From an oppressed citizenship to affirmative identities: lesbian and gay political participation in Portugal

In this paper we intend to articulate a multidimensional perspective on citizenship with a psychological understanding of lesbian and gay identities' development in the context of a Southern European country: Portugal. We begin by reviewing some legal statements and institutional regulations around gay and lesbian issues and the lack of opportunities for the affirmation of a non-hegemonic (sexual) identity in Portugal. Next, we describe participation efforts developed by the Portuguese LGBT nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the actual results that such efforts already produced in the political and cultural attitudes toward gay men and lesbians: particularly, the legal approval of domestic same-sex partnership is emphasized as a symbolic achievement of such political struggle. Finally, we explore the implications of communitarian participation for gay and lesbian identities' development, not just in terms of collective empowerment but also in what concerns individual development and well-being.     

Summer holiday camps for gay and lesbian young adults: an evaluation of their impact on social support and mental well-being

This study evaluates the effects of participating in a summer holiday camp for Flemish (Belgium) gay and lesbian young adults (N 197). Analysis showed to what extent participation affects the constitution and quality of friendships, the availability of confidant and appraisal support and reported levels of hopelessness, self-esteem, and depression. The study is based on panel data with a six-months interval. At follow-up, respondents reported a higher proportion of gays and lesbians in their friendship network, more satisfaction with these friendships, higher levels of confidant and appraisal support, less hopelessness, higher self-esteem, and lower levels of depression.     

Creative work environments in sport organizations: the influence of sexual orientation diversity and commitment to diversity

Drawing from creative capital theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which sexual orientation diversity and commitment to diversity were predictive of workplaces that fostered creativity. Data were collected from 653 senior level athletic administrators and aggregated to the athletic department level of analysis (n = 199). Moderated regression indicated that sexual orientation diversity did not influence the presence of a creative work environment. There was however, a significant sexual orientation diversity × commitment to diversity interaction. When commitment to diversity was high, there was a positive association between sexual orientation diversity and a creative work environment; on the other hand, when commitment to diversity was low, the aforementioned relationship was negative. Results provide support for the notion that all diversity forms can be a source of enrichment and understanding, thereby benefiting the workplace.     

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth and young adults: social support in their own words

Perceived social support was explored in a qualitative study of 17 gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth and young adults from a Seattle-based sexual minority youth drop-in center. The participants were interviewed in person with an open-ended question format to describe, in their own words, perceived social support they received as sexual minorities. Support was organized into four types, those fulfilling concrete, emotional, financial, or informational needs. Content analysis revealed several themes of support tailored to the specialized needs participants had as sexual minorities: locating parental figures among other gays and lesbians, parental reactions to learning of the youths' sexual orientation, the ability to reciprocate support, and finding supporters who introduced the youth to the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community. Non-family members were found to be more supportive than family members, particularly regarding informational support. Sexual minorities were perceived as more supportive than non-sexual minorities. Understanding the process and significance of acquiring a sense of community from which youth may garner continued support may present an avenue for intervention among social service providers. Additional implications for practice and research are also discussed.     

Sister outsider, or "just another thing I am": intersections of cultural and sexual identities in Australia

This article originates from a radio project titled Muff Divas and Drag Queens that investigated a wide range of gay and lesbian histories in the state of New South Wales. The project produced two half-hour radio programs that were broadcast nationally on community radio stations in February 1996 to coincide with Sydney's annual month-long Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival, the premier event on Australia's queer cultural calendar. Of the two documentaries produced, the first addressed 30 years of queer culture in New South Wales while the second explored our diverse identities as lesbians and gay men. This paper draws extensively on material collected for the second program. Muff Divas and Drag Queens was funded under the Literature and History Program of the New South Wales Government's Ministry for the Arts, with support from the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras cultural program and Sydney community radio station 2SER.FM.     

Strong,healthy, energized: Striving for a healthy weight in an older lesbian population

The Office on Women’s Health funded five pilot healthy weight intervention studies for lesbian and bisexual (LB) women, which included a program called Strong. Healthy. Energized (SHE). SHE was a 12-session program, targeted toward LB women age 60 and older, which focused on exercise, including a pedometer to track steps; nutrition; stress management; and group discussions. The program enrolled 39 participants. Waist circumference decreased by 3.7% across the group (p < .01). Participants with the lowest one-third baseline step count saw a marked step increase. This intervention was effective in improving health behaviors and short-term health outcomes for older LB women.     

