SAME-GENDER SEX AMONG U.S. ADULTS: TRENDS ACROSS THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND DURING THE 1990s

Trends in reporting of same-gender sex are assessed using datafrom the 1998–2002 General Social Surveys (Ns = 9,487males and 12,336 females). Analyses indicate that the reportedprevalence of female-female sexual contact increased substantiallyand monotonically across twentieth-century birth cohorts, risingfrom 1.6 percent (Standard error [SE] = 0.60) for the cohortof U.S. women born prior to 1920 to 6.9 percent (SE = 0.81)for women born in 1970 and afterward. Increases in the reportedprevalence of female-female contacts also occurred within the1990s. These trends persist when statistical controls are introducedfor changes in attitudes toward same-gender sexual behavior.No parallel trend is observed in the reporting of male-malesexual contacts during adulthood, although the proportion ofU.S. men reporting such contacts in the past year and in thepast five years increased during the 1990s.     

The views and attitudes of health professionals providing antenatal care to women with a high BMI: A qualitative research study

BackgroundThe prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing amongst women of child bearing age. The objective of this study was to investigate the views and attitudes of providers of antenatal care for women who have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² and over.MethodsA qualitative study using focus groups was undertaken within the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at a large teaching hospital in south-eastern Australia. Three focus group discussions were held. One with hospital midwives (n = 10), one with continuity of care midwives (n = 18) and one with obstetricians (n = 5). Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).FindingsSix dominant themes emerged: (1) obesity puts the health of mothers, babies and health professionals at risk; (2) overweight and obesity has become the norm; (3) weighing women and advising about weight gain is out of fashion; (4) weight is a sensitive topic to discuss; (5) there are significant barriers to weight control in pregnancy; and (6) health professionals and women need to deal with maternal obesity. These themes are drawn together to form a model representing current health care issues for these women.ConclusionHealth professionals, who have a high BMI, can find it difficult to discuss obesity during antenatal visits with obese women. Specialist dietary interventions and evidence based guidelines for working with child-bearing women is seen as a public health priority by health care professionals.     

Happiness: Before and After the Kids

Understanding how having children influences parents’ subjective well-being (“happiness”) has great potential to explain fertility behavior. We study parental happiness trajectories before and after the birth of a child, using large British and German longitudinal data sets. We account for unobserved parental characteristics using fixed-effects models and study how sociodemographic factors modify the parental happiness trajectories. Consistent with existing work, we find that happiness increases in the years around the birth of a first child and then decreases to before-child levels. Moreover, happiness increases before birth, suggesting that the trajectories may capture not only the effect of the birth but also the broader process of childbearing, which may include partnership formation and quality. Sociodemographic factors strongly modify this pattern. Those who have children at older ages or who have more education have a particularly positive happiness response to a first birth; and although having the first two children increases happiness, having a third child does not. The results, which are similar in Britain and Germany, suggest that having up to two children increases happiness, and mostly for those who have postponed childbearing. This pattern is consistent with the fertility behavior that emerged during the second demographic transition and provides new insights into low and late fertility.     

New frontiers in qualitative longitudinal research: an agenda for research

This paper outlines the state of the art in qualitative longitudinal methodology, reflecting on more than 10 years of development since a previous special issue on qualitative longitudinal research was published by the International Journal of Social Research Methodology in 2003. The papers presented in this special issue emerge from a methodological innovation network that brought together an international community of researchers in order to map new frontiers for the method. This paper summarises the development of the method from a design to a sensibility, identifying three new frontiers as part of a future research agenda including: the need for a processual imaginary; experimentation with temporal perspectives and orientations and explicating the temporal affordances of our methods.     

Home Care Workers’ Skills in the Context of Task Shifting: Complexities in Care Work

Task shifting, which involves the transfer of care work from regulated health‐care professionals to home care workers (HCWs), is a strategy to ensure the efficient delivery of home care services in Canada and internationally. Using a feminist political economy approach, this paper explores the effects of task shifting on HCWs’ skills. Task shifting may be understood as a form of downward substitution—and an effort to increase control over workers while minimizing costs—as some of health‐care professionals’ responsibilities are divided into simpler tasks and transferred to HCWs. Our interviews with 46 home health‐care providers in Ontario, which focused explicitly on HCWs’ role in care provision, problematize the belief that “low skilled” care workers have little control over their work. HCWs’ skills become more complex when they do transferred tasks, and HCWs sometimes gain greater control over their work. This results in increased autonomy and mastery for many HCWs. In turn, this serves to reinforce the intrinsic rewards of care work, despite the fact that it is low paid and undervalued work. Le transfert des tâches consiste à transférer certaines activités des professionnels de la santé aux travailleurs de soutien à domicile, et s'avère être une stratégie visant à assurer la prestation efficace des services de soutien à domicile au Canada et à l'étranger. En utilisant la théorie de l'économie politique féministe, cet article explore l'impact du transfert des tâches sur les compétences des travailleurs de soutien à domicile. Le transfert des tâches peut être interprété comme une forme de substitution à la baisse avec un contrôle accru des travailleurs et une minimisation des coûts des services. Ceci se produit lorsque certaines des responsabilités des professionnels de la santé sont fragmentées en tâches plus simples pour être ensuite transférées aux travailleurs de soutien à domicile. Pourtant, le contenu de 46 entrevues avec des travailleurs de soutien à domicile et professionnels de la santé vient ébranler l'hypothèse selon laquelle les travailleurs de soutien à domicile «peu qualifiés» auraient peu de contrôle sur leurs tâches de travail. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent que les compétences des travailleurs de soutien à domicile se complexifient lorsqu'il s'agit de tâches transférées, et que ces travailleurs obtiennent parfois plus d'autonomie à l'emploi. Donc, les travailleurs de soutien à domicile acquièrent une plus grande autonomie et un contrôle plus significatif à l'emploi. Par conséquent, le transfert des tâches renforce les gratifications intrinsèques du travail en relation d'aide et ce, en dépit d'une piètre rémunération et de la sous‐valorisation du métier.     

What is the KKK a Case Of? Extreme Cases as Analytic Device

Social scientists frequently deploy extreme or rare cases as analytic devices to produce insight into broader social processes. Such a move requires that analysts understand what their object of inquiry is in fact “a case of.” Focusing on the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as one emblematic instance of an extreme case, this article considers the stakes associated with casing decisions around rare and extreme phenomena. Interrogating how the KKK has been understood as both an object of inquiry (i.e. a case) and a signal of broader social processes (i.e. a variable), the discussion emphasizes how to view the associated literature to more reflexively examine the KKK, as well as gain more global insight into the value and cautions associated with using extreme cases to produce generalizable conclusions.     

Stepfather–Adolescent Relationship Quality During the First Year of Transitioning to a Stepfamily

This study contributes to the growing literature on factors associated with the formation of close relationships between stepfathers and stepchildren. The authors extend prior research by using nationally representative data from Add Health (N = 179) to examine how factors existing prior to stepfamily formation are associated with the quality of stepfather–adolescent ties within the first year after married stepfathers join the household. Results from structural equation models revealed that both the quality of the mother–adolescent relationship and adolescent adjustment prior to stepfamily formation were significantly associated with the perceived quality of adolescents' relationships with their stepfathers.