The relational costs of crossing class lines

How do low socioeconomic status students navigate cross-class interactions in extremely unequal contexts? Previous research has described the high costs of college integration for underprivileged students, which in turn, negatively impact academic performance and general wellbeing. These studies tend to concentrate on cultural capital costs, such as catching up with assumed middle-class or elite capital and dealing with two worlds. Less has been said about social capital costs, the costs of making friends, especially more privileged friends. Through 61 in-depth interviews with various types of students as part of a broader ethnographic fieldwork, this article analyses the experiences of low-income scholarship holders in an elite institution in a very unequal society, Colombia. Rather than isolating themselves or resorting to safe homophilic relations, they faced their new elite environment engaging with the hidden relational cost of making friends with more affluent students. In so doing, they had to overcome fears and experiences of discrimination and micro-aggressions, as well as cultural and economic capital barriers, and employed either camouflaging or disclosure strategies, sometimes becoming culturally and socially omnivorous. Symbolic belonging to the institution and the acquisition of middle-class cultural capital were among the benefits that made overcoming the costs worthy. Our results shed light on what institutions can do to reduce the costs for underprivileged students and, theoretically, unveil an important mechanism and barrier for social mobility: building cross-class ties.     

Determinants of Migrant Career Success: A Study of Recent Skilled Migrants in Australia

Australia has been aggressively pursuing skilled migrants to sustain its population and foster economic growth. However, many skilled migrants experience a downward career move upon migration to Australia. Based on a survey of recent skilled migrants, this study investigates how individual (age, years of settlement, qualifications), national/societal (citizenship and settlement), and organization-level (climate of inclusion) factors influence their career success. Overall, we found that: (1) age at migration matters more than length of settlement in predicting skilled migrant career success; (2) citizenship uptake and living in a neighbourhood with a greater number of families from the same country of origin facilitate post-migration career success; and (3) perceptions of one's social/informal networks in the workplace – a dimension of perceived organizational climate of inclusion – also have a positive impact on migrant career outcomes.     

‘I Became a Mom’: Identity Changes in Mothers Receiving Public Assistance

ABSTRACT

This phenomenological study used individual, semistructured, face-to-face interviews to explore motherhood experiences among 15 women receiving public assistance in a large urban area on the West coast. A primary phenomenon observed was that motherhood was described as an experience of identity change, with resulting emotional, behavioral, and sense-of-self changes. Within this broad theme, two categories emerged: the experience and process of change, and consequences of change. It was concluded that motherhood may serve as an important catalyst for change in some women and that the context of poverty is essential for understanding the motherhood experience. These results suggest that interventions aimed at leveraging emerging motherhood identities may be beneficial in setting women on the path out of poverty, drug addiction, and incarceration. Future research should examine the consequences of maternal change within the specific context of the stages of change documented in the recovery process from drug addiction.     

Mothers and fathers in treatment for methamphetamine addiction—Parenting,parental stress,and children at risk

Parents addicted to methamphetamine (“crystal meth”) are likely to be impaired in meeting parental responsibilities, and the developmental settings can be highly disadvantageous for children. Therefore, parenting by methamphetamine‐addicted mothers and fathers needs further exploration, while considering the impact on children affected by parental substance use. In our study, we analysed parenting practices and parental stress as well as children's behavioural problems using standardized assessments. The sample consisted of 87 methamphetamine‐addicted parents in recovery. We obtained data on parents' current substance use and on their psychological distress. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of children's overall problems. Parents reported high levels of parental and psychological distress, even after achieving abstinence. Especially depressive perceptions of parenthood appeared problematic. While recovering from methamphetamine addiction, parents exhibited a precarious psychosocial situation and problematic parenting behaviour. Dysfunctional parenting practices were evident in both indifferent and overreactive tendencies. Children were at risk of behavioural and emotional problems. Variables associated with parenting showed significant predictive value for children's overall problems, beyond current substance use, and psychological distress. These findings are discussed in terms of a family‐oriented perspective in order to promote parenting capabilities of methamphetamine‐addicted parents and to prevent problematic development of their children.     

Success According to Professionals in the Fashion Industry

The purpose of this study was to examine career success perceived by professionals in the fashion industry. Two sets of open‐ ended interviews were conducted with 33 fashion industry professionals. The interviews were analyzed for success themes using a grounded approach methodology. External definitions of success mentioned were salary, promotions, sales, being seen as an expert, and having influence. Internal rewards included being innovative, maintaining integrity, and work satisfaction. Attributes identified as important for career success were motivation, flexibility, a positive attitude, networking ability, enjoying work, a mentor, self‐promotion, multitasking, following instinct, dressing well, and doing research.     

Self‐Destructive Symptomatic Frames in Clinical Adolescents: Is the Same Different?

This study examines individual and family predictors of different self‐destructive patterns—only suicidal ideation, only nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI), or suicide attempts (that may also include both suicide ideation (SI) and NSSI)—in a sample of outpatient adolescents (N = 42; 86% females) with mean age of 16 years (SD = 1.86). Results indicated that there are differences in youngsters with self‐destructive behaviors in their perception of paternal rejection and maternal control, when compared with youngsters reporting only SI. Adolescents from the groups with self‐destructive behaviors differ only in age. Together, these data highlight the relevance of adopting an ecosystemic perspective, which includes both the patients and their families, regarding treatment and prevention of self‐destructive symptomatic frames.     

The TUC,foreign labour and the labour government 1945–1951

In the early period of the Labour Government of 1945–1951, the British economy underwent a serious crisis, one dimension of which was a severe labour shortage in sectors identified as essential to national economic recovery. In an attempt to resolve this problem, the Labour Government recruited foreign labour from a number of different European sources, but was also required to gain the consent and co‐operation of the trade union movement for this initiative. This paper documents and explains the evolution of the policy of the Trades Union Congress towards this initiative, and the opposition that this stimulated within the trade union movement.     

A marginalized diffusion model for estimating age at first lower endoscopy use from current status data

Summary.  We propose an approach for estimating the age at first lower endoscopy examination from current status data that were collected via two series of cross-sectional surveys. To model the national probability of ever having a lower endoscopy examination, we incorporate birth cohort effects into a mixed influence diffusion model. We link a state-specific model to the national level diffusion model by using a marginalized modelling approach. In future research, results from our model will be used as microsimulation model inputs to estimate the contribution of endoscopy examinations to observed changes in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality.     

Finite Population Variance Estimation in Presence of Measurement Errors

In this article, we propose a class of estimators for the population variance of a quantity of interest. The estimators in the class use auxiliary information to improve efficiency, and we suppose that measurement errors are present both in the study and auxiliary variate. We take into account such problem using a regression approach. We show that the class proposed is quite flexible and general, allowing to consider many kinds of information as auxiliary one. Comparisons within estimators in the class are studied theoretically and through simulations.