Raising Girlyboys: A Parent's Perspective

An increasing number of children are expressing themselves in gender-expansive or gender-variant ways. A subgroup of those children are girlyboys: boys who accept themselves as boys but cross culturally defined gender lines in their attitudes, behaviors, and desires. Using clinical material, written accounts, and personal observations, this paper investigates the experience of parents raising these boys. Facilitative parenting is differentiated from obstructive parenting within the rubric that gender-fluid outcome is healthy and parents can have influence in this arena. The experience of parents with their girlyboys is also offered as a window through which to view a young boy's protogay development. Analysis is made of the ways in which the psychoanalytic lens has traditionally blurred or distorted our thinking about parents' roles in gender-variant children's development. An alternative view of parenting, informed by the work of post-modern psychoanalytic gender theorists, is proffered, with an end to reinforcing healthy gender-fluid development.     

Developmental Trajectories of Emotion Regulation Across Infancy: Do Age and the Social Partner Influence Temporal Patterns

The ability to effectively regulate emotions is a critical component of early socio‐emotional development. This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of emotion regulation in a sample of 3‐, 5‐, and 7‐month‐olds during an interaction with mothers and fathers. Infants' negative affect and use of behavioral strategies, including distraction, self‐soothing, and high intensity motor behaviors were rated during the still‐face episode of the Still‐Face Paradigm. Longitudinal mixed‐effects models were tested to determine whether strategies were followed by an increase or decrease in negative affect. Results from mother‐infant and father‐infant dyads indicated that focusing attention away from the unresponsive parent and engaging in self‐soothing behaviors were associated with a subsequent decline in negative affect and the strength of these temporal associations were stable across infancy. In contrast, high‐intensity motor behaviors were followed by an increase in negative affect and this effect declined over time. No significant effects were found for the behavioral strategy of looking at the parent. Results underscore the importance of considering infant age and the social partner when studying the effectiveness of emotion regulatory strategies in early infancy.     

Water sources of urban trees in the Los Angeles metropolitan area

In semi-arid cities, urban trees are often irrigated, but may also utilize natural water sources such as groundwater. Consequently, the sources of water for urban tree transpiration may be uncertain, complicating efforts to efficiently manage water resources. We used a novel approach based on stable isotopes to determine tree water sources in the Los Angeles basin, where we hypothesized that trees would rely on irrigation water in the soil rather than develop deep roots to tap into groundwater. We evaluated the oxygen (δ¹⁸O) and hydrogen (δD) isotope ratios of xylem water, irrigation water, soil water, and groundwater in a study of temporal patterns in water sources at two urban sites, and a study of spatial patterns at nine urban sites and one “natural” riparian forest. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that despite frequent irrigation, some trees tap into groundwater, although in most species this was a small water source. Some trees appeared to be using very shallow soil water at <30 cm depth, suggesting that these mature urban trees were quite shallowly rooted. In the natural site, trees appeared to be using urban runoff in addition to shallow soil water. We were able to identify tree uptake of precipitation at only 3 sites. The results show that some irrigated trees utilize groundwater and do not rely solely on irrigation water, which may make them able to withstand drought and/or water conservation measures. However, some irrigated trees may develop very shallow root systems, which may make them more susceptible.     

Caste,Religion, and Mental Health in India

Population Research and Policy Review - The relationship between mental health and social disadvantage in low- and middle-income countries is poorly understood. Our study contributes the first...     

Countertransference,resistance and frame management in the psychotherapy of a 15 year old anorexic and her mother

Countertransference is a rich source of understanding of client dynamics but can be difficult to detect. A case vignette is used to illustrate how changes in the arrangements of therapy should be viewed as red flags alerting the therapist to possible countertransference. By paying careful attention to the client's derivative response to the therapist's agreeing to a request for a change in appointment times, the therapist was able to understand the unconscious motive behind the request, as well as her own countertransference reasons for participating in the resistance expressed in the request. When, based on this under-standing, the therapist was then able to hold to the framework and maintain the previous appointment schedule, this furthered the treatment by providing a model for introjection and by promoting understanding rather than acting out. In complicated therapy situations where treatment of more than one family member by a single therapist is indicated, such careful attention to the framework and to the client's derivative response to the therapist's interventions is particularly important.An earlier version of this paper was presented before the Annual Conference of the Washington State Society for Clinical Social Work on May 14, 1984.     

THE LAWYER-THERAPIST CONSULTATION TEAM*

This paper discusses a six-month pilot study done at The Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy. Joint consultations with a Family Therapist and a Matrimonial Attorney were offered to ten couples and one woman contemplating divorce. Sessions were videotaped. A project addendum was done with telephone interviews. The authors were interested in determining whether joint consultations would be useful to help couples understand the psychological and legal implications of conflicts expressed during the separation process.     

Whose Risk in Philadelphia? Proximity to Unequally Hazardous Industrial Facilities*

Objective. Few researchers have investigated who lives near the worst polluting facilities. In this study, we test for disparate impact from hazardous industrial and infrastructure facilities on racial/ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged, the working class, and manufacturing workers in the nine‐county Philadelphia MSA. Methods. Hazard Scores for Philadelphia‐area facilities in EPA's Risk‐Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) database were calculated and facilities mapped onto Census block group maps. One‐kilometer buffer zones around facilities were created and intersected with Census data on population inside and outside buffers. After correcting for spatial autocorrelation, we tested for relationships between Hazard Scores and characteristics of people near facilities using multivariate regression. Results. Hazard Scores rose along with percents black, Hispanic, disadvantaged, and employed in manufacturing in some (but not all) counties. Conclusions. Among those living near polluting facilities, minorities, the poor, and manufacturing workers lived near the most hazardous, constituting a disparate impact on these groups.     

Vocal determinants of first impressions of young children

Audiotapes of the voices of77 preschool children were prepared. Subjects listened to the tapes, and then provided their impressions of the competence, leadership, dominance, warmth, and honesty of the children. Judgments of the voices' babyishness and attractiveness were also obtained. Perceivers reliably discriminated the children's voices along the dimensions of babyishness and attractiveness. Moreover, analyses revealed that the previously documented impact of these characteristics on first impressions of adults extends to impressions of young children. The similarity of the effects of these characteristics on impressions formed about children to those revealed for adults suggests that vocal qualities may have an impact on personality development via a process of self-fulfilling prophecy.