Women's Perception of the Divorce Experience: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

Divorce is a personal experience, often negative, and each couple experiences it differently. However, the divorce experience may provide opportunities for personal growth. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the challenges and growth opportunities women who have divorced experience from their own perspective. Ten women with similar backgrounds participated in personal interviews. Individual interviews revealed the following themes: (a) dating reflections, (b) married life, (c) self-perceptions, (d) support or lack of support, (e) family, (f) personal emotions, (g) personal growth, and (h) the future. Mezirow's (2000) Mezirow, J. 2000. Learning as transformation: Critical perspective on a theory in progress, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  [Google Scholar] theory of transformational learning was the framework used to organize the findings to understand growth through transitional phases. This article presents the findings of this study and implications for women going through divorce.     

A taste of trade justice: marketing global social responsibility via Fair Trade coffee

The movement to certify and promote fairly traded coffee is one of many efforts aimed at linking social responsibility and free market capitalism. In the wake of a worldwide crisis in which coffee prices have fallen to levels that do not support small-scale production, non-profit Fair Trade certifying and labeling organizations are working to develop a market situation that is sustainable for workers and the environment. The Fair Trade system promotes living wages for farmers, access to affordable credit, and the adoption and maintenance of environmentally sound practices. Fair Traders' marketing efforts seek to influence cultural and political values in such a way that consumers and corporations will have to respond to them by incorporating the welfare of Southern workers into their purchasing decisions. This article discusses and evaluates current strategies for creating and expanding the market for Fair Trade-certified coffee and their outcomes in the United States and Europe. We argue that, while Fair Traders have achieved some laudable goals, they must now address the limits to supply-driven marketing efforts.     

Did monetary policy fuel the housing bubble? An application to Ireland

This paper provides empirical evidence of the role of the euro in the genesis of the recent Irish financial-economic crisis. By using a Taylor rule we measure the appropriateness of the ECB’s one-size-fits-all policy rate for the Irish economy. A counterfactual analysis suggests that the Irish interest rate should have been on average 6.5% higher. Using a BVAR and multivariate housing model, we provide econometric evidence that under an alternative sovereign monetary policy, the average house price would have been 25–30% lower just before the housing bust. In addition, it shows that a monetary policy tailored to the needs of the member state prevents housing prices from dramatically increasing.     

Treating Serious Emotional and Behavioural Problems Using Multisystemic Therapy

Multisystemic therapy (MST) is a family‐ and community‐based treatment of serious emotional and behavioural problems presented by adolescents. The development of this model began in the late 1970s, and today MST is a leading evidence‐based treatment of serious antisocial behaviour in youths, with programs transported to more than 30 states in the United States and 12 nations, including Australia and New Zealand. This article rerviews the theoretical rationale that underlies MST and presents the central clinical features of the intervention model. In addition, the training and quality assurance protocols used to promote MST program fidelity and treatment adherence are described. Finally, findings from approximately 15 published randomised and two quasi‐experimental clinical trials with youths presenting serious clinical problems (e.g., violence, substance abuse, serious emotional disturbance, sexual offending, and chronic illness) are summarised.     

“They Are Clipping Our Wings”: Health Implications of Restrictive Immigrant Policies for Mexican-Origin Women in a Northern Border Community

We examine racialization processes experienced by women of Mexican origin in a northern border community during a protracted period of restrictive immigrant policies that have disparately affected Mexican-origin communities, and consider pathways through which these experiences may affect health. This grounded theory analysis draws on interviews conducted in 2013–2014 with 48 first, 1.5, and second generation Mexican-origin women living in Detroit, MI. Racialization processes blurred boundaries between Latinas/os, immigrants, and undocumented immigrants. Racialized policies and interactions required women to negotiate shifting and often precarious social and political terrain. We describe racializing markers used by agents of multiple institutions to assess the legal status of women and members of their social networks, shaping their access to the resources over which institutional agents held power. Specifically, we consider the dynamic mechanisms by which multiple legal, social, and employment institutions exacted immigrant policing and bureaucratic surveillance. These include: (1) interior and border immigration enforcement agents’ active surveillance of residents; (2) local law enforcement officials’ assertion of authority over driver’s licenses and contact with immigration officials, often in traffic-related encounters; (3) Secretary of State clerks’ discretion in assessing legal status and issuing driver’s licenses and state IDs; (4) social welfare agents’ scrutiny of citizenship status in determining access to nutritional, economic, and medical resources; and (5) employers’ exploitation of these structural vulnerabilities to justify unfair treatment of immigrant workers. We theorize several mechanisms, by which these processes affect health, including: stigmatization; hypervigilance; and restricted access to health-promoting resources.