Family Dynamics and Child Outcomes: An Overview of Research and Open Questions

Previous research has documented that children who do not live with both biological parents fare somewhat worse on a variety of outcomes than those who do. In this article, which is the introduction to the Special Issue on “Family dynamics and children’s well-being and life chances in Europe,” we refine this picture by identifying variation in this conclusion depending on the family transitions and subpopulations studied. We start by discussing the general evidence accumulated for parental separation and ask whether the same picture emerges from research on other family transitions and structures. Subsequently, we review studies that have aimed to deal with endogeneity and discuss whether issues of causality challenge the general picture of family transitions lowering child well-being. Finally, we discuss whether previous evidence finds effects of family transitions on child outcomes to differ between children from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, and across countries and time-periods studied. Each of the subsequent articles in this Special Issue contributes to these issues. Two articles provide evidence on how several less often studied family forms relate to child outcomes in the European context. Two other articles in this Special Issue contribute by resolving several key questions in research on variation in the consequences of parental separation by socioeconomic and immigrant background, two areas of research that have produced conflicting results so far.     

Job-related resources,leader–member exchange and well-being – a longitudinal study

Studies show that high-quality reciprocal relationships between leaders and followers are positively associated with employee well-being. However, the pathways for promoting this health-enhancing leadership behaviour have not yet been well explored, and most studies have been cross-sectional. The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of the interplay between job-related resources and leader–member exchange (LMX) on employee well-being, measured as the emotional exhaustion component of burnout. We applied a two-wave paper-and-pencil design, with an 11-month interval, in a sample of 343 employees working in the German healthcare sector. By means of structural equation modelling, we found that job-related resources (role clarity, meaningfulness and predictability) predicted higher quality LMX, which in turn related to lower levels of emotional exhaustion. The results support the important role of job resources in stimulating health-relevant aspects of leadership behaviour, and indicate ways in which leaders can promote employee health and well-being.     

The blocking job shop with rail-bound transportation

The blocking job shop with rail-bound transportation (BJS-RT) considered here is a version of the job shop scheduling problem characterized by the absence of buffers and the use of a rail-bound transportation system. The jobs are processed on machines and are transported from one machine to the next by mobile devices (called robots) that move on a single rail. The robots cannot pass each other, must maintain a minimum distance from each other, but can also “move out of the way”. The objective of the BJS-RT is to determine for each machining operation its starting time and for each transport operation its assigned robot and starting time, as well as the trajectory of each robot, in order to minimize the makespan. Building on previous work of the authors on the flexible blocking job shop and an analysis of the feasible trajectory problem, a formulation of the BJS-RT in a disjunctive graph is derived. Based on the framework of job insertion in this graph, a local search heuristic generating consistently feasible neighbor solutions is proposed. Computational results are presented, supporting the value of the approach.     

Psychologische Aspekte bei Geiselnahmen

Taking of hostages in the civil life occurs relatively seldom, however, generates often a special attention of the media. Also within the scope of peace-protecting and peace-keeping applications of international support contingents the (low) risk insists that soldiers and female soldiers can become victims of taking of hostages. Every taking of hostages shows a physical and above all also psychic extreme situation for the affected persons. The preparation on those situations, the personal availability linked with it of de-escalating behavior patterns as well as the attention of certain behavioral principles are for surviving and the coping with taking of hostages of particular importance.     

Predicting above-median and below-median growth rates

Multiannual periods of consecutive above-median or below-median growth rates in operating performance, called runs, have a substantial influence on firm valuations. For estimating the probability of an above-median or below-median run and utilizing information efficiently, we employ a stepwise regression to automatically identify the parsimonious indicator-specific set of economically and empirically meaningful variables. Our novel approach uses logit models to distinguish firms that will persistently grow above or below the median over a period of up to 6 years. The predictive power for sales growth rates is highest to discriminate between above-median and below-median growth rates, while the future behaviour of operating income and net income growth rates can partially be explained for below-median growth rates.     

Will you sign my autograph book? Using autograph books for a sociohistorical study of youth and social frameworks

This paper suggest that autograph books can be used as a tool for the study of attitudes among youth. Content analysis of 4,131 entries of 130 Israeli autograph books, written by 12–14 year-old students, during a 55 year peiod (1925–1980) was conducted. The analysis reveals two major changes: first, a diminishing of collective orientation coupled with an increase in individualism; second, an increase in the salience of schools and teachers coupled with a persistence in the significance of youth movements. Schooling ideology mainly serves the interests of the dominant groups, individualism raises the question of the legitimacy of the role of the state, while the youth movement ideology combines commitment to basic values of the collective with self-confidence and desire for individual careers. The findings are interpreted both in terms of normative changes in Israeli society (from quasi-socialism to advanced capitalism) and in terms of Habermas' theory of a crisis of legitimation. The analysis also reveals a dialectic situation in which contradictory norms and values exist together.We wish to thank S. N. Eisenstadt, W. Gamson, W. Shaffir, and the anonymous readers for valuable comments. The editors helpful editorial work is also acknowledged.     

Ausstiegsstrategien in EigenverantwortungSelf-Responsibility for Exit-Strategies

The German social security code (SGB II) explicitly demands self-responsibility of people receiving long term unemployment benefits (ALG II) to overcome the need for help. However, it is not sufficiently defined how this responsibility is to be practiced and what kind of assistance those people can expect. Especially families whose earned income is supplemented by ALG II not only have to meet the demands of employment but also the requirements of an activating labour market policy. At the same time, they have to coordinate duties of care and education with a prospectively changed labour market participation.     

The characteristics and extent of child abuse: findings from a study of the Swedish Social Services child protection

This paper addresses child abuse and the Social Services protection and builds upon a study of verdicts concerning § 2 Care of Young Persons Act (CYPA). The aim was to explore the extent of, and what characterised, the violence the children were being subjected to. A central finding was that of all the applications of § 2 CYPA during one year concerning 196 children, 13–18 years, 70% concerned children reported as subjected to violence. The violence was in most cases described as severe and systematically exerted over many years with intimidating tactics of power and control. More girls than boys were in question for care because of violence. Girls were also to a greater extent reported as having been subjected to sexual abuse or coercive control of their sexuality in relation to standards regarding honour and virginity. In an international perspective the findings can be said to confirm the need to analyse such factors as gender, power and control when research and interventions concerns children abused by their parents. In a Swedish context the findings can be said to suggest that the § 2 CYPA is a crucial intervention to protect children from violence.