Psychotherapy with gay/lesbian couples and their children in "stepfamilies": a challenge for marriage and family therapists

As increasing numbers of gay/lesbian parents and their children enter into "stepfamily-like" relationships with a gay partner, they are beginning to seek therapy for difficulties peculiar to stepfamily living involving two same-sex partners. This paper focuses on the difficulties experienced by gay parents and children in a step-relationship, and seeks to sensitize mental health professionals to issues specific to intervention with such families. Effective therapy with these families requires that therapists be sensitive to their personal biases and prejudices with regard to gay men and women in general and as parents, and be aware that such attitudes can intrude and negatively affect the therapeutic process and its outcomes. Guidelines for therapy are offered.     

Family interaction of the young-old: Social exchange as an explanation of the qualitative and quantitative experience

Very frequent family interaction, daily or more often, significantly lowered the morale scores in a sample of retired men and women who were highly satisfied with their family life, even after controlling for health, income and other measures of satisfaction. In contrast to other research which has shown that it is the quality not the quantity which affects morale, these findings suggested that both quantity and quality of family interaction were important to morale. An explanation from the social exchange perspective indicates that there is an optimal level of family interaction beyond which the costs outweight the benefits.     

The use of defence mechanisms as precursors to coming out in post-apartheid South Africa: a gay and lesbian youth perspective

This article comprises one facet of a larger, three-year phenomenological study (1997-2000) of gay and lesbian youth coming out in post-apartheid South Africa. A nonprobability sample of 18 young people, aged between 16 and 21 years, was interviewed. The resultant data was content analyzed, and the trustworthiness of the information was ensured via member checking and utilizing an independent coder. Results consistently revealed that gay and lesbian youth use defense mechanisms, such as denial, avoidance, compartmentalization, suppression, compensation, sublimation, undoing, displacement, rationalization, and intellectualization, in a conscious manner during their coming out process. The young people in this study demonstrated resilience despite the prejudice and inner turmoil that they had experienced. Practice guidelines are suggested in terms of how health and social care practitioners can support gay and lesbian youth in coping with their coming out process.     

Induced population growth and induced technological progress: their interaction in the accelerating stage

"A simple model of Malthusian population growth combined with population-induced technological progress generates accelerating growth. The model may be relevant for a first stage of growth in which natural resource limitations can be overcome through technological progress; it is not applicable to a later stage in which resource constraints are more resistant. Parameter values are roughly inferred from historical experience." (SUMMARY IN FRE)     

Sensitive drawings of sexual activity in human sexuality textbooks: an analysis on communication and bias

Sensitive drawings are a distinctive genre of explicit sexual imagery which has become a standard way of illustrating sexual acts in human sexuality textbooks. This essay presents an analysis of signs defining age, ethnic status, class, and sexual identity encoded in such sensitive drawings as used in 23 recent textbooks and of the biases which this encoding reflects. The strong class and heterosexual biases characterizing the images are consistent with those found in the sex manuals which inspired the style of drawing. Functions of the drawings and their relationship to the texts' written materials are discussed, and it is argued that the biases mirror problems in treatment of social class and sexuality and in the treatment of sexual acts, e.g., masturbation, oral sex, and sex, and coitus, as they relate to sexual identities.     

Childbearing among Polish migrant women and their descendants in Sweden: an origin-destination country approach

Journal of Population Research - This paper examines the childbearing behaviour of Polish migrant women and their descendants in Sweden. Also considering stayers in the country of origin, we rely...     

The perceptions of female media professionals in Kuwait about their job: an empowerment perspective

This study explores the perceptions of women who work in the media in Kuwait—a conservative, male-dominated society. It examines how female media professionals are treated and explores the factors that either encourage or discourage the empowerment of Kuwaiti women working in this field. In-depth interviews were conducted with five female media professionals and academics in Kuwait in order to develop measures of perceptions towards their profession, media organizations, and the general outlook of Kuwait society. The perceptions of a sample of 237 female media professionals were measured using a fifty-one-item questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis shows that the respondents’ perceptions are grouped into eight sets of variables. The results show that, while the respondents feel empowered by education, regulations, and the current lifestyle in Kuwait, their cultural upbringing, self-image, and societal outlook discourage their empowerment.     

