Mobility Patterns of Swedish Farming Households

This paper deals with the mobility patterns of Swedish farming households sampled in the course of a survey of three areas in Southern Sweden, Mid- and North Sweden. Built around the concept of the notional family farm, the paper investigates three pairs of mobility strategies: (i) professionalisation–pluriactivity, (ii) specialisation–diversification, and (iii) intensification–extensification. The data stress the multi-directionality of movements over the life course of farming households. Although care should be taken in inferring macro-processes from micro-level data, there are grounds to conclude, among other things that pluriactivity is a stable reproduction strategy for a substantial part of the farming population. However, it has also been a generational phenomenon, with older farmers sometimes preferring pluriactivity to continued intensification. Although partly a means of tax-planning, diversification is to a large extent an alternative to intensification as a means of farm reproduction. It is further concluded that intensification is a structural process involving the vast majority of the farming population. Both young and old farmers tend to have intensified almost at the same rates, but tend to differ in their rates of extensification and stability, respectively. Overall, the conclusion is that this dynamic, far from being an endogenous development, is spurred by and implies an increased dependence on exogenous factors, especially on political regulation of reproduction conditions in agriculture.     

Life-Stage and Mobility: An Exploratory GPS Study of Mobility in Multigenerational Families,Ahmedabad, India

As the population of older adults in India grows, research is needed to plan a sustainable future for India’s older adults. This article reports results from a Global Positioning System (GPS)–based pilot study that examined the mobility of middle-class, older adults living in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Using mobility as a lens through which to examine the lives of older adults, we map potential research and identify policy areas of interest considering older adults in urban India. The study explores the role of life stage in mobility as well as the effects of gender and urban environment on mobility. Using this distinctive perspective on day-to-day life, we propose themes through which, using policy and planning tools, the living environments of older adults in Indian cities can be improved. These policy measures include focusing on walkability and pedestrian safety in residential areas and building on existing mixed land use to create high accessibility to goods and services in urban environments.     

Responsibility,Mobility, and Power: Translocal Carework Negotiations of Nicaraguan Families

Recently, carework has emerged as a key area for exploring the gendered connections between migrants and their families “home,” providing insight into family‐level consequences of migration. However, the way carework shapes migration itself has not received due attention. Based on field research among Nicaraguan migrant families, this article explores the links between translocal carework and family migration decision‐making by connecting the concepts of transnational caregiving and power‐geometry of mobility to interpret fathers’ and female relatives’ carework involvement. In conclusion, the article highlights how translocal carework shapes family members’ access to mobility through ongoing negotiations of a wide range of responsibilities, indicating a possible direction for future explorations of migration.     

The Impact of Geographic Mobility on Individuals and Families

No abstract available for this article.     

Rediscovering Families and Households: Restructuring Rural Society and Rural Sociology1

Abstract The debate on rural restructuring is extended by redefining families and households and their study; by considering the contributions of family scholarship to rural sociological issues; by assessing the methodological implications and challenges of integrating a family focus in rural sociology; and by reengaging rural sociology around important policy issues. The structure and dynamics of family and household shape explanations of rural experiences. By integrating and building on family studies, rural sociology can enrich its knowledge base and further its relevance and power of explanation.     

Polish Households During the Economic Transformation

Two topics are presented in this paper: a short history of the Polish economic transformation, begun in 1989, and analyses of aggregate data describing the life conditions of Polish households in the period immediately following the transformation.     

Housing Cost Burden,Poverty Status,and Economic Hardship among Low-income Families

This study examined the relative effects of housing cost burden versus poverty thresholds to explain the economic hardship of low-income families and compared the differences in these effects among White, Black, and Hispanic families with children in the United States of America. The findings from the multivariate analyses indicate that poverty status better explains variations in economic hardship than housing cost burden status. In respect to group differences, association between poverty status and economic hardship score are different between White and Black families. The results of this study raise the issues of housing cost burden and economic hardship that the country’s low-income Black families disproportionately experience relative to their White and Hispanic counterparts.

