Work Characteristics and Parent‐Child Relationship Quality: The Mediating Role of Temporal Involvement

This study investigated whether the amount and nature of parent‐child time mediated the association between parental work characteristics and parent‐child relationship quality. We based hypotheses on the conflict and enrichment approaches, and we tested a path model using self‐collected data on 1,008 Dutch fathers and 929 Dutch mothers with school‐aged children. Longer working hours and less work engagement were associated with less parent‐child time and longer working hours, more restrictive organizational norms, stress, flexibility, nonstandard hours (mothers only), and work engagement increased the disturbance of parent‐child activities. Less and more disturbed parent‐child activities were, in turn, associated with a lower parent‐child relationship quality. In addition, work engagement and working hours had direct, beneficial effects on parent‐child relationship quality.     

Questions on ethics for research in the virtually connected world

In this paper the need of awareness for and even of change in the rules of how we conduct ourselves as researchers and participants in the virtual worlds of the internet is proposed. The focus of this paper is on the ethics for online research. Our aim is to reignite the discussion about the way the availability and consequent (mis)use of ‘social’ data, e.g. social network site profiles or newsgroup postings by researchers is about to necessitate a new definition of and fight for the right for a private sphere that each individual may claim in the public of the virtual worlds. We conclude with an approach on how to accomplish that.     

The communicative construction of FEMEN: naked protest in self-mediation and German media discourse

Abstract

In this article, we investigate how FEMEN employs female nudity to raise public attention in their mediatized strategies and how this form of naked protest is represented and interpreted in German media discourse. We will show that the significant media presence of FEMEN’s naked protest actions and its self-portrayal as the new feminism of our days have become increasingly ambivalent over time. As this is of great importance with regards to public perceptions of feminism, feminist activists, and feminist agency in general, our analysis provides a detailed investigation of the processes of appreciation and devaluation of FEMEN as an expression of contemporary feminists and feminism. Employing a qualitative discourse analysis, the article highlights the interwoven processes of contextualization and decontextualization in FEMEN’s self-mediation and news coverage in Germany. It is shown that FEMEN’s protests from 2008 to 2013 materialize in “local” actions, but are increasingly constructed and interpreted on a transcultural level. In this analysis, we identify the core interpretative scheme of decontextualization that becomes apparent in three forms of detachments. As we show, these forms of detachment are a core issue in the media’s devaluation and depolitization of FEMEN and feminism in general.     

Children's Postdivorce Residence Arrangements and Parental Experienced Time Pressure

Although the rise in postdivorce joint physical custody has fueled scholarly interest in its impact on children, consequences for parents remain understudied. Because children's residence arrangements determine time and coordination demands associated with child care, this study investigated the relationship between postdivorce residence arrangements and parents' time pressure. Regression analyses on 4,460 formerly married or cohabiting parents in the Netherlands showed that main residence (mother residence, father residence, or joint physical custody) is more strongly related to time pressure than is nonresident parents' visitation frequency. Compared with mother residence, joint physical custody is associated with less time pressure for mothers and slightly greater pressure for fathers, which supports the idea of higher care demands when parents spend more time with their children. The results do not support the role of coordination demands; the extent of interparental contact and the number of transitions the child makes are not related to time pressure.     

Violence and Vulnerability: Children’s Strategies and the Logic of Violence in Burundi

This study explores how children in conflict‐affected Burundi deal with violence in their everyday lives. Focusing on schools as a context in which children are prepared for further roles in society, child‐centred, qualitative and mixed‐methods research was conducted at 36 primary schools throughout Burundi. Findings reveal that children use a variety of strategies to deal with violence they encounter. These strategies reflect a learned ‘logic of violence’, matching dynamics of violence and vulnerability in society at large. Children’s strategies are ultimately aimed at reducing vulnerability to (future) violence and indicative of the omnipresence of violence and uncertainty in Burundi.     

