Workplace Policy and Environment,Family Role Quality,and Positive Family-to-Work Spillover

We used role theory to direct our analysis of the association between family-friendly policies, workplace environment, family role quality, and positive spillover from family to work. Taking data from 104 dual-earner couples with children living in Utah, we examined the influence of both partners’ access to family-friendly policies, both partners’ workplace environments, and the family role quality reported by the couple. We found that family role quality was significantly associated with positive family-to-work spillover for men and women. In addition, women’s own workplace culture and the ability of women’s partners to leave work to care for children were associated with women’s positive family-to-work spillover. These findings were viewed through the lens of gender theory and traditionally structured institutions and roles.     

PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION AND WORK‐TO‐LIFE CONFLICT AMONG WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES

Following scholarship that highlights the importance of negative workplace relationships in predicting conflict between work and nonwork domains, this study examines whether perceptions of sex, race, and age discrimination are related to work‐to‐life conflict using data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (N = 2,335). The potential moderating role of workplace social support, including coworker support and supervisor support, is also examined. All three forms of perceived discrimination are associated with higher levels of work‐to‐life conflict even when workplace social support is controlled for. The findings indicate limited support for the moderating role of workplace social support.     

Decentering intensive mothering: More fully accounting for race and class in motherhood norms

In 1996 Sharon Hays published The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood describing the ideology of intensive mothering calling upon mothers to engage in a time-intensive, expensive, and expert-informed style of mothering. In this article, I describe the historical circumstances giving rise to intensive mothering and how structural and historical realities diverge across race and class. I argue that enactments of motherhood are varied, forming a mosaic of motherhood enactments informed by mothers' social locations, including their positions in racialized and classed hierarchies. Mothers operating from marginalized locations innovate and resist intensive mothering, while also being judged by these norms, despite often lacking the resources to meet them. Privileged, primarily White mothers, have been able to harness their resources to achieve intensive mothering and redefine what constitutes good mothering to match the style of mothering they practice. Among some privileged, predominantly White mothers, I contend an even more intense version of intensive mothering is being practiced, with some moving beyond being “expert informed” to positioning themselves as the experts who possess specialized knowledge superior to that of medical and educational experts. All told, I argue that mothering enactments are more diverse than is often portrayed by the concept of intensive mothering.     

Evaluating the effects of canine urine on urban soil microbial communities

Due to extensive areas of impermeable surfaces, combined sewer overflow (CSO) is currently a major problem in urban areas across the United States. In CSO systems, sewage can travel through underground pipes to be decontaminated in treatment facilities, or it can combine with stormwater after a precipitation event and discharge into local waterways. Many cities are implementing green infrastructure installations, which use vegetation and bioactive soil microbial communities to enhance soil water-holding capacity, thereby minimizing CSO events. Understanding the factors that structure soil microbial communities in green infrastructure will facilitate more effective management of these engineered ecosystems; however, few studies to date have evaluated ecological patterns and processes of microbes in the urban environment. Nitrogen loading is known to be a major factor structuring fungi and bacteria in non-urban soils, and since cities also contain large populations of canines, N-rich urine deposition is a potential factor that could be important for structuring soil microbes in ground-level green infrastructure installations. Our study investigated the effects of canine urine on the urban soil microbial communities in a greenhouse experiment by treating Liriope muscari, a common plant found in New York City green infrastructure, with different concentrations of canine urine for 4 weeks in an experimental setting. We found that urine application significantly decreased total soil microbial biomass and microbial richness, and increased water runoff volume. These findings indicate that canine urine may have negative consequences for soil water-holding capacity and nutrient cycling in urban green infrastructure installations by directly decreasing the abundance and richness of soil microbial communities.