Economic Pressure, Maternal Depression, and Child Adjustment in Latino Families: An Exploratory Study

The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of poverty and economic pressure upon the adjustment of mothers and children in immigrant Latino families. Participants included 56 first generation Latina mothers who completed questionnaires addressing economic difficulties, depression, social support, and behavior problems exhibited by their children (30 boys, 26 girls) who ranged in ages from 4 to 13. Results indicate that maternal depression mediates the relationship between maternal economic pressure and child adjustment. Social support was found to further moderate the relationship between maternal depression and child internalizing problems. Gender differences indicated that relations were stronger among mothers of boys than mothers of girls.     

Increasing the Economic Self-Sufficiency of Rural Families

ABSTRACT

Rural poverty affects 2.5 million U.S. children annually. The implementation of Child/Parent Individual Development Account (IDA) policies and programs may reflect a “best practices” strategy for reducing the incidence and impact of rural poverty. IDAs are dedicated savings accounts designed to help low-income individuals save for home ownership, postsecondary education, and small business development purposes. A brief policy analysis and feasibility study indicates Child/Parent IDA programs are a feasible way to address long-term social, psychological, and economic development for rural adults and children. Social work's continued involvement in evaluating IDA policy is paramount for improving the well-being of rural families.     

Economic Restructuring and Changing Prevalence of Female-headed Families in America1

Abstract Industrial restructuring has altered economic circumstances in the U.S., but the influences of these changes on family structure are not clear. This study examines whether industrial restructuring influences female headship and whether these effects differ in nonmetro and metro counties. Results based on data from the 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing Summary Tape Files indicate several conclusions. First, female headed households increased more rapidly in nonmetro than metro counties from 1980 to 1990, although there was a great deal of variation across counties. Second, industrial restructuring contributed to change in female headship in nonmetro and metro counties, and changes in various industries had differing effects on female headship. Third, overall gains in women's employment in a county had no influence on formation of female headed households, gains in men's employment deterred female headship, and gains for women in specific industries tended to slow formation of these households. Fourth, controlling for changes in median income and part-time work did little to reduce the industry-specific influences on change in female headship. The results suggest that linkages between industrial restructuring and family structure do exist, although the models are less able to explain changes in female headship in nonmetro than in metro counties.     

Resilience in Midwestern Families: Selected Findings from the First Decade of a Prospective,Longitudinal Study

The authors review findings related to mechanisms of resilience in an ongoing longitudinal study of a cohort of 558 focal youth and their families. The ongoing study began when the cohort of adolescents was in 7th grade. Findings demonstrate that resilience to economic adversity for the parents of the focal adolescents was promoted by marital support, effective problem solving skills, and a sense of mastery. For the cohort of youth, resilience to economic hardship was promoted by support from parents, siblings, and adults outside the family. Resilience to the difficult transitions from childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to early adulthood was especially fostered by nurturant‐involved parenting and by less angry or hostile parenting.     

Negative Assimilation: How Immigrants Experience Economic Mobility in Japan

This paper examines the economic mobility of foreign migrants in Japan. In a country that is largely regarded as homogeneous and closed to outsiders, how and to what extent do immigrants achieve economic success? A survey conducted by the authors revealed that the conventional assimilationist perspective does not fully explain immigrants’ economic success in Japan. Migrants from the West experience what Chiswick and Miller ( 2011 ) refer to as “negative assimilation.” That is, their earnings decline over time in Japan. While negative assimilation was not clearly observed among immigrants from neighboring Asian countries, wages among them did not increase with the length of their stay in Japan. For both groups, the skills they brought from abroad were found to be largely accountable for their economic success, while locally specific human capital, such as education acquired in the host society, did not contribute to their earnings.     

