Characterizing Mother’s Dating After Divorce

Mothers dating after divorce is a dynamic process, where not all mothers date the same way after divorce. However, few studies have examined the different ways that mothers date after divorce, which should influence maternal well-being, risk behaviors, and the quality of their relationships. This study characterizes four different approaches to mothers’ repartnering (referred to as repartnering histories): no dating, dating one partner monogamously, dating multiple partners serially, and dating multiple partners simultaneously. Each repartnering history is characterized by demographic variables, relationship quality, and maternal well-being. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,Transgender, Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) Perceptions and Health Care Experiences

The goal of this study was to explore attitudes, health knowledge, and experiences with health care setting and providers among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ) individuals and to identify areas for improvement. Members of Equality Florida? residing in the five counties of the Tampa Bay region were recruited through e-mail invitation to complete a 60-item questionnaire assessing demographics, attitudes, and experiences with health care providers (HCPs). Additional open-ended questions focused on experiences with HCPs and suggestions for ways to improve HCPs' cultural competency. A total of 632 respondents completed the survey of which 41% were gay men and 29% were lesbian. The majority of participants were White, non-Hispanic (93%), married/partnered (78%), and had health insurance (88%). The majority (67%) reported they always or often disclosed their sexual orientation/identity to an HCP and few had negative reactions in the health care setting (<10%). Health care settings with equality signs and gender-neutral language were perceived as safer. Participants' responses suggested need for policy changes and improved cultural competence among HCPs. Results show high rates of sexual orientation disclosure, greater acceptance from providers of LGBTQ status, and the need for examination of hospital policies and improved cultural competency.     

Culture,Context, or Religion: What Really Gets Single Mothers down the Aisle

Abstract

This article examines whether the relationship between religious participation and marriage behaviors for low-income single mothers is influenced by social norms and structural factors that promote the formation of traditional families. Specifically, we test whether religious participation encourages marriage generally or whether a specific type of marriage is encouraged (e.g., marriage to the baby's biological father). Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1,491), we examine the likelihood that religious participation increases marriage in single mothers. We find that the likelihood of marriage within four years after an unwed birth is not only related to church attendance but that the influence of church attendance seems to encourage the creation of biological families rather than simply two-parent households. Further, religious participation differentially influences the likelihood of marriage and a marriage partner based upon the mother's race and employment history. These findings highlight the importance of social context when analyzing marriage behaviors in single mothers.     

Support,Demands, and Gender Ideology: Exploring Work–Family Facilitation and Work–Family Conflict Among Older Workers

Only recently have researchers begun to investigate issues surrounding the work experiences of individuals in late midlife. This article contributes to the literature on work–family facilitation and conflict among older workers. I focus specifically on the extent to which gender ideology is associated with facilitation and conflict and whether that relationship differs for women and men. Using a sample of older workers (n = 2,253), I find that gender traditional respondents are more likely to report work–family conflict than are nontraditional respondents, with no corresponding association for work–family facilitation. There are no sex differences in the effect of gender ideology on facilitation or conflict. Results are discussed in the context of the importance of understanding the work–family interface among older employees.     

“Making a plan”: responses amongst the wealthy to declining socioeconomic conditions in suburban Harare

Although the term “crisis” is often used to describe politico-economic conditions in post-2000 Zimbabwe, the period of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe was also accompanied by creative responses to declining socioeconomic conditions. In this paper, I consider the ways in which wealthy suburban Zimbabweans resident in Harare during this period dealt with the withdrawal of the state from some aspects of daily life: most notably, experienced through a decline in municipal services such as the provision of water and electricity. I argue that whilst poor urbanites experienced socioeconomic conditions as a decline in modernity even while they engaged in creative responses to those conditions, for wealthier (Black and White) urbanites the withdrawal of local government services led to a revival of ideas of innovation (“making a plan”) that were similar to a pre-Independence discourse of self-reliance in the face of economic sanctions imposed in the 1970s. Ideas of self-sufficiency and innovation in the present day were invoked by both Black and White respondents, and can be read as partly rhetorical, given the realities of complex engagements and negotiations that occurred in Harare between residents and the municipality and state services. The innovation required to “make a plan” was always complexly social: although people could no longer rely on local government for services, they were forced by the erratic nature of service delivery to rely upon one another, and to engage with municipal institutions and local government structures in ways that had previously been unnecessary. Attempts to maintain a “proper” life in Harare involved creating forms of community amongst the wealthy, and connections between the wealthy and the state, that had not necessarily existed before the so-called crisis.     

Race,Gender, and Social Exchange in Young Adult Unions

Abstract

Social scientists often conceptualize romantic partner selection as an asymmetric exchange in which partners of different race or gender offer different desired qualities. For example, white women might leverage racial status into upward mobility by marrying socioeconomically advantaged minority men, or minority women might exchange beauty, sexual access, and domestic services for white men’s higher racial status and income. However, such approaches frequently assume gender and race asymmetry in preferences—for example, that men attach greater value to potential partners’ physical attractiveness than women do. These assumptions may be unwarranted, especially among contemporary young couples. In turn, assuming asymmetry in exchange can generate misleading results if partnering patterns are actually symmetric. Accordingly, we use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), including a supplementary sample of romantic partners, to reconsider recent findings with an emphasis on evaluating (a)symmetry.     

Everyday Life,Everyday Death

In this article I note limits of cultural activism in third-wave feminism, demonstrating that this activism often relies on a music scene that neglects intersections of race and gender. I offer the space of the online fansite as an alternative site for analysis, describing it as a site for everyday activism and consumer activism. Specifically, I explore the online fansite of the HBO show Six Feet Under, describing how fans treat subjects of gender and race in the show and in their everyday lives. Although fans discuss race and gender in limited ways in their explorations of the show and their daily lives, when they discuss the subject of death, they more productively address intersections of both race and gender, considering differences in burial and funereal practices among diverse cultures. Fans also construct the fansite as a place for consumer activism, sharing information about how to be active consumers in the funeral industry and to direct the course of their own burials.     

The devil is in the details: self-neglect in Australia

Although elder self-neglect is of significant concern to adult protective service (APS) workers in the United States, minimal research has been conducted on this topic in Australia. Using qualitative research methods, this article examines how 24 Australian professionals understand situations of self-neglect. Unlike in the United States, where the term self-neglect is used in a broad and all-encompassing manner, participants in this research differentiated among self-neglect (the neglect of self), squalor (extreme neglect of environment), collecting (the accumulation of certain objects), and hoarding (the inability to throw objects away). It is argued that separating out the various behaviors that are classified under the broad umbrella of neglect can be useful in fostering reflective interventions in these situations.     

Women's risk for revictimization by a new abusive partner: for what should we be looking?

The purpose of this article was to examine the prevalence of, as well as risk factors for, revictimization by a new partner. Data was collected via face-to-face interviews at Time 1 (about 5 weeks after obtaining a protective order against a violent partner [DVO partner]) and at Time 2 (approximately 12 months later). Of those women who reported having a new partner at Time 2 (n = 412), 35.2% reported abuse. Findings indicate that there is a subset of women who are at greater risk of experiencing abuse by future partners: women with greater cumulative lifetime victimization and those who abuse or are dependent on illicit drugs. Intervening with women when they obtain a protective order is a critical point of intervention to reduce women's risk for revictimization.     

Managing the critical transition from volume to value

Experts say value-based health care delivery truly is the wave of the future. Learn what you need to do to get ready to embrace the change.