In Search of Resiliency in Families

Abstract

This study explores the process of relationship development in marriages that foster personal and relationship growth. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve individuals/six couples in marriages that promote individual and relationship growth. Grounded theory methodology was employed and “Empowering Connections” emerged as the core theme. Empowering connections are characterised by a process of growth captured by the following categories: “Connecting Emotionally,” “Loving Respectfully,” “Expanding One's Self,” and “Experiencing Empowering Connections.” The results of the study contribute to the understanding of marriage and provide insight to premarital couples, people who want to improve their marriage, and to therapists working with couples.     

Retention Is Not an Abstract Notion: The Effect of Wages and Caretaking

ABSTRACT

Understanding retention in any profession is dependent on thorough workforce studies. Here, wages and caretaking, and the interaction of the two, were examined to understand retention of social workers. Respondents were 785 Master of social work alumni from the mid-South. Differences among three groups were studied: those working, those who have left the workforce, and those who had left but may return. Of the respondents, 92% thought an above average income was important; 48% of households included children; and 21% reported caretaking others. Wage was not a reason to leave social work but caretaking was. Moreover, caretaking and financial responsibility may be a reason not to return.     

The relative career advancement of men and women engineers in the United States

Abstract

Despite the fact that women engineering students perform as well as their male classmates during college, women engineers report lower salaries and supervisory responsibility levels after about five years in the labour force. Several hypotheses concerning the reasons for the differences in career advancement of men and women engineers were investigated in a national survey of engineers in the United States. The gender differences in career advancement could not be explained by differences in education level or in self-perceptions of ability. The fact that women were more likely to have taken a career break than were men did decrease their salaries and supervisory levels. However, gender differences were still apparent even when this factor was controlled. The careers of both men and women were affected by conflicts arising from the multiple roles of worker, spouse, and parent, but many women engineers avoided such conflicts by remaining single and childless. These results challenge several popular explanations for the differential advancement of men and women, but the actual causes remain unknown.     

双弹性牛仔布织造工艺探讨

本文介绍了双弹性牛仔布的织造工艺流程,并对其技术攻关采取的措施加以总结。     

唐代商人入仕途径考析

唐代商人入仕与前代相比较不仅数量增多,而且入仕多门。唐前期商人入仕途径主要有捐献财物、出任"斜封官"、以捉钱令史入仕、告密及受人提携而入仕;唐后期商人则可以通过"私觌官"制、朝廷卖官令、军功、科举、方镇辟署以及贿赂等手段跻身仕途。唐代商人入仕途径的演变既反映了唐代政治经济形势的变化,又彰显了他们不同于其他阶层的入仕特色。     

Operational Models of Infrastructure Resilience

We propose a definition of infrastructure resilience that is tied to the operation (or function) of an infrastructure as a system of interacting components and that can be objectively evaluated using quantitative models. Specifically, for any particular system, we use quantitative models of system operation to represent the decisions of an infrastructure operator who guides the behavior of the system as a whole, even in the presence of disruptions. Modeling infrastructure operation in this way makes it possible to systematically evaluate the consequences associated with the loss of infrastructure components, and leads to a precise notion of “operational resilience” that facilitates model verification, validation, and reproducible results. Using a simple example of a notional infrastructure, we demonstrate how to use these models for (1) assessing the operational resilience of an infrastructure system, (2) identifying critical vulnerabilities that threaten its continued function, and (3) advising policymakers on investments to improve resilience.     

基于NVivo质性分析的羌族灾后心理复原力的影响因素研究

采用NVivo10.0软件分析灾后羌族幸存者心理复原的现状和影响因素,为少数民族受灾群体心理干预提供依据。以5.12地震羌族重灾区茂县、理县为例,采用目的性抽样方法,对12名羌族幸存者进行个案访谈,收集他们对地震的认知、反应和应对方式,以及影响其灾后心理复原的因素,探索建立灾后心理复原力的影响因素模型。羌族幸存者对地震情境、受灾情况仍记忆犹新,心存恐惧,地震带来的创伤或将长期存在;灾后国家政府的支援扶持、民族文化元素成为应对灾难的支持性力量和保护性因子;心理复原力影响灾后羌族幸存者的主观幸福感体验。应重视积极文化元素对羌族心理复原的保护和支持作用,可尝试将民族文化元素引入灾后心理治疗与干预。     

Reinvigorating resilience: violence against women,land rights,and the women's peace movement in Myanmar

In Myanmar, movements for gender justice strive to foster personal and collective security, vibrant livelihoods, and political engagement during a period of rapid and uncertain transition. This article draws from the experience of the Gender Equality Network (GEN), a coalition of over 100 organisations in Myanmar. It examines three cases in which GEN sought to document existing forms of resilience and expand these mechanisms through national-level advocacy. The first describes current attempts to publicise, and eventually eliminate, violence against women (VAW). VAW is a fundamental threat to personal safety, but also to the principle of societal accountability – that is, the extent to which society upholds the interests and rights of women and girls. The second focuses on women's (lack of) access to natural resources and economic decision-making, drawing on gender-focused input into the National Land Use Policy. Finally, we examine the impacts of conflict on women's resilience, and women's increasing participation in the peace process. In all three cases, effective mobilisation and networking not only increased female political voice, but also enabled creation of a more resilient democracy by modelling effective policy, research, advocacy, and communication strategies.     

‘Eventually the mine will come’: women anti-mining activists’ everyday resilience in opposing resource extraction in the Andes

This article explores the experiences of women anti-mining activists in rural communities in Andean Peru and Ecuador. The article analyses women activists’ experience of negotiating conflicts with large-scale mining companies, as well as within their communities, using the concept of resilience to understand their continued commitment to this work in a context of conflict, intimidation, and violence. Women activists’ resilience is demonstrated in their determination to fight the arrival of mining, despite being among an increasingly small minority of their communities who continue to oppose the mining companies; their commitment to collective action and to occupying their lands; and their tenacity in campaigning against resource extraction while simultaneously recognising that ‘eventually the mine will come’.     

Childhood Autism and Proactive Family Coping: Intergenerational Perspectives

This article considers the value of intergenerational and specifically, grandparental support, in the management of adaptive tasks posed by raising a young child with autism. The tasks addressed range from accessing early intervention to enhancing family social functioning. We note unique social, financial, and health-related stressors faced by families of children with autism. We outline an innovative, stress theory-based framework, the Autism Proactive Intergenerational Adaptation (APIA) Model, which delineates the role of grandparents in contributing to family adaptation to the stresses of raising a child with autism. We focus on proactive family coping strategies in building resilience and ameliorating the adverse impact of stressors on quality of life (QOL) for individual family members and for the family unit. We discuss barriers and facilitators of intergenerational alliances involving grandparental participation and support.