Visualising the invisible: children on the streets of Lima,Peru, realise the self through photographs

This article presents findings from a photographic project conducted with six adolescent boys living and working on the streets of Lima, Peru. In this article, I examine how photographs provided the boys with a means by which to express themselves and served to humanise these participants who exist at the most extreme margins of society. Drawing parallels between the participants’ use of photographs and the roles that photographs play for families, I examine how the ability to record and document their childhood provided the boys in this study the opportunity for critical engagement in the creation of their own histories.     

WHERE ARE ALL THE FAMILY THERAPISTS? ABUSE AND VIOLENCE WITHIN FAMILIES AND FAMILY THERAPY'S RESPONSE

This paper draws on a wide range of research from different fields to document the epidemic proportions of physical violence and sexual abuse in North American families. It delineates the gender dimensions of this problem, with men being the predominant perpetrators of sexual abuse of both boys and girls, and the major physical abusers in couple relationships. Family therapy's lack of response to the problem, and its conceptual inadequacies in doing so, are challenged. A feminist perspective for thinking about abuse is presented and guidelines for working with it are suggested. A course on treating violence and abuse in families is recommended as a required part of family therapy training.     

Middle School Children's Career Aspirations: Relationship to Adult Occupations and Gender

The authors explored the relationship between the career aspirations of 89 preadolescents from low socioeconomic backgrounds and the actual occupations of the working adults in their homes with regard to status, job gender identification, and interest ( Holland, 1997 ). There was a significant relationship between boys’ career aspirations and the occupations of the working male adults in their homes, specifically job gender identification and interest. More adult males had stereotypically male jobs—classified as Realistic by Holland (1997) —that was mirrored in the preadolescent boys’ career aspirations. There were no significant matches between the boys and working women or with the girls and the working adults of either gender.     

Living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Relational Autonomy and Decision‐Making

Interviews were conducted with boys and young men who have Duchenne muscular dystrophy, exploring their thoughts on making a decision to participate in medical research. This article focuses on one of the key findings, discussing how the participants identified their parents as carers, spokespersons and advisors. The term ‘relational autonomy’ encapsulates these co‐operative relationships, illustrating how they can help young people living with a degenerative disability to exercise some agency and autonomy. The boys and their families have demonstrated how disabled children who are physically dependent can be supported by their parents, without compromising independence.     

Sex Role Self-Concepts of Single Divorced Parents and Their Children

Seventy-four single divorced custodial parents completed the Bern Sex Role Inventory and their 92 10- to 19-year-old children completed are revised version of the same Inventory. Both custodial mothers and fathers evidenced high levels of androgyny when contrasted with published norms, although parents' Masculinity and Femininity scores were unrelated to those of their child(ren). The children themselves were classified as mostly either Androgynous or Undifferrnriated, with boys being more Androgynous and girls more Undifferentiated, when contrasted with available norms. In addition, both boys and girls were significantly more androgynous than a matched sample of children whose parents were not divorced. This finding greatly questions the prevailing view that boys reared in mother-headed families become "feminized". The findings are discussed in terms of methodological and substansive contributions to the sex role and divorce literature.     

The Well‐Being of Adolescents in Households With No Biological Parents

On the basis of a large, nationally representative sample of 19,071 American middle‐school students, the current study compares adolescents living with neither biological parent with their peers in five other family structures on a wide range of outcome measures. The results reveal some overall disadvantages of living with neither parent, although the disadvantages relative to nontraditional families are limited. Differences in family resources either partially or completely account for outcome differences between non‐biological‐parent and other family structures. Further, boys and girls in non‐biological‐parent families appear to fare similarly. Finally, measurement problems and their implications are discussed.     

What happens during and after school: Conditions faced by working parents living in poverty and their school-aged children

Past research has not looked directly at how parental working conditions are affecting the lives of school-age children living in or near poverty. This study examines the effects that the working conditions faced by low-income parents have on the care their school-age children receive and on parental involvement in their children's education and development. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 74 families with school-age children, including 44 families living at or below 150% of the federal poverty level and 30 families living above 150% of poverty. Teachers at every public afterschool program in the city were interviewed. One out of two low-income working parents faced barriers to becoming involved in their children's education. Two out of five faced barriers to participating in school meetings, school trips, or school events. Many parents had difficulty finding any time to spend with their children, let alone time to assist them with their schoolwork. The difficulties they faced are described in detail. Implications for educational and labor policy are discussed.     

'It's like saying "coloured" ': understanding and analysing the urban working classes

This paper draws on data from a qualitative project exploring the engagement of working class families in London with childcare. It is a first attempt to throw some light on our usage of the term ‘working class’, and consider what forms ‘working class‐ness’ takes in relation to our respondent families. We discuss some recent sociological literature on the working class(es) in order to understand the emphasises and focuses of other research. We emphasise the heterogeneity of the working class(es), the differences in attitude and experiences based on place, gender, occupational status, education, age and family membership. Then we consider our respondents in relation to their strategies and exercise of agency, their engagement with the labour market, and their embedded‐ness in social networks. We conclude that one way of understanding the lives of urban working class families is to consider the extent to which they ‘manage or struggle to cope’, a focus which emphasises process, activity and the differential degrees of agency which the respondents are able to exercise.     

Analysis of Family Drawings:

The Draw-A-Family Test was administered to 108 Swedish children. Fifty four children were from divorce families (27 girls, 27 boys) and 54 (27 girls, 27 boys) from intact families. The age of the subjects was ranging between 10 and 12 years. Focus was placed on which family members were included in the drawings, the prevailing mood of the figures, and on the tendencies to make profile drawings and to omit hands and feet. The results showed that divorce boys omitted their siblings more often than did girls or non-divorce boys, suggesting more intensive sibling rivalry. However, both divorce and non-divorce children usually included the father and depicted him as being as large or larger than the mother. It appears that in this way children express the important role that their fathers continue to play in their lives. The findings reflected a larger degree of family relationship problems in the divorce group. These problems were expressed by the omission of family members and also by the separation of one or more figures from the rest, by hidden or omitted hands and feet, and by figures drawn in profile.     

传统古训是否适合现代父母?(英文)

"穷养儿,富养女"是一句中国古训,意思是说过去家里的男孩长大后是要挑大梁,继承、振兴家业的,而女孩将来终究是要嫁人的,因此对男孩要严格教育,磨练他们的意志,而对女孩则要相对宽松,宠爱她们。几千年来,这句话一直被许多人奉为家教经典,那么现代人如何理解这句老话,其中是否有什么道理和启发呢?对此,人们各抒己见。     

The reproduction of gender: housework and attitudes towards gender equality in the home among Swedish boys and girls

The housework Swedish girls and boys age 10 to 18 do, and their attitudes towards gender equality in the home are studied. One aim is to see whether the work children do is gendered and if so, whether they follow their parents', often gendered, pattern in housework. A second aim is to see whether children's attitudes are influenced by their parents' attitudes and practices. When it comes to issues like these, Sweden is of special interest because in 1995, Sweden was appointed the most gender equal country in the world by the United Nations. The data used were the Swedish Child Level of Living Survey 2000 (see http://www.sofi.su.se/LNU2000/english.htm), a data set that includes extensive first-hand information from both children and their parents. The results indicate that girls and boys in two-parent families are more prone to engage in gender atypical work the more their parent of the same sex engages in this kind of work. The fact that girls still do more housework than boys in all families independent of, among other things, the parental division of housework and the mother's educational level indicates that housework to some extent signifies gender also to children. However, no clear relation is found between the parents' division of work and the child's attitude towards gender equality in the home. Neither is there any clear relation between the parents' attitude towards gender equality in the home and the children's attitude to the same topic.     

How are we doing? Results of receiving family-driven feedback on alliances between families and residential treatment staff over time

Developing working alliances and actively engaging families is essential for youth success in residential treatment. Ideally, these alliances can be fostered by sharing feedback with residential staff about their alliances with families over time to encourage more family engagement and better outcomes for families of youth in treatment. This study measured alliances between families and residential treatment family workers and assessed the effectiveness of an unobtrusive method of sharing working alliance feedback with residential treatment staff. Results revealed that family members rated the working alliance higher than family workers, and that these discrepancies in scores converged over time. In addition, higher family member ratings of the alliance predicted higher family functioning, and longer time in treatment resulted in higher family functioning scores. Lastly, receiving feedback about the working alliance resulted in higher family member ratings of the alliance with their family worker.     

Clinical Management of Gender Dysphoria in Young Boys

In this study the clinical management of young boys (average age 6) who are gender identity disordered and who present with genital self injurious behavior is discussed. It is argued that the symptom of genital mutilation is often missed because it is not asked for in the clinical interview. A review of the literature, and case history material, suggests that the symptom of genital self injurious behavior is only found among children who are gender dysphoric. Young boys who experience severe gender dysphoria also have a serious affective disorder which must be addressed. In order to address the clinical emergency and to assist the families in getting the necessary treatment for their children specific recommendations for interventions are made.     

