Too sick to move: distant ‘crisis’ care in transnational families

This paper examines the crisis of acute and chronic illness, death, and dying in transnational families. These are the stages in the family life-course when physical co-presence is required to deliver hands-on care and intimate emotional support for the sick family member. It is a time when distant kin feel they need ‘to be there’, including for their own sense of well-being. This period of ‘crisis’ (in the anthropological sense) makes visible all of the impediments to transnational family caregiving that often remain hidden during those periods when ‘routine’ forms of distant care are adequate. Of particular relevance are the macro-level factors generated by national borders and the policies that define them, including those that govern employment, travel, visa, health, and aged care provisions. It is in these family life phases of crisis that nation-state structures can work to constrain individual agency and rights, making compellingly evident the growing need for transnational structures and policy. At issue are the largely invisible (in a policy sense) but increasingly common micro-level responses of family and individuals that characterize ‘crisis distant care’, which are characterized by the urgent need to visit and to intensify use of ICTs. The paper examines the experiences of migrants living in Australia who are trying to care for acutely unwell family members abroad.     

制约农村养老社会化发展的因素分析

我国农村养老社会化既是养老制度发展的客观规律,也是我国农村经济和社会发展的客观要求。但是,事实上,我国农村养老社会化程度偏低,其原因在于我国农村存在着种种制约养老社会化发展的因素。加快农村养老社会化发展的措施主要是转变传统的家庭养老观念,健全社会养老法律制度,社会养老与农业政策紧密结合,加大国家经济支持力度,理顺社会养老管理体制,分层次、循序渐进地完善农村社会养老制度。     

Examining cross-state variation in the increase in father-only families

Each state has the power to establish its own policy and laws relating to child custody determination. The number of single-parent families with children that are headed by fathers has been growing in the United States. This paper explores the extent of cross-state variation in the prevalence in father-only families in 1990, and the extent to which there was cross-state variation in the increase in father-only families in the 1980s. The 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) drawn from the US decennial censuses are used. Decomposition analyses of growth indicate that increases in the number of father-only families occurred across all states during this period, but at varying rates. The primary reason for the increase in most states is an increase in the proportion of ever-married single-parent families that are headed by a father. It is for these families that are headed by divorced or separated parents that state policy relating to child custody determination is most relevant.     

Low‐Income Mothers’ Private Safety Nets and Children’s Socioemotional Well‐Being

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐being Study (N = 1,162) and the National Evaluation of Welfare‐to‐Work Strategies (N = 1,308), we estimate associations between material and instrumental support available to low‐income mothers and young children’s socioemotional well‐being. In multivariate OLS models, we find mothers’ available support is negatively associated with children’s behavior problems and positively associated with prosocial behavior in both data sets; associations between available support and children’s internalizing and prosocial behaviors attenuate but remain robust in residualized change models. Overall, results support the hypothesis that the availability of a private safety net is positively associated with children’s socioemotional adjustment.     

Competition for Resources: A Reexamination of Sibship Composition Models of Parental Investment

The predictions of resource dilution and sibship gender composition models of educational investment are tested using the Japanese Nationwide Survey on Families (N = 6,985). Japan is an important case because of its postindustrial economy, coupled with high levels of dependence on parental investment to attend a university and persisting gender inequality in educational attainment. In previous between‐family analyses of educational attainment in Japan, boys were found to drain resources from their sisters. The within‐family, multilevel models of parental educational investments in this analysis show that girls with college‐educated brothers fare better than their peers without brothers. An alternative model incorporating the educational investments received by brothers in the same family is proposed.     

富裕社会中贫困的消除：加尔布雷思的探究及启示

贫困表现为人的基本需要得不到满足,“富裕社会”中的贫困表现为私人生产、物质生产的过剩和公共生产、精神生产的不足。加尔布雷思认为,美国“富裕社会”中贫困的原因是不平衡的“二元经济体系”,只要实行“新社会主义”,实现“计划体系”和“市场体系”的平衡,就能解决“富裕”背后的贫困问题。由于这一设想是以不改变资本主义的经济基础为前提的,所以,只能是一种治标不治本的改良。只有扬弃经济学的“传统智慧”,建构以促进“每个人的自由发展”为目标的“全面生产”经济学,才能从根本上消除“富裕社会”中的贫困问题。     

城乡困难家庭的求助网络及其政策启示

文章使用“城乡困难家庭调查”2014年跟踪数据,对我国城乡困难家庭的求助网络结构和家庭因素进行分析,发现：血缘和亲缘关系仍是我国城乡困难家庭最天然的帮扶网络,但官方社会救助系统的作用已超过民间系统,邻里朋友仅在血亲和官方系统失灵时起补充作用;基层治理结构对求助网络的城乡差异产生影响,流动人口家庭求助网络呈现多元均衡的特征,但面临官方救助系统的制度性缺失;人口规模、低保资格两个家庭因素对城乡困难家庭求助网络有显著影响。文章认为,应进一步发挥社会力量的作用,针对我国城乡困难家庭建立官民并举、多元协作的社会救助政策体系。     

The impact of migration on the well-being of transnational families: new data from sending communities in Mexico

We present results from a new study of the effects of migration to the USA on the well-being of transnational families in high emigration communities within Mexico. Our survey measured the well-being of family members in a variety of domains: economic, health, education, and child development for a representative sample drawn from high migration municipalities. Compared to those with no recent emigrants to the USA, Mexican households sending non-caregivers to the USA appear to gain economically without contributing to problems faced by children. However, when family caregivers migrate to the USA, the remaining members in Mexico struggle to meet the family's needs and children are more vulnerable to educational, emotional, and health problems. Children in households where a caregiver migrated were more likely to have frequent illnesses (10% vs. 3%, p<0.0001), chronic illness (7% vs. 3%, p=0.011), emotional problems (10% vs. 4%, p=0.006), and behavioral problems (17% vs. 10%, p=0.018) compared with children in households where the migrant was not a caregiver. Research, policy, and program implications of these findings are discussed.     

ADAPTING THE MODEL: THERAPEUTIC WORK WITH CHILDREN FROM ARMY FAMILIES

This paper describes the development of a specialised therapeutic service for parents and their young children in an inner city social services family centre. The Under five's counselling service, based on the Tavistock Model, offers brief psychoanalytic interventions to parents who are worried about their young child's development e.g. crying, eating, persistent crying etc. The premise behind setting up such a service was to provide therapeutic intervention to the parent-child relationship at the earliest possible stage, preventing further ongoing difficulties. The paper draws upon observations and interventions with families I have seen in the first year the service was opened. Particular themes which emerged in the work with these families will be highlighted. In particular a link is made between early childhood difficulties and unresolved loss in the mother's lives. Furthermore, the impact of the service upon the rest of the social services family support services is commented upon.     

Lesbian-Headed Stepfamilies

Abstract

This paper examines the lesbian stepfamily. It considers the family structure, parenting roles, gender composition of the couple, the distribution of family labor, and the impact of familial and community support. It discusses some of the challenges facing lesbian-headed stepfamilies, their strengths, capacities and competencies, and the strategies these families use for coping with stigma and intolerance. The paper concludes with implications for policy and practice with lesbian stepfamilies.