role modernity and pregnancy planning. Chi square analyses were not statistically significant. Therefore, the hypothesis that women at the extremes of the modernity continuum would be more likely to plan than women who fall in the middle, was rejected. Although no relationship between the sex role factors and pregnancy planning was found, 6 of the Scanzoni items, when linearly combined, manifested a strong relationship to planning: 1) wife's emotional nature; 2) wife's most important task is caring for husbands and kids; 3) wife takes job if not satisfied with wife/mom role; 4) wife gives up job if inconveniences husband/kids; 5) wife's job as important as husband's job; 6) women's pay equal to man's. Although 4 of these items load on the sex role factors, it is unclear whether they are truly reflective of these factors.     

The roles of humour and laughter in youth focus groups on school food

The article examines young people's group interaction and the roles of humor and laughter in relation to school food and school lunch situations. The analysed focus group discussion data is drawn from a broader case study (2012?2013) with 9th grade students (15–16 years old; 62 pupils; 25 boys and 37 girls; 14 groups; 4?6 pupils per group) in a Finnish secondary school. The analysis is based on existing interpretations and classifications of humor in literature, which is complemented by notions drawn from the study's data set. It is argued that an analysis of humor and laughter can provide valuable notions of how collective attitudes towards school food are constructed, enforced and distributed among students, while also providing insight regarding what kinds of issues around school lunch practices are considered important and worthwhile in the context of students' informal peer cultures. The results illustrate how humor and laughter functioned for the students as a space for (1) Constructing ‘us’ versus ‘them’; (2) Negotiating social order; and (3) Engaging in fun and safe interaction. Results are discussed in the light of how humor and laughter uphold or divide social groups, as well mediate shifts between formal conventions and students' informal worlds.     

“The troublesome other and I”: Parallel stories of separated parents in prolonged conflicts

This qualitative study aims to explore how noncohabiting parenting couples in prolonged conflict construct the other parent and themselves. Ten parents from five parent couples were interviewed. A dyadic analytical design was used, where parent's stories of conflict were analyzed in parallel with their co‐parent. Drawing on positioning theory, self‐identity as parents emerged as implicit counter positions in storylines, which construct the co‐parent as “the troublesome other.” Two typologies of conflicted storylines were prominent in the findings: storylines of violations of trust, positioning the co‐parents in relation to traumatic events in the past and, storylines of who is bad, positioning the co‐parent as either a disloyal co‐parent or a dysfunctional parent. The findings indicate that prolonged conflicts made it impossible to find available positions for cooperation. We argue that family therapists should aid each household toward promoting child and family resilience rather than continued efforts to solve chronic conflicts.     

The big story about small stories: Narratives of crime and terrorism

The ‘big story/small story’ distinction has emerged as a discrete approach to narrative analysis. Proponents of this approach are critical of the ‘big stories’ elicited by structural analysts, which they see as highly structured narratives of past experiences, typically elicited in an interview context. In contrast, they highlight the importance of studying the fragmented, contextualised ‘small stories’ that arise in everyday conversation/interaction. We question the basis of this distinction and we suggest that it unnecessarily proliferates analytic categories. Further, we suggest that the methodologies followed by ‘small stories’ analysts are often similar to those used to elicit ‘big stories’ and are hence open to similar criticisms; in particular, a failure to fully consider the issue of (contextual) naturalism. Drawing on interviews of crime/terrorism in Northern Ireland, we show how these data comprise both ‘big stories’ and ‘small stories’ within the same context and often within the same narrative.     

A preliminary investigation of the roles and backgrounds of school interpreters: Implications for training and recruiting

The backgrounds and roles of school interpreters who provide interpretation services for limited English proficient students were investigated through a survey study. The results are based on a total of 89 interpreters working in schools throughout New York State. A total of 29 languages were represented in the two samples of interpreters with Spanish being the most frequently used language. Most of the interpreters had Bachelors Degrees or higher but very few had any formal training in interpretation. The results suggest that most interpreters work on a part-time basis. The interpreters reported providing services for a number of different school personnel while fulfilling numerous roles that included interpreting during assessment sessions as well as during parent meetings. The implications of the findings are discussed from the perspectives of the training and recruiting of school interpreters. The limitations of the findings are also examined.     

