Professional status at midcareer: The influence of social and academic origins on lawyers' achievement

Research on intraoccupational status attainment within the legal profession is extensive, but it has not generated consistent findings on the effects of social backgrounds and academic performance in college and law school on types of legal employment. This research has been either carried out on lawyers employed in geographically circumscribed communities or has been limited to particular types of lawyers. This study investigates the effects of social backgrounds and academic achievement on types of legal practice for a national sample of lawyers a quarter of a century after their graduation from college. We find that occupational inheritance and religion predict academic achievement in college and law school, and that these variables in combination influence the allocation of lawyers to solo and firm practice. An important contextual feature structuring legal careers is the population size of the communities in which these lawyers practice.An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Providence, Rhode Island, April 1991. The authors are listed alphabetically.     

Social Support,Coming Out,and Adjustment of Lesbian Mothers in Canada and France

SUMMARY

This study examined the factors associated with individual and relationship well-being, social support, and coming-out of lesbian mothers. We stipulated the existence of three important sources of variations: legal recognition of lesbian families in two distinct countries (Canada and France); mothers' biological status; and donor identity. Sixty-one Canadian couples and 53 French couples completed questionnaires on coming-out, support by family and friends, relationship adjustment and individual well-being. Coming-out and mothers' relationship adjustment were positively associated with social support. Levels of coming-out were higher for mothers in Canada and mothers in unknown donor families. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Constructing an alternative family unit: families living with HIV/AIDS redefine African traditional parenting patterns

This article is based on a study, conducted at Inanda, of caregivers who mainly take care of children that are infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS. ¹ 1. The discussion of this article emanates from a three‐year‐long study that focused on the after‐effects of HIV/AIDS. Six participants from 15 in‐depth interviews are used for the focus of the article. Based on recurring similar characteristics, the other nine participants were excluded. All the participants of the study were Zulu speakers, one of the main languages of the country. I use fictitious names to conceal their identities. It explores the reality and experiences of the family members. The focus of the article is based on data analysed following interviews with the caregivers. Family parenting experience portrays HIV/AIDS caregiving as an intense, emotional and powerful experience, filled with pride and hope as well as exclusion. Findings of the study reflect a change in the definition and practice of parenting. Another finding is that HIV/AIDS is forcing a redefinition of the concept and practice of parenting beyond the traditional boundaries of age, sex and gender. One of the main findings of the study was that the respondents' parenting practices and coping strategies are largely influenced by a strong commitment to the wellbeing of the children. The study found that, in relation to some community members, the respondents have a different parenting style. Their commitment depicts their self‐sacrifice, an indication of some continuity in what is expected of African parenting practice. The thesis of this article is that the HIV/AIDS context is principally responsible for a shift in the understanding of the concept and practice of parenting within an African context.     

Socioeconomic Status and Parenting Priorities: Child Independence and Obedience Around the World

This study investigates the extent to which both national and personal socioeconomic status shape national norms and parenting priorities concerning child socialization. Data came from the European Values Survey, the World Values Survey, and the World Bank Data Catalog, resulting in 227,431 parents from 90 nations across fives study waves (1981–2008). Child independence was more popular in nations with greater wealth and more highly educated populations; obedience was more popular in nations with less wealth and lower percentages of educated and urban populations. Personal socioeconomic status predicted individual parents' prioritization of child independence and obedience; higher social class predicted a greater likelihood of endorsing independence and not endorsing obedience. Time‐slope estimation across study waves revealed that parents' prioritization of independence and obedience may rise over time in developing nations. Results provide implications for education, practice, and policy on cultural variations in parenting.     

Maternal Affective Attachment Bond Facilitators: A Systematized Review of the Literature

Abstract

The maternal perspective of the attachment relationship has been the focus of considerably less research in comparison to the volumes of studies conducted on infant attachment to mothers. A systematized review of the literature was conducted to gather and synthesize all the research published between 1990 and 2017 that has identified correlates and predictors of maternal affective attachment. The review found 37 articles relevant to the research question. Measure information, participant information, study methods, and main findings from the existing literature were presented and organized in tabular format. Limitations of the current literature and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Other Forms of Childhood Adversity on Adulthood Parenting

This study investigated the independent impact of child sexual abuse on five dimensions of adulthood parenting after controlling for other forms of childhood adversity in a predominantly African-American sample of mothers receiving public assistance (N = 483). An analysis of data previously collected as part of the Illinois Families Study Child Well-Being Supplement was conducted to address these questions. Data were analyzed using hierarchal multiple regression. Childhood sexual abuse survivors reported significantly lower rates of parental warmth, higher rates of psychological aggression, and more frequent use of corporal punishment than mothers who had not experienced childhood sexual abuse. These effects, however, were nonsignificant when sociodemographic factors and other forms of childhood adversity were considered. Implications for future research are provided.     

