Adolescents’ experiences of therapeutic relationships at high and low levels of risk and resilience

Abstract

Engaging adolescents in treatment requires professionals to negotiate relationship boundaries in ways that young people experience as therapeutic. For this study, we used qualitative data from a mixed methods investigation of 85 young people ages 12-19 who were either clients of two or more human services (n=61) or selected from a convenience sample of young people attending school in the same communities as the service users (n=24). By sorting participants into four groups based on their risk and resilience scores calculated during the quantitative phase of the research, patterns emerged in the quality of the relationships young people reported as the most therapeutic. Findings show that youth at higher levels of risk exposure preferred looser professional boundaries (a real relationship) in their interactions with their workers while those with higher resilience scores described positive relationships with professionals that included more structure, greater expectations and firmer boundaries. Findings suggest that the quality of adolescent client-professional relationships should vary depending on the risk and resilience profiles of the youth.     

Dysfunctional Relationship Patterns:

Just as people who grow up in dysfunctional families often have some special relationship problems, so to do chemically dependent people and their significant others. Gay and lesbian couples are no exception. This article discusses some of the issues of boundary confusion; perfectionism, intimacy, impression management, rescuing and others to show how these patterns contribute to chaos and pain in relationships. Suggestions are offered to help gay and lesbian clients deal with self-esteem, boundary problems, and anger so that they can lead more balanced lives that include positive relationships.     

Intergenerational Theory in Society

ABSTRACT

Now that the 21st century is underway, society is changing more rapidly than ever. People of all ages are facing new kinds of psychological and interpersonal issues. They are living longer and pioneering new kinds of family patterns and relationships. Given this, then, how can intergenerational programs and relationships both adapt to these new contexts and serve to help people better meet these new societal demands and changes? This article extends, deepens and elaborates upon earlier efforts by describing new societal trends that affect people in the life span, selecting some relevant concepts, exploring them, and suggesting how they might enhance our understanding. Given that this is the postmodern age in which there are questions rather than answers, the discussion of each concept ends with questions for future theory construction.     

Out of the Darkness: Three Waves of Family Research and the Emergence of Family Therapy for Lesbian and Gay People

Like family relationships themselves, the history and treatment of lesbian and gay people and their families is complicated. For this paper, three waves of research on the families of gay and lesbian individuals are described. During the first wave, gay and lesbian sexual orientation was seen as a disease and family dynamics were blamed for its genesis. Subsequently in the second wave it was believed that, fearing rejection many gay and lesbian people either distanced or were rejected from their own families and established friendship networks that have been described as families of choice. More recently, in the third wave, the family has been identified as a resource for lesbian and gay youth whereby open relationships with parents can help protect them from mental illness, substance abuse, and HIV risk. Furthermore, an increasing number of same-sex couples are choosing to become parents, overcoming biological and social obstacles. In this article these shifting views of the role of family in the lives of lesbian and gay people will be described along with case material that illustrates the historic influences, current developments and future directions of family treatment for this population. To be maximally effective with gay and lesbian people and their families, clinical social workers and other mental health professionals must understand how family therapy has been influenced by a progression of ideas that continue to evolve. In this paper, research examining the role of the family in the lives of lesbian and gay people will be described in three waves; as a source of blame, to an impediment to gay and lesbian happiness and ultimately a resource that can enhance lesbian and gay well-being. The influences of research on family therapy with this population will be described and case examples will demonstrate how to harness the strengths of family relationships identified in the most recent wave.     

Understanding and explaining online personal information-sharing behaviours of New Zealanders: a new taxonomy

Although research evidence shows that people have strong concerns about their privacy online, this does not necessarily mean that they do not share their personal information in varying online relationships. This paper presents New Zealand-based empirical research findings into people’s actual online information-sharing behaviours rather than their attitudes: the motivations, extent, and conditions under which individuals share their personal information in varying online relationships with commercial providers, with government, and on social networking sites. A grounded theory methodology and an abductive analysis were used to identify patterns in the findings and construct a new taxonomy of online information-sharing behaviours: contrary to existing taxonomies, all participants in this study are very privacy aware and make quite deliberate choices about what personal information they share online, with whom, to what extent, and under what circumstances. Four distinctive classifications of people’s online information-sharing behaviours were derived from this study: privacy pragmatists, privacy victims, privacy optimists, and privacy fatalists.     

