The contribution of mother-father-child interactions to children's emotion narratives

Parents' sensitivity during interactions with their children has been associated with children's emotion narratives elicited using story completion tasks, but almost all of this research focused on mothers and was based on a dyadic, parent-child focus. The goal of the present study was to expand this research by studying triadic, mother-father-child interactions and their associations with children's narratives. Seventy-one families with their 4.5-year-old children were observed in the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP) procedure to assess Family Cooperation, and children were administered the MacArthur Story-Stem Battery (MSSB) to assess Coherence, Parental Representations, and Engagement with the task. Regression analyses indicated that controlling for children's Narrative Competence and Effortful Control, children who were part of more cooperative family interactions produced narratives that were more coherent, and they were more engaged during the task. No associations were found with children's representations of parents. Directions for future studies as well as clinical implications are discussed.     

Integrating Health and Social Care at the Micro Level: Health Care Professionals as Care Managers for Older People

A common problem in the provision of coordinated long‐term care is the separation of health and social care. The present government has been increasingly concerned with promoting convenient, user‐centred services and improving integration of health and social care. One arrangement that could contribute to this for some older service users is for health care staff to act as care managers, coordinating the provision of both health and social care. This paper presents the findings of a survey of arrangements in place in local authorities for health staff to work as care managers for older people. This was designed to provide details about the range and scope of care management activities undertaken by health care professionals. Key areas of enquiry included: which kinds of health care staff undertook care management and in what settings; how long the arrangements had been in place and how widely available they were; whether there was a distinction between the types of cases and care management processes undertaken by health care staff compared with their social service department counterparts; and what management and training arrangements were in place for the health care staff.     

Family Time Activities and Adolescents' Emotional Well‐being

The literature is divided on the issue of what matters for adolescents' well‐being, with one approach focusing on quality and the other on routine family time. Using the experience sampling method, a unique form of time diary, and survey data drawn from the 500 Family Study (N = 237 adolescents with 8,122 observations), this study examined the association between family time and adolescents' emotional well‐being as a function of the type of activities family members engaged in during their time together. Hierarchical linear model analyses revealed that eating meals together was beneficial to adolescents' emotional well‐being, especially when fathers were present. Family leisure was also beneficial to teens' well‐being. By contrast, productive family time (e.g., homework) was associated with lower emotional well‐being, as was maintenance family time (e.g., household chores), but only when adolescents engaged in it with both parents.     

The aborted sibling factor: A case study

The number of abortions in the world is steadily increasing, and there are now millions of children who have survived the abortion of a sibling. There is increasing evidence that even very young children may be aware of maternal abortions despite family attempts to maintain secrecy. For those children experiencing other powerfully unresolved conflicts, the abortion of a sibling may trigger a severe reaction. A case is presented in which it gradually became clear that a 5-year-old girl's withdrawn regression was related to her mother's multiple abortions and her own fear of being destroyed through maternal aggression.     

Part-time medical director: way station or end of the line?

This article is mostly directed to physicians who are contemplating a career change into management. You may be one of those persons who is contemplating taking a part-time position and continuing part-time clinical practice to see if you might enjoy management. It is important to understand that a part time medical director is there primarily because management perceives a need for a physician's skills and license. When a physician is hired on a part-time basis, it is unlikely that management realizes the larger benefits that can accrue to the organization from the physician manager's knowledge of health care and unique approach to the problems and opportunities in the delivery of that health care. Part-time medical directors seldom have an opportunity to be exposed to real management issues and activities and are usually sequestered and limited to functions that a naive management team thinks are most appropriate to a physician's skills and temperament. Be cautious in extrapolating a part-time experience to a full-time role. Consider taking the plunge to full-time management without a part-time transition phase.     

Objectification as negotiation: reexamining the agency of targets

Why and under what conditions do individuals participate in their own physical objectification? Literature across disciplines acknowledges such conditions exist but has limited capacity to specify when and how a person might participate in her own objectification. This article argues that a target of objectification, under certain conditions, can accept objectification in pursuit of another goal. This conception is counterintuitive given that existing approaches sometimes treat the targets of objectification as lacking agency. However, by obscuring this agency such accounts further the same objectification they highlight as problematic. This article offers a positive model of objectified targets’ agency. This model, called “Negotiated Objectification,” serves as an analytical tool that scholars can leverage in feminist academic debates over objectification. The utility of the model is illustrated using three examples: FEMEN’s topless protests; the politics of the Muslim headscarf; and women’s body writing in support of the Israel Defense Forces. The article concludes by considering the implications of women’s agency in each case for debates over the role of agents under objectification.     

Agency‐Based Support: A “Last‐Resort” Strategy for Low‐Income Families?*

Objectives. Agency‐based support, defined as material assistance received from charities and private social service agencies, can constitute an important source of help for low‐income families. This study examines the socioeconomic determinants of agency‐based support and seeks to reveal whether it constitutes an alternative source of support for families whose personal networks can provide only limited assistance. Methods. Multivariate analyses were conducted using data from “Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study,” a study of low‐income mothers living in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Results. Findings reveal that respondents with high levels of network support were significantly less likely to use agency‐based support. No association, however, was found with network burden, which led to rejecting the alternative hypothesis that people may use agency‐based support to limit their interactions with demanding network members. Conclusions. Overall, findings suggest that agency‐based support constitutes an alternative source of assistance for those who receive little or no support from family and friends. Policy implications in light of welfare reform are discussed.