Choosing to be Childfree: Research on the Decision Not to Parent

Decisions about whether to have or rear children, as well as perceptions of people who choose not to parent are linked to a variety of social processes and identities. We review literature from a variety of disciplines that focuses on voluntarily childless adults. Early research in this area, emerging in the 1970s, focused almost exclusively on heterosexual women and utilized a childless rather than a childfree framework. Later work saw a shift to a “childless‐by‐choice” or “childfree” framework, emphasizing that for some, not being parents is an active choice rather than an accident. While more recent research includes lesbian women and gay and heterosexual men, greater diversity within studies of adults without children is one suggested focus for future work in this area.     

Assessing Risk of Victimization through Epidemiological Concepts: An Alternative Analytic Strategy Applied to Routine Activities Theory*

Cet article fait appel aux concepts et aux techniques de l'épidémiologie pour examiner la capacité de la théorie des activités routinières à expliquer le risque de victimisation criminelle. En allant au-delà de l'identification des facteurs de risque de victimisation, les auteurs se demandent comment les changements des facteurs de causalité pourraient influer sur ce risque dans la population générale. lis trouvent que les prédicteurs établis avec des méthodes plus traditionnelles expliquent la plus grande partie du risque, mais que certains sont moins importants pour la compréhension du risque de la population dans l'ensemble en raison du petit nombre de personnes qui leur est associé, tandis que d'autres sont plus utiles parce qu'ils s'appliquent à un plus grand nombre de personnes.
This paper draws upon concepts and techniques from epidemiology to examine the ability of routine activities theory to account for the risk of criminal victimization. Moving beyond the identification of risk factors for victimization, we ask how changes to causal factors might affect the risk of victimization in the general population. We find that predictors identified with more traditional methods account for the bulk of the risk, but that some are less important for understanding overall population risk because of the small numbers of people associated with them, while others are more helpful because they apply to larger numbers.     

Status and Career Decision: An Analysis of the Time Dimension*

This paper reports on a study which examined the input parental status has on the timing of career decision. Data for this study were collected by means of questionnaire from graduating seniors from 24 colleges and universities. It was hypothesized that students from upper-status parents would choose their future career later in their life than would students with lower-status parents. Although the data tend to support the hypothesis, it seems to hold more true for females than for males. This difference was attributed to the varying emphasis placed upon the responsibility for the achievement of success.     

An Endangered Species: The Female as Addict or Member of an Addict Family*

When a woman is the identified addict or a member of a drug/alcohol abusing family system she often experiences considerably more psychiatric abuse than her male cohorts. This paper surveys some of the representative literature reflecting attitudes and practices imposed on these women. Explanations based on a study of healthy family systems are given with interpretations anchored in cultural rather than sexist phenomena. It is suggested that women need to be understood according to the complex interlocking transactions within family systems.     

Actor's Status and Conformity to Norms: A Study of Students' Evaluations of Instructors*

The relationship between behavior and interpersonal evaluation is examined from the perspective of role theory. We hypothesize that others' evaluation of a role actor–his or her status–is related to the actor's conformity to their norms. Students in 50 university classes were asked (a) to indicate their expectations for a “typical university instructor” by filling out a 55-item questionnaire which incorporates Jackson's Return Potential Model for measuring normative role phenomena, or (b) to judge the frequency of the class instructor's behavior on the same 55 items. An index was constructed which indicates the degree to which each instructor's behaviors conform to students' expectations for a typical instructor. This index correlated with students' mean evaluation of each instructor: his or her status (r=.64, p<.001). We demonstrate, however, that this relationship between conformity and status holds more strongly for intense, powerful norms, and only for instructors with a moderate rather than a relatively high reputation, that is, estimated status.     

The Mind of a Stranger: A Philosophic Contribution to Bi-Cultural Psychotherapy

Several philosophic paradigms reveal different ideas about how we know who we are to ourselves and to others. Emerging out of a plethora of notions, one area of philosophic thought, the intersubjective philosophy of Donald Davidson and Marcia Cavell reveals a perspective which I found significant in deepening psychoanalytic theory as well as work with patients, including people from other cultures. Two Chinese patients are presented, and the usefulness of the philosophic and psychoanalytic theory addressing their issues are discussed.     

