Appraising a Dichotomy: A Review of ‘Part-time/Full-time’ in the Study of Women's Employment in Britain

A key theme in women's studies is the move away from an over-reliance on treating the sexes as two separate groups onto theorizing diversity amongst women. The limitations of a ‘sexual dichotomism’ in the face of diversity is well-recognized, yet in mainstream research into women's experiences diversity is far from being a popular area of study. The tendency in the literature on women's employment is still to oversimplify any divisions into broad groupings, and in particular into dichotomies. Focusing on the popular dichotomy of part-time/full-time employment, the paper highlights two roles that the dichotomy has been expected to perform. The success it has achieved and the problems it has faced in performing these two roles are examined. The conclusion is that whilst the part-time/full-time dichotomy is particularly valuable in depicting two differentiated labour market positions, a move beyond the dichotomy would facilitate a greater understanding of the variations in women's employment experiences over the life-course. The theoretical progression from dichotomizing to disaggregation is ready to happen in the field of women's employment.     

Discrete Probability Distributions for Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics

Recently, discrete probability distributions (DPDs) have been suggested for use in risk analysis calculations to simplify the numerical computations which must be performed to determine failure probabilities. Specifically, DPDs have been developed to investigate probabilistic functions, that is, functions whose exact form is uncertain. The analysis of defect growth in materials by probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) models provides an example in which probabilistic functions play an important role. This paper compares and contrasts Monte Carlo simulation and DPDs as tools for calculating material failure due to fatigue crack growth. For the problem studied, the DPD method takes approximately one third the computation time of the Monte Carlo approach for comparable accuracy. It is concluded that the DPD method has considerable promise in low-failure-probability calculations of importance in risk assessment. In contrast to Monte Carlo, the computation time for the DPD approach is relatively insensitive to the magnitude of the probability being estimated.     

Interpreting seventeenth-century probate documents: John Carter, master carpenter in St Albans

This is a study of a successful seventeenth-century carpenter in St Albans, John Carter, using probate and other documents, assisted by a large-scale computer database of St Albans residents of the period. Sections of the article cover his family, his work and his house and its contents, which have been reconstructed from his probate inventory and from knowledge of the structure of other local houses of the period. Carter's social standing is discussed, both in its local context and in relation to previous probate inventory analyses. This micro-study sheds unusual light upon aspects of the life of a 'middling sort' of person, living in a thriving market town in close proximity to London, at the beginning of the consumer age.     

Preventing child abuse; a review of community-based projects 1. Intervening on processes and outcome of reviews

Recent theories advocating ecological and developmental perspectives on child abuse and neglect are summarized. Reviews of community prevention programmes underline the importance of focusing on processes and viewing the developing child and their family in a broad context. The conclusions of the reviews are reported. Although the reviews suggest that some programmes to prevent physical and sexual abuse and bullying are at least to some degree effective, their impact has been reduced by a failure to encompass adequately the various influences that operate across difference domains of the child's life at different stages of their development. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Privacy does not interest me’. A comparative analysis of photo sharing on Instagram and Blipfoto

Photo sharing online has become immensely popular and is a central aspect of modern visual culture. Yet it creates a number of privacy issues, both in relation to other individuals and corporate surveillance. The purpose of this study was to investigate users’ understanding of privacy issues in photo sharing, based on a comparative study of two contrasting platforms: Instagram and Blipfoto. The study combined netnography and in-depth interviewing. It was found that Instagram users had a greater awareness of how the platform might use their data, but saw this loss of privacy as inevitable in return for a free service. Blipfoto users were more trusting of what they experienced as a very community minded platform. Any concerns felt by both groups of users were out-weighed by the sense that photo sharing was highly meaningful and their fascination with watching and being watched. Both groups main approach to privacy was through restricting certain types of image of people and not revealing the location of certain personal spaces. Notions of privacy thus remained primarily personal and ignored corporate dataveillance.     

Relations Among Intimate Partner Violence,Maternal Depressive Symptoms,and Maternal Parenting Behaviors

The authors examined the relations among intimate partner violence (IPV), maternal depressive symptoms, and maternal harsh intrusive parenting. Using a cross‐lagged, autoregressive path model, they sought to clarify the directionality of the relations among these 3 variables over the first 2 years of the child's life. The results indicated that, in this diverse sample of families living in predominantly low‐income rural communities (N = 705), higher levels of early IPV were associated with increases in maternal depressive symptoms, which in turn were associated with increases in maternal harsh intrusive parenting behaviors. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at improving the parenting of women exposed to domestic violence may want to simultaneously target IPV and depressive symptomatology.     

Personal resilience and identity capital among young people leaving care: enhancing identity formation and life chances through involvement in volunteering and social action

This study explored identity capital and personal resilience among care leavers and young people in care engaging in social activities through volunteering. Care leavers and young people in care are disadvantaged developmentally by lack of identity resources and an accelerated transition to independence. This study analysed material from semi-structured interviews to explore the Identity Capital Model and theories of individualisation, agentic identity development and resilience in explaining the identity resources of young people transitioning out of care. The analysis identified links between the exploration opportunities of volunteering with the development of agentic individualisation and enhanced identity capital. The findings indicate that developmental processes may be enhanced through supported and personalised volunteering opportunities to aid vulnerable young people transitioning out of care. Young people leaving care can make substantial gains particularly in social capital, personal resilience and identity capital. This study indicates that volunteering opportunities for this group of vulnerable young people may assist in compensating for the lack of resources often experienced by care leavers when transitioning to adulthood.     

Influence of positive development opportunities on student well-being,depression and suicide risk: the New Zealand Youth Health and Well-being Survey 2012

This study explores the association between neighbourhood opportunities for Positive Youth Development (PYD) and adolescent depressive symptoms, well-being and suicide risk. A 2-stage random sample of 8500 students(years 9–13) from 91 high schools from throughout New Zealand was collected in 2012. Analyses were restricted to neighbourhoods with more than 10 students resulting in a final sample of 5191 adolescents within 266 neighbourhoods. Multilevel models linked data from neighbourhoods to individual student data to explore the association between neighbourhood opportunities for PYD and student depressive symptoms, well-being and suicide risk. Neighbourhoods with a high proportion of students involved in activities that help others, attend church groups, or participate in sports teams were associated with significantly increased well-being among students living in these neighbourhoods. No neighbourhood-level measures were found to significantly alter rates of depressive symptoms or suicide risk. Findings suggest that providing neighbourhood opportunities for PYD may enhance adolescent well-being.     

Silencing the Call to Action: A Bird’s Eye View of Minority Language Media and Political Participation in Eurasia

Do citizens living in linguistically diverse countries without benefit of diverse media outlets find this to be a barrier to civic engagement? This study considers the interrelated effects of media access and social capital on political engagement in 15 Eurasian countries as that region continues to transition to an open economy and democracy. Drawing upon individual-level survey data, and controlling for relevant political and socioeconomic factors, regression analyses suggest a significant impact of media plurality, interpersonal trust, and government confidence on both voting turnout and unconventional political participation. The effect of social capital is mixed. Results indicate that higher levels of trust contribute to participation, while greater confidence in government is associated with less participation. These preliminary tests also show that collective action is generally lower in countries having greater linguistic diversity, but suggest that having access to political news in one’s own language can indeed contribute to more activism.