A Comparitive Study of Custodial Mothers and Fathers in the Stabilization Phase of the Divorce Process

Sense of competence, time perspective, and state-anxiety of Israeli custodial mothers and fathers several years past divorce were compared. Both groups had an integrative general and parental sense of competence as well as normal state-anxiety levels in the "stabilization" phase of the divorce process. Mothers rated the past negatively and had higher anger levels than fathers. This was mainly atributed to their adverse postdivorce situation characterized by negative societal attitudes towards maternal employment, work overload, sparse material resources, and diminished opportunities for initiating or maintaining social contacts in this traditional society. While employment contributed to parental sense of competence in mothers, fathers perceived their parental and general competence as being related to marriage. Treatment and research implications were discussed.     

Social Work with Greek Migrants: A personal experience of the issues and dilemmas

Abstract

Parenthood is increasingly a choice being made by lesbians in Australia. Although children conceived in heterosexual relationships have been raised in lesbian-parented households since the 1970s, there is now an emerging trend of children being conceived within lesbian relationships. The emergence of new family forms has implications for individuals, families, and the broader community. The present paper draws on the experiences of 17 lesbian-parented families living in Sydney and regional New South Wales. Adopting an ecological framework towards child development, it argues that both informal and formal support systems are important in enhancing the protective factors to support these families. The paper identifies a number of critical times of vulnerability for these families. At these times, if informal support systems fracture, the formal support system can play a significant protective role towards lesbian-parented families and support lesbian-parented families to achieve optimum family and child wellbeing.     

Mothers behaving badly: chaotic hedonism and the crisis of neoliberal social reproduction

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the significance of the plethora of representations of mothers ‘behaving badly’ in contemporary anglophone media texts, including the films Bad Moms, Fun Mom Dinner and Bad Mom’s Christmas, the book and online cartoons Hurrah for Gin and the recent TV comedy dramas Motherland, The Let Down and Catastrophe. All these media texts include representations of, first, mothers in the midst of highly chaotic everyday spaces where any smooth routine of domesticity is conspicuous by its absence; and second, mothers behaving hedonistically, usually through drinking and partying, behaviour that is more conventionally associated with men or women without children. After identifying the social type of the mother behaving badly (MBB), the article locates and analyses it in relation to several different social and cultural contexts. These contexts are: a neoliberal crisis in social reproduction marked by inequality and overwork; the continual if contested role of women as ‘foundation parents’; and the negotiation of longer-term discourses of female hedonism. The title gestures towards a popular British sitcom of the 1990s, Men Behaving Badly, which popularized the idea of the ‘new lad’; and this article suggests that the new lad’s counterpart, the ladette, is mutating into the mother behaving badly, or the ‘lad mom’. Asking what work this figure does now, in a later neoliberal context, it argues that the mother behaving badly is simultaneously indicative of a widening and liberating range of maternal subject positions and symptomatic of a profound contemporary crisis in social reproduction. By focusing on the classed and racialised dynamics of the MBB – by examining who exactly is permitted to be hedonistic, and how – and by considering the MBB’s limited and partial imagining of progressive social change, the article concludes by emphasizing the urgency of creating more connections between such discourses and ‘parents behaving politically’.     

Towards a family support approach with drug‐using parents: the importance of social worker attitudes and knowledge

Social worker attitudes to drug‐using parents are considered in the context of developing a family support approach with this client group. A survey (ADUPS) is formulated and applied to social work staff in an Outer London Borough and this is complemented by semi‐structured interviews. The study finds that the vast majority of social workers wanted to support drug‐using parents, rejected negative stereotypes of them and were optimistic that supportive approaches could lead to positive outcomes. However, responses in certain areas suggest that for many workers there is some ambivalence or lack of confidence in their stated positions. A minority of social workers seem to hold attitudes that appear to be inconsistent with family support for drug‐using parents, and are likely to discriminate against them. The need for training in work with drug‐using parents is clearly indicated. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parents’ perspectives of social support and social cohesion in urban contexts of diversity

Although provisions for young children are increasingly considered as ideal places to foster an inclusive and socially just society by embracing issues of social support and social cohesion, there is no in-depth understanding of the role these provisions can play in enabling supportive and cohesive encounters in contexts of diversity. Even more striking is the absence of parents’ voices in this discussion. Based on an analysis of qualitative interviews with 18 parents who use childcare services in urban contexts of diversity, our findings show the relevance of ephemeral contacts with diverse people that could offer bridging opportunities in terms of social connectedness to familiarise within diversity while decoding the other in urban contexts of diversity. However, neither bonding nor bridging contacts appear as self-evident. Our research shows that the role of childcare services might be vital in creating light and temporal communities as the prerequisite for social cohesion to flourish, in both individual as well as collective dimensions.     

Playing Well with Others in Kindergarten: The Benefit of Siblings at Home

There are many reasons to expect that children gain something by growing up with siblings, yet there is surprisingly scant evidence of this advantage. Indeed, the vast majority of research assessing the consequences of siblings reports negative effects: Children with many siblings do not perform as well in school as children with few siblings. By focusing almost exclusively on educational outcomes, however, previous studies have neglected ways in which children might benefit from siblings. One possibility, for example, is that siblings promote children's social and interpersonal skills. In this study, we analyze a sample of kindergartners (N = 20,649) from The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 to replicate the often‐noted negative relationship between number of siblings and cognitive outcomes, and then demonstrate that this pattern does not extend to social skills. Findings are consistent with the view that children negotiate peer relationships better when they grow up with at least one sibling.     

