False Belief and Emotion Understanding in Post-institutionalized Children

Deficits in social cognition may impair the ability to negotiate social transactions and relationships and contribute to socio emotional difficulties experienced by some post‐institutionalized children. We examined false belief and emotion understanding in 40 institutional care‐adopted children, 40 foster care‐adopted children and 40 birth children. Both groups of adopted children were adopted internationally. Controlling for verbal ability, post‐institutionalized children scored lower than birth children on a false belief task. Almost half of the post‐institutionalized children performed below chance levels. The foster care group did not differ from either group on false belief understanding. The groups did not differ on emotion understanding after controlling for verbal ability. The results suggest that some post‐institutionalized children are delayed in false belief understanding.     

Challenges Faced by Young Mothers with a Care History and Views of Stakeholders About the Potential for Group Family Nurse Partnership to Support Their Needs

Women with experience of being ‘looked after’ are more likely than their peers to become young mothers. There has been limited research investigating support for their needs. This study, embedded in a randomised trial of Group Family Nurse Partnership (gFNP), involved interviews with young mothers with care experience, Family Nurses delivering group gFNP, and health and social care professionals. This first qualitative study to explore the views of these varied stakeholders found consensus regarding young mothers’ social isolation and lack of trusting relationships but diversity in views about the potential of gFNP to meet their needs.     

Parents of Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-Synthesis,Part I

In 2011 6.4 million children in the United States ages four to 17 years had a diagnosis of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Quantitative studies have indicated that parenting stress for parents of children diagnosed with ADHD is high. This meta-synthesis compiled and analyzed a systematic review of the qualitative studies of parents’ lived experience of having a child with ADHD. Searches in online scholarly databases yielded an initial 1217 hits, which were narrowed down to seventy-three studies that met the criteria. A “meta-ethnography” framework was used for the synthesis. One major finding involved the emotional burden of caring for a child with ADHD. Parents struggled with a variety of intense and painful emotions as they attempted to manage family routines. Disciplining children only worked in a limited way and took constant effort throughout the day. The challenges of parenting spilled into other areas of the parents’ lives, such as their health, psychological, marital, and occupational functioning. Implications for practitioners are discussed, including the need to validate parental stress and the difficulty of applying behavioral management strategies with their children, the need for increased support of partner relationships, and the need to connect parents with support to prevent poorer outcomes for the child.     

Feasibility study for a survey measuring abuse and neglect of older adults

This feasibility study was prepared by Statistics Canada, under arrangement with the Strategic Policy Research Directorate, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). It investigates issues associated with conducting surveys of abuse and neglect of older adults in community and institutional settings in Canada. A roadmap is provided for the work ahead, including options for a sampling frame, collection approaches, estimated costs, and an activity schedule.     

A longitudinal analysis of resource mobilisation among forced and voluntary return migrants in Mexico

The rise in U.S. deportations has resulted in a growing number of studies focused on the reintegration experiences of these migrants in their home communities. Based on interviews with deportees shortly after their arrival home, these studies paint a picture of economic gloom, finding that deportees are too frequently stigmatised by governments and employers and consequently unemployed or working on the margins of their home economies. In contrast, our longitudinal and comparative study, which draws on the findings of 93 deported and voluntary migrants in Leon, Mexico, finds convergence in the labour market trajectories and social mobility outcomes of deportees and non-deportees, which reduces initial labour market disparities over time. We found that deportation can stymie migrants’ initial labour market re-entry, often relegating former migrants to undesirable jobs in the informal labour market, while they re-familiarise themselves with their local labour markets and identify promising opportunities. Yet, in the long run, successful reintegration depends primarily on the acquisition and mobilisation of human and financial capital across the migratory circuit.     

‘The invisible enemy’: disability,loneliness and isolation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to quantitatively explore the relationship between disability, emotional loneliness and social isolation. The data analysis presents a number of statistically significant findings which illustrate that disabled people (N?=?250) were at increased risk of experiencing emotional loneliness and social isolation compared with the nondisabled group (N?=?355). This study identifies a number of disabling barriers which result in this overrepresentation of disabled people. The study aims to move away from a pathological explanation of linking loneliness and social isolation to disability, in order to explain this occurrence from a barrier-based approach.     

Sexual Experimentation in Heterosexual,Bisexual, Lesbian/Gay,and Questioning Adolescents From Ages 11 to 15

To examine adolescent sexuality development, we analyzed data from a British cohort study (N = 5,070), which assessed the same 12–14 sexual activities at ages 11, 12, 13, and 15, and sexual orientation identity at age 15. The sexual activities ranged from low (e.g., cuddling), moderate (e.g., kissing), to high (e.g., sexual intercourse) intensity. We found that most adolescents having sexual activities of low‐to‐moderate intensity with same‐sex individuals also had them with other‐sex individuals, and adolescents having other‐sex contacts of low intensity often reported them nonexclusively. Furthermore, other‐sex and same‐sex sexual activities did not reliably distinguish between sexual orientation identities. Sex differences in these phenomena were absent or small. These findings suggest that many adolescents have low‐intensity nonexclusive sexual behaviors.     

EFFORTS TO INCORPORATE SOCIAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVES INTO A FAMILY TRAINING PROGRAM

This paper describes the efforts of the faculty of the Family Institute of New Jersey in recent years to develop a collaborative family training program that takes into account issues of gender, race, culture, class, and sexual orientation. We have come to realize how strongly traditional approaches have been skewed in the direction of the dominant culture--white, male, heterosexist, and prioritizing the needs and experience of the middle and upper classes. We have attempted to modify our teaching, supervision, reading lists, and overall training approach to challenge trainees and ourselves to move toward broader, strength-based, and equity-based multicultural perspectives in our training. We describe our vision, how we incorporate it into our program structure, and a few of our training initiatives.