Occupational Destinations and Economic Mobility of Filipino Overseas Workers1

This study examines employment and occupational shifts experienced by Filipino overseas contract workers in the transition from country of origin to country of destination and examines the impact of labor migration on economic conditions and standard of living of the families left behind. Data for the analyses were obtained from a representative sample of 2,346 households drawn from four primary sending areas in the Philippines. The analyses focus on characteristics of the households and of the household members employed overseas. The findings reveal that a considerable number of overseas workers (both men and women) were unemployed prior to migration and that the overwhelming majority of these workers were recruited to fill low‐status (manual and service) occupations in the host country. The analysis demonstrates that the odds for Filipino overseas workers to be employed in low‐status occupations were extremely high, net of human capital characteristics, net of the occupations they held in the Philippines, and net of country of destination. Further analysis reveals that overseas employment is associated with a substantial increase in earnings (five‐fold for men and four‐fold for women). Comparison between households with and without overseas workers reveals that, net of household characteristics, the flows of income earned abroad are used to purchase household goods to improve standard of living. These findings provide firm support to expectations derived from the household theory of migration according to which labor migration is a strategy adopted by the household unit to allocate family resources rationally to increase the flows of income in order to raise the family standard of living.     

Conflict,Power, and Violence in Families

Research on conflict, power, and violence in families in the 2000s developed a promising focus on the interconnections between types of violence and between the experience of violence and locations in larger structures of power and inequality. I examine research on poly‐victimization, typologies of violence, dyadic research, and links between violence and inequalities of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation. Additionally, this review evaluates research on the connections between violence in families and other arenas of family study, including teen pregnancy, marriage formation, cohabitation, and divorce. The review concludes with a discussion of studies showing declines in rates of abuse within families in the 2000s.     

The Economic Organization of Extended Family Households by Race or Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status

This study examines differences in the amount of economic support or mutual benefit derived from extended family living arrangements by studying differences in monetary contributions to essential household expenditures across family units in extended family households. Using the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation, multivariate regression and selection models are estimated to assess racial differences in family contributions toward household expenses in extended family households. Extended family households have very unequal monetary contributions toward household rent and utilities, although Hispanics have less unequal monetary contributions when compared with other racial groups. Hispanic and Asian extended family households experience decreasing inequality in financial contributions as the income of each family increases, whereas no relationship between financial contributions and income is found for Whites or Blacks. This suggests a different cultural orientation to extended family living arrangements for Asians and Hispanics when compared with non‐Hispanic Whites.     

Queer Chicano Families: The Importance of Converging Literature on Queer Families,Chicano Families,and Chicano Queers

Despite growing literature on Latino families and Latino queer identities, there has been relatively little empirical research on Latino same‐sex families. Likewise, emerging empirical research on gay and lesbian couples tends to focus on the experiences of middle‐class, well‐educated, White couples. I argue that combining theoretical and empirical works on sexuality, Chicano studies, and queer studies can assuage this lack of diversity in each body of literature. This work first examines current literature on Latino families, with a focus on Latino familism. This is followed by a brief examination of current literature on queer Chicanos. Lastly, it will discuss queer families and the lack of current literature on Latino same‐sex couples, in order to present a course of action for further research on the intersectional social location of queer Chicano families.     

Responses to Economic Pressure by Low-Income Families: Financial Distress and Hopefulness

Based on Boss’ family stress model, the study examined whether financial adaptations and locus of control mediated levels of financial distress and hopefulness for low-income consumers experiencing economic pressure. Data were collected online from 221 low-income, Midwestern consumers. Structural equation modeling explored relationships. Those reporting more economic pressure reported higher financial distress, less hopefulness. When locus of control was more internal, however, participants reported less financial distress and more hopefulness. Those making more financial adjustments had more financial distress, but also more hopefulness, indicating that while the current situation was grim, adaptive responses fostered hopefulness that things would improve. Educators can emphasize financial behaviors that improve financial outcomes, facilitating greater perceived control over finances, more hopefulness, and reduced financial distress.     

Pets,Early Adolescents,and Families

This paper reviews the patterns and effects of early adolescents' involvement in the care of animals and the relationship between that experience and selected family and individual variables. It provides baseline data on early adolescents and animal involvement concerning: species of animals, family income, family relationships, parental views of animal raising, animal owner self-esteem and self-management, and the view of youth on the benefits of animal involvement.     

Immigrant Families,Adolescents and Acculturation

This paper examines some of the specific effects of cultural transition on immigrant families and the issues faced by their adolescent members because of the differential rates of parent-adolescent adaptation to a new culture. To be effective with these families, therapists need to adopt new paradigms that combine the best practice of professional training with an understanding of the richness of the immigrants' culture.