Depression, marital satisfaction, and marital and personality measures of sex roles*

The present study examined the relationship between depression, marital satisfaction, and marital and personality measures of sex roles. Subjects included 50 couples in which the woman was clinically depressed (and of which 26 were maritally distressed), and 24 nondepressed, nondistressed control couples. Results indicated that compared to nondepressed couples, husbands and wives in relationships in which the wife was depressed showed greater inequality in decision making and dissatisfaction with the distribution of decision making and household tasks; wives additionally indicated greater dissatisfaction with distribution of childrearing responsibilities. The relationship between marital roles and depression was largely mediated by the impact of marital distress in the clinic couples. In addition, depressed wives were less masculine than nondepressed wives, and women with high levels of masculinity reported less depression than women with low levels.     

Mitigating the political participation gap from the school: the roles of civic knowledge and classroom climate

Empirical evidence has consistently shown that political participation is positively related with socioeconomic background. Furthermore, recent research suggests that children who come from low status families are already less willing to get politically involved. The present paper aims to analyze the possible impact that schools can have in mitigating the effect of parents' socioeconomic status on students' expected electoral participation, focusing on two variables: civic knowledge and classroom climate. The analyses are based on a series of multilevel models using Chilean data of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2009. The results support the influence of students' socioeconomic background on expected electoral participation. Furthermore, civic knowledge and classroom climate show a positive and similar influence on students' expected participation. However, classroom climate appears less affected by students' background than civic knowledge, opening the discussion about which strategy should be emphasized when aiming to mitigate the political participation gap.     

Inclusive education services for children and youth with disabilities: Values,roles and challenges of school leaders

Implementing inclusive education requires significant changes to values, systems, and practices. Hong Kong began to implement the inclusive education policy on the basis of voluntary participation in 1997. The government later launched a school partnership scheme, under which schools with proficient practices in whole-school approach to inclusive education were invited to serve as resource schools to support other schools. Data on what has led school leaders to join the reform under the policy of voluntary participation and how they tackle problems during implementation cannot be located. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative study is to uncover the reasons for school leaders' decision to participate in and what they did to facilitate the school wide effort to practice inclusive education, as well as challenges encountered. Key findings included Christianity and Confucianism as the prime reasons for practicing inclusive education, partnership with teachers and a shared vision as the key to successful implementation, and a competitive education system together with inadequate resources and teacher training as the main challenges. Recommendations consist of incorporating value development and building relationships with stakeholders in principal training programs, integrating knowledge and skills for inclusive education into the pre- and in-service teacher training programs, and appropriating resources with increased stability and autonomy.     

Gender roles as mediators of sex differences in adolescent alcohol use and abuse.

This study tested the hypothesis that internalized gender-role personality attributes and gender-role ideology mediate sex differences in alcohol use and drinking problems in a random sample of 1,077 adolescents aged 13 to 19. Results indicated that gender roles substantially, although not completely, mediated the effects of sex on drinking patterns. The relationships between gender roles and alcohol use were largely consistent with the hypothesis that individuals with conventional gender identities conform more closely to cultural norms that condone drinking among males but not among females. However, effects of the gender-linked attributes of expressivity, emotional control, and instrumentality on drinking also may be interpreted within a framework that views them as functional coping styles. Finally, differences between Black and White teens in the relationships between alcohol use and the masculine attributes of instrumentality and emotional control suggest possible race differences in the functional value of these attributes.     

Disability,embodiment and ableism: stories of resistance

Non-disabled responses to visible impairment embody either social invisibility or over-attentiveness. The subjective and inter-subjective experiences of impaired bodies and intersubjective encounters within society are important aspects of disablement and the construction of a disabled identity. Impairment is read by and influences the social structure of ableism. This paper attempts to understand how ableist discourses about impaired bodies have impacted on and been resisted by disabled people and how embodiment is related to identity. In pursuit of these aims, a qualitative study was conducted with seven people who have visible physical impairments. The results indicate that disabled embodiment is produced and experienced within an ableist context that mobilizes the charitable gaze and the medical model to signify impaired bodies at the expense of the recognition of disabled identity. In order to deconstruct ableism and to recognize and respect the value of the disabled identity, a politics of recognition is required.