Same Sex Couples and Counselling:

This paper is about homosexual relationships and the way that clinicians and researchers have conceived them and then attempted to compare them with heterosexual models. When there are problems experienced by one or both people in a relationship the available conceptualizations are inadequate. The need for a different perception of these dyads in counseling is suggested. This paper extends earlier research with men and women who migrated to Australia as part of a same sex couple (Hart, 1990). My aim is to broaden the view of the social and personal dynamics of gay and lesbian couples in general. I conclude that couples, in or out of counseling, should be sited within gay and lesbian multicultural kinship patterns.     

Repartnering: the relevance of parenthood and gender to cohabitation and remarriage among the formerly married

This paper is an exploratory analysis of the impact of current and anticipated parenthood on cohabitation and remarriage among those formerly living in marriage-type relationships. The focus on children is embedded within a broader analysis of repartnering which takes account of other factors, including gender. Quantitative and qualitative analyses are used, with a multivariate analysis of repartnering patterns, using data from the General Household Survey, being complemented by in-depth interview data examining the attitudes of the formerly married to future relationships. The paper demonstrates that parenthood has a statistically significant effect on the likelihood of formerly married women repartnering, with a higher number of children being associated with a lower probability of repartnering. The presence of children can work against repartnering in a variety of ways. Children place demands on their parents and can deter or object to potential partners. Parents may see their parental role as more important than, and a barrier to, new relationships. However, mothers are typically looking for partners for themselves rather than fathers for their children. Among formerly married people without children, the desire to become a parent encourages repartnering. The paper concludes that parenthood should be a key consideration in analyses of repartnering.     

PATTERNS OF CONCEPTION, NATALITY, AND MORTALITY FROM MIDWESTERN CEMETERIES:

Our research demonstrates the potential of cemeteries data for sociology and contributes to a greater understanding of demographic and social patterns characterizing the Midwest since its Euramerican settlement. We examine data from ten cemeteries (2,021 burials) spanning the 1830s–1980s in east-central Illinois. Seasonal conception patterns reflect winter and spring peaks, with indication of the spring peak dissipating more recently. Seasonal mortality patterns show a tendency for younger people to die in late summer and older people to die in late winter. Contrary to national patterns, we found female deaths exceeding male deaths in the 10–64 age group. As expressions of gender bias, females are disproportionately identified on gravestones in terms of familial relationships. Of the different cemetery types surveyed (1 family, 4 neighborhood, 2 community, 3 church), only the church cemeteries continue to be used, suggesting a sectarian role in preserving otherwise declining communities.     

Work

This paper examines the workplace as a social environment which may promote or impede various patterns of intimacy. Industrialized society has limited social contexts for developing intimate relations and pair-bonding. Alterations in work and family patterns influenced by feminism, civil rights legislation, and changing economic conditions have integrated more people into the labor force, thus providing the occupational realm as a major link into social circles where intimate relationships may develop. Workers' structural location and differential distribution across occupational positions are analyzed in relation to opportunities for intimacy. The article concludes that the workplace can provide a stable environment for the development of intimacy and pair-bonding.     

A Question of Friendship: Community Care and the Relationships of People with Learning Difficulties

There is evidence that a number of people with learning difficulties living in the community do not enjoy a range of satisfactory social relationships. This paper will examine the way that the issue of the apparent loneliness of people with learning difficulties has been approached in the community care literature. I will argue that there is a clear assumption in much of the literature that friendships between disabled and non-disabled people are of greater value than those relationships between disabled people. The low value accorded to friendships between disabled people is very damaging to their individual self-esteem, as well as to the possibility of political action based on a sense of solidarity. The paper will point also to the constraints that many people with learning difficulties face which render it difficult for them to form friendships and, therefore, reinforce their isolation.     

Young,anchored and free? Examining the dynamics of early housing pathways in Australia

Young people are remaining in the parental home for longer, and returning there more often, before attaining residential independence. In Australia, these patterns have prompted concerns about a ‘boomerang generation’ whose housing aspirations and decisions have either been directly questioned, or viewed as symptomatic of broader affordability issues. Employing a longitudinal perspective, we argue that early residential pathways reflect a mix of stable and dynamic influences involving individuals, their families, and their broader relationships. Using data from a large cohort (n = 2082) of young Australians participating in the ‘Our Lives’ research project, we examine housing pathway formation between the ages of 12/13 and 21/22. Events such as parental union dissolution or partnership formation were found to encourage home leaving, whilst being employed at a younger age and having grown up rurally predicted both leaving and remaining out of home. Close, supportive relationships with family and friends served to ‘anchor’ respondents at home for longer, and parental socioeconomic resources enabled respondents to leave home and return if needed. The findings suggest that early residential independence reflects various factors, not all of which are in young people’s control, and some of which may hinder the longer term sustainability of their living arrangements.     

