The Search for Fuller Mutuality and Self Experiences in a Women's Psychotherapy Group

This article examines the reconnection experience of four women, mutually sharing their feelings, thoughts, and implicit relational knowing of each other within the group treatment setting. Initially, Carol, Marcia, Helen, and Nancy were in a six-month psychotherapy group, describing and recounting their histories and life narratives of rape, abuse, neglect, and generally traumatic childhoods. Four years later, they met again, just to see how everyone was doing. The social worker hired a camera-woman to film the five hours of this re-engaging group process. What emerged was a dynamic example of intersubjectivity, affect attunement, emotional regulation, and the power of mutuality and intrinsic responsiveness.     

Socio‐Emotional Context and Adolescents' Decision Making: The Experience of Regret and Relief After Social Comparison

Many studies indicate that adolescents are hypersensitive to rewards in salient socio‐emotional contexts. However, little is known about adolescents' sensitivity to complex negative emotions. To study the development of the ability to experience regret and relief, children, adolescents, and young adults performed a gambling task in a socio‐emotional context of competition, in which they were informed that their outcome would be compared with that of a competitor. The context of competition impacted the feelings of regret and relief in adolescents. When adolescents experienced an initial negative outcome, their feeling of relief was reinforced. However, they did not seem to experience regret in the social context of competition. These results provide a possible explanation for adolescents' enhanced risk seeking.     

Children in self-care: Homeless in the afternoons or socially provided for?

This study examines the adaptation of children in self-care compared with children in adult-care to out-of-school relationship contexts and solitude. Thirty-six French children aged 9–11 years were interviewed about their out-of-school activities and responses to solitude. The theoretical framework integrates Weiss' (1974) notion of relational provisions and Valsiner's (1984, 1987) constraint theory to understand individual adaptation in the social and solitary contexts of self-care. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed complexity and variability of the structural organization and children's adaptation in self-care contexts. Although self-care children reported more activities outdoors alone than did adult-care children, the development of the capacity to be alone may protect children's psychological well-being. Moreover, the inherent structure of self-care, i.e., parental absence, demanded that children lead the promotion of their own development in self-care contexts. In a few extreme instances, children were indeed homeless in the afternoon.This study was carried out with the Self-Care Research Team including Professors Janine Beaudichon, Pierre Coslin, and Annick Cartron of theLaboratoire de Psychologie du Developpement et de L'education de L'enfant, Universite Paris V, La Sorbonne and was funded by the French Ministry of Education.     

Children of Gamblers Anonymous members

One hundred and five children of Gamblers Anonymous (GA) members and pathological gamblers in treatment were surveyed concerning behavioral, psychological, and emotional problems as well as parental use of violence. The results were compared with control groups and Jacobs' study of high school students who reported they were children of compulsive gamblers. Children of known pathological gamblers were less likely to admit to moderate or heavy use of cocaine/crack and less likely to gamble more than they could afford than either Jacobs' children of compulsive gamblers or controls. Children of pure gamblers looked more like Jacobs' controls than the self-reported children of compulsive gamblers he surveyed on several measures. Children of multiple-problem families are more likely than children of pure gamblers to smoke tobacco, get drunk, overeat, sleep worse than most people, have an unhappy present state of mind, and feel more insecure, inferior, or inadequate than most. GA and treatment children as a whole were more likely to say they had an unhappy childhood, and feel a need for success, acceptance, and approval than Jacobs' children of compulsive gamblers or his controls. Using Strauset al.'s conflict tactics scale, children of known pathological gamblers were more subject to parental violence and abuse than nationally normed samples. On most measures, the children of multiple-problem families fared worse than children of pure gamblers. However, there were no differences in the expressions of anger, hurt, sadness, depression, confusion, and other feelings between these groups concerning their parents' gambling. Treatment implications of the findings are discussed.The authors would like to thank Mary Heineman, M.S.W., and Valerie Lorenz, Ph.D., for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