Social Guardianship and Social Isolation: An Application and Extension of Lifestyle/Routine Activities Theory to Rural Adolescents*

Abstract Although the overall crime rate dropped between 1993 and 2000, both adolescent violence and violent crime in rural areas has been on the rise. However, little research has been conducted on the determinants of rural violence using targeted regional samples of rural youth. This study examines the applicability of lifestyle/routine activities (RA) theory to a large sample of rural adolescents from Alabama. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that: (1) social guardianship reduces the risk of assault and robbery victimization; (2) blacks are less likely to be assault and robbery victims; and (3) males are less likely to be robbery victims. Social isolation at the individual level is also a strong risk factor for both robbery and assault victimization. The theoretical implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Nonverbal Reactions to an Attractive Stranger: The Role of Mimicry in Communicating Preferred Social Distance

The present study was conducted to determine the extent to which different nonverbal behaviors were associated with romantic interest in a highly attractive confederate and whether these behaviors differed as a function of relationship status and self-reported love for one’s partner. Mimicry was positively associated with romantic interest in the confederate, and consistent with the devaluation hypothesis, mimicry was negatively associated with self-reported love for one’s partner, suggesting that mimicry functions to signal preferred social distance. In addition, smiling and vocal pleasantness emerged as important affiliative nonverbal behaviors. The present results suggest that mimicry acts as a relationship-maintenance mechanism, one that is expressed automatically, unintentionally, and nonconsciously. Implications for the role of nonconscious mimicry in romantic attraction and relationship-maintenance processes are discussed.     

The Influence of an Untoward Public Act on Conceptions of Self1

This study focuses on the process of making sense of the experience of being exposed to. It looks at audience interpretations of the experience of having viewed a stranger's genitals in a public place and the effects on viewer self concepts. The study is based on in-depth interviews with 25 adult women. Findings indicate that women typically incorporate their definitions of the experience into their self-images which, as a result, are impuned and discredited. Women often saw the self as having played a role in the production of the event. Although women generally were critical in their assessment of themselves and their management of the situation they used vocabularies of non-responsibility when recounting the experience thereby reducing the likelihood of criticism by others.     

Not Taking It Any More: Women Who Report or File Complaints of Sexual Harassment*

Signaler un cas de harcèlement sexuel n'est pas évident. Pour comprendre les conditions dans lesquelles les femmes le font, un sondage téléphonique et des archives ont été analysés provenant de la Commission canadienne des droits de la personne. La vulnérabilité personnelle est un critère négligeable. Les femmes ont tendance à déposer des plaintes lorsque le cas de harcèlement implique un supérieur, plusíeurs harceleurs ou que l'agression est grave. Les femmes qui portent plainte éprouvent plus de difficultés ulterieurement que celles qui préferent se taire. Le fait de denoncer un cas de harcèlement a des répercussions negatives sur le travail et dans la vie personnelle. La plupart des femmes quittent leur emploi une fois la plainte déposéd. Des variables pertinentes sur le plan juridique permettent de prévoir Tissue d'une plainte. Reporting sexual harassment is not a common practice. To understand conditions under which women report harassment and its effects, two data sets were analyzed: a telephone survey of Canadian working women and archival data from the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Personal vulnerability, such as age, marital status or income, has little impact. Women tend to file external complaints when harassment involves a supervisor, multiple harassers or is severe. Women who report experience more adverse outcomes than non-reporters. Reporting has a negative effect on work and personal life; the vast majority leave the job where the complaint occurred. Legally relevant variables, such as severity or psychological distress, predict the settlement of complaints.     

