Doing Gender,Paying Low: Gender,Class and Work–Life Balance in Aged Care

This article examines how interactions between the doing of gender and class at institutional and organizational levels perpetuate inequality for aged care workers. In particular, it investigates how managers ‘do gender’ and class in relation to their care workers' work–life balance and the unintended consequences of this for aged care workers. The research data comprised interviews with female managers and aged care workers from four case studies in residential aged care in New Zealand. We argue that despite best intentions, the consequences of managers' doing gender and class results in continuing low wages, poor work–life balance and disempowerment at work for aged care workers.     

Missing Out on the Parenthood Bonus? Voluntarily Childless in a “Child-friendly” Society

This article draws on interviews with Swedish voluntarily childless women and men in order to discuss their understandings of living in a so-called “child-friendly” welfare society where social policies subsidize families with children. Previous research from Anglo-Saxon countries implies that the social, political and economical interests of the voluntarily childless are in conflict with the interests of parents and that state subsidies and policies in support of parents could be considered as discrimination of childless people. However, in contrast to this previous research, the interviewees did not object to the redistributive tax system that benefits parents or to the political ambition to build a “child-friendly” labour market where it is possible to reconcile work with parenthood. Instead they defended themselves against accusations for being “free-riders” who did not contribute to society by referring to the responsibility they took by paying high taxes. Notwithstanding, the informants criticized how some parents misused their benefits and cashed in on them, making the voluntarily childless feel exploited. The article also suggests that state subsidies can eliminate some motives for voluntary childlessness but not all of them. The results add nuances to previous research as they highlight the importance of further investigating the relations between parents and non-parents in a social and political context.     

Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals

Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones—they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE’s uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling—in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions.     

The Gambling Behavior of Indigenous Australians

The gambling activities of minority groups such as Indigenous peoples are usually culturally complex and poorly understood. To redress the scarcity of information and contribute to a better understanding of gambling by Indigenous people, this paper presents quantitative evidence gathered at three Australian Indigenous festivals, online and in several Indigenous communities. With support from Indigenous communities, the study collected and analyzed surveys from 1,259 self-selected Indigenous adults. Approximately 33 % of respondents gambled on card games while 80 % gambled on commercial gambling forms in the previous year. Gambling participation and involvement are high, particularly on electronic gaming machines (EGMs), the favorite and most regular form of gambling. Men are significantly more likely to participate in gambling and to gamble more frequently on EGMs, horse/dog races, sports betting and instant scratch tickets. This elevated participation and frequency of gambling on continuous forms would appear to heighten gambling risks for Indigenous men. This is particularly the case for younger Indigenous men, who are more likely than their older counterparts to gamble on EGMs, table games and poker. While distinct differences between the gambling behaviors of our Indigenous sample and non-Indigenous Australians are apparent, Australian Indigenous behavior appears similar to that of some Indigenous and First Nations populations in other countries. Although this study represents the largest survey of Indigenous Australian gambling ever conducted in New South Wales and Queensland, further research is needed to extend our knowledge of Indigenous gambling and to limit the risks from gambling for Indigenous peoples.     

Gambling Harms and Gambling Help-Seeking Amongst Indigenous Australians

This paper aimed to analyze the harms arising from gambling and gambling-related help-seeking behaviour within a large sample of Indigenous Australians. A self-selected sample of 1,259 Indigenous Australian adults completed a gambling survey at three Indigenous sports and cultural events, in several communities and online. Based on responses to the problem gambling severity index (PGSI), the proportions of the sample in the moderate risk and problem gambler groups were higher than those for the population of New South Wales. Many in our sample appeared to face higher risks with their gambling and experience severe gambling harms. From PGSI responses, notable harms include financial difficulties and feelings of guilt and regret about gambling. Further harms, including personal, relationship, family, community, legal and housing impacts, were shown to be significantly higher for problem gamblers than for the other PGSI groups. Most problem gamblers relied on family, extended family and friends for financial help or went without due to gambling losses. Nearly half the sample did not think they had a problem with gambling but the results show that the majority (57.7 %) faced some risk with their gambling. Of those who sought gambling help, family, extended family, friends and respected community members were consulted, demonstrating the reciprocal obligations underpinning traditional Aboriginal culture. The strength of this finding is that these people are potentially the greatest source of gambling help, but need knowledge and resources to provide that help effectively. Local Aboriginal services were preferred as the main sources of professional help for gambling-related problems.     

Which fathers are the most involved in taking care of their toddlers in the UK? An investigation of the predictors of paternal involvement

Economic provisioning continues to be the essence of ‘good’ fathering, and the work schedules associated with fathers' employment remain a key factor which shapes their involvement in childcare and domestic work at home. However, the relative impact of fathers' and mothers' employment hours on paternal involvement in childcare is unclear, and little is known about the longer-term impact, that is, whether a work arrangement organised when the child is under a year old has an impact on paternal involvement when the child is aged three. Here we focus on employed couples and explore the association that mothers' and fathers' employment hours have with paternal involvement when their child is three years old. Multivariate analysis using the UK's Millennium Cohort Study reveals that it is the mothers' employment hours when the child is aged three that has the largest association with paternal involvement in childcare at this stage in the child's life, independent of what hours the father works. Furthermore, both fathers' and mothers' employment hours when the child was nine months old have a longitudinal influence on paternal involvement when the child reaches three years old, but it is the hours worked by the mother when the child was aged nine months that has the stronger association with paternal involvement at age three. This suggests that mothers' work schedules are more important than fathers' for fostering greater paternal involvement in both the immediate and longer term.     

Family Responses to Young People Who have Sexually Abused: Anger,Ambivalence and Acceptance

Data on 117 British young people who had sexually abused others were examined in order to investigate the nature and impact of family responses on the management of young sexual abusers. Parental responses were varied, ranging from being entirely supportive of the child, through to ambivalence and uncertainty and, at the other end of the continuum, to outright rejection. Parents were more likely to be supportive when their child's victims were extra‐familial and condemnatory when the victims were intra‐familial. Sibling responses were complex and strongly influenced by whether that sibling was the victim of the young person's abuse or not. Policy and practice implications are discussed.