Transition to parenthood: it does not get easier the next time. Exploring ways to support well-being among parents with newborns

Investing in parents is important because their well-being is positively related to the development and well-being of their children. This study investigated which factors predict two types of parents’ well-being: individual well-being and parenting-related well-being. Participants were 416 parents (90 fathers, 326 mothers) of a baby (younger than age 1 year old), both first-time parents and not-first-time parents. Relationship quality, life skills, parenting skills, and social support were taken into account. Results show that both types of well-being have different main predictors. Self-esteem, self-management, and interpersonal relationship skills contribute to both types of well-being, suggesting that interventions aimed at improving these skills could be very beneficial for parents in their transition to parenthood. Fathers and mothers differ significantly on several predictors—for example, self-esteem, self-management, parenting behavior, and empathy—suggesting they might have different needs for support in the transition to parenthood. Finally, results show that, though parents get better at providing basic care for their children, regarding well-being and relationship quality, not-first-time parents are not better off then first-time parents. Therefore, interventions aimed at easing the transition to parenthood should not only be aimed at first time parents, they might be more effective for parents who already have children.     

The Brewers and Public Relations History, 1909–1919

In 1909, the American brewing industry's trade association, the United States Brewers' Association, launched its first year book to serve as an educational resource for those concerned about temperance and prohibition. Over the next 10 years, these year books revealed communication efforts that more closely resembled a modern approach to influencing public sentiment, such as the consistent use of 4 key messages, research on local option persuasion campaigns, and a relationship-building outreach program in the form of the Barley Campaign. This study, then, not only contributes to the historical scholarship concerning the role of trade associations in public relations history, but, in its departure from the timeline approach to understanding the field's development, it also contributes to the ongoing theory building in public relations history.     

Mary Prince,Grand Turk,and Antigua

The History of Mary Prince, A West-Indian Slave, Related by Herself, published in 1831 under the auspices of London's Anti-Slavery Society, is of great historical importance because of the rich details it gives about various aspects of enslavement. Its author, Mary Prince, was born in 1788 in Bermuda. She had five owners and was enslaved in three British Overseas Territories – Bermuda, Grand Turk Island and Antigua – before self-manumission in London in 1828. Prince is the earliest known freed black West Indian woman to author such a testimony. Susanna Strickland (later Moodie), a young abolitionist and skilled writer working with the Anti-Slavery Society, compiled the narrative which was a bestseller going to print three times in its first year of publication. It was also a valuable part of the abolitionists' strategy to attract public support for the abolitionist movement of the day. Investigation and authentication of the History's historical dimensions, such as physical remnants of sites where Prince was enslaved and listings in the Slave Registers of Former British Overseas Territories, may put to rest suspicion that it was exaggerated or partially fabricated by abolitionists. Much of this work has been completed in Bermuda but little has been done with regard to Grand Turk Island and Antigua, although Prince spent more than half her life enslaved in those two islands. This article outlines preliminary findings in both territories.     

On the generic emptiness of the local core of voting games

The local core of voting games is investigated from a genericity point of view. There exist preference profiles for which it is empty and there exist preference profiles for which the local core and its complement are both dense in the set of alternatives. Furthermore the subset of profiles having an empty local core is dense in the whole set of profiles. Some remarks on the choice of the topology are provided.We are grateful to the French Commissariat Général du Plan for financial support and to Norman Schofield for having the opportunity to read McKelvey and Schofield (1986) before the publication. We are indebted to two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions and to Jerry Kelly for important comments and for correcting our English.     

Acyclicity and the dispersion of the veto power

Blair and Pollak (Econometrica (1982) 50: 931–943) prove that, if there are more alternatives than individuals, then, for every arrovian binary decision rule that is acyclic, there is at least one individual who has a veto power over a critical number of pairs of alternatives. If the number of individuals is larger than the number of alternatives, there need not be single vetoers but there could be small coalitions endowed with a similar power. Kelsey (Soc Choice Welfare (1985) 2: 131–137) states precise results in this respect. In this paper, we first give a new and much simpler proof of the main result of Blair and Pollak and complete proofs of the generalization of this result by Kelsey. Then we give a precise answer as to the minimum size of the coalitions that must have a veto power under any acyclic binary decision rule and the minimum number of pairs of alternatives on which these coalitions may exercise their power. We also show that, if the veto power of the coalitions of the minimal size attainable under the last objective is limited to the minimum number of pairs of alternatives, then all larger coalitions have a veto power on all pairs. All the results are obtained by appealing to an acyclicity condition found by Ferejohn and Fishburn (J Econ Theory (1979) 21: 28–45). In the case of symmetric and monotonic binary decision rules, proofs are even easier and illustrate clearly the reasons for the veto power.     

The Socio-Political Dynamics of the October Events1

L'analyse consiste à situer les événements d'octobre dans le contexte du changement qui s'est déroulé dans l'ensemble de la société, surtout en autant que ce changement comportait une nouvelle repartition du pouvoir et de l'influence dans divers secteurs institutionnels ou des tentatives dans ce sens. Le FLQ était un des groupes engagés dans ce processus et s'est distingué par les tactiques et les moyens utilisés. L'étude propose quelques explications du recours à la violence par le FLQ. Les enlèvements de M. Cross et de M. Laporte sont devenus un événement politique important pour des raisons qui vont au-delà du fait qu'ils etaient des personnages politiques. Il s'agissait d'une situation non définie que divers groupes engagés dans le changement du partage du pouvoir ont tenté de structurer à leur avantage. L'étude se termine par un examen de quelques questions ayant trait à la fonction d'autorité dans de telles circonstances. The events of October 1970 are examined in the light of the change taking place in the society at large, particularly as this change involves the redistribution and attempts at the redistribution of power and influence in various institutional domains. The FLQ is seen as one of the various groups involved in this process, although through the use of unconventional tactics and means. Some of the reasons for the use of violent means by the FLQ are suggested. The reasons why the kidnapping of Mr Cross and of Mr Laporte became a major political event, other than the fact that these men were political figures, are explored using the notion that the events brought about an undefined situation that a number of groups involved in the redistribution of power attempted to structure to their advantage. Finally, a number of questions concerning the exercise of authority in such circumstances are discussed.     

Topological aggregation of inequality preorders

An inequality preorder is defined as a complete preorder on a simplex which satisfies the properties of continuity and strict Schur-convexity (the mathematical equivalent of Dalton's principle of transfers). The paper shows that it is possible to aggregate individual inequality preorders into a collective one if we are interested in continuous anonymous aggregation rules that respect unanimity. The aggregation problem is studied within a topological framework introduced by Chichilnisky.We are grateful to J. Laine for helpful discussions and to an anonymous referee of this Journal for valuable comments