Caring Together for Elderly Mothers: A Qualitative Study of Relations Between Adult Daughters and Supportive Home Care Workers

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examines relationships between adult daughters caring for elderly disabled mothers and the mothers' personal care workers (PCWs) paid directly by the Wisconsin Community Options Program (COP). A subset of a larger study, in these five cases PCWs provide substantial hands on care without substituting for the heavy care also provided by the daughters. Direct payment offers the daughters and workers freedom to schedule around their family obligations and other limits and tailor care to the abilities of all three participants. It also allows the daughter to be the paid provider when she chooses. Expansion of such supportive services could benefit many more low and middle income families.     

Are Daughters Like Mothers: Evidence on Intergenerational Educational Mobility Among Young Females in India

Taking data from the ‘India Youth Survey: Situation and Needs’ the paper examines intergenerational educational mobility for young females (vis-à-vis their mothers) in India. The paper uses transition/mobility matrices and mobility measures widely used in the literature on intergenerational mobility for the examination. The overall intergenerational educational mobility among the young females in India is about 0.69 (the upper limit being 1). The upwards component of the overall intergenerational educational mobility is 0.55 (that is, nearly four-fifth of the overall). Also, the intergenerational educational mobility is slightly higher in the ‘Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC/ST)’ compared to the ‘Other Backward Castes (OBC)’ as well as ‘Others’ castes. But the upward mobility is substantially higher in the ‘Others’ caste group compared to SC/STs. The upward mobility among the OBCs is higher than that of SC/STs but lower than that of the ‘Others’ category. Also, the overall mobility as well as upward mobility is higher in urban areas. Moreover, there are large inter-state variations with the economically and demographically poorer states having substantially lower overall as well as upward mobility than the economically and demographically advanced states.     

Positive Affect Between Adult Women and Their Mothers and Mothers-in-Law

This study investigated and compared the influence of selected factors on the affective aualities of mother-daughter and mother-in-lawldaughter-in-law relaAonships. The sample ionsisted of 229 nonorofessional and 250 orofessional women from two uni- - - - ~ . versity campuses; they were selected with a stratified, random sampling procedure. Filial responsibility attitudes, health of older dyad members, and social support influenced positive affect in both relationships. Contrary to expectations, geographic distance, adult women's age, race, nonprofessional/professional work status, and older dyad member's marital status were not predictors. Contact and health of the adult women were predictors of positive affect toward mothers but not mothers-in-law. This study underscores the importance of focusing on specific dyadic relationships when conducting intergenerational family research.     

Adult Daughters' Relationships with Their Mothers and Reactions to the Mothers' Deaths

This paper examines the reactions of 46 adult women to the deaths of their elderly mothers. Content analysis of interview and questionnaire data revealed that a daughter's ability to resolve the grief associated with her mother's death was significantly affected by the kind of relationship she had had with her mother when the mother was alive. Women whose grief reactions were more resolved were more likely to have had close, mutually accepting relationships with their mothers. Women whose reactions remained unresolved one to five years af~erth e death were more likely to have had relationships that were ambivalent, conflictual, or emotionally distant. These findings provide new evidence of the important influence that mother-daughter relationships have throughout women's lives.     

The Type of Support that Adult Children Solicit from Their Mothers in European Welfare Systems

The objective of this article is to examine if the kind of relationship and the support which mothers offer adult children living outside the home can be explained by different welfare systems and structural indicators. Propositions derived from intergenerational relationship theories and national welfare typologies have been analysed and indicate that there are structural variables that influence the type of relationship and support offered. The data we have used is from the survey “Social Relations and Support Systems”of the International Survey Programme. We selected those respondents whose mothers were alive and did not reside in the same dwelling, a total of 9,261 interviewees. The results of a factor analysis reduce the relationship between mother and child to two dimensions. Both dimensions are correlated with structural factors and make it possible to situate countries based on different welfare models consistent with the literature.     

Good Mothers,Bad Mothers

This paper reports on an analysis of representations of child abuse in English-language newspapers in Malaysia. Certain media images of mothers recur: bad mothers who are unable to protect their children; and good mothers, who are feminine representatives of a maternalised national government which is charged with interceding on behalf of abused children. Mothers implicated in child abuse are harshly judged by the maternalist regime. Our findings resonate with previous feminist analyses of child abuse but manifest differently in a non-Western, non-Christian context. In Malaysia, motherhood plays a crucial role in nationalist political culture; women and mothers carry increasing economic, social and political burdens in the rapidly modernising state. Fathers are largely marginal or absent in media reporting of child abuse, while mothers are represented as fully responsible for the care of children, particularly when problems occur. The media's blaming of child abuse on social changes while valorising traditional families reflects a conservative, patriarchal perspective, occluding discussion of the contexts of child abuse and thus mitigating against comprehensive solutions.     