The second sex: Women's place in polling language

Recent research suggests that gender nouns such as man, and pronouns such as he,· are not generic forms referring to humanity, but often refer exclusively to males. The use of male terms in a variety of role contexts serves to deny females identification with these contexts, and thereby stereotypes the roles of men and women. Public opinion polling, through its use of the questionnaire, represents an important social context where gender-biased phrasing can have an adverse impact on a large segment of society. A content analysis of polling questions from 1936–1973 was undertaken to ascertain their gender representation. Those questions containing gender referrants constituted ten percent of the sample. Questions were analyzed for their gender content in the areas of social, political, and economic life. The findings show a differential use of male and female terms, with the use of female gender most apparent in contexts traditionally defined as female: home and family. When females are mentioned in non-traditional contexts, they appear most often in competition with men. Male pronouns appear exclusively in contexts traditionally defined as male: work and politics. The methodological and social implications of these findings for survey research are discussed.     

Beyond the body in a box: Visualizing contexts of children's action

Social scientists refer routinely to a range of social and cultural contexts in trying to understand children's lives, but this range may not include what children think or say about what they do. In this article, I examine how two girls thought about their efforts to mummify a Barbie Doll as part of a school project. Attending to what the girls said about their project led me to regard strings of related activities—as defined by kids—as an important but neglected context of children's action. After reviewing how the girls’ work cut across the contexts familiar to social scientists, I examine the implications of “activity series” for visualizing kids and their contexts, in theory and in photographs.     

The Attachment Partnership as Conceptual Base for Exploring the Impact of Child Maltreatment

According to attachment theory children learn the critical importance of trusting others and valuing oneself through communication with an attachment figure about separations and other threats to the child's sense of security (Bowlby, 1982). Lessons learned in the attachment partnership (Marvin, 1977; Ainsworth, 1992) about perceiving a relationship partner's point of view, and communicating emotional experience, are generalized to social relationships outside the home. Maltreatment is likely to harm children's emotional and social development through impairment of these key social skills. Relevant literature from attachment theory and research, including research on child maltreatment from an attachment perspective, is reviewed. Implications and directions for clinical intervention are discussed.     

The impact of the 2nd intifada on Israeli Arab and Jewish social workers

This paper presents an analysis of interviews with Israeli social workers conducted as part of a study investigating the impact of the 2nd Intifada on the work, clients, views and feelings of Israeli Arab and Jewish social workers. The data were generated from 58 interviews with social workers who volunteered to do so. Coming from a sociological perspective, the study focused on how a violent political conflict impacts on two groups of social workers who live and work in the same society, but are likely to have different views about it. Their actions, views, well-being, and values were researched in a context likely to test universal social work values. The findings document a high level of tension and anxiety generated for both groups, very negative impact on clients’ life and views, largely negative effect on welfare services, co-existing with continuous professional development. Social workers’ views of their own national group and the other national group within the Intifada context highlight primarily the empathy with one's own group while lacking in empathy towards the other group, coupled with suspicion and some hostility. The struggle to maintain professional values is expressed only by a minority. The discussion and conclusions look at what social work can learn from the findings in understanding such complex contexts and the response to the challenge they pose to social work.     

From Caregivers to Caretakers: The Impact of Family Roles on Ethnicity Among Children of Korean and Chinese Immigrant Families

