Parenting,family functioning and lifestyle in a new culture: the case of African migrants in Melbourne,Victoria, Australia

This study documented the parenting styles among African migrants now living in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and assessed how intergenerational issues related to parenting in a new culture impact on family functioning and the modification of lifestyles. A total of 10 focus group discussions (five with parents and five with 13–17‐year‐old children; N = 85 participants) of 1.5–2 hours duration were conducted with Sudanese, Somali and Ethiopian migrant families. The analysis identified three discrete themes: (i) parenting‐related issues; (ii) family functioning and family relations; and (iii) lifestyle changes and health. African migrant parents were restrictive in their parenting; controlled children's behaviours and social development through strict boundary‐setting and close monitoring of interests, activities, and friends; and adopted a hierarchical approach to decision‐making while discouraging autonomy among their offspring. Programmes seeking to improve the health and welfare of African migrants in their host countries need to accommodate the cultural and social dimensions that shape their lives. Such programmes may need to be so broad as to apply an acculturation lens to planning, and to assist young people, parents and families in addressing intergenerational issues related to raising children and growing up in a different social and cultural milieu.     

French People’s Positions Regarding National Policies About Illicit Drugs: A Preliminary Study

French people’s positions regarding actual and potential drug policies were examined. Adults (N = 225) aged 18–81 were presented with 28 vignettes that were composed according to a three within-subject orthogonal factor design: (a) demand for drugs in the country, (b) information campaigns regarding their dangerousness, and (c) current state policy regarding soft and hard drugs, from “laissez faire” policy for all drugs to complete prohibition of all drugs. Participants rated the level of acceptability of each policy. Three clusters were identified. The first one (32 % of participants) was called “Radical Constructionists” because participants considered that all policies were unacceptable. The second one (26 %) was called “Prohibitionists” because only one drug policy was considered fully acceptable: Complete prohibition with the condition that information campaigns are conducted. The third cluster (42 %) was called “Regulationists” because only one drug policy was considered as fully acceptable: Complete state regulation (with the same condition). In all clusters, the “laissez-faire” policy was always judged as the least acceptable one, even when it was just about soft drugs. The strongest opposition observed was not between prohibition and regulation but between “laissez-faire” on the one hand and regulation and prohibition on the other hand. Methodological implications and implications for decision-makers are discussed.     

D‐optimal minimax fractional factorial designs

The D‐optimal minimax criterion is proposed to construct fractional factorial designs. The resulting designs are very efficient, and robust against misspecification of the effects in the linear model. The criterion was first proposed by Wilmut & Zhou (2011); their work is limited to two‐level factorial designs, however. In this paper we extend this criterion to designs with factors having any levels (including mixed levels) and explore several important properties of this criterion. Theoretical results are obtained for construction of fractional factorial designs in general. This minimax criterion is not only scale invariant, but also invariant under level permutations. Moreover, it can be applied to any run size. This is an advantage over some other existing criteria. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 41: 325–340; 2013 © 2013 Statistical Society of Canada     

Safety First: A Model of Care for Working Systemically With High Risk Young People and Their Families in an Acute CAMHS Service

The following article outlines the Safety First Model for working with high‐risk young people in crisis. This hierarchical model prioritises emotional and physical safety by using multi‐systemic and family‐based interventions. A typical case example is used to illustrate the model and the structures and strategies employed at each level. The intervention model empowers families, facilitates their connections with other providers, and minimises the need for hospital admissions. The model also promotes collaborative and systemic practice in a child and adolescent mental health service.     

Volunteering in a voluntary community: Kibbutz members and voluntarism

The way in which kibbutz members define voluntarism, their attitudes toward it, the volunteering they do, their reasons for doing it, and the helping mechanisms and obstacles that the kibbutz offers were explored in a sample of four Israeli kibbutzim. This is a preliminary study of the way a unique society deals with a well-known field. Between-kibbutz differences were found mainly between the religious kibbutz and the others. No satisfactory explanations for between-person differences with regard to volunteering could be found, and it is hypothesised that the difference may lie in orientation to traditional kibbutz ideology. Our grateful thanks are given to Benjamin Gidron and our anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We also acknowledge the contribution of Nahum Goldshneider, Varda Rappaport, Yigal Nachtomi, Yishai Koom, Yoram Margai, Shoshana Cohen and Avi Ofir who participated in the data collection and provided welcome input to the research process.     

Aspects physiques de la division sexuelle des tâches: quand la qualification professionnelle et l'organisation du travail viennent en aide aux femmes cols bleus*

The greatest hindrances to women's persistence in non-traditional jobs in industry are psychosocial and organizational; physical difficulties seem negligible in comparison. This study identifies the physical characteristics of three categories of manual jobs and shows how they affect the way women perform their work and their physical (and mental) health. On the basis of data collected on men and women's bodily pains, physical difficulties, and psychosocial problems, the study suggests that to a certain extent, women have succeeded qualitatively and quantitatively in entering these jobs, although problems—health risks, adaptation of tools and machinery, and the “cultural coexistence” of the sexes—remain to be resolved in the short term. The study finally suggests that women could take advantage of both organization in the workplace and their own technical qualifications to guarantee their legitimacy in such jobs. Les principaux obstacles au maintien des femmes en emploi non tra-ditionnel en industrie sont de nature psycho-sociale ou organisation-nelle. Les difficultés d'ordre physique paraissent négligeables en comparaison. Cette étude dresse la liste des caractéristiques physiques de trois catégories d'emplois manuels et montre comment celles-ci affectent la facilité avec laquelle les femmes les occupent et leur intégrité physique (et mentale). Sur la base d'un relevé des douleurs, difficultés physiques et problèmes psycho-sociaux des femmes et des homines, l'étude suggère un succès relatif, quantitatif et qualitatif, de rintégration des femmes dans ce milieu de travail, mais encore des problemes (de santé, d'aménagement matériel, de «co-existence culturelle» des sexes) qui à moyen terme devront être résolus, et que les femmes peuvent tirer parti de l'organisation du travail et de leur qualification technique pour assurer leur légitimité dans ces emplois.