“A Second-Chance at Being a Parent”: Grandparent Caregivers’ Reported Communication and Parenting Practices with Co-Residential Grandchildren

ABSTRACT

Grandfamilies, family structures in which grandparent(s) co-reside with and assume a primary caregiving role for at least one grandchild, are increasingly common in the United States. This qualitative, exploratory study, informed by family communication patterns theory (FCPT), illuminated the reported communication beliefs and practices of grandparents who serve as primary caregiver to at least one grandchild. Hybrid thematic analysis, combining FCTP with inductive analysis, was used to analyze 21 semi-structured interviews with grandparents. Results yielded four themes describing grandparents’ reported communicative practices: creating opportunities for listening and dialogue, talking about emotion, emphasizing openness, and allowing questioning; and three themes describing the impact of second-chance parenting: increased resources, acquired wisdom, and matured emotionally. Implications for grandfamily communication research in light of hybrid analyses and FCPT are discussed.     

Eligibility Criteria and Entitlements: Defining Need for NHS Continuing Care

The 1995 guidance HSG(95)8 "NHS Responsibilities for Meeting Continuing Health Care Needs" required health authorities to develop local policies and eligibility criteria for a range of continuing care services. The role of criteria in defining health need, and the potential effect on open-ended rights to NHS care, need to be considered in light of the prior erosion of rights associated with changes in continuing care provision. This paper examines whether the development of eligibility criteria has led to a loss of entitlements to NHS care. Analysis of empirical evidence from a study of the policies and criteria of six health authorities found that criteria for fully funded care were generally well defined and restricted access to those with very intense and specialist needs, thereby constituting a loss of rights. In contrast, the criteria for community-based services left eligibility dependent on professional discretion but often failed to clarify the relationship between individual need and levels of service provision. The research found that resource limits are likely to remain a factor in the allocation of services and this will affect the status of the criteria as potential entitlements.     

市场转型下的老年供养研究

现代化理论预测未来家庭纽带会减弱,对老人的家庭供养会逐渐减弱。我们认为市场转型过程中,子女的人力资本和收入的快速提高有助于供养老人。利用2005年全国1%人口抽样调查数据,本文对60岁以上老年人口的主要生活来源进行了深入分析。研究表明,城市老年居民主要靠离退休金,镇和农村老年人仍有一半靠家庭供养,农村另有40%的老人依靠自我劳动生活。Logistic回归的结果显示农村家庭中子女的劳务迁移提高了老年人的家庭供养比。此外,农村、女性、高龄、低教育老人的家庭供养比高,而城市,男性,低龄,和教育程度较高的供养比低。分城乡老人家庭供养比,农村在不发达的西部最高,城市在发达的东部最高,反映家庭供养U型发展趋势。面对老人比例激增的局面,政府应积极扩大社会养老保障的覆盖面,加强扶持老年弱势群体,减轻家庭养老负担。     

Metropolitan Structure and Neighborhood Attainment: Exploring Intermetropolitan Variation in Racial Residential Segregation

Using data from the 1981, 1991, and 2001 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and several decennial censuses, we examine how characteristics of metropolitan areas are associated with black and white households’ neighborhood racial composition. Results from hierarchical linear models show that about 20% to 40% of the variation in the percentage of households’ tract population that is non-Hispanic white or non-Hispanic black exists across metropolitan areas. Over time, white households’ exposure to non-Hispanic white neighbors has declined, and their exposure to non-Hispanic black neighbors has increased; the reverse trends are observed for blacks. These trends cannot be attributed to changes in the ecological structure of metropolitan areas. Blacks have fewer white neighbors in large metropolitan areas containing sizable minority populations, and blacks have more white neighbors in metropolitan areas with high government employment. Whites have more black neighbors in metropolitan areas with high levels of government employment and ample new housing; whites have fewer black neighbors in metropolitan areas with a high level of municipal fragmentation. The association between metropolitan-area percentage black and tract percentage black is weaker among whites than among blacks, suggesting that whites are especially motivated to self-segregate in metropolitan areas with large black populations.     