Family Functioning and Its Relation to Parental Discipline

The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales (FACES) are one of the most used instruments in the study of family relations, assessing relevant dimensions of family functioning. This study aims to examine the relationship between cohesion, communication and family satisfaction, measured by FACES IV, and the dimensions of discipline inventory (DDI). The sample consisted of 380 subjects (190 adolescents and 190 parents). Fathers are the main users of physical discipline and boys are the main targets of most discipline practices. Regarding the association of the DDI and FACES, families with a balanced cohesion use less punitive discipline, families with enmeshed cohesion and families with disengaged cohesion have higher and less use of the analyzed disciplinary practices respectively. Considering the results, it may be useful to work together with families to promote the use of positive disciplinary methods and work their communication skills in order to improve cohesion and consequently family satisfaction.     

Gender Differences in Stories of Violence and Caring by Preschool Children in Post-Divorce Families: Implications for Social Competence

Themes of violence and caring in the spontaneous play of preschool-aged children in response to a revised version of the Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990) were analyzed in relation to their social behavior in child-care settings. All children (n = 66, 39 boys) lived in post-divorce families, primarily in the custody of their mothers. Some story enactments of violence predicted negative social behavior in child-care for both boys and girls. Other story enactments were strongly associated with gender and did not uniformly predict social behavior, suggesting that gender socialization plays a significant role in children's play representations of violence and caring. Implications for children's development and the interpretation of children's play behavior are discussed.     

Postdivorce Relationships in Families and Children's Psychosocial Adjustment

Divorced mothers and their school-aged children in 50 single-mother families and 37 stepfather families reported on mothers' ex-partner relationships, children's relationships with both parents, and children's well-being. A 2 (family structure) × 2 (gender) multivariate analysis of variance revealed a main effect of gender: Mothers with sons report higher levels of ex-partner relationship satisfaction. An interaction effect was also found: Boys in single-mother families report more acceptance and fewer conflicts than boys in stepfather families. Multiple regression analysis revealed that mother–ex-partner relationships are associated with children's problem behavior, whereas child–nonresidential father relationships are associated with positive aspects of children's well-being. The results indicate that family structure itself is not associated with child adjustment. What matters most is the quality of family relationships.     

Twenty american families' stories of adaptation: adoption of children from Russian and Romanian institutions

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how 20 families have adapted after adopting children between the ages of 3 and 5 years from eastern European institutions. The researcher visited a Romanian orphanage and then interviewed 20 families about their experiences with the adoption process and with family adaptation postadoption. Several themes emerged from the parents' stories regarding their search for support and resources to aid in parenting their children. Family therapists who are interested in working with families who adopt internationally from institutional settings can learn from the stories of parents.     

Older adults with Alzheimer's disease in a faith community

In the first phase of this study, focus groups were conducted with 12 clergy to explore how to meet the needs of Alzheimer's disease patients and their families. The clergy reported that although they do reach out to these families, they have not received formal training, so they often do not know what families need. Members of their congregations who are trained in working with Alzheimer's patients need to partner with the clergy in reaching out to these families. Although this article mainly focuses on the clergy's perspective, in the second phase of the study, caregivers and early-stage Alzheimer's patients were asked to describe their experiences of spiritual connections related to Alzheimer's disease.     

The Masculine Habitus as ‘Distributed Cognition’: A Case Study of 5‐ to 6‐Year‐Old Boys in an English Inner‐City,Multi‐Ethnic Primary School

This article provides a case study demonstrating the active role that 5‐ to 6‐year‐old boys in an English inner‐city, multi‐ethnic primary school play in the appropriation and reproduction of their masculine identities. It is argued that the emphasis on physicality, violence and racism found among the boys cannot be understood without reference to the immediate contexts of the local community and the school within which they are located. In making this argument the article draws upon and applies the concept of the habitus and develops this with the notion of ‘distributed cognition’ as proposed in sociocultural theory. Some of the implications of this analysis for working with boys in early years settings are discussed in the conclusion. Copyright © 2006 The Author(s).     

Post-adoption service need and access: Differences between international,kinship and non-kinship foster care

Post-adoption services are important to bolster a family's commitment to their adopted children, thus avoiding potential problems following adoption finalization. It is vitally important to assess post-adoption services in an effort to ensure families are provided with effective supports for successful family functioning. Few investigators have assessed service needs and access according to adoptive family type. This study focuses on international, foster care kin and foster care non-kin adoption types. Utilizing the National Survey of Adoptive Parents, this research investigated twelve post-adoption services. Two comparisons were made with respect to whether, according to the adoptive parents, post-adoption services were received or not received: 1) international and foster care non-kin adoptive families; and 2) foster care kin and foster non-kin adoptive families. International non-kin families were more likely to indicate they discussed post-adoption services than foster care non-kin families, particularly among those who were white, had adopted boys, had no other children in the home, and whose socio-economic background was lower. When comparing foster care non-kin families with kinship families, non-kin families tended to receive more desired services than kinship families, with kinship families indicating less need for services. Policy efforts and program design need to focus on reaching out to families and developing effective post-adoption services based on the expressed needs of families.