Professional accounts of services for disabled children in the context of the 1990s Finnish economic recession

This study examines professional accounts of services for disabled children and the ideologies behind those services in the context of the European economic crisis of the 1990s. The study is based on interview data which were collected among professionals of municipal and central government sectors working in the same Finnish town. The methodological starting-point is that of critical discourse analysis (CDA). The professionals first suggest in their discourse that their services are provided on the basis of uncontrollable, general framework, and ideal professional- or client-based principles, but accounts are recorded in which services were rendered which were in conflict with these ideal ideologies. The study concludes that the discourse of the professionals involved in the study consists of various, conflicting accounts and ideologies.     

Kommunikationsthemen im Coaching

Communication is present in any human interaction. Although it is not always focused as a specific goal the enhancement, development and maintenance of conversation skills is an essential task in coaching processes. Especially for academics communication topics are of considerable importance. An overview specifying career stage and typical communication issues is introduced for professors and young academics. Two detailed case studies shed light on the concrete work on conversation skills in academic coachings.     

A 1,408 km bicycle tour with prostate cancer patients—results of a pilot study

Negative psychological and physical effects of prostate cancer and its medical treatment may persist many years after diagnosis. The influence of a long cycling tour on rehabilitative or health-related effects with prostate cancer patients has not yet been studied. In practice, physicians and therapists rarely recommend cycling to prostate cancer. In May 2010, eight prostate cancer patients rode their bikes for over 1,408 km from Cologne to Marseille within 5 weeks. Endurance test, blood examinations (prostate-specific antigen (PSA), total testosterone, interleukin-6, oxidative stress, and antioxidant capacity) and quality of life questionnaires were completed before and after the tour. All eight subjects reached Marseille. Significant improvements could be observed in physical performance and certain quality of life scores (p?=?0.008), as well as a reduction of total testosterone (p?=?0.19). PSA levels did not change. This pilot study suggests that long bicycle tours with prostate cancer patients are feasible. Due to the missing control group and the small sample size, the results of this pilot study are limited.     

Communication in Nuclear Emergency Preparedness: A Closer Look at Information Reception

Preparedness of the general population plays a key role in the effective implementation of protective actions in case of a nuclear emergency (e.g., evacuation or intake of iodine tablets). In this context, a good communication of emergency management actors with the public along the entire cycle of preparedness–response–recovery is of paramount importance. This article aims at providing a better understanding of the way people process communicated messages and the factors that may influence how they do this. In particular, it investigates information reception as part of the information processing in precrisis communication. As a case study, the precrisis communication context was chosen, as it has been tackled to a lesser extent in the literature. The empirical data used for this study originated from a large‐scale opinion survey in Belgium. One topic in this survey addressed the information campaign for the distribution of iodine tablets, in the context of preparedness for nuclear emergencies. The findings of this study demonstrate that systematic predictors have a stronger influence on information reception, as compared to heuristic predictors. The latter are only to a minor extent involved in the reception of emergency preparedness information. The hypothesized pattern—that more specific knowledge about the field relates to a higher reception of information—was confirmed for precrisis communication. Contrary to expectations, results showed that people with a high perception of radiation risks were less attentive to information about protective actions. People with little confidence in authorities were also more likely to have a low reception of information.     

Middle-Aged and Elderly Finnish Households Considering Moving,Their Preferences,and Potential Downsizing Amidst Changing Life Course and Housing Career

We examine the moving and housing preferences of middle-aged and older in Finland, a country where population composition and movement through the life course are changing. A logistic regression reveals that middle-aged, moderate income residents, renters, those who have lived in their houses only a short time, and residents who are generally dissatisfied are most likely to consider moving. Downsizing appeals to residents with lower incomes who live alone, and who have been in their current houses longer. All potential movers agree on the importance of transportation access and a neighborhood grocery store; however, those preferring to downsize are also interested in house and neighborhood design as well as services that will allow aging in place. Income limitations may create affordability problems for some potential movers.