Evidence of a Housing Decision Chain in Rural Community Vitality*

Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore and explain the role housing plays in rural community vitality. Community vitality refers to economic strength and social well‐being. In spring 2002 we collected primary interview data from informants in 134 small rural communities in nine north‐central states and identified related secondary data from the U.S. census. We developed a structural‐equation‐path model, which supported a “housing decision chain” that influenced community vitality. Based on this research, local housing decisions do play an important role in community vitality. Strong local leaders use housing planning to secure funding to produce a change in the quantity of housing, which in turn positively influences community vitality. Housing inventory also mediated the effects of total population and percentage population change on community vitality, indicating that housing supply is a fundamental ingredient in community growth strategies. These findings support the conclusion that a combination of housing plans and strategies orchestrated by skilled, committed leadership strengthens rural communities. Heretofore the ling between housing and community vitality has not been investigated; evidence‐based data has been missing from the debate on viable rural community‐development strategies.     

Couple Counselling Outcomes in an Australian Not for Profit: Evidence for the Effectiveness of Couple Counselling Conducted Within Routine Practice

Over 30 randomised controlled trials have shown the efficacy of couple therapy under controlled conditions. However only four studies explore effectiveness of couple therapy as commonly practised in the community (i.e., routine practice). These studies suggest effectiveness is about half that reported in randomised controlled trials. Further, there are no published couple therapy effectiveness data currently from Australia or New Zealand. This is troubling because (1) couple distress has negative effects on individual adults, couples, and families; (2) funders increasingly want proof of return on financial investment; and (3) clients want hope that their emotional investment in therapy is worthwhile. The first aim of this paper is to report the outcomes of a milestone multi‐centre study of over 1,500 Relationships Australia clients attending couple counselling. It outlines a simple, intuitive method for assessing effectiveness of couple counselling in routine practice that may motivate others to conduct effectiveness studies. The study used a cross‐sectional design and assessed current couple satisfaction and retrospective recall of couple satisfaction before attending counselling. Results revealed a moderate effect size improvement in relationship satisfaction. The results support previous published studies of couple therapy effectiveness in routine practice. The second aim of the paper is to increase interest in others doing similar research by addressing key barriers to the implementation of effectiveness studies within routine practice. These barriers include administrative burden, integration across services, and conceptual buy‐in by practitioners. The use of the retrospective measure of ‘pre counselling’ couple satisfaction measure overcomes these barriers in part. The paper concludes with a discussion of design limitations and suggestions for counselling agencies seeking to conduct their own effectiveness studies.     

To Sell or Not to Sell: Landscapes of Resistance to Neoliberal Globalization in Transylvania

What can resistance to corporate globalization mean for post-socialist citizens? This article examines the case of Rosia Montana in Transylvania to answer this question. One of the mining places in Transylvania that sits on gold and other metals, Rosia is a semi-urban village and the oldest documented community in Romania. After 1989, its resources made it appealing to a mining corporation interested in developing the largest open-cast cyanide leach gold mine in Europe. This article makes an analysis of personal stories of resistance to the corporate mining project addressing global developmentalism from a critical perspective. Stories testify that both national feelings of rootedness (cultural struggle) and the support for corporate mining are not forms of ideological engagement manipulated towards some programmatic ends. It may be the in-between space occupied by former communist countries where the Western liberal discourse is not yet naturalized, the space where a test of capitalism is taken. The ambiguity and vacillation of locals with regard to the market space is a micro-political formulation of a macro-political tension between ‘culture’ and ‘politics’ that allows for criticism to emerge through aesthetic avoidance of ideological closure and indeterminacy.