Scholars have long examined the effects of family and community on ethnicity, but they have less to say on why some children may be more receptive to the positive influences of ethnic communities than siblings within the same family. As more immigrants struggle to adapt to the needs and demands of the new global economy, many families are turning to alternative caregiving arrangements that significantly impact the long-term ethnic identities of the second generation. The article considers how adult-age children of immigrants negotiate the emotional disconnects created by these varying contexts of care depending on their individual role within the family and how it shapes their views on ethnicity and culture in their own adult lives. The study focuses in-depth on fourteen semi-structured, in-person interviews with adult-age children of Asian immigrant families in the NY-NJ metropolitan area. Depending on their social status, children of immigrants are integrated into their families: as cultural brokers expected to mediate and care for their family members, as familial dependents who rely on their parents for traditional caregiving functions, or as autonomous caretakers who grow up detached from their parents. I argue that because of their intense engagement with family, cultural brokers describe their ethnic-centered experiences as evoking feelings of reciprocated empathy, whereas on the other end, autonomous caretakers associate their parents’ ancestral culture with ethnocentric exclusion. Depending on how they are able to negotiate the cultural divide, familial dependents generally view their parents’ culture and immigrant experiences through the hierarchical lens of emulation.     

‘Moving In’: Difficulties and Support in the Transition to Higher Education for In-service Social Care Students

This paper reports on the difficulties and supports experienced by social care practitioners within the educational institution during their transition to higher education. A life transition such as entering higher education causes stress for individuals and social support is essential in successfully dealing with this stress (Anderson et al., 2012). Fifteen social care practitioners were interviewed twice during and once at the end of their first academic year in college. Findings indicate that participants were reluctant to approach staff for help despite anxiety about classes and assignments. Discussion and debate in class helped learning and contributed to feelings of being valued. ‘Moving in’ was a slow process with a physical and emotional impact for which they were unprepared. Student peers were a source of emotional and cognitive support but developing relationships took time. By the end of the transition phase participants noted changes and gains in themselves and their work practices. Recommendations are made to aid the transition to higher education for in-service social care practitioners.     

Kinship Strategies and Self-Sufficiency Among Single Mothers by Choice: Post Modern Family Ties

This article discusses findings from an on-going study of 50 single mothers by choice: women aged 21 to 50 when they become mothers, who are self-supporting economically, and who have chosen to become mothers as unmarried women. The interviews include women (both heterosexual and lesbian) who vary widely by race and social class. We argue that this group of women demonstrate ways of maintaining economic self-sufficiency—relying neither on the state nor on a male provider—through creative efforts at networking, resource sharing, and non-economic exchanges. We find that the route the women take to motherhood (adoption, known donor pregnancies, anonymous donor insemination, or accidental pregnancy) has a strong impact on the makeup of specific kin relationships between the mothers, their children, and others; yet all the mothers strategically forge or foster close ties which enable them to raise their children independently.     

Perspectives of elementary school educators in Japan,South Korea,Taiwan and the US on disability,stigmatization and children's developing self Part 1: Defining the problem in cultural context

The stigmatization of individuals with disabilities is a widespread social justice issue. This paper introduces a study of disability, stigmatization and self for children with disabilities and their typically-developing peers. It is the first of two companion papers. It examines the problem of stigmatization from the perspectives of experienced elementary school educators practicing in diverse cultural contexts. We conducted cross-cultural analyses of individual, audio recorded interviews with 26 Japanese, 43 Korean, 16 Taiwanese and 18 US educators, including school social workers. Educators from all four cultural groups described disability and stigma as challenging children's development of self: children with disabilities may experience the self as isolated and inadequate, and typically-developing peers may experience the self as lacking culturally expected values of empathy and respect. Educators' understandings of children's experiences also were culturally nuanced. Educators variously described children with disabilities as experiencing a sense of not belonging [Japan], loss of motivation [South Korea], too much shame [Taiwan], and low self-esteem [US]. They variously described typically-developing children as challenged to show empathy [Japan], include children with disabilities in their peer group [South Korea], develop benevolence [Taiwan], and show respect for individual differences [US]. We contextualize educators' perceptions within their specific sociocultural-historical contexts. Our second paper will focus on solutions; specifically, educators' perspectives on how to minimize stigmatization and support the development of self for children with disabilities and their typically-developing peers. Together, these companion papers provide social workers with valuable perspectives for eliminating the stigmatization of children with disabilities in future generations.     

Self-perceived unpopularity: Its relationship to emotional and behavioral problems

Childhood unpopularity has been a focus of study but earlier studies have not highlighted children's self-perceptions and their relationship to childhood adaptation. The authors studied 404 children preschool to third grade to examine early risk and current factors associated with feelings of unpopularity. Children who perceived themselves as unpopular in grade three experienced multiple problems in functioning, although they were largely unobtrusive silent sufferers. Self-perceived unpopularity was most strongly related to current factors and served as a marker of emotional difficulties. Implications for identification of these vulnerable children and suggestions for future research are presented.     

Modeling Social Processes: Some Lessons from Sports

Sports events can provide helpful models for thinking about social processes. DiMaggio's hitting streak in baseball, for example, raises serious questions about how the causes of relatively uncommon social events are typically studied. The hitting streak also directs our attention to considering models that generate a distribution of outcomes in a population of social units. The series of games leading to a football championship is relevant for approaching the role of complex chains of events in leading to a given outcome (where each individual sequence itself has a low probability of occurring). A model of changing templates suggests a more realistic way of thinking about the linkages over time from an initial starting point to a given outcome. Another sports example, based on the application of a binomial model to the outcome of a series of games, suggests that we should think of chance as a dependent variable that is influenced by—among other factors—the nature of the social structure. Also examined are the special problems in explaining any specific outcome.     

The politics of fear and empathy: emotional ambivalence in ‘host’ children and youth discourses about migrants in Cyprus

This article looks at the emotion discourses among 30 Greek-Cypriot children and youth interviewees when they describe their feelings about migrants in Cyprus. It looks at how migrant representations and narratives are highly emotional constructions that children and youth utilize to make sense of their views about how migrants are different or similar to themselves. In particular, the article focuses on the simultaneous contradictory positions and feelings of fear and empathy. Two important implications for intercultural education are discussed. First, it is suggested that it is valuable to acknowledge that the emotion work required from ‘host’ children and youth in their interactions with migrants should not be taken for granted. Second, rather than painting a ‘negative’ or ‘positive’ image of children and youth’s responses to migrants – which categorizes children and youth in simplistic ways – it might be more productive to examine how their emotions are linked to ambivalent discourses and inform actions in negotiating the presence of the other and one’s sense of belonging.     

‘Who is in Your Family?’ Italian Children with Non‐heterosexual Parents Talk about Growing Up in a Non‐conventional Household

The paper presents findings from explorative research conducted in Italy with seven 9‐ to 12‐year‐old children with non‐heterosexual parents. The aim was to find out how children describe their family structure, how they talk about their family with peers, and how they experience peers' attitudes towards non‐heterosexual families. Findings show that children have a flexible and inclusive representation of family and they disclose selectively with their peers who don't always consider homosexuality normal and homoparental families ‘real families’. The paper concludes by suggesting that institutional recognition for same‐sex parenting would support children in the everyday work of negotiating diversity.     

Reassessing the developmental needs of children with learning disabilities: Programmatic implications

The complex growth patterns of children with learning disabilities place them at significant emotional and social risk in interpersonal, family, and institutional relationships. Programmatic interventions that address specific ego functions as well as an approach to a remedial and preventive program design to strengthen social and interactional skills are explored. The author proposes a program design to pair schools with community centers in order to provide opportunities for developing these skills.A version of this article was presented at the NASW School Social Work Conference, New Orleans, LA, January 31-February 3, 1985.     

Work–Family Issues of Mothers of Teenage Children

This paper addresses the question of how families manage the after-school care of younger (11–14) and older (15–17) teenage children. I examine how mothers of teenage children view their after-school care, and how they coordinate their paid work and their family responsibilities to accommodate the lives of their older children. How families, particularly mothers, manage the after-school care of older children is a question that few researchers or policymakers have addressed. In this paper I argue that this is a topic which not only has important policy implications, but also raises basic issues about how work and family are structured in the United States.