‘Making Pies’—A Way of Exploring Pupils’ Views on Curriculum Innovation

This article examines the use of focus groups (FGs) as a way of gathering pupils’ views on the implementation of new curricula. We provide illustrations of creative activities, which were especially designed for a case‐study research project exploring the views of 11‐year‐old pupils in English schools adopting an innovative approach to the Year 7 curriculum. We argue that combining FGs with creative methods encourages pupils to take an active role in interviews, enriches the quality of the data being collected and enhances the place of FGs as important tools in eliciting pupils’ voices for both research and curriculum planning purposes.     

Exposed Singularity

In his photographs of children in displaced persons’ camps, Salgado takes each subject seriously. His images dis‐place us through their dignity and presence. We are no longer spectators but engaged: each gaze demands a response and produces the self as exposed. Pictures of prisoners from Tuol Sleng in Cambodia take the same form: a single figure facing the camera. Here, however, we are caught in an additional and irresolvable aporia: we are faced with thousands to whom we cannot adequately respond. As Derrida argues, responsibility is only possible by sacrificing ethics: we can respond to one only by sacrificing whatever obliges us to respond to others. In the final set of images considered here, Daravuth’s positing of the indistinguishability of victim and perpetrator disturbs any easy response once more. A reading of Nancy alongside and against Derrida points to significant differences in emphasis between the two, and throws further light on the aporia of responsibility. The essay concludes that Nancy’s being singular plural is productive in emphasizing the need, politically, to focus not on how we might establish a bond between us, but rather on how it is that we seem separate at all. The photographs expose us to our inevitable engagement or being‐with.     

Toddlers Activate Lexical Semantic Knowledge in the Absence of Visual Referents: Evidence from Auditory Priming

Language learners rapidly acquire extensive semantic knowledge, but the development of this knowledge is difficult to study, in part because it is difficult to assess young children's lexical semantic representations. In our studies, we solved this problem by investigating lexical semantic knowledge in 24‐month‐olds using the Head‐turn Preference Procedure. In Experiment 1, looking times to a repeating spoken word stimulus (e.g., kitty‐kitty‐kitty) were shorter for trials preceded by a semantically related word (e.g., dog‐dog‐dog) than trials preceded by an unrelated word (e.g., juice‐juice‐juice). Experiment 2 yielded similar results using a method in which pairs of words were presented on the same trial. The studies provide evidence that young children activate of lexical semantic knowledge, and critically, that they do so in the absence of visual referents or sentence contexts. Auditory lexical priming is a promising technique for studying the development and structure of semantic knowledge in young children.     

Filling a critical gap: measuring work policies that affect families globally

Work is a central element in most people's lives, and its adequacy and value cannot be measured by simple figures showing how many people have gained or lost jobs. Current measures of decent work are more comprehensive in terms of what matters to individuals, but deficient in their coverage of work policies that matter to families. In this article, we argue the importance and feasibility of measuring policies and laws that shape work quality, and in particular those that shape how work affects families on a global basis. We make the case that this policy area is especially critical under changing social conditions, and propose a manageable and feasible set of indicators permitting an assessment of the extent to which national labor policies facilitate the ability of working adults to meet the requirements of their jobs as well as the needs of their families. Methods are described and findings mapped for all UN countries in key areas including maternal leave, paternal leave, leave to care for children's health, leave to care for adult family members, and leave to meet other family needs.     

Self-stigma coping and treatment-seeking in problem gambling

Stigma has been explored as a cause of reduced and delayed treatment-seeking for problem gambling, a population in which only 1 in 10 seek treatment. The present study examined the effect of perceived public stigma and self-stigma on affect and behavioural coping efforts. Path analysis was used to examine self-stigma in 155 individuals with gambling problems. The majority of participants met criteria for a gambling disorder (93.5%), were current gamblers (69%) and had never sought treatment (54.2%). The data fit the proposed path model well; self-stigma was associated with reduced self-esteem and increased shame. Shame predicted use of secrecy and withdrawal coping. Endorsement of negative stereotypes of ‘problem gamblers’ was associated with decreased treatment-seeking while greater self-stigma predicted increased treatment-seeking. Additional predictors of increased treatment-seeking included greater gambling problem severity, more positive attitudes towards treatment, male sex and higher income. Self-stigma increased rather than decreased treatment-seeking in this analysis. Efforts to increase treatment-seeking could target women, those with lower income and those with less severe gambling problems.     

