Family Economy,Rural School Choice,and Flexischooling Children with Disabilities

Most homeschooled students would be more accurately described as “flexischooled,” partly homeschooled and partly enrolled in school. The popularity of these two alternatives to public or private school enrollment has increased over the past several decades to the extent that, by 2012 over 2 million students, 4 percent of the population, were either flexischooled or homeschooled in the United States. To understand why parents have pursued these options over enrollment, we employed a family economy perspective, arguing that family, child, and locational considerations shaped parents' motivations for homeschooling or flexischooling over enrollment. For example, parents' decisions were partially shaped by the interaction between children's disability status and rural location. Using data from the National Household Education Survey 2012, this article first describes the prevalence of flexischooling and full‐time homeschooling. Then, it demonstrates how various family, child, and locational factors shape the odds of flexischooling and homeschooling, and then examines the interaction between location and children's disability status in detail. We discuss the implications of our findings for family economy theoretical perspectives, flexischooling, and rural education research.     

The Rise of Homeschooling Regulation in the Era of School Choice: Legislative and Judicial Trends, 1972–2009

Over the past four decades, states have increasingly regulated the practice of homeschooling. It is unclear, however, what initial conditions prompt states to regulate and whether states use the legislative or judicial system to do so. Using event history analyses, we identify how state-level political dynamics, social movement mobilization, and educational policies have shaped the timing of pertinent regulatory efforts by courts and state legislatures. Interestingly, predicting the timing of initial government court successes regarding homeschooling regulation is a different story from the one about the conditions that facilitate early adoption of homeschooling legislation. We show that homeschooling legislation reflects state-level educational, diffusion, and social movement dynamics. In contrast, early regulation via the courts is primarily determined by diffusion, and not by educational or social movement dynamics. Courts are both leading and lagging indicators of homeschooling regulation, because courts react to legislation and vice versa. In contrast, homeschooling legislation tends to be purely a lagging indicator, enacted largely in response to court decisions and in light of highly contentious school-choice and accountability-related policies.     

Role Strain,Emotion Management,and Burnout: Homeschooling Mothers' Adjustment to the Teacher Role

Drawing from three years of field research with a homeschooling support group in the Pacific Northwest, I present the emotional stages mothers passed through as they tried to integrate the teacher role into their busy lives. In most cases, mothers found teaching more demanding than they had expected, straining their other roles as mothers and homemakers, as well as causing emotional burnout. To manage their insecurity, anxiety, and stress, mothers employed a variety of emotion management techniques. Mothers who successfully overcame burnout prioritized some roles, combined others, and received significant support from their husbands. I conclude by discussing the implications for theories of burnout.     

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in Personality: Assessing Knowledge Profiling and the Work Preference Inventory in a Thai Population

Abstract

Personality trait theories are often used to identify particular personality or behavioural characteristics of potential employees by human resource management departments. However, this can be enhanced by understanding how motivation plays a role in personality, and particularly within the context of knowledge-based personality processes. The paper draws on knowledge management theory called Knowledge Profiling (KP) in which a theoretical construct has been developed representing personality through a set of three traits and their polar values. This model has previously been linked to the trait theory of personality called Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This research adopts KP, develops its linkage with MBTI, and elaborates on its connection with motivation. The resulting model, referred to as Knowledge Profiling Motivational (KPM) model, is developed by connecting it with the Work Preference Inventory (WPI), which assesses individual differences in Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivational orientations. Analysis indicates that KPM is an improvement on the KP model in representing personality. Moreover, the research suggests that personality traits are not limited to a bipolar relationship but that there are relationships between traits as well.     

Exploring the Relationship between Listening Style Preference and Personality

Previous listening research has found a variety of personality traits linked to listening style. Researchers in temperament and personality often address the association between temperament type, personality, and social behavior (e.g., communication preferences, miscommunication, and conflict). This study extends this research. Among the results: People Listening Style is moderately associated with the Myers-Briggs Personality Types Feeling and Intuiting. Additional correlational results are presented.     

Territorial Isolation and Physical Deformity: Israeli parents' reaction to disabled children

This paper presents and analyses three case studies portraying the attitudes and reactions of Israeli parents towards their deformed children. The research method employed was participant observation in homes, combined with in-depth interviews. It was found that parents tended to isolate their handicapped children from family territories in those contexts in which the child was defined as a 'non-person'. This pattern was not affected by the parents' socioeconomic status, or by their ethnic and religious background.     