Cross-Cultural Difference in Subjective Wellbeing: Cultural Response Bias as an Explanation

This study investigates whether the Australian-Chinese differences in subjective wellbeing (SWB) can be attributed to cultural response bias (CRB) caused by the influence of Chinese culture. Four samples are compared: Australians, first generation Chinese immigrants, second generation Chinese immigrants, and Hong Kong Chinese. It is hypothesized that the effects of CRB on means scores and variance will be the highest for Hong Kong Chinese, followed by Australian Chinese immigrants and second generation, and the lowest for Australians. These predictions were generally supported. Income is used as a covariate to test whether the predicted pattern of results remain unchanged. The result was affirmative. CRB is thus verified as contributing to the SWB difference between the Australians and Hong Kong Chinese. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Relationship Between Islam and Democracy in Turkey: Employing Political Culture as an Indicator

During the last decade the agenda of local and global politics is heavily marked by the encounter of two powerful currents, namely democracy and political Islam. On the one hand Islam as a religion itself is facing a cultural dialectic between a modern and an authentic form, producing a synthesis which is only to be criticized again by a new radical antithesis. Within that framework political Islam is perceived to be a tool for this current antithesis, attacking the states for impiety and materialism. Democracy, on the other hand, is becoming dominant as a criterion of good government, the “only game in town”, with its inherent complexity which reveals itself in each particular context. The two currents are not necessarily irreconcilable, but they produce a number of different effects on each other whenever they meet. The fundamental contention of this article is to demonstrate this relationship within the Turkish setting.     

Adaptive Behavior in Childhood as an Antecedent of Psychological Functioning in Early Middle Age: Linkage Via Career Orientation

The main aim of the study was to investigate the link between child and adolescent adaptive behavior and adult psychological functioning, and the role of career orientation in this linkage. This was based on a Finnish longitudinal study, where data at ages 8, 14, and 42 were available for 118 females and 115 males. Adaptive behavior, indicated by three aspects of high self-control of emotions: constructiveness, compliance, and trustworthiness, was assessed at ages 8 and 14. Psychological functioning at age 42 was indicated by psychological well-being, self-esteem, social coherence, and trust in life. Connections between adaptive behavior and psychological functioning were studied using structural equation modeling. For males, a path from a latent variable for adaptive behavior to a latent variable for adult psychological functioning was obtained via two components of career development: (1) stable career and employment situation; and (2) the length of education and occupational status. For females, only constructiveness was linked to a latent variable for the length of education and occupational status which accounted for a latent variable for psychological functioning.     

Marriage and childbirth as factors in dropping out from school: an analysis of DHS data from sub-Saharan Africa

Leaving school prematurely is often claimed to be among the most negative consequences of early marriage and pregnancy for girls in less developed countries. However, an analysis of the relative frequency with which these events actually occur or are named as reasons for leaving school reveals that, at least in the case of francophone Africa, they explain no more than 20 per cent of dropouts. To the extent that demographic events trump school or family factors as determinants of school-leaving, our data indicate that it is union formation--defined by the DHS as first marriage or cohabitation--rather than childbirth that is more likely to have this effect. 'Schoolgirl pregnancy' typically accounts for only between 5 and 10 per cent of girls' departures from school. Furthermore, the risks of leaving school because of pregnancy or marriage have declined over time with the decline in rates of early marriage and childbearing.     

The Welfare State as Safety Net in Migration Preferences: Empirical Evidence from an Experiment Among Dutch Master Students

Population Research and Policy Review - The welfare state can be perceived as a safety net which helps individuals adjust to situations of risk or transition. Starting from this idea of the welfare...     

超大城市新生代农民工就业满意度评价及其比较分析--以北京市为例

超大城市面临稳定保有一定数量农民工劳动力和控制人口规模的平衡问题,合理评价城市劳动力新生力量———新生代农民工的就业满意度,有利于客观反映新生代农民工的就业状态与现实诉求,并为超大城市提高农民工就业质量提供支持。以北京地区新生代农民工为研究对象,在明确就业满意度构成因素的基础上,运用因子分析法构建适合新生代农民工城市就业特点的就业满意度模型和评价量表,并对新生代农民工的就业满意度进行分析评价。结果显示,新生代农民工在就业中更看重工作环境、职业发展和晋升机会,对报酬的关注度有所下降,这与已有研究结果有所不同;新生代农民工整体的就业满意度较低,其中更换工作的机会、涨薪机会、晋升机会、与老板关系的不满是导致满意度低的最主要原因;新生代农民工内部存在代际分化,“90后”农民工的就业满意度显著高于“80后”;文化程度、所从事的岗位、婚姻状况对新生代农民工的就业满意度都有显著影响。