     

Making it in America: High school completion by immigrant and native youth

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we find that first-generation youth of Hispanic, Asian, and African heritage obtain more education than their parents, but the second generation and third or higher generations lose ground. Differences in dropout rates by race-ethnicity and immigrant generation are driven by differences in human, cultural, and social capital. Low levels of family human capital, school social capital, and community social capital place the children of immigrants at risk of dropping out. However, cultural capital and immigrant optimism buffer first-generation Hispanic youth and the children of Asian immigrants from the risk of dropping out of high school. While human and social capital resources improve with immigrant generation, cultural capital diminishes.     

Professional parents’ loyalty to employer: The role of workplace social support

Professional mothers are more likely than professional fathers to leave workplaces—a phenomenon referred to as opting out. Previous research asserts that work–family challenges, including lack of access to supportive workplaces, are among the main reasons for this pattern. Despite revived interest in the study of opting out, little is known about factors shaping the loyalty to employer of those currently employed. Using data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (N = 160 professional mothers; 114 professional fathers) we explore how three important forms of workplace social support – coworker support, supervisor support, and supportive workplace culture – are associated with professional mothers’ and fathers’ loyalty to their employees. Including fathers allows us to determine if gender dynamics are present in these patterns. The results suggest gendered patterns where supportive workplace culture relates to professional fathers’ employer loyalty and supervisor support relates to professional mothers’ employer loyalty.     

Why do children resist or obey their foster parents? The inner logic of children's behavior during discipline

This article discusses a study of children's perspectives on disciplinary conflicts with their foster parents. Most children accept parental authority, but they also defend their personal autonomy and loyalties to peers. In this study, only birthchildren told real-life stories about fierce resistance to get their own way. Fierce resistance among foster children was motivated by inner conflicts and confusion. Obedience among foster children often derived from fear of punishment or a feeling of impotence. The authors discuss the theoretical and pedagogical implications of these findings.     

Leadership in physical activity groups for older adults: a qualitative analysis

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a theory-based framework could be used to deductively identify and understand the characteristics of motivational leaders of physical activity groups for older adults. Participants were 23 older adults (mean age = 78.5 +/- 8.0 years, 65% women). An interview-guide approach was employed to elicit older adults' thoughts on important characteristics of physical activity group leaders. The data suggested that effective leaders are those whom the participants feel are properly qualified, are able to develop a personal bond with participants, and can use their knowledge and the group to demonstrate collective accomplishments. It was concluded that the findings could be used to extend the leadership activities beyond the traditional technical performance and individual feedback to include activities of social integration. Furthermore, the conceptual framework identified can serve as a valuable tool in guiding future researchers in their examination of leadership in physical activity groups for older adults.     

EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TYPES OF FAMILY WORK AND MARITAL WELL-BEING

We use an expanded definition of family work and test its association with marital well-being. Using a gender perspective, we examine the role of the respondent's and partner's performance of family work for both husbands and wives. Data are taken from a sample of couples with dependent children under age 18 (N = 96), and separate regression equations are estimated by gender. Though housework is cited as one of the most contentious issues reported by couples, it is not significant in our analysis of marital well-being. In our analysis, other forms of family work are considered, and childcare, emotion work, and formal volunteering are significantly associated with marital well-being. The role of partner's provision of emotion work is particularly salient. Discussion of the gendered nature of our findings follows.     

“It’s More Appropriate for Men”: Management and Worker Perceptions of the Gendered Ideal Worker

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative interviews at a Mexican-owned multinational manufacturing corporation, this article analyzes how perceptions of the ideal worker shift during workplace transformation to impact women and men differently. Prior to transformation, women and men perform distinct forms of labor on the shop floor. When the company moves from labor-intensive to technology-driven production, the ideal factory worker changes. Management (re)assesses and (re)values skills, responsibility, and commitment. These seemingly gender-neutral attributes create different outcomes. Automation and teamwork are recast as men’s work; women are sent home. I argue that women’s exit is not about the nature of the work. Rather, gendered stereotypes embodied in perceptions of the ideal worker justify and normalize women’s elimination from the factory. These findings reveal how presumed gender traits play a pivotal role in the company’s adjustment to global economic processes, privileging masculinity and devaluing femininity.