“I'll Give You the World”: Socioeconomic Differences in Parental Support of Adult Children

Research has shown that parents with higher socioeconomic status provide more resources to their children during childhood and adolescence. The authors asked whether similar effects associated with parental socioeconomic position are extended to adult children. Middle‐aged parents (N = 633) from the Family Exchanges Study reported support they provided to their grown children and coresidence with grown children (N = 1,384). Parents with higher income provided more emotional and material support to the average children. Grown children of parents with less education were more likely to coreside with them. Parental resources (e.g., being married) and demands (e.g., family size) explained these patterns. Of interest is that lower income parents provided more total support to all children (except total financial support). Lower income families may experience a double jeopardy; each grown child receives less support on average, but parents exert greater efforts providing more total support to all their children.     

Families With Young Children: A Review of Research in the 1990s

Research conducted in the past decade on families with young children concentrated on 5 broad topics: (a) the transition to parenthood; (b) the importance of maternal sensitivity for children's attachment security and subsequent adjustment and social competence; (c) the effectiveness of particular parenting styles and practices; (d) interparental, familial, and broader societal factors influencing parenting behaviors and child adjustment; and (e) the impact of family structure and household composition on children's well‐being. Our review documents substantial diversity in family structures, parenting arrangements, and childrearing values and practices both within and across ethnic and racial groups. Collectively, the evidence suggests that in most families with young children, parents and children seem to be doing well. We conclude that substantial work is required to expand the study of families with young children beyond mother‐child dyads in White, middle‐class, two‐parent, first‐marriage families.     

Parents' Experience of Feeling Socially Supported as Adolescents Come Out as Lesbian and Gay: A Phenomenological Study

Discovering that an adolescent is lesbian or gay is often experienced as a family crisis. Feeling bereft of social support during times of such emotional upheaval and transition may precipitate states of despondency for parents, placing both children and parents at risk. While social support has been discussed as a key mediating agent for psychosocial stress in many areas of parenting, there has been minimal focus on parents of lesbian and gay youth. This phenomenological study explores eight parents' experience of feeling socially supported as they approach living with their adolescents' coming-out. The emergent, thematic structures comprised two dimensions of experience: those prompting social isolation and those creating social reconnection. Translating this knowledge into practice innovations offers ideas for relevant and responsive outreach.     

The politics of foot powder: depoliticizing motherhood during the US War on Terrorism

This article uses the example of mothers of service members during the US War on Terrorism (October 2001 to present) to show how gendered maternal ideology can disempower women to participate in the political process. When their children join the Armed Forces, mothers seek out online support groups where their experiences of war are validated by other mothers. In these groups, they draw on their maternal relationship to war to define what “support” and “politics” mean. Support is defined as unconditional backing of the troops and the war, and political viewpoints are considered unrelated to this maternal support. Adopting militarized motherhood, mothers describe speaking out against the war politically as dangerous to the troops. Doing so hurts their morale, thus jeopardizing their mission and safety. Collectively, mothers police the boundaries of support and politics, and are disempowered to question war, or to engage in the political process during wartime.     

Social Capital and the Interplay of Families and Schools

Families and schools are two primary sources of social capital in the early life course. This study examines the degree to which these different contexts overlap to shape adolescent development. Multilevel modeling on nationally representative data (n = 11,927) revealed that emotionally distant relationships with parents were associated with declining academic achievement over 2 years of secondary schooling and that various aspects of the social environments of schools were associated with increasing academic achievement during this same period. Additionally, adolescents who had more social capital at home often benefited more from social capital at school.     

An Examination of Ever-Divorced Women Who Attempted a Marital Reconciliation Before Becoming Divorced

Using 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Household data, this study provides some insight as to the prevalence and characteristics of ever-divorced white women who attempted a marital reconciliation before becoming divorced. In about 30% of the first marriages that end in divorce in the United States, a period of separation and reconciliation has preceded the woman's divorce. Using multivariate analysis, we find that age at first separation and duration between marriage and first separation have a significant negative relationship with attempting a reconciliation before becoming divorced. Education and age homogamy between the spouses are also significantly related to attempting a reconciliation. The implications of these results are discussed.     

A longitudinal perspective on the differentiated valuation of formal education in Brazil in recent decades

The central theme of this article is the relationship between formal education and earnings from a longitudinal perspective, taking into account indicators of social status. Variations in the respective trajectories, in different age cohorts, and in the comparison among different periods are discussed. The empirical material used is based on the microdata files of official statistics. The main techniques put into practice are those that are most focused on measuring the degree of interdependence among variables and those used for means comparison. Our general hypothesis is that the effects of schooling cannot be grasped in terms of education itself but instead in terms of its relationship to status in the social and power structures. One of this paper's principal observations is that of the general declining trend in the economic value of formal education, which varies depending on the level of education and social status. This devaluation is systematic and spans the entire studied universe; however, it focuses much more closely on those of lower social status, particularly for the groups with schooling that is either higher or lower than average.