Through The Camera’s Eye: The Intergenerational Transmission of Loss

The intergenerational transmission on of trauma has been examined through the lens of attachment theory, infant studies, and psychoanalytic writings. In the following literature review, I summarize the impact of interpersonal trauma on early attachment patterns and dream content along with the implications for treatment. A case vignette presented to illustrate the intergenerational impact of unresolved loss within a relational treatment framework and the process of reconstruction and integration of intergenerational traumatic loss within a relational treatment paradigm.     

Developing the Capacity for Reflective Functioning Through an Intersubjective Process

The following paper explores the concepts of reflective functioning, metacognition (Main et al. in Adult attachment scoring and classification systems. Regents of the University of California, Berkeley, 2002), and mentalization (Fonagy and Target in Mind to mind: Infant research, neuroscience and psychoanalysis. Other Press, New York, 2008; Fonagy et al. in Affect regulation, mentalization and the development of the self. Other Press, New York, 2002). Using an extended case illustration, the author demonstrates how she uses the clinical process to develop more mature reflective and mentalization capacities with a client through dream analysis, identification of affect states, therapeutic ruptures and mutual play.     

Ethno‐Class Distinctions and Reality (TV)

This article offers a cultural‐sociological analysis of interpretations by viewers from different classes on the most popular reality show in Israel, namely, Big Brother. The findings of this study show dramatic differences in viewing practices according to class and ethnic distinctions of the viewers. Viewers from the upper socioeconomic class primarily addressed the way in which the subjects from the low socioeconomic class and marked ethnic groups appear in their eyes: that is, the processes affiliated with Othering. These ethno‐class distinctions were translated into unique viewing practices: the identification of what are called, “cult moments” or “grotesque moments.” These moments are depicted as ridiculing the “exaggerated” behavior of members of the low socioeconomic class and specific ethnic groups. Viewers from the low socioeconomic class offer more imminent (and less distant) perspectives on the Big Brother program. They relate to a broad spectrum of content that was broadcast in the program, identify with the participants from their group, criticize the judgments and the cultural hierarchies of marked group members, and describe how political anger accompanies their viewing of the reality program. The discussion section suggests the connection of these subjective interpretations and widespread cultural scenarios about class and ethnic identities.     

Coming Out of the Coffin: Life‐Self and Death‐Self in Six Feet Under

This article discusses how the dominant approach to life and death as binary structures in American society influences the social construction of the self. Through the analysis of the television series Six Feet Under, we identify two types of selves: a “life‐self” and a “death‐self.” Questioning this binary, we offer the concept of “transitory movements” to suggest instead that a “waltzing” movement between life and death endows the self with meaning and stands at the core of the self‐work of agents. Finally, we discuss the implications of our analysis for scholarship on the self and on the sociology of death.     

Wage Decompositions with Selectivity-Corrected Wage Equations: A Methodological Note

This paper examines the implications of the standard Heckman (Heckit) correction for selectivity bias in wage and earnings functions that are subsequently used in wage decompositions. Even when justified, Heckit selectivity correction introduces some fundamental ambiguities in the context of wage decompositions. The ambiguities arise from group differences in the selection term which consists of a parameter multiplied by the Inverse Mills Ratio (IMR). The parameter is identified as the product of the standard deviation of the errors in the wage equation and the correlation between the wage equation error and the selection equation error. How should group differences in these parameters be interpreted in terms of structural differences and endowment effects? The same issue arises with respect to group differences in the IMR which reflect nonlinear group differences in the determinants of selection and in the probit coefficients.     

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK: REHO and the New Home Economics

Review of Economics of the Household -     

Formative Experiences of Orthodox Jewish Women: Attachment Patterns and Spiritual Development

This qualitative study examines formative spiritual experiences of thirteen Orthodox Jewish women. The author discusses differences between Orthodox-born women and women returnees to Orthodoxy. From an attachment perspective, the data suggests that secure as well as insecure attachment bonds are the primary factors in religious development for these respondents. The author also argues that spiritual development from a Kabbalistic perspective offers a complementary paradigm from which to evaluate the respondents’ religious development. Finally, recommendations for clinical practice with Orthodox women are discussed.

Profiles of behavioral problems in children who witness domestic violence

Unlike previous investigations of shelter-based samples, our study examined whether profiles of adjustment problems occurred in a community-program-based sample of 175 school-aged children exposed to domestic violence. Cluster analysis revealed three stable profiles/clusters. The largest cluster (69%) consisted of children below clinical thresholds for any internalizing or externalizing problem. Children in the next largest cluster (18%) were characterized as having externalizing problems with or without internalizing problems. The smallest cluster (13%) consisted of children with internalizing problems only. Comparison across demographic and violence characteristics revealed that the profiles differed by child gender, mother's education, child's lifetime exposure to violence, and aspects of the event precipitating contact with the community program. Clinical and future research implications of study findings are discussed.     

Cohort-level sex ratio effects on women’s labor force participation

It follows from a number of theoretical models of marriage that the scarcer women are relative to men, i.e., the higher the sex ratio, the less married women are likely to participate in the labor force. Such sex ratio effects may be stronger among less educated women. These predictions are tested using individual data from Current Population Surveys for four regions of the U.S. (Northeast, Midwest, South and West), and for the U.S. as a whole, covering the period 1965–2005 at 5-year intervals. Within-region sex ratio variation results from variation in cohort size (due principally to large fluctuations in number of births) and limited fluctuations in the difference between male and female age at marriage. As hypothesized, we find that sex ratios are inversely related to women’s labor force participation, reflecting that ceteris paribus women born in years of peak baby-boom are more likely to be in the labor force than women born in years of peak baby-bust. Additionally, weaker sex ratio effects are found among educated women in two of the four regions of the United States.