Innovative Social Policies: Implications for Work–life Balance among Low‐waged Women in England

We investigated innovative social policies drawn from the European arena — universal systems of childcare, a shorter working week and shared parental leave — asking about their relevance to the work–life balance of low‐waged coupled mothers in England. While in principle the policy environment has shifted from assumptions of a male breadwinner to dual earners, in practice severe constraints on mothers' labour market attachment bring women half the lifetime earnings of men. British Household Panel Survey data for coupled low‐waged women in England show them as likely to work short part‐time hours, have low‐waged partners and low household wages while belonging to male breadwinner partnerships in terms of their contribution to household wages and unpaid work; but that few women support this model. Interviews with low‐waged mothers show evidence of limited choices, constrained by social policies which offer limited and piecemeal support for working parenthood. Given the choice, low‐waged mothers and their partners would find policies available elsewhere in Europe attractive. They see a more universal comprehensive system of childcare as enabling women's employment and improving children's quality of life; a shorter working week as enabling mothers and fathers to lead more balanced lives and a father's quota of parental leave fitting with their assumptions about sharing care.     

Common Challenges in Conducting Prolonged Exposure Therapy With Active Duty Service Members: Case Discussion and Strategies for Intervention

Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy receives most of its empirical support from trials conducted with civilian posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) populations. There has been only limited research on its use with military personnel with combat-related PTSD, and as a consequence, there has been less clinical discussion detailing its application with active duty service members. The purpose of this paper is to highlight two challenges that commonly arise when conducting PE with active duty service members: 1) selecting the most appropriate index event to focus on in imaginal exposure out of the numerous traumas an active duty patient is likely to have experienced, and 2) patients’ tendency to engage in “safety behaviors,” which undermine the effectiveness of in vivo exposure. The nature of these challenges is explored from a theoretical perspective, along with two case examples to illustrate their presentation in treatment. Specific strategies for addressing them are reviewed.     

Work time. Leisure time. On women's temporal and economic well-being in Europe

In the study of work time, a wealth of influential ideas has emerged about the potentially damaging impact of too many hours in the labour market on the rest of peoples' lives, as well as about the negative economic ramifications of short hours working. The paper focuses on the temporal and economic well-being of female employees in Europe, stimulated by the importance of work time in debates over time poverty and work life integration. It asks whether women in shorter hours jobs are happiest with their time for paid work and leisure, but also what might the lower wages from reduced hours working mean for women, particularly those in low-level occupations. The paper shows first that although working fewer hours contributes to women's satisfaction with their time in many countries, it is long full-time hours that have the strongest (negative) relationship with women's temporal well-being across Europe. Second, the paper demonstrates the damaging impact of working in low-level occupations – both part-time and full-time – on the economic well-being of women's households. It stresses the importance of a combined work time and occupational class approach in the ongoing analysis of women's working lives.     

Re-defining 'norms': D/deaf young people's transitions to independence

Traditionally, young people's transitions from a state of dependent childhood to an independent adult identity have been measured in terms of a developmental stage model. However, it is increasingly being recognised that young people are not a universal category and that their transitions need to be understood within the diverse context of peers, family, and communities. This paper draws on a rich body of work from the interdisciplinary field of Deaf studies and original research with D/deaf young people – a group generally overlooked by sociological research – to challenge and to advance conventional interdisciplinary debates about youth transitions in two ways. In the first half of the paper we examine D/deaf young people's conventional school‐to‐work, housing and domestic transitions and in doing so reflect upon the ways that their experiences shed a new light on understandings of these traditional markers of independent adulthood. In the second half of the paper we challenge conventional definitions of what marks an important transition by focusing on the transition that many D/deaf young people themselves define as the most significant in their lives, learning BSL and the transition to an independent D/deaf identity that this enables them to make. In doing so the paper mainstreams within sociology an important body of research about D/deaf people's experiences from Deaf studies.     

Issues of Stability and Change in Interest Development

Interest development is not an easily studied process. There are at least 4 methods for examining the process of stability and change over time: relative stability, absolute stability, profile stability, and structural stability. A program of research that focuses on examining these 4 types of stability is summarized relative to the issues pertinent to the development of vocational interests in children and adolescents.     

