Toddlers' Social‐emotional Competence in the Contexts of Maternal Emotion Socialization and Contingent Responsiveness in a Low‐income Sample

Early social‐emotional development occurs in the context of parenting, particularly via processes such as maternal emotion socialization and parent–child interactions. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that maternal contingent responsiveness partially mediated the relationship between maternal emotion socialization of toddlers (N = 119, ages 12–36 months) and toddlers' social‐emotional competence. Effect size was strongest for the direct path between maternal emotion socialization and toddler social–emotional competence. Toddler age and maternal demographic risk status (covariates) predicted toddler competence. Study results extend the previous literature on early competencies by focusing on toddlers rather than preschool‐aged children and by employing a contextual model in which both low‐income mothers' emotion socialization and their contingent responsiveness predicted toddlers' competencies.     

Relational Victimization and Telomere Length in Adolescent Girls

An emerging body of research suggests that telomere length (TL)—a measure of cellular aging—is inversely associated with experiences of childhood stress. Given the salience of peer relationships in childhood and adolescence, we tested whether relational victimization is a unique and specific predictor of salivary TL in girls. Results examining 122 girls (ages 9–15) revealed that greater relational victimization was related to shorter TL but that similar associations were not evident for other measures of social relationships nor accounted for by factors related to depression, life stress, or 5‐HTTLPR genotype. The present findings suggest that relational victimization is uniquely associated with TL in adolescence, revealing a link between key aspects of social relationships and biological processes.     

Dynamics of identity and otherness within intercultural feminist practices in Italy

Drawing on fieldwork carried out in 2012–2013, this article explores the dynamics of identity and otherness within selected women’s intercultural associations in Italy in the light of the following issue: how to acknowledge differences among women – based primarily on ‘race’, ethnicity, legal status/citizenship, class and age – while maintaining a common political project. This article focuses on the contexts, which facilitate the formation of such a project by promoting the contesting of rigid categorization of women on grounds of nationality or culture. It first focuses on what is referred to as ‘a starting point a bit displaced’, second on the desire to move beyond divisions on nationality grounds and third on the concept of hybridity as a bridge between women. At the same time, the article confronts those issues that might conceal power differentials among women and argues in favour of a notion of feminist intercultural reflexivity.     

Silver Alerts: A Notification System for Communities with Missing Adults

ABSTRACT

As the U.S. population ages, the prevalence of dementia will grow and communities will face the problem of older adults wandering or becoming lost. Silver Alert systems are programs designed to locate missing older adults with dementia or other mental disabilities. Such programs have been initiated in all but five states. Data collection for these programs is often minimal or incomplete. Social workers should be involved in prevention, follow up and education with caregivers, community members and law enforcement officers. When reviewing Silver Alert policy, special attention must be given to ethical concerns and protection of older adults‘ civil rights.     

Attitudes Towards Gambling and Gambling Reform in Australia

The Attitudes Towards Gambling Scale (ATGS) is a 14-item survey instrument examining general attitudes towards gambling (Orford et al. in Int Gambl Stud 9(1):39–54, 2009). The current study examined the validity of this scale in an Australian community sample of 1794 adults (52.8 % female). As well as considering measures of internal consistency and factor loadings, we examined the functional utility of the scale as a mediator of gambling activity, problem gambling status, and consequent opinions on national gambling-reform legislation. We found internal consistency and factor loadings of the ATGS within the Australian sample to be comparable with those observed in the original UK study. Additionally, ATGS scores were found to be a relatively robust predictor of attitudes towards gambling reform and harm minimisation. Further, the ATGS mediated the relationships between experiences with gambling and attitudes towards harm reduction. The findings suggest that the ATGS is a useful tool for examining general attitudes towards gambling within an Australian context.     

Family Rituals in Low‐Income African American Families at Risk for Trauma Exposure and Associations with Toddlers’ Regulation of Distress

This study included 75 mother‐father‐toddler triadic low‐income families. Mothers and fathers reported separately on their own posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and family rituals while children were rated by an independent observer during an emotionally eliciting task on key indicators of regulation of distress. Regression analyses supported a significant association between key dimensions of family rituals and Toddlers’ regulation of distress: occurrence, continuation, and spirituality. Effect sizes of tested relationships were strong, ranging from 25% to 36% of variance in children's distress explained. Family rituals are a salient intervention target in families and specifically help support children's developing emotion regulation competencies. Certain dimensions of family rituals may be particularly relevant to African American families, considering cultural resiliency factors. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Family Relationships and Religious Identities of GLBQ Christians

ABSTRACT

Nonheterosexual individuals are half as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to report a religious identity. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer (GLBQ) emerging adults who maintain a religious identity and affiliation throughout their adolescent and young adult years challenge dominant narratives of sexuality and religion (Pew, 2012, 2013). This study contextualizes these demographic findings and considers their impact on family life and sexual identity. The authors present data from 11 qualitative interviews with GLBQ individuals between the ages of 20 and 25. Results are presented in a model describing how participants constructed a GLBQ Christian identity, and how they perceive the acceptance of their identities in both their families and church communities.     

Family structure and well-being at older ages in Japan

The family structure of older Japanese is projected to change dramatically as a result of very low fertility, increasing levels of non-marriage, childlessness, and divorce, and declining intergenerational co-residence. To provide an empirical basis for speculation about the implications of projected increases in single-person and couple-only households, we use two sources of data to describe relationships between family structure and the physical and emotional well-being of Japanese men and women aged 60 and above. We find that marriage is positively associated with self-rated health and emotional well-being among older men but not women. In contrast to expectations, however, we find only limited evidence that the presence of children contributes to well-being. Taken as a whole, our results suggest that declines in marriage may have negative implications for the well-being of older Japanese men while the implications of declines in fertility and intergenerational co-residence may be less than popularly believed.     

Subsidiarity and social citizenship: Social assistance schemes in Austria,Belgium, Switzerland and Norway

Previous research has emphasised that conditionality impinges on social citizenship. However, a systematic assessment examining the impact of functional and territorial subsidiarity has been overlooked. Developing seven operational criteria – rights, means testing, conditionality, voice and choice, discretion, benefit's adequacy and supplementary system – we determined levels of subsidiarity and social citizenship in social assistance schemes. Analysing the benefit reform trajectories of Austria, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland, we conclude that social assistance schemes have not improved. Low benefits, means testing and work linkage have strengthened functional subsidiarity, whereas questions of voice and choice are rarely on the agenda. Caseworkers’ discretion and local administration have sustained territorial subsidiarity. Therefore, considering the potential role that benefits could play in the welfare state, low up‐take minimises the redistributive potential and, in general, risk has substantially shifted towards social assistance.     

‘It’s like having another job’: the invisible work of self-managing attendant services

Abstract

This reflexive ethnographic study examines the work disabled people do to ‘self-manage’ attendant services. The data reveal diverse facets of work reported by ‘self-managers’, their support networks and program administrators. The analysis found that self-managers’ work is often represented as ‘something other than work’, if and when it is represented at all. In this paper, disability studies and feminist perspectives on work inform a discussion of factors that may be seen to render self-managers’ work ‘invisible’, and implications of self-managed models that require contributions of invisible work.