We Are Not Your Mothers:

A therapist reflects on the isolating effect of ageist stereotyping on women over sixty. She identifies our need to be seen and be heard. She reports on a support group and a therapy group for women over sixty, focusing on group formation, dynamics, communication patterns, and content of discussions.     

Sex Selection for Daughters: Demographic Consequences of Female-Biased Sex Ratios

Population Research and Policy Review - Modern fertility techniques allow parents to carry out preimplantation sex selection. Sex selection for non-medical purposes is legal in many high-income...     

Good Mothers Never Wane: Mothering at Menopause

ABSTRACT

Due to recent feminist scholarship, we know a considerable amount about women's mothering identities and activities, as well as the impact of mothering ideology on individual women. Nonetheless there are gaps in our knowledge about motherhood. For instance, we know mostly about experiences of mothers with young children, and an implicit assumption is that mothers are also fairly young themselves. Yet, what about mothers at midlife and beyond? What about menopausal mothers? This paper represents an initial attempt to explore motherhood experiences of middle-aged menopausal women. Findings presented in this article are based on 45 in-depth interviews with middle-class, heterosexual menopausal women in a midwestern state in 2001. Findings suggest that motherwork and the maintenance of “good” mothering ideology are still primary activities of women at menopause despite assumptions that menopausal women have completed mothering experiences and are now grandmothers (if caregivers at all). In analyzing menopausal mothers, I encourage broader explorations of women's experiences of both motherhood and menopause.     

儿子和女儿对高龄老人日常照料的比较研究

本文利用2002年中国老年人健康长寿调查数据,对比分析了在家庭中居住的高龄老人由儿子或女儿提供日常照料的可能性。研究发现,高龄老人的日常照料中存在明显的性别差异,高龄老年人有接受来自同性别子女帮助的倾向。     

Poor Mothers and Babies Get Help

The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviationrecently launched a project to ensure the well-being of mothers and babies in the country's poor regions. Siemens, one of the world's leading multinationalcompanies, has actively joined in the foundation'swork to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates, especially in the remote villages of western China. The company will donate its income from selling its latest model refrigerators in some major cities,including Beijing, for this month. "…     

Mothers,fathers and children after divorce: The role of institutions

In recent years the increase in the divorce rate in many advanced countries and the predominance of female-headed families among the poor has generated much interest in the relationship between divorce and the welfare of mothers and children. In this paper I will review a small body of economic literature which has been recently developed in order to analyze the economic consequence of divorce on the welfare of fathers, mothers and children under alternative behavioral assumptions. Important economic and econometric issues arise from an analysis of welfare in non intact households as compared with intact households. In particular the focus is on the role that institutions play in post-divorce arrangements and important implications concerning policies for child support, custody, and visitation.Presidential Address of the Annual Congress of ESPE2000 held on June 15, 2000 in Bonn. I would like to thank Christopher Flinn, Rocio Ribero, Maristella Botticini and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments. Responsible editor: Alessandro Cigno.     

Mothers in an insider-outsider economy: the puzzle of Spain

There is growing evidence that social policies towards mothers have important effects on their labour market behaviour. This article argues that these effects are less important in a Male Breadwinner Regime if there is employment insecurity in the household or if women intend to participate in the long-run. I consider the case of Spain, where the workforce has become polarized between insiders and outsiders and where social policies closely resemble the Male Breadwinner Regime. The results show that Spanish mothers fall into two groups: those who do not withdraw from the labor force after childbirth and those who withdraw and do not re-enter after their children arrive at school age. Entry or re-entry appears related to the husband's employment uncertainty. Married women in an insider household are less likely to be mobile than women in an outsider household.This research was initiated with the financial support from the Bank of Spain (Fondo para Estudios sobre el Mercado de Trabajo) and the CIRIT (Generalitat de Catalunya). An earlier version has been published in Spanish in Adam, 1995 a. I benefited from presentations in the session on Women's Labour Force Transitions in the ESPE ninth annual meeting at Lisbon, in the IESA (CSIC, Madrid) seminar, in the session on European Labour Markets in the IEA meeting at Tunis, and in the IGIER seminar. I thank Namkee Ahn, Siv Gustafsson, John Ermisch, Andrea Ichino, Sergi Jiménez, Dennis Snower, Robert Waldmann and an anonymous referee for comments. My very especial thanks go to my thesis supervisor, John Micklewright, to Gosta Esping-Andersen, John Myles and David Soskice. Responsible editors: Siv S. Gustafsson, John F. Ermisch.     

Project Happiness BringsHope to Mothers

Since 1995, Project Happiness has initiated 337programs covering most of China's provinces andautonomous regions. The organizers have alreadyraised almost RMB100 million to help underprivilegedmothers, one of the most vulnerable groups of society."Poor mothers are a social group who shoulder theheaviest burden of a family," said Wang Guangmei,chairperson of the China Population WelfareFoundation. "They often sacrifice themselves for theirchildren and family by doing both household choresa…     

Impediments to Mothers Leaving Welfare: The Role of Maternal and Child Disability

This research examines the relationship between disabilities in families and exits from welfare. Controlling for variations in characteristics known to be associated with welfare exits, this study investigates and documents that specific configurations of disabilities in families are also strongly associated with reduced rates of welfare exits. The impact of a child with a disability on welfare exits is similar to the mother's own disability, with an impact equivalent in magnitude to minority status. The presence of a child with a disability limits the chances that a mother with disability will leave welfare. Our findings add to the literature on welfare dependency and have implications for welfare reforms that emphasize work, self-sufficiency, and reducing poverty.     

Shifting Childrearing to Single Mothers: Results from 17 Western Countries

We investigate how recent changes in the Western family have affected childhood living arrangements. For 17 developed countries, we use multistate life table techniques to estimate childhood trajectories of coresi‐dence with biological fathers versus other maternal partners. In all countries childhood exposure to single parenting is more often caused by parental separation than out‐of‐partnership childbearing. Both exposure to single parenting and expectancy of childhood spent with a single non‐cohabiting mother vary widely across countries, with the United States exhibiting the highest levels of each at early 1990s rates. The greatest international variations concern parental cohabitation—its prevalence, durability, and the degree to which its increase has compensated for a decrease in the expectancy of childhood spent with married parents. Overall, we find little evidence of international convergence in childrearing arrangements, except that in countries where parental marriage has declined over time, childrearing has predominantly shifted to single mothers.     

Negotiating Religiosity and Sexual Identity Among Hispanic Lesbian Mothers

ABSTRACT

Hispanic lesbian mothers face bicultural tensions that stigmatize their roles as mothers. Religion could produce heightened conflict given their potential incompatibility with the role of a “good mother.” In particular, there is a potential for conflict between the definition of a “good mother” set forth in Catholicism and the sexual orientation of Hispanic lesbians. I conducted semistructured in-depth interviews to examine how Hispanic lesbian mothers negotiate their Catholic religious identity with aspects of their sexual identity. More specifically, I examined the strategies that Hispanic lesbian mothers use to reconcile or navigate perceived conflict between their roles as a Catholic and as a lesbian. The research questions to be answered were: How do Hispanic lesbian mothers negotiate a Catholic religious and a sexual identity? How do Hispanic lesbian mothers create and maintain a religious narrative? How do Hispanic lesbian mothers redefine religion and spirituality?     

Sons,Daughters or Both?: An Analysis of Family Sex Composition Preferences in the Philippines

An analysis of family sex composition preferences as well as the relationship between actual family sex composition and desire for no additional children among a national sample of Filipino women is presented. An emphasis on balance or son-daughter equivalence is strongest in Metropolitan Manila. Son preference is highest in rural Mindanao and Sulu, primarily due to the concentration of Muslims in this section of the country and secondarily to its pioneer environment and the presumed utility of sons in such a milieu. The importance of eliciting sex composition preferences from both husbands and wives as well as distinguishing the “striking for a balance” from sex-linked preferences in future research is discussed.     

越来越多的西藏母亲享受住院分娩

住院分娩是安全分娩的重要保障,是保护妇女身体健康、降低孕产妇死亡率的一项重要措施。然而,西藏是一个自然环境独特的高原地区,交通条件和经济条件都较为艰苦;同时受不同的旧传统及生育观念的影响,再加上农牧民文盲、半文盲的比例较高,直接影响了妇女是否选择住院分娩。     

Authoritarian and Homophobic Attitudes: Gender and Adult Attachment Style Differences

This study explored the relations of gender and adult attachment styles to college students' scores on several measures of authoritarian attitudes (e.g., right-wing authoritarianism, ethnocentrism, homophobia, and religious fundamentalism). A multivariate analysis of authoritarian attitudes yielded significant main and interaction effects involving students' gender and their (categorical) attachment style scores. Relative to women, men reported higher levels of homophobia, ethnocentrism, and right-wing authoritarianism. Gender differences in homophobia were additionally conditioned by participants' adult attachment styles: Men with dismissing styles evidenced the highest levels of homophobia, whereas women with dismissing styles demonstrated the lowest levels; that is, a fear of intimacy seemed to contribute to homophobic attitudes found among heterosexual men. This was the first U.S. study of the relationship between adult attachment styles and right-wing authoritarianism, and further investigation is warranted.