Air Toxics and Health Risks in California: The Public Health Implications of Outdoor Concentrations

Of the 188 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) listed in the Clean Air Act, only a handful have information on human health effects, derived primarily from animal and occupational studies. Lack of consistent monitoring data on ambient air toxics makes it difficult to assess the extent of low-level, chronic, ambient exposures to HAPs that could affect human health, and limits attempts to prioritize and evaluate policy initiatives for emissions reduction. Modeled outdoor HAP concentration estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Cumulative Exposure Project were used to characterize the extent of the air toxics problem in California for the base year of 1990. These air toxics concentration estimates were used with chronic toxicity data to estimate cancer and noncancer hazards for individual HAPs and the risks posed by multiple pollutants. Although hazardous air pollutants are ubiquitous in the environment, potential cancer and noncancer health hazards posed by ambient exposures are geographically concentrated in three urbanized areas and in a few rural counties. This analysis estimated a median excess individual cancer risk of 2.7E-4 for all air toxics concentrations and 8600 excess lifetime cancer cases, 70% of which were attributable to four pollutants: polycyclic organic matter, 1,3 butadiene, formaldehyde, and benzene. For noncancer effects, the analysis estimated a total hazard index representing the combined effect of all HAPs considered. Each pollutant contributes to the index a ratio of estimated concentration to reference concentration. The median value of the index across census tracts was 17, due primarily to acrolein and chromium concentration estimates. On average, HAP concentrations and cancer and noncancer health risks originate mostly from area and mobile source emissions, although there are several locations in the state where point sources account for a large portion of estimated concentrations and health risks. Risk estimates from this study can provide guidance for prioritizing research, monitoring, and regulatory intervention activities to reduce potential hazards to the general population. Improved ambient monitoring efforts can help clarify uncertainties inherent in this analysis.     

Growing up at centrepoint: retrospective accounts of childhood spent at an intentional community

A qualitative analysis of the accounts of 29 adults who grew up in a controversial New Zealand community identified positive and negative experiences and their psychological implications. In addition to highly publicized child sexual abuse that occurred at Centrepoint, children also experienced parental neglect, psychological manipulation, illegal drug use and stigma from the broader society. These factors created an adverse matrix that facilitated sexual abuse. Positive experiences included support for vulnerable families and children, recreational activities, and the opportunity to develop communication skills. While there may be positive experiences for children living in intentional communities such as this one, it is important to be aware of the potential for psychological harm to children in communities with powerful, shared systems of belief, skepticism about the broader society, and strong dynamics of dependence. These findings may have implications for other similar communities operating elsewhere in the world.     

Heterosexism,racism, and mental illness discrimination: Experiences of people with mental health conditions and their families

Experiencing discrimination related to race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or having a mental health condition is associated with negative outcomes. Research comparing types of discrimination or considering intersectionalities is lacking. This study reports findings from interviews with people with mental illnesses (PWMI) or family members of PWMI; all study participants also are of color and/or lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Findings include the following: participants experienced multiple forms of discrimination, mental illness discrimination shares characteristics with racism and heterosexism, and heterosexuals and people of color reported more mental illness discrimination than their counterparts. Implications for change advocates, mental health providers, and researchers are offered.     

The vocal attractiveness stereotype: Replication and elaboration

We examined personality impressions on five NEO subscales (Costa & McCrae, 1985) as a function of senders' vocal and physical attractiveness. There were four major findings: (a) both vocal and physical attractiveness produced more favorable ratings, and these effects were more pronounced in a single channel (voice only or face only, respectively) than in a multiple channel (voice plus face); (b) the influence of attractiveness, both vocal and physical, was moderated by subscale—the effect of vocal attractiveness was most pronounced for Neuroticism and nonexistent for Agreeableness; the effect of physical attractiveness was most pronounced for Extraversion and nonexistent for Conscientiousness; (c) a vocal attractiveness × physical attractiveness interaction indicated that effects of the two stereotypes were particularly strong for senders who were attractive on both channels; (d) the effects of attractiveness, both vocal and physical, diminished when judges were familiar with the target persons.This research was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant RO1 MH 40498.     

Using Standardized Clients to Train Social Workers in Intimate Partner Violence Assessment

Evidence-based assessment in intimate partner violence (IPV) is critical to the accurate understanding of risk and to the development of interventions that increase safety. In this study standardized clients (actors) were used to train Army civilian social workers in evidence-based assessment of IPV and in the evaluation of the curriculum's effectiveness. Participation in this training curriculum increased the following: the participants' knowledge about the empirical basis for content areas explored in IPV assessment, their exploration of content critical to an IPV assessment interview, and their interviewing process skills. The results support the effectiveness of using standardized clients in IPV assessment training and evaluation.