Finding a routine that works: A mixed methods study of foster parents

Although it is well established that daily routines are important for family well‐being, very little research has been done on how foster parents establish and integrate new foster children into family routines. We used a mixed‐methods, cross‐sectional design, focused on qualitative results to explore how foster parents utilize routines. Twenty‐three foster parents were recruited from a private child welfare agency in a large city in the United States. Surveys were administered to obtain demographic information, overall home atmosphere, and the importance and prevalence of different routines, including mealtimes and sleep schedules. Nine foster parents received a semistructured interview with open‐ended questions. Foster parents reported that routines such as bedtimes, mealtimes, chores, and homework were essential to family well‐being. Because both parents and children had to adjust to living together in an intimate family environment, it was important to establish routines quickly. Foster parents modified routines depending on their child's needs. Along with typical family routines, foster parents reported additional tasks, such as visits with biological parents, meetings with caseworkers, and trainings that affected their family schedule. Results imply that training foster care workers and foster parents about routines can engender stability and emotional belonging for children.     

A Refracted Reality of Everyday Life: The Constructed Culture of a Therapeutic Community

Focusing on the charismatic authority of its Founder/ Director, the ideology, and formal social structure of a holistic therapeutic community for schizophrenics, this paper examines the process of reality construction in an alternative therapeutic milieu. Data was provided from a field work study involving Intensive participant observation over a two year period and open-ended interviews. Within a phenomenological perspective, therapeutic work is viewed as a cognitive activity that not only redefines and transforms the meanings of everyday life but also one that in the process of redefining produces a peculiar cognitive style—a specific tension of consciousness—through a specific epochs. By virtue of this sustained bracket and a self-consciously created culture the therapeutic community is seen as constructing its own version of reality and a peculiar social world.     

The Self as Self‐Fulfilling Prophecy

Using a combination of psychoanalytic and symbolic interactionist ideas, this article portrays the development of the self as a self‐fulfilling prophecy (SFP). A prominent psychoanalytic version of this idea is presented by Lacan's two mirror theories of the self. A prominent and more familiar symbolic interactionist account of the self as self‐fulfilling prophecy is the formulation by William I. Thomas and Dorothy Thomas, which suggests that once situations are defined as real, they are real in their consequences. The aim of this article is to show that these two perspectives can be reconciled in interesting ways, because both recognize that emotions are part of the world “out there” of external goals and the world “in here” of the person's inner life. Emotions are therefore “bilevel.” The SFP creates a fault line in the self and a consequent emotional vulnerability when that line is engaged or disturbed. This article explains how this self‐fulfilling prophecy works and explores the weaknesses it inflicts on the self.     

Guattari,Deleuze, and Cultural Studies

This essay maps the changing ways that the concepts and writings of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari have been mobilized in the journal Cultural Studies over the past three decades, reflects on roads not taken, and invites readers into a new conversation about the implications of the work of Deleuze and Guattari for cultural studies.     

Repairing a Spoiled Identity: An Application of Attribution Theory

Abstract

This exploratory study applies attribution concepts in the investigation of self-presentational tactics. We contend that self-attributions following failure are used by an actor not only to restore self-esteem but to mitigate negative social consequences for the self. Data for this study derive from a role-playing experiment in which subjects were asked to explain a failing academic performance. Weiner's control dimension and Kelley's covariation model are used to codify subjects' explanations of their performance. As predicted, individuals overwhelmingly attributed failure to uncontrollable causes. Further, the vast majority of the information provided by subjects about their performance consisted of claims of high distinctiveness which, according to Kelley, lead to external causal attributions. Effects of sex of actor and of influence target are investigated, and some suggestive patterns emerge. Based on this study, we suggest that the conceptual framework of attribution theory can benefit research on interpersonal tactics.     

Starting from scratch: Building of meaningful endowments by public charities

Most nonprofits lack a true endowment and endowment wealth is concentrated in a relatively small number of organizations and subsectors. This study supports an operational definition of material endowment, equal to or greater than annual expenses, and investigates how common it is for a nonprofit to establish a meaningful endowment over time. Specifically, we address whether the sector's enthusiasm over the potential of endowment building is reflected in charitable organizations' experiences. Using financial data, we find that building a meaningful permanent endowment is a rare achievement among public charities over a period of two decades. Meaningful endowment creation, achieved by less than 2% of the sample, is more common for organizations with donor attachments, the need for subsidization of mission services, those with more fundraising costs, and those with more donative revenue portfolios.