The transition to parenthood and development of parents' personality and emotional competencies

To investigate the influence of the transition to parenthood on parents' personality traits and emotional competencies, the authors conducted a two-wave longitudinal research programme (during pregnancy and 6 months postpartum) on 307 parents (214 primiparous and 93 multiparous). At each wave, participants completed a questionnaire assessing personality traits (NEO-60) and emotional competencies (TEIQue). The main results showed few personality and emotional competencies mean-level changes, all gender and socio-economic status taken into account. Globally, the transition to parenthood does not lead to short-term changes, which confirms personality stability theory. Nevertheless, when gender effects were set aside, different developmental trajectories were observed between mothers and fathers. Parenthood seems to have a positive effect on the mother's development. Finally, SES differences in personality and emotional competencies development were not observed. Neither educational level, associated to cognitive flexibility, nor income level, allowing access to parental services and goods, affected parents’ personality development.     

Knowledge Regarding Hymens and the Sex Education of Parents

The objective of this study was to ascertain beliefs and knowledge of pediatricians and parents regarding the hymen and to evaluate parental and pediatrician attitudes regarding sex education by pediatricians. Surveys were distributed anonymously to parents and pediatricians. Survey questions included knowledge of the female hymen and questions regarding attitudes toward sexual health education. There was a statistically significant difference in mean knowledge scores between pediatricians and parents regarding the hymen (3.7 versus 1.3; p < 0.0001). Almost two-thirds of pediatricians (63%) felt comfortable providing sexual health education directly to their patients, but only 41% felt comfortable educating parents. Pediatricians and parents demonstrate knowledge gaps about the hymen.     

IMPLICATIONS OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY FOR MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

This research examines how parental heterosexism—negative attitudes toward homosexuals and homosexuality—and other family characteristics relate to the development of children's attitudes toward people with HIV/AIDS (PWA). Attention is directed to the overall relationship between parents’ and children's attitudes and to the potential mechanisms through which these linkages are manifested. Based on social learning theories of childhood socialization, a range of mechanisms is considered, focusing on heterosexist attitudes in parents and communication with children about AIDS. Findings indicate that parental attitudes concerning homosexuals influence children's attitudes toward PWA, implying that there can be negative as well as positive consequences of parents’ beliefs on children's attitudes. The possibility of negative parental effects on children's prejudices toward PWA suggests that in-school HIV/AIDS education at younger ages is more important than previously thought.     

Determinants of individual fertility and contraceptive use: a review and synthesis of the literature

This discussion, which reviews the fertility determinants literature from a sociopsychological or individual perspective, summarizes literature addressing the determinants of individual fertility, i.e., an individual's decision to use or not use an effective contraceptive method. Complete or definite answers about fertility determinants do not exist, but enough is known to provide an overview. From the 259 articles, monographs, and books examined and classified, 6 main classes of determinants were formed and analyzed: demographic; sociopsychological; experiential or behavioral; informational, including knowledge about reproduction and birth control; husband and wife interaction; and environmental. Gaps in the existing literature about these determinants are identified and a sociopsychological model integrating existing knowledge is proposed. In general, the following groups of individuals have relatively high fertility and/or relatively low or ineffective contraceptive use: low socioeconomic status, adolescents and people aged 40 and older, Catholics and highly religious, rural, many siblings, unemployed women or working women who do not attach great importance to their careers; and ethnic minorities. Sociopsychological determinants of fertility and contraceptive use have been classified into 2 groups: personality traits and values and attitudes. In general, the evidence linking values and attitudes to fertility-related behavior is stronger than personality traits, but some promising work in the personality area is being conducted. In general an early age at 1st marriage related to higher fertility, and duration of marriage positively associated with fertility as is a younger age at 1st birth. In general, there is a positive correlation between contraceptive knowledge and contraceptive behavior. Certain aspects of the husband/wife relationship, including the allocation of roles and responsibilities between husband and wife and the scope and frequency of their communication--are related to their fertility and contraceptive use. The extent to which family planning programs contribute to fertility decline, over and above the effects due to modernization and development, remains unanswered empirically. The following gaps in the literature were observed: the need for more research on the role of the male partner in determining fertility and contraceptive use, the experiential or behavioral determinants of fertility and contraceptive use, employment history, environmental aspects, and integration of the area into theoretical framework(s) capable of empirical verification.     

Occupational mobility and cognitive ability: A commentary on Betthäuser,Bourne and Bukodi

This commentary critiques Betthäuser, Bourne and Bukodi's (2020) paper which finds that cognitive ability does not substantially mediate class of origin effects on educational and occupational outcomes. From these results, they conclude that cognitive ability is only of minor importance for social stratification, reasserting their view of the primacy of class origins for social stratification. The central issue surrounding cognitive ability in social stratification is its effects on socioeconomic attainments vis-à-vis socioeconomic origins, not the extent that cognitive ability mediates classorigin effects. Their analytical strategy of estimating the extent that cognitive ability mediates class origineffects is misleading because: it ignores the only moderate associations of socioeconomic origins with educational and occupational outcomes; the stronger direct effects of cognitive ability; the associations of parents’ ability with their own socioeconomic attainments; and the genetic transmission of cognitive ability and other traits relevant to social stratification from parents to their children.     

