Gender similarity in growth patterns of support toward friends during young adulthood

The purpose of this article was to analyze change over time in a specific aspect of prosocial behavior, emotional support toward friends, using two different methodologies. We examined how emotional support changes during the transition to adulthood and whether gender‐based group comparisons yield different gender patterns than person‐centered growth mixture models. We hypothesized that emotional helping toward friends would increase over time and that person‐centered analyses would not show gender differences as large as those indicated by group comparison models. Participants were 466 young adults (ages 18–21). Findings indicated that important intragroup variance was masked when analyses focused on comparisons between gender groups. Person‐centered analyses indicated two mixed‐gender groups with different prosocial trajectories. We discuss how the methods and outcomes of person‐centered analyses are more congruent with current theories of “gender similarities” as well as empirical evidence of the small gender difference in social behaviors such as emotional support.     

Investigating the association between callous‐unemotional traits with relational bullying and victimization: A cross‐national study

Prior research supports an association between callous‐unemotional (CU) traits with relational bullying, but evidence associating CU traits with relational victimization is limited. Further, the relationship between CU traits with relational “bully,” “bully‐victim,” and “victim” classifications has been largely neglected. The current study addresses these critical gaps in the literature using a cross‐national study design. The sample comprised of 1887 (51.5% of girls) Greek and Cypriot children (MAge = 11.17) who completed a battery of self‐report measures. Group differences suggested that children in the relational bully and bully‐victim groups scored higher on CU traits compared to children in the victim and low‐risk groups. Although these associations were similar across countries, boys in Greece were more likely to be identified in the bullying only group. In contrast, boys in Cyprus represented the higher percentage identified as bully‐victims and girls in Cyprus represented the higher percentage identified as victim‐only. Regression analysis results indicated that CU traits predicted relational bullying but not victimization. Notwithstanding, other important unexamined factors known to contribute to relational bullying and victimization, our findings suggest that prevention efforts should consider CU traits in order to protect youth from relational bullying. However, differences between countries and gender should also be taken into account.     

Child care social work and the role of state employees

Provision of statutory social work services to children and their families has a long and contentious history as conflicting ideas about appropriate interventions, in what is still largely characterized as the private sphere of the family, define the terrain for practice. More recently, staff in social services departments have had to meet the challenges of contemporary practice at a time of major restructuring. Implementing the National Health Service & Community Care Act 1990, and meeting the demands of Audit/Social Services Inspectors, leaves departments struggling to meet externally imposed criteria focused on particular interpretations of the nature of economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the public sector. In general staff have had to respond to competing imperatives as they offer services in ways that reflect shifting priorities, priorities that are inevitably shaped by ideological, political, economic and technological agendas as well as by professional concerns. In the process the role and task for social work is once again being redefined. This paper seeks to challenge dominant narratives, through exploration of the contemporary context for practice, and reassert the importance of social work input even as individuals' working lives change around them.     

Parental status and psychological distress among older Thais

This study examines whether childless older Thais are more vulnerable to psychological distress relative to older adults with children. Drawing from the 2011 Survey of Older Persons in Thailand (n = 37,936), zero‐inflated negative binomial regression methods examine psychological distress of childless older adults relative to coresident and noncoresident parents. Analyses further explore how gender and marital status moderate this relationship. Results show that 40% of older Thais did not experience any symptoms of psychological distress in the past month. Compared to coresident parents, noncoresident parents showed a higher likelihood of experiencing psychological distress but being childless was associated with increased symptoms of psychological distress. While the relationship between parental status and psychological distress did not significantly differ by gender, marital status presents a significant moderating effect. Specifically, widowed childless older adults and widowed noncoresident parents experienced more symptoms of psychological distress relative to their married counterparts. In collectivistic societies, where the family unit is highly valued, and institutional support is weak, being childless and unmarried may negatively affect one's psychological well‐being in later life. Children and marriage are protective for older Thais’ psychological well‐being. The implications for social welfare policies are discussed.     

The distinctive features of women in the Australian bankruptcy system: An empirical study

According to data published by Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA), Australian women and men offer strikingly similar reasons for their entry into bankruptcy. Yet a more detailed analysis of AFSA's data indicates that women and men often go bankrupt in very different social and economic circumstances. This empirical study draws upon a unique dataset, obtained from AFSA, containing the de‐identified records of more than 28,000 individuals. It also draws upon a series of focus groups with the staff of three nonprofit organisations, including financial counsellors and consumer solicitors. It finds that, in general, women in bankruptcy are likely to be economically disadvantaged, relative to men, as measured by income, access to wages, reliance on government benefits, real estate ownership and utilities debt. It also finds that women in bankruptcy are much more likely than men to be single with dependants and that these women experience a greater degree of gendered disadvantage than other women in the bankruptcy system.     

A lonely society? Loneliness and liquid modernity in Australia

This paper reviews recent studies of loneliness in order to assess whether it is becoming endemic in Australian society. It develops the idea that loneliness is an embedded social structural feature of contemporary Australian life likely to affect people through the life course, creating psychological stress, ill health and social dysfunction. Zygmunt Bauman's writing on liquid modernity is used to trace a sequence of less binding social bonds from the community the workplace, intimate relationships, friendship and kinship that may account for a more generalised distribution of loneliness. Empirical evidence from recent national surveys in Australia demonstrates how Bauman's gloomy prognosis is particularly applicable in Australia. The paper argues that it has been invisible as a social issue until recently, but that its scope and scale have grown such that robust policy initiatives are now warranted. It argues that Australia's gendered pattern of loneliness indicates that Bauman's broad theory of liquid modernity must be mediated by several factors relating to national cultures, historic patterns of family formation, and the gender role distribution in the creation and maintenance of social bonds.     

Father's involvement in the lives of children in foster care

Limited understandings exist about non‐resident fathers' views of their involvement with their children in foster care placements. Guided by the ecological systems framework, the purpose of this exploratