More Kin,Less Support: Multipartnered Fertility and Perceived Support Among Mothers

Recent research has documented the high prevalence of having children with more than 1 partner, termed multipartnered fertility. Because childbearing is an important mechanism for building kin networks, we theorize that multipartnered fertility will influence the availability of social support for mothers. Analyzing 3 waves of data from the Fragile Families study (N = 12,259), we find that multipartnered fertility is negatively associated with the availability of financial, housing, and child‐care support. Our longitudinal evidence suggests a bidirectional relationship in which multipartnered fertility reduces the availability of support, and the availability of support inhibits multipartnered fertility. We conclude that smaller and denser kin networks seem to be superior to broader, but weaker kin ties in terms of perceived instrumental support.     

Whom to Trust: The Role of Mediation and Perceived Harm in Support Seeking by Cyberbullying Victims

This study focuses on two coping strategies in cyberbullying: talking to parents and talking to peers. The subsample of cyberbullying victims aged 9–16 (N = 1395; 59% female) from the EU Kids Online II project was analysed. We predicted talking to parents and peers according to mediation style, perceived harm, support‐seeking tendencies, parental knowledge of the child's activities online, age and gender. The results show that perceived harm and active mediation increase the likelihood of confiding. Parents play a central role and should be encouraged to show their children interest about and understanding of their online activities.     

Differences in Life Satisfaction and School Satisfaction Among Adolescents From Three Nations: The Role of Perceived Autonomy Support

Past research shows that higher well‐being is reported by adolescents who live in individualistic rather than collectivistic nations. Such cross‐national differences may be due to the amount of autonomy support adolescents receive from authority figures. To examine this hypothesis, in the current study, 322 adolescents from Denmark, South Korea, and the United States completed self‐report surveys that assessed adolescents' school and life satisfaction and their experience of autonomy support from parents and teachers. Results showed that Danish adolescents reported highest school satisfaction, life satisfaction, and perceived autonomy support, followed by American and Korean adolescents, respectively. Furthermore, cross‐national differences in school and life satisfaction were partially mediated by adolescents' perceptions of autonomy support from authority figures. These findings support self‐determination theory ( Deci & Ryan, 1985 ) and the ecological model of child development ( Bronfenbrenner, 1986 ).     

Exploring the Relations Among the Nature of the Abuse,Perceived Parental Support,and Child's Self-Concept and Trauma Symptoms Among Sexually Abused Children

ABSTRACT

This study examined two resiliency factors: self-concept and perceived parental support, in conjunction with abuse factors that impact psychological functioning. Data were collected on 61 sexually abused children prior to treatment. Findings indicate that a child's self-concept was associated with all the trauma symptoms except sexual concerns and did account for a significant amount of variance in relation to trauma symptomatology. Parental support was only associated with the Dissociation and was not found to account for variance in relation to trauma symptoms. Factors specific to the sexual abuse found that when a child endured a lengthy abuse period, their self-concept was more negative.     

Spousal Childcare Involvement and Perceived Support for Paid Work

This study of 76 married or cohabiting two-earner families examined the influence of spouse/partner involvement in childcare and other demand and resource variables on mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of spouse/partner support for paid work. Gender had a significant influence on the relationship between spouse/partner involvement in childcare and support for paid work. Mothers were more likely to report support for paid work when their spouse/partner shared more of the responsibilities associated with childcare. Fathers were more likely to report support for work when their spouse/partner shared fewer of the responsibilities associated with childcare. The findings also suggest that fathers’ perceptions of spouse/partner support for work are more sensitive to ecological factors than are mothers’ perceptions of support for work.     

Psychological Contracts and Organizational Identification: The Mediating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support

Understanding the processes through which employees incorporate the organization’s identity into their own identity is critical to building positive employer-employee relationships. We draw primarily on organizational support theory to advance the argument that psychological contract breach is negatively related to organizational identification and positively related to organizational disidentification because it makes employees believe that their organizations do not value their contributions or care about their well-being (reduces perceived organizational support). Results from two studies generally provide support for our hypotheses: in Study 1, perceived organizational support fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification. In Study 2, Time 2 perceived organizational support fully mediated the relationship between Time 1 relational psychological contract breach (e.g., promises related to training, development, job security) and organizational identification, but not the relationship between transactional psychological contract breach (e.g., promises related to pay and work hours) and organizational identification. Time 2 perceived organizational support partially mediated the relationship between relational psychological contract breach and organizational disidentification, but not the relationship between transactional psychological contract breach and organizational disidentification. We conclude that organizations should be concerned with this erosion of the positive employer-employee relationship (organizational identification) and fostering of a negative employer-employee relationship (disidentification).     

Loving Oneself: The Associations Among Sexually Explicit Media,Body Image,and Perceived Realism

Online sexually explicit material (SEM) is a popular media source, but little is known about its association with body image. This study explored whether perceived realism of SEM mediated the direct association of SEM use on body image while accounting for gender differences. Young adults (N = 393; ages 19 to 30; 53.4% women) recruited through a crowdsourcing Web site completed an anonymous online survey that assessed SEM use, perceptions of the realism of SEM, and body image. Body satisfaction, genital self-image, comfort being nude, penis-/breast-size satisfaction, and self-esteem were used to create the variable of body image. SEM use had a positive indirect association with body image through perceived realism for both men and women. Follow-up analyses revealed this association was due to body satisfaction and self-esteem in men and comfort being nude and self-esteem in women. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for clinical applications and understanding young adults’ body image.     

Perceived Relational Support in Adolescence: Dimensions,Configurations, and Adolescent Adjustment

The perceived relational support from four key providers (father, mother, special sibling, and best friend) on five provisions (quality of information, respect for autonomy, emotional support, convergence of goals, and acceptance) was examined for 2,262 adolescents (aged 12 – 18 years). In a variable‐centered approach, factor analyses yielded five dimensions of support: three specific to providers (parent, friend, and sibling support) and two specific to provisions (convergence of goals and respect for autonomy). Only parental support was found to change (decrease) across age. In a person‐centered approach, five types of adolescents with different configurations of perceived support were identified. The first three types differed in overall level of support (high, average, and low) for all of the five dimensions; the fourth type represented extremely low support from parents with above‐average support from best friends; the fifth type consisted of adolescents with no best friend. These configurations were significantly related to different patterns of adolescent adjustment in various domains (psychological well‐being, delinquency, substance use, and peer‐group functioning).     

Perceived Marital Support and Incident Mental Illness: Evidence from the National Comorbidity Survey

Social support in marriage may be associated with reduced risk for mental illness. Past studies are limited by short follow up and a focus on depression. A two‐wave nationally representative survey in the United States (n = 2,503) is used to examine whether social support in marriage is associated with the onset of each of four clusters of disorders—internalizing, externalizing, phobic, and bipolar—10 years later. Results indicate that higher levels of perceived marital support were protective against internalizing, fear, and bipolar disorders, and against incident externalizing disorders for women. Protective effects of social support in marriage against mental illness are long‐lasting, and sometimes differ by gender. Findings suggest the importance of mental health assessment in clinical practice.     

Falling Through The Cracks: Gaps In Child Support Among Welfare Recipients

This article examines gaps in child support among welfare recipients in Wisconsin. Documented is the extent to which breakdowns at various stages—including paternity establishment, support orders, and payments—contribute to the low rate of child support receipt. Children were tracked over a 2‐year period to assess their progress through the child support system over time. Few welfare recipients are able to successfully negotiate the child support system, and mothers frequently achieve different degrees of success with different children. The characteristics of children who drop out prior to obtaining a support order suggest that, with an order in place, they would be as likely to receive support as are those children who already have orders.     

Support Among Women for the Issues of the Women's Movement*

Using both data from a national and community sample, this paper explores support among women for issues relevant to the women's rights movement, and the extent to which the issues of the movement are perceived as a coherent whole by women. Five distinct issue dimensions emerged. Support for or agreement with each of the issue areas was only slightly correlated with support for the others. Thus some types of women are supportive of the variety of issues and in agreement with the basic assumptions of the movement while others are more selective in their support. In general, support for any particular issue area is greater than support for women's liberation, yet even those opposing women's liberation agree with the position of the women's movementon on a majority of issues examined.     

Environmental Harm and “the Good Farmer”: Conceptualizing Discourses of Environmental Sustainability in the Beef Industry

Maintaining sustainability discourses in the face of evidence to the contrary is a topic of considerable interest in sociology. We approach this topic with a focus on the beef industry in Alberta, Canada. By studying the discourses of cow and calf producers this article addresses the following questions: (1) What are the discourses that producers draw on to support their self‐perceptions as stewards of the land, (2) how are these discourses used by producers to negotiate and reconcile their involvement in a system that contributes to environmental degradation, and (3) what are key elements to interpreting these discourses of sustainability? Methods include semistructured interviews with attention to the potential of genomics for enhanced cattle breeding to ameliorate harmful methane emissions. Our findings indicate that producers draw on narratives of balance between economic and environmental concerns, focus on epistemic nearness, and fragment their understanding of the beef industry to maintain discourses of sustainability. These findings offer insights into the impacts that embodied, material forms of knowledge have on farmers’ perceptions of the land, and demonstrate that these narratives and ways of knowing predicate farmers’ understandings of sustainable development.     

Prospects for Examining Perceived Choice and Control Among Older Adults Living With Family

This review aims to advance the field of aging research by examining coresidence with family, race, and other characteristics as potential determinants of choice and control in older adults. Living with family likely impacts perceived choice and control, as household members often work together to make decisions about care. Race may also influence choice and control, as an accumulation of challenges and opportunities create unique life experiences. This review considers human agency in its examination of choice and control. Suggestions for future research will be discussed.     

Coping and Psychological Distress Among Genderqueer Individuals: The Moderating Effect of Social Support

This study examined the relationships between social support, coping, depression, and anxiety in a sample of genderqueer individuals (n = 64). Genderqueer is a label used within the broader transgender community and is defined as a gender identity that is outside the binary construct of male and female. Findings indicate that 53% (n = 34) of participants reported clinical levels of depression and 39% (n = 25) reported clinical levels of anxiety. There was a direct relationship between social support and depression and anxiety, indicating that more social support is associated with less depression and anxiety when statistically excluding coping factors. In addition, more facilitative coping (e.g., seeking help) was related to less anxiety, whereas more avoidant coping (e.g., avoiding emotions) was related to more anxiety and depression. There was a significant interaction between social support and coping factors when predicting anxiety, such that individuals who reported higher social support used more facilitative coping which was associated with less anxiety and those who reported less social support used more avoidant coping which was associated with more anxiety. Clinical implications for working with genderqueer-identified clients are discussed.     

Financial Strain and Depression Among Farm Operators: The Role of Perceived Economic Hardship and Personal Control1

Abstract The causal processes accounting for the relationship between farm financial strain and depression are not well understood. Using data from a statewide survey of North Carolina farm operators, we develop a covariance structure model that specifies relationships among farm financial strain, perceived economic hardship in the household, personal control, and depression. Analyses reveal that the relationship between farm financial strain and depression is mediated by perceptions of economic hardship and personal control. Results point to the importance of differential resilience to objective economic problems instead of differential exposure to these problems.     

Living Arrangements and Informal Social Support Among the Elderly

One of the most pervasive patterns in living arrangements observed among today's elderly has been the increasing propensity to live alone. This paper assesses the extent to which living along, living with a spouse, or living with others (no spouse present) affects several dimensions of informal social support. The data for this study are from a 1983 survey focusing on living arrangement choices among elderly persons living in London, Ontario, Canada. Overall, living arrangement is considerably more important as a determinant of instrumental support than social contact. Elders choosing to live alone appear to sacrifice some degree of mutual exchange for privacy and independence. They also tend to rely on friendship to a greater extent than marred elderly or those who co-reside with others. Implications for support services and changes in the family are discussed in the context of living arrangement selection in later life.     

Perceived Fairness and Satisfaction with the Division of Housework Among Dual-Earner Couples in Italy

A well-documented paradox in family literature is that most married women and men consider the division of household labor to be fair, although its distribution is quite uneven. In this article I report results from a survey on 404 dual-earner couples with young children living in Torino, Italy. A small proportion of wives and husbands (13.6% and 5.7%, respectively) reported both unfairness and dissatisfaction with the division of housework. The absolute majority (55%) of both wives and husbands perceived fairness and satisfaction, even if most of the chores (about two-thirds) fell on wives’ shoulders. To explain these judgments, elements of Thompson's distributive justice theoretical framework were operationalized and tested. A critical reassessment of these elements is provided, based on empirical findings.     

Moving Up and Down the Ladder: Perceived Social Mobility and Emotional Dispositions Among South Florida's Immigrants

Migrating to a new country is often associated with difficulties such as social isolation, financial strain, language barriers, and cultural differences. Less is known about how social mobility brought about by migration may be related to the emotional dispositions of immigrants (also referred to as subjective well‐being). To examine this relationship, we utilize data from a representative sample of 1,268 first‐generation immigrants from 80 different countries living in South Florida. Changes in perceived social mobility between the homeland and the United States—moving up and down the socioeconomic ladder—are indeed associated with differences in immigrants' negative dispositions. We draw from literature on expectations, social comparisons, and subjective class status to explain these findings. We do not find a statistically significant association between changes in socioeconomic status and positive dispositions, which may suggest that losses outweigh migration‐related gains. Additionally, findings reveal that nondominant groups fare worse than Cubans (the dominant group in the region) with regard to dispositions. Social comparisons to the dominant ethnic group may explain this, as well as perceptions of relative deprivation experienced by groups not favored by immigration policies and underrepresented in social and economic institutions. We conclude by discussing implications on how negative emotional dispositions represent risk factors that could affect immigrants' mental health.