Parenting Styles: The Impact on Student Achievement

ABSTRACT

Parenting style and its impact on student achievement in a multidimensional society continues to pose significant challenges to clinicians, researchers, educators, and parents alike. This literature review summarizes the research surrounding five domains: (1) parental control; (2) gender and parenting style; (3) parental education; (4) perceptual differences between parents and their children; and (5) ethnicity and diversity. Behavioral control and psychological control were found to be two inherent features of parental style that have a direct affect on student achievement. Adolescents' perceived level of independence when interacting with their parents also seemed to have a direct relationship on their academic achievement. Research concerning children's progress in mathematics as related to parenting style and gender stereotype was also uncovered. Evidence was found to support the notion that parental education can have an indirect impact on children's academic achievement in various cultures. Implications for future research are identified including the need for applied research in learning communities factoring in variables for family structure, expectations, ethnicity, communication, and involvement.     

Motherhood,homeschooling, and mental health

Homeschooling fits neatly under the umbrella of intensive mothering, a prominent parenting style in the United States. Intensive mothering has been shown to increase the emotional distress of mothers, which may be exacerbated when mothers take on the additional burden of being responsible for the formal education of their children. Given that intensive mothering ideologies negatively impact maternal mental health, it makes sense to examine how homeschooling may exacerbate this outcome. In this paper, I examine the literature on intensive mothering, homeschooling, and mental health to demonstrate a need for further exploration to show how homeschooling mothers, encouraged by intensive mothering ideologies, may be putting their mental health, and more, at risk in their endeavors to be both “good mothers” as well as “good teachers.”     

The Role of Father’s Occupation on Intergenerational Educational and Occupational Mobility: The Case of Second‐Generation Chinese Americans in New York1

A considerable body of research has found a positive relationship between parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s educational achievement and attainment. The predictive role of parents’ socioeconomic status generally applies for most racial and ethnic groups, but that association does not always hold for groups that exhibit high levels of education, such as Asian Americans. This article considers the role of parents’ education and occupation on children’s educational and occupational attainment for Chinese Americans aged 18–32. The results corroborate the positive link between parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s educational and occupational attainments. Children of professionals command an educational and occupational advantage over children of entrepreneurs and children of manual workers. Yet, the children of entrepreneurs attend selective colleges and obtain professional occupations in proportions closely following those of the children of professionals. Although the educational attainments between the fathers who worked as entrepreneurs and those fathers engaged in manual work were comparable, it was the children of entrepreneurs who surpassed the children of manual workers with respect to educational and occupational achievement and attainment. This suggests that immigrant entrepreneurship contributes in the upward educational and occupational mobility of the children of entrepreneurs.     

Prägen Persönlichkeitseigenschaften Einstellungen zu Parteien?

Since the sixties the influence of personality traits on intentions to vote (for different political parties) and on the voting decision itself has scarcely been investigated. It seems very promising to take up this tradition again. This paper summarizes the author’s most important findings of the last ten years of research in this area. The results of several studies indicate that attitudes towards specific parties (and voting intentions) are correlated with personality traits in a characteristic way and with a remarkable degree of diachronical stability. In this context the variables “Openness”, “Conscientiousness” and “Agreeableness”, known from the “Five-Factor Model” (or Big-Five Model) of personality traits, are of great importance. Since 1989 similar covariations also appeared repeatedly for “Affinity to a Stable Cognitive Frame of Orientation”, a more specific personality characteristic. Theoretically, strong direct correlations of “big” personality traits with much more “specific” attitudes (towards political parties) or voting intentions are not necessarily to be expected. For this reason the studies also dealt with — and supplied evidence for — intervening processes. Theoretically, these analyses were based on Fishbein’s attitude model and on Byrne’s attraction paradigm.     

Boundary Ambiguity and Borderline Personality Traits: Implications for Treatment for Adolescent Girls in Foster Care

This article explores the relationship between boundary ambiguity and borderline personality traits in adolescent girls in foster care. Boundary ambiguity is a family systems concept: family members are uncertain about who is in or out of the family—in either psychological or physical presence or absence. In foster care, it can be assumed that an adolescent girl has experienced trauma significant enough to be removed from her family. The connection between early childhood trauma and attachment disruption in addition to the connection between insecure/disorganized attachment and borderline personality disorder leads to the conclusion that these same adolescents are at high risk for developing borderline personality traits. The sample consists of 40 caseworkers from New England’s child protection departments and therapists from residential programs working with adolescent girls. They completed the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure for Adolescents to determine the presence of personality disruption as well as a variation of Pauline Boss’s Boundary Ambiguity Scale #1, and demographic questionnaires. The results find a significant correlation between boundary ambiguity and borderline personality traits. These findings provide directions for future research in clinical treatment and child welfare policy making.     