¿Qué puede significar la resistencia a la globalización corporativa para los ciudadanos postsocialistas? Para contestar a esta pregunta, este artículo examina el caso de Rosia Montana en Transilvania. Rosia, uno de los lugares mineros en Transilvania que se sitúa por encima del oro y otros metales, es una aldea semiurbana y la más antigua de las comunidades documentadas en Romania. Después de 1989, sus recursos se hicieron muy atractivos a una corporación minera interesada en desarrollar la mayor mina de oro de cielo abierto con técnica de lixiviación en pila con cianuro de Europa. Este artículo hace un análisis sobre las historias personales de resistencia al proyecto de minería corporativa tratando al desarrollismo global desde una perspectiva crítica. Historias testifican que tanto los sentimientos nacionales de arraigo (lucha cultural) y el soporte para la minería corporativa no son formas de compromiso ideológico manipulado hacia ciertos fines pragmáticos. Puede ser el espacio intermedio ocupado por previos países comunistas en donde no se han naturalizado todavía el tema liberal de occidente, el espacio a donde se toma un examen capitalista. La ambigüedad y la incertidumbre de los locales con respecto al espacio del mercado es un planteamiento de una tensión macropolítica entre ‘culturas’ y ‘políticas’ que da lugar a la crítica para surgir a través de la evasión estética de cierre e indeterminación ideológica.

抵制公司全球化对于后社会主义时代的公民来说意味着什么？本文考察位于特兰西瓦尼亚的罗西亚蒙塔纳之例来回答这一问题。作为特兰西瓦尼亚拥有金矿和其他金属的矿区之一,罗西亚是个半城市化的村落且是罗马尼亚最早造册的社区。1989年后,矿产资源让罗西亚引起了志在发展欧洲最大露天氰化物浸金开采业的采矿集团的兴趣。本文以批判性观点对体现全球发展主义的公司采矿项目中的个人经历进行了一项分析。这些故事证明,民族情感的根深蒂固（文化抗争）和对公司采矿的支持都不是受控确立一些纲领性目标的意识形态参与的形式。它也许是被西方自由主义话语还未本土化的前共产党国家占据的中间地带,是资本主义实验正在进行的地带。当地人对市场空间的暧昧和踌躇态度,是一种通过对意识形态闭合性与不确定性的审美规避,而允许出现批评的“文化”与“政治”之间宏观政治张力的微观政治表述形式。

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To Farm or Not to Farm: Rural Dilemma in Russia and Ukraine

Abstract Employing primary data collected in the summer of 1991 in a representative survey of two farming areas in the territory of the republics of Russia and Ukraine, this study addresses the issue of the future involvement of collective and state-farm workers in private farming. Through the use of a LISREL model, it is argued that those who have been involved in small-scale private farming show no interest in expanding their farm operations or in buying or leasing additional land for farming. Moreover, it is maintained that those who intend to become farmers in privately owned and operated farms are more likely to be young, educated, and to some extent, ideologically committed to the free market system. A combination of structural constraints and a lack of knowledge regarding what to expect in the future can be viewed as possible explanations of the answers provided by respondents.     

Not either/or but both/and: An Academic/field partnership in practice

Abstract

The relationship between academia and the field and between theory and practice is often characterised in both the literature and the everyday practice of social work as either one or the other. In this paper, the author argues for a constructive integration of both/and rather than either/or. The paper reports on a constructive organisational partnership between academia and a field of practice that supports a both/and view.     

When Freedom is Not an Endless Meeting: A New Look at Efficiency in Consensus‐Based Decision Making

It is axiomatic among scholars of participatory democracy that consensus‐based decision making is inefficient, yet no study has systematically assessed that claim. This article examines the efficiency of consensus decision making in 12 social movement groups from the German autonomous and nonviolence movements. Data were analyzed from 62 semistructured interviews regarding how long it took each group to make a typical decision and what types of decisions were the easiest and most difficult to make. A measure of inclusiveness was included to determine whether efficiency was attained by silencing dissent. Most decisions were made in less than two hours. Factors were identified that distinguished more and less efficient groups.     

Decision making in networks: an experiment on structure effects in a group dictator game

In this study we examine the impact of communication networks on decision making in five-person committees. Within the framework of a group dictator game the committees must reach a majority choice for one collective transfer. We focus on the effect of the group structure on the collective decisions, and explore the effect of incomplete and asymmetric information on voting outcomes by defining three different networks structures: the unconnected network, a circle and a star. As expected the connections improved coordination within the committees, however, we find no significant difference between the network forms concerning the transfers chosen.