Imbalanced sex ratios, men's sexual behavior, and risk of sexually transmitted infection in China

China has been experiencing pronounced changes in its sex ratio, but little research has explored the consequences of these changes for sexual behavior and health. We merge data from the 1999-2000 Chinese Health and Family Life Survey with community-level data from the 1982, 1990, and 2000 Chinese censuses to examine the relationship between the local sex ratio and several dimensions of men's sexual behavior and sexual health. Multilevel logistic regression models show that, when faced with a relative abundance of age-matched women in their community, Chinese men are slightly less likely to have intercourse with commercial sex workers, but are more likely to engage in premarital noncommercial intercourse and to test positive for a sexually transmitted infection. These findings are consistent with hypotheses derived from demographic-opportunity theory, which suggests that an abundance of opposite-sex partners will increase the risk of early, frequent, and multi-partner sex and, through this, sexually transmitted infection risk.     

星垂平野阔 月涌大江流——新时期散文研究三十年(英文)

新时期以来的散文研究已走过了30年的历程。由于种种原因,散文研究一直受到轻视和责难。本文从作家作品研究、专题性研究、散文史建设和散文理论建构诸方面,对30年来散文研究进行了全面系统的梳理和评析,并追寻散文研究长期被冷落的原因。文章认为21世纪的散文研究要走向深入和阔大,必须从三方面用力：其一是要建立现代意识的散文批评视野;其二是“化西方”与“中国化”;其三是思维方式与研究方法的改变。这三方面不但是认识和解决当代散文问题的重要维度,而且对散文研究具有方法论的意义。     

早期拉丁教父的死亡观评析——以德尔图良、安布罗斯和奥古斯丁为例

早年的德尔图良在死亡观上,采取了实用主义的态度,他同情胆怯者,号召人们勇敢面对死亡;晚年的德尔图良成了一名孟他努主义者,因而在死亡问题上采取了偏激的态度,他开始诅咒胆怯者和极力赞扬殉道者。安布罗斯从肉体与灵魂的截然对立出发,认为死亡的本质就是善,因为死亡意味着灵魂离开肉体而获得自由,这种死亡观显然是柏拉图主义影响的结果。作为教会体制代言人的奥古斯丁,则从《圣经》的立场出发重新解读死亡,他认为死亡不是善而是恶,但是这种恶可以被转化为善用;他同情惧死行为,并谴责自杀性的殉道现象,认为这种现象不仅与《圣经》教导相悖逆,而且客观上会鼓动异端邪说,威胁教会统治。     

浅谈日本民族“我なし”的心理意识

以日语中"我なし"(わなし)-词概括日本民族"无我"的心理意识,并例举了它在语言生活、社会生活、文化生活方面的反映,继而从历史、政治等角度阐述了这种"无我"心理形成的根源.     

论韩国的科学技术大众化政策及其在形成科学技术文化中的作用

韩国自 60年代以来 ,为了推进经济开发五年计划的实施 ,培养一些必须的科学技术人员 ,同时为了在传统的农业社会迅速向科学技术社会转变的过程中能够提高国民的科学文化素质 ,使国民能够积极地参与到国家发展事业中来 ,韩国大力开展科学技术大众化事业。韩国的科学技术大众化事业 ,随着政府科学技术政策的发展、社会性大事件和民间的要求 ,逐渐地深化发展下去 ,并逐步向科学技术文化靠近。韩国在短短的 30年内 ,实现了经济的迅速发展 ,与此同时 ,逐渐完善了以国民的参与和需求为基础的科学技术政策     

The Geographic Context of Divorce: Do Neighborhoods Matter?

Neighborhood effects on family formation processes have recently received considerable attention, but no study has yet examined the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic status on marital dissolution. This analysis merges data from 3,523 respondents to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics with census data describing the socioeconomic composition of local communities. Although a multiitem index of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is positively and significantly related to the risk of divorce, this association can be explained entirely by the low incomes of husbands in distressed neighborhoods. Thus, there appears to be no direct causal influence of neighborhood socioeconomic status on marital instability. To the extent that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage increases the prevalence of single‐parent families, it apparently does so by increasing rates of out‐of‐wedlock childbearing rather than by disrupting existing marriages among couples with children.