Perceptions of Parental Intimate Relationships and Their Affects on the Experience of Romantic Relationship Development Among African American Emerging Adults

The quality of romantic relationships that parents maintain has an impact on their children. Emerging adult children base their relationships on similar values and/or opposing beliefs of their parental romantic relationships. This phenomenological study aimed to identify how African American emerging adults experience their parental romantic relationships and how they find meaning in the romantic relationships of their parents. Results suggest that African American emerging adults develop both positive and negative perceptions about romantic relationships from their parents’ relationships, which affect the way these adults perceive, develop, and maintain their own romantic unions. African American emerging adults also find meaning in their parental couple relationships as they share similar experiences in their relationship quality, mate choice, and/or personal or mate characteristics and personality traits as their parents.     

Parent and Child Similarities in Divorcing and Non-Divorcing Families

Abstract

It is frequently assumed that the model of their parents' marriage exerts a significant influence on the next generation, but little has been done to examine the part played by personality characteristics of parents and children. This longitudinal study examines the relative contribution of parental divorce, parents' marital (dyadic) satisfaction, conflict resolution style and selected personality qualities on children's personality qualities and self-image as adolescents and adults, and their dyadic satisfaction and conflict resolution style as adults. The samples were 67 adolescents from divorcing and intact families and their parents. Parents and children were interviewed when the children were aged 13-16, and the divorcing families were at the point of divorce. The children were followed up over 10 years until aged 23-26. At Year 1 the parents completed the anxiety, depression, sensitivity and submissiveness scales of the Neuroticism Scale Questionnaire (NSQ), the Spanier Dyadic Satisfaction Scale, and a conflict resolution scale, and made an appraisal of their children's socio-emotional maturity. Adolescents also completed the NSQ and a measure of self-image (Offer Self-Image Questionnaire: OSIQ). Ten years later the children again completed the NSQ and the OSIQ, and those who were currently in a dyadic relationship completed the Spanier and the conflict resolution scales. There were no differences on any measures between the children from divorced and intact homes. Husbands and wives were in reasonable agreement about their dyadic satisfaction and conflict resolution style, but no relationship was found between these and the corresponding self-reports of their adult children. Over the ten years of the study, mother and father depression predicted child depression, mothers' sensitivity predicted childrens' (and especially daughters') sensitivity, and fathers' lack of sensitivity predicted sons' submissiveness. The parents' appraisal of their adolescents' socio-emotional maturity at Year 1 predicted their children's self-image at Years 1 and 10, and their conflict resolution at Year 10; while self-image at Year 10 predicted contemporary Spanier scores. The findings are discussed in the light of current debates on the contribution of personality qualities to divorce and its sequelae for children.     

Our Divorce Culture: A Durkheimian Perspective

Comparative studies of children from divorced and intact families consistently find that children of divorced marriages have more short- and long-term psychological and social issues than children from intact marriages. This has led to the need for an evaluation of our divorce culture. The purpose of this research is to analyze the general population's attitudes on divorce involving children by gender, race, age, socioeconomic status, and participation in religious activities to see if our opinion of divorce is corresponding to the reality of its effect on children. Research-based divorce education programs have been shown to produce positive results in social and psychological readjustment for both children and adults. The findings of this study allow research-based divorce education programs to identify where to focus their services for children and adults. In addition, these findings support the implementation of policy to mandate the development of research-based divorce education programs in each state.     

A Test of an Adapted Multiple Domain Model in Predicting Sexual Behaviors Among Unmarried Young Adults in India

Theory-based, scientific research examining sexual behaviors of young adults is sparse in India, even though pre-marital sex among unmarried young people has been rising in recent years. At the same time, young people aged 15 to 24 are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. This has been attributed in part to rising pre-marital sexual behaviors, coupled with a lack of sex education. The objective of this study was to advance an understanding of the determinants of sexual behavior among unmarried young adults in northern India. An adaptation of a comprehensive model of health behavior, the Multiple Domain Model, was employed to study the effects of environmental/cultural influences (parental and media), structural determinants (sex, socioeconomic status, age, caste, and place of residence), personality factors (sensation-seeking and impulsive decision making), gender role identity, psychosocial variables (attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy), contextual influences (relationship status and alcohol/drug use) and preparatory behaviors (frequency of being in sexual situations) on adolescents' sexual behaviors. Results of path analysis indicated that key predictors of ever having had vaginal sex included preparatory behaviors, masculine gender role identity, attitudes toward having sex and peer norms regarding sex. Implications of these findings for future research and intervention are discussed.