Transition secured? A follow-up study of adolescents who have left secure residential care

Many adolescents who make the transition to adulthood experience problems after their departure from secure residential care. Research suggests that these young people are often in need of support after they have left secure care. Little is known about the experiences and perceptions of adolescents during and after this transition. The aim of this article is to assess these experiences for a group of 24 adolescents in the Netherlands that have left secure residential care. The results show, in line with previous studies, that many adolescents experience problems during their transition from secure care, especially with regard to finances, school and employment, and living arrangements. In contrast to other studies, a majority of the adolescents reports to have received support in the year following their departure. Relatively few adolescents move to independence after their departure, which suggests that many adolescents are not ready for making a true transition into adulthood yet.     

"经济-上层建筑"模式与土家族民间工艺之融合——以贵州思南"周家盐号"民居为例

以贵州思南的"周家盐号"民居中的民间工艺美术为对象,与相距不远的清代民居郝家院子进行比较,用艺术社会学"经济-上层建筑"的模式,考察土家族区域不同经济力量下,社会经济如何影响建筑空间结构的内在逻辑性,以及民间建筑中装饰纹饰的选用及意义重组与社会经济的关系.     

Good Practice in the Education of Children in Residential Care

Correspondence to The Directors, New Horizons (Child Care) Ltd., Unit B, Silkmoor, New Street, Frankwell, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY3 8LN, UK. E-mail info{at}new-horizonschildcare.co.uk Summary Research shows that the education of children in residentialcare is generally poor, in terms of both process and outcome.This has highlighted the uncertainty over how best to educatethese children and a pessimism over what they can achieve. Drawingupon the findings of an evaluation of a children’s home,this paper argues that children in residential care can havegood educational outcomes. It also shows that it is possibleto identify the processes by which these outcomes can be broughtabout. However, this largely positive assessment is predicatedupon education being defined broadly in respect of ‘process’and ‘outcome’. Moreover, it is important not tounderestimate the formidable challenges inherent in this work.While the multi-agency nature of this work gives rise to oneof the most significant, it has to be recognized that responsibilityfor the education of children in residential care falls primarilyto children’s homes. If children’s homes are tomeet the increasing expectations that are being made of them,national and local government will have to undertake a radicaltransformation of residential childcare, especially in termsof attitudes towards, and resources invested in, this sector.Central to this is the establishment of a qualified and properlysupported workforce.     

From neighbors to school friends? How adolescents’ place of residence relates to same-ethnic school friendships

This study examines to what extent adolescents’ place of residence is related to the opportunities and the preferences to befriend same-ethnic classmates. Analyzing 3345 students within 158 German and Dutch school classes, we find that sharing a neighborhood provides additional meeting opportunities to become friends in class as adolescents are likely to befriend classmates who live nearby them or who live nearby a friend of them (propinquity mechanism). However, this hardly explains why adolescent friendship networks in school classes tend to be ethnically homogeneous. Also, we find no convincing evidence that an adolescent's preference for same-ethnic friends in class varies with the share of outgroup members in his/her neighborhood (exposure mechanism).     

Denying systemic inequality in segregated Chilean schools: race-neutral discourses among administrative and teaching staff

This article addresses the educational context in which ethnically segregated high poverty schools operate in Chile, and the ways that inequalities within these establishments are understood by members of their administrative and teaching staff. In particular we draw attention to the unwillingness of the majority of these employees to name or recognize specific forms of institutional inequality. Following critical pedagogy literature we argue that the Chilean education system reproduces a fear of talk among teachers working in areas with high density indigenous populations, which obscures unequal social structures and opportunities for specific (class, gender, ethnic) groups in school contexts. Based on data from 12 interviews with school staff and observations from four schools in southern Chile, we analyze how intersecting inequality is discursively reduced by predominantly white teachers to individual deficit, de-politicized geographical problems of access to schooling, and the normalizing of low achievement across schools with students from similar backgrounds.     

居住区园林人性化设计浅析——以北京朗琴园居住区为例

提高居住区园林设计品质是改善居住区环境和提高居民生活质量的基础。人性化设计是居住区园林发展的重要方向。分析了人性化设计的内涵和居住区园林人性化设计的原则。以北京市朗琴园居住区为例,从道路网布局、水景设计、公共空间构筑、休憩设施、照明与标志、植物种植等方面分析了人性化设计理念在居住区园林中的应用方法,对居住区园林人性化设计的表达方式进行了探讨。     

统筹城乡发展视角下公共物品供给策略及政策效应

在“城乡分割”状态下公共物品供给是非均衡的,公共物品非均衡供给一方面与城乡二元社会相适应,另一方面违背了效率原则。在“城乡统筹发展”目标模式下,公共物品供给应坚持对城乡居民实行均等化的策略。公共物品均等化服务有两种选择:一是初始条件下的均等化服务,二是增量调整下的渐进性均等化服务,而后者是符合中国国情的现实选择。在实践中,统筹城乡发展的财政措施产生了积极效应。     

“绿道”理论对城镇居住区绿化设计的启示

随着我国新型城镇化进程的加快,越来越多的城镇居住区会应运而生,其中的绿化设计也应该越来越受到设计者的重视.但近年来有些居住区绿化设计中出现了一系列的问题,使得居民既不能很好地体验美丽景色,又不能充分地享受和睦氛围.“绿道”理论作为一种创意的设计思路,为设计者解决这一问题带来了一些启示.设计者可以把城镇居住区中的绿化空间划分成一组或者几组具有交通、生态、游憩和保护等复合功能的空间.直观而言,就是突破传统的“块状”景观空间,采用具有“绿道”功能的“线性”景观空间.此外,本文还为这种“绿道式线性空间”设计提供了一些具体的建议,力求其功能性和景观性能够完美结合,营造出更加舒适的新型城镇化居住区.     

“She Was Stomping on Everything That We Used to Think of as a Family”: Communication and Turning Points in Cohabiting (Step)Families

This study investigates the relationship between joint and sole physical custody arrangements and parental hostility, conflict, and communication in divorced families. Data from both self-report and clinical ratings from 121 families were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression in order to determine predictors of parental hostility, conflict, and communication 2-3 years after the separation. Family structures variables such as ages and numbers of children, as well as SES differences between parents were included in the model. Results show that where both parents have more frequent access to their children, they communicate with each other more frequently, but also experience greater hostility and conflict in their relationship. A second result indicates that extreme levels of parental verbal or physical abuse is predicted by extreme abuse during the marital years and is not related to custody or visitation arrangements, nor to family structure variables 2-3 years post-separation.