Positive Effects of Talking About the Negative: Family Narratives of Negative Experiences and Preadolescents' Perceived Competence

Family narratives about the past are an important context for the socialization of emotion, but relations between expression of negative emotion and children's emerging competence are conflicting. In this study, 24 middle‐class two‐parent families narrated a shared negative experience together and we examined the process (initiations and collaborations) and function (the expression and explanation of emotions) of co‐constructed narratives in relation to preadolescents' perceived competencies and self‐esteem. Family narratives in which specific emotions were expressed and explained in a collaborative fashion, especially negative emotion, were positively related to preadolescents' reported competencies and self‐esteem, whereas family narratives that expressed general positive emotion were negatively related to preadolescents' perceived competencies. Implications of family narratives about emotional events, specifically the ways in which families discuss emotion, in relation to preadolescents' self‐development are discussed.     

Therapy with Remarried Couples—A Multitheoretical Perspective

Work with remarried couples is often difficult and complex. The first part of this essay provides a comprehensive discussion of the many issues faced by remarried couples under the headings of: emotional consequences of separation, the presence of children in the new relationship, finances, lack of guidelines and models, complexity of structure, and women in stepfamilies. The second part addresses therapy, by first tracing the past contributions to the field by structural, psychodynamic and cognitive models and then moving on to speculate about the offerings of Adult Attachment Theory, Trauma Theory, Narrative Therapy and Feminist Theory. Consistent with the awareness fostered by feminism the essay attempts to create a respectful dialogue between these models with the hope of gaining value from all while elevating none. The discussion is illustrated by a case example.     

The effect of political generation on identity and social change: Age cohort consequences

ABSTRACT

In this article, we explore how political generation affects the ways in which diverse individuals come together and change their social and personal identities. Drawing on 52 in-depth interviews with members of the Red Hat Society, we show that women draw on their political generation, and the gains of the women’s movement specifically, to oppose cultural constructions of aging. The Red Hat Society provides a “free space” for women to foster a collective identity that both visibly challenges aging norms and provides its members new standards for self-approval. We conclude by highlighting the importance of focusing on political generation to understand collective action over the life course and call for more scholarship on the function of political generation in social change.     

SKILLS RECOGNITION AND REFUGEES: MIGRANTS WITHOUT OPTIONS

In the post-war years, Australia has accepted more refugees on a per capita basis than any other country. Refugees are unlike other migrants in that they are forced to move. They have no option. They arrive unprepared for settlement. They have more difficulty finding employment, especially at an appropriate level, than other immigrants. They often come without format documents, with limited English language ability and with few supports. All of these factors make skills recognition even more difficult than for other non-English speaking background immigrants. Different training models, continued chauvinism about Australian training versus overseas training, inadequate attention to existing skills and the protectionist policies of some employers, professional bodies, etc all militate against refugees slotting into the labour market at a level commensurate with their pre-flight level. Australia needs to do more than select people and then leave them to their own devices. Carefully planned and ongoing programs are needed to help refugees integrate satisfactorily into the labour market. There is still a perception among refugees that Australia only wants them as labourers.     

Embedding effects: Stimulus representation and response mode

Thecontingent valuation (CV) methodology assigns prices to environmental amenities by asking people how much they would be willing to pay in order to preserve or acquire those amenities. If this measurement procedure is valid, then responses should be sensitive to relevant changes in the amenities being judged and insensitive to irrelevant changes. One apparent demonstration of inappropriate insensitivity is theembedding effect: the observation that people are apparently willing to pay the same amount of money for a good as for a minor subset of that good. This study examined the possibility that the source of this effect lies with each of two (potentially treatable) methodological problems: 1) subjects have difficulty using quantitative (dollar) response modes to express their values; and 2) subjects have difficulty absorbing the essential details of the CV scenarios describing those goods. The study found that 1) subjects showed considerable embedding both with a simple paired-comparison response mode and with a more demanding one requiring direct dollar estimates; 2) embedding was much reduced with the simpler response mode; 3) subjects' preferences with the two response modes were usually inconsistent; 4) when asked to describe the CV scenario that they had just heard, subjects often reported key task details inaccurately; and 5) there was less embedding when tasks were reinterpreted in terms of the questions subjects reported having answered (as opposed to what had actually been asked). These results are discussed in terms of the match between the questions that investigators would like to ask and the ones that subjects are capable of answering.     

THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION POLICIES ON SCHOOL EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Australia's immigration policies have had a dramatic effect on school populations, especially in the state of New South Wales which receives about 40 per cent of the intake. This paper is based on a study that was carried out for the Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research and the NSW Ministry of Education. The study revealed that many non-English speaking background pupils miss out on English as a second language tuition, community languages are allowed to lapse and aspects of the school environment, such as relations between different groups, are not given the attention that they deserve.     

A Tale of Two Communities: Refugee Relocation in Australia

Refugees are forced to leave their homes and countries to start anew in a different place. This paper outlines the key challenges and issues facing those Australian regional communities focussing on refugee relocation projects as a labour and population renewal strategy. This discussion arises from a two year evaluation project which examined two refugee relocation projects in the communities of Swan Hill and Warrnambool situated in different regional areas of Victoria, Australia. The project was supported with funds from VicHealth, a statutory body funded by the Victorian State Government with a particular focus on groups in society who are likely to be at greater risk. Refugee communities have a higher risk of mental health problems and higher rates of unemployment and as such, the importance of relocation programs is commensurate with the opportunity and risk they present. Governments, communities and service providers all need to acknowledge the potential benefits refugee relocation programs may bring as well as recognising that the consequences of failure can be ominous for all concerned.