Parents' Partnership Decision Making After Divorce or Widowhood: The Role of (Step)Children

Using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Surveys, this study investigated divorced and widowed parents' (N = 350) decision making about living arrangements after repartnering: Twenty‐eight percent lived apart together (LAT) and others lived together (remarried or cohabiting). The focus was on determinants of LAT: Women, older respondents, residents of larger cities, and parents of 2 or more children are more apt to LAT. On the basis of additional qualitative interviews with LAT respondents (n = 25), the reasons for LAT were investigated. Data showed that many children are involved in pure boundary work in an effort to guarantee the continuation of their family. Other (step)children use the sabotage or refusal types of boundary work, not accepting the new partner or excluding a parent from contact, especially with grandchildren. Many of these efforts are successful. To preserve the ties with their children, parents often adapt their decision making about the living arrangements with a new partner accordingly.     

A Rapid Review of Sexual Wellbeing Definitions and Measures: Should We Now Include Sexual Wellbeing Freedom?

An increasing number of studies refer to sexual wellbeing and/or seek to measure it, and the term appears across various policy documents, including sexual health frameworks in the UK. We conducted a rapid review to determine how sexual wellbeing has been defined, qualitatively explored and quantitatively measured. Eligible studies selected for inclusion from OVID Medline, PsychInfo, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL were: in English language, published after 2007, were peer-reviewed full articles, focused on sexual wellbeing (or proxies for, e.g. satisfaction, function), and quantitatively or qualitatively assessed sexual wellbeing. We included studies with participants aged 16–65. Given study heterogeneity, our synthesis and findings are reported using a narrative approach. We identified 162 papers, of which 10 offered a definition of sexual wellbeing. Drawing upon a socio-ecological model, we categorised the 59 dimensions we identified from studies under three main domains: cognitive-affect (31 dimensions); inter-personal (22 dimensions); and socio-cultural (6 dimensions). Only 11 papers were categorised under the socio-cultural domain, commonly focusing on gender inequalities or stigma. We discuss the importance of conceptualising sexual wellbeing as individually experienced but socially and structurally influenced, including assessing sexual wellbeing freedom: a person’s freedom to achieve sexual wellbeing, or their real opportunities and liberties.     

SYMBOLIC REALITY BITES: WOMEN AND RACIAL/ETHNIC MINORITIES IN MODERN FILM

Criticisms of mass media productions often include a discussion of how women and minorities are systematically excluded and/or relegated to minor roles, or roles that match traditional stereotypes. These types of portrayals are important factors in the social construction of reality among the general public, and therefore may perpetuate racism and sexism on a larger scale. Using a content analysis of fifty popular films in 1996 the present study explores the demographic composition of the leading actresses and actors. The goal is to gauge the strength of female and minority presence and to provide an assessment of character representations through an analysis of labor force participation, sex-roles of occupation, prestige of occupation, and gender. Findings indicate that although both women and minorities have made some advancement in their film portrayals, compared to earlier studies, they still are under-represented in leading roles in Hollywood, and their portrayals are often consistent with traditional stereotypes.     

Experiencing menopause in the UK: The interrelated narratives of normality,distress, and transformation

ABSTRACT

We investigated the experience and perspectives of menopause among 48 UK mothers through qualitative in-depth interviews. Interviews were analyzed thematically then explored using social science theories. Three interdependent narratives emerged: menopause as a normal, biological process, distinct from self and social transitions; menopause as struggle, an “idiom of distress” expressing upset, identity loss, shame, and social upheaval; and menopause as transformative and liberating, arising from biopsychic and relational changes. Some women followed a predictable “rite of passage” trajectory with transformation emerging from distress, but not all: Menopause arises from a complex interplay of personal predicament, somatic change, and sociocultural context.