Parental Competence in Italy: A Comparison Between Italian and Immigrant Parents

The migration experience could influence parental competence perception in immigrant parents. Within this framework the current work focuses on immigrant parenthood and whether a family’s migratory path could lead parents to feel less competent in their parental roles. The aim of the present study is to analyze perceptions of parental competence and family routines among immigrant and Italian parents during the middle childhood stages. The results showed that immigrant parents perceive themselves as more competent than Italians. Immigrants also attribute more importance to the dimension of relational and regulatory routines in daily family life than do Italian parents. Professionals can use these findings to better understand how best to enhance practices and strategies appropriate to the complexity of these intercultural contexts.     

Fear of childbirth in primiparous Italian pregnant women: The role of anxiety,depression, and couple adjustment

Background

The prevalence of fear of childbirth in pregnant women is described to be about 20–25%, while 6–10% of expectant mothers report a severe fear that impairs their daily activities as well as their ability to cope with labour and childbirth. Research on fear of childbirth risk factors has produced heterogeneous results while being mostly done with expectant mothers from northern Europe, northern America, and Australia.

Effects of placentophagy on maternal salivary hormones: A pilot trial,part 1

Background

Recent studies show that human placenta, processed and encapsulated for postpartum consumption, contains a host of trace minerals and hormones that could conceivably affect maternal physiology. Our objective was to investigate whether salivary hormone concentrations of women ingesting their own encapsulated placenta during the early postpartum differed from those of women consuming a placebo.

New label no progress: institutional racism and the persistent segregation of Romani students in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The over-representation of Romani children in special schools in the Czech Republic is well documented and widely condemned. In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found the state guilty of discrimination against Romani children on the basis of disproportionate placement of children in remedial special schools. In 2015 high numbers of Romani children are still being misdiagnosed with special educational needs (SEN) and offered a limited and inappropriate education. This article explores the challenges which continue to hamper their successful inclusion in the Czech education system. Using critical race theory (CRT) as a lens to examine the Czech case, problems with the current policy trajectory are identified. The article shows that institutional racism persists in the Czech Republic, shaping attitudes and practices at all levels. Policymakers demonstrate little recognition of ingrained educational inequalities and Roma continue to be widely perceived as ‘others’ who must learn to adapt to Czech ways rather than as citizens who are entitled to services on their own terms.     

Patterns of criminal threat in television news coverage of ethnic minorities in Flanders (2003–2013)

Despite a strong cognitive association in the minds of native citizens between ethnic minority presence and crime, compelling evidence demonstrating a real-world relationship between crime and ethnic diversity is limited. This study adopts a media-based approach to contribute to the debate on the origin of the perception of criminal threats. By means of a content analysis of 11 years of crime news (2003–2013) in Flanders (the northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), portrayals of ethnic minority and majority perpetrators are systematically compared to assess whether ethnic minorities are portrayed in a significantly more threatening way. Moreover, building on ethnic hierarchy theories, comparisons are made between various outgroups. Findings demonstrate that ethnic minority perpetrators are depicted in a more threatening manner: they are more likely to be associated with violent, property, and gang-related crime. Additionally, they are more likely to be anonymised and to be associated with explicit manifestations of threat. Group differences exist, however, as the most distant outgroup (i.e. North Africans) is covered in a more threatening way than the other outgroups. Implications for intergroup relations are discussed.     

A ‘master status’ or the ‘final straw’? Assessing the role of immigration status in Latino undocumented youths’ pathways out of school

Previous research on undocumented youth and young adults in the United States asserts that immigration status is a ‘master status’, wherein undocumented status overshadows the impact of other social locations. Drawing primarily on interviews with 45 Latina/o undocumented immigrant youth who stopped out of school, I assess whether the ‘master status’ explanation accurately characterises how immigration status shapes undocumented youths’ pathways out of school. Using an intersectional lens, I argue that multiple social locations disrupt educational pathways and set the stage for immigration status to emerge as the ‘final straw’ that pushes undocumented youth to leave school. Specifically, I show how race, class, gender, and first-generation college student status heavily shape undocumented youths’ educational journeys. I find that their resistance to these other forms of marginalisation is weakened by the emerging salience of undocumented status as a severe, relatively insurmountable legal barrier. I highlight the process through which these multiple social locations work together to lead undocumented youth to stop out of school. I contend that using an intersectional lens enhances understandings of how multiple social locations intersect and interact over time to marginalise immigrants.     

Drivers of highly skilled mobility from Southern Europe: escaping the crisis and emancipating oneself

ABSTRACT

Since the outbreak of the crisis in Southern Europe, young highly educated Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese and Greeks have been taking their talents and expertise to other countries in search of a better quality of life and career prospects. This paper explores the characteristics of these new emigrants, the reasons for which they are leaving, and whether these reasons are shaped by the economic crisis, by pre-crisis grievances, or by other factors. We analyse original data from 6377 questionnaires collected in 4 countries through an e-survey we ran in 2013. We refer to the existing literature on the drivers of highly skilled emigration and the (un)employment situation in the four aforementioned Southern European countries which have been hardest hit by the economic crisis. We suggest that while gender is not important, age, marital status, education and satisfaction with current employment (both income related and with regard to future prospects) are important factors predicting emigration. Non-economic factors, notably career opportunities, quality of life and future prospects supersede all other considerations in the decision to emigrate for these highly educated Europeans.     

Between a ‘student abroad’ and ‘being from Latvia’: inequalities of access,prestige, and foreign-earned cultural capital

ABSTRACT

This paper visualises tertiary-level students who study abroad as simultaneously both international students and members of an emerging diaspora. Coming from a country (Latvia) which is peripheral and relatively poor by European standards, students go abroad for multiple reasons not necessarily directly connected with study (e.g. family reasons, labour migration); yet their evolving diasporic status is instrumentalised by the Latvian government which wants them to return and contribute to the country’s development. Based on 27 in-depth interviews with Latvian students and graduates who have studied abroad, our analysis focuses on three interlinked dimensions of inequality: access to education at home and abroad; the varying prestige of higher education qualifications from different countries and universities; and the inequalities involved in getting recognition of the symbolic and cultural capital that derives from a non-Latvian university. Within a setting of neoliberal globalisation and conflicting messages from the homeland, students and graduates are faced with a challenging dilemma: how to balance their materialistic desire for a decent job and career with their patriotic duty to return to Latvia.