Innovation and Crisis in Organizational Analysis*

The study of organizations has been guided by a paradigm consisting of interrelated theoretical, methodological, and practical commitments. Theoretically, a problematic of rational structuring has dominated the field. This has been coupled with positivist methodology and a practical commitment to administrative problem-solving. The paradigm has fallen into crisis as a consequence of work on several analytical problems—action, power, levels, and process. Work on the action problem emphasizes the grounding of organizational patterns in the interactions and practices of people. Patterns are also seen in recent work as the expression of power relationships. The levels problem involves the analysis of interpenetration and interdependence between distinct sectors or layers of social structure. The concern with process involves the continuous transformation of organizational patterns. The central issue growing out of the work on these analytical problems is how to handle theoretically the production and reproduction of organizational patterns.     

Substance Use and Abuse and the Role of Social Workers in Germany

SUMMARY

The paper outlines major trends in consumption patterns of alcohol and other drugs in Germany with special focus on the use of cannabis among young people. It discusses primary prevention efforts and describes the current treatment system with its two branches: one for people with alcohol problems and the other for those with drug problems. It highlights the developing role of social work and identifies the research topics that are influenced by social workers and that will influence the debate regarding the future role of the profession.     

Borderline personality disorder: Psychosocial considerations and rehabilitation implications

The article describes the medical and psychosocial aspects of borderline personality disorder, a common and sometimes severe psychiatric condition marked by emotional instability and problems with interpersonal relationships. Medication, psychosocial and other treatment issues are discussed within the context of the rehabilitation counselor's role in providing vocational services for people with borderline personality disorder.     

Divorce,Repartnering, and Stepfamilies: A Decade in Review

This article reviews key developments in the past decade of research on divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies. Divorce rates are declining overall, but they remain high and have risen among people older than age 50. Remarriage rates have declined, but the overall proportion of marriages that are remarriages is rising. Transitions in parents' relationships continue to be associated with reduced child well-being, but shifting patterns of divorce and repartnering during the past decade have also reshaped the family lives of older adults. We review research on the predictors and consequences of these trends and consider what they reveal about the changing significance of marriage as an institution. Overall, recent research on divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies points to the persistence of marriage as a stratified and stratifying institution and indicates that the demographic complexity of family life is here to stay.     

Queer Farmers: Sexuality and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture

Intimate relationships are foundational to farm viability. They affect how farmers share tasks, earn income, and access land, yet the role of sexuality and heteronormativity in agriculture remains understudied. Furthermore, queer people are largely ignored as potential farmers by the sustainable agriculture and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements. I document the lived experiences of queer farmers, an underresearched group, through participant observation and interviews with 30 sustainable farmers of various genders and sexualities in New England. I use a queer perspective to illuminate sexualized and heteronormative patterns in sustainable agriculture. Whereas the perception of rural heterosexism can discourage queer participation in agriculture, queer farmers faced less overt heterosexism than they expected. However, they did experience heterosexism particular to sustainable agriculture, and confronting it might jeopardize relationships important for economic and environmental sustainability and land access. Some farmers were attracted to sustainable agriculture for reasons specific to gender, sexuality, and anticapitalist values. I argue that sexuality and heteronormativity are embedded in farmer recruitment, retention, and land acquisition, which are critical for the transition to sustainable agriculture. I offer the sustainable agriculture movement a lens for envisioning alternatives for farm families, homes, and workplaces.     

Social security, employment and Incapacity Benefit: critical reflections on A new deal for welfare

In January 2006 New Labour published a Green Paper on welfare reform, A new deal for welfare: empowering people to work. Following a consultation period the 2006 Welfare Reform Bill was published in July 2006. The main concern of the Green Paper was with Incapacity Benefit and the people who claim it. This paper critically engages with the proposals outlined in the Green Paper and the subsequent Bill. Focusing upon the social security and labour market interventions of the proposals, the paper argues that rather than empowering disabled people to work, the relationships held to exist between welfare reform and paid employment in A new deal for welfare are likely to have a limited impact. The paper discusses why this is likely to be the case by examining assumptions contained in the proposals related to the reasons why people claim Incapacity Benefit, the model of disability that structures the proposals and the relationships between disability, paid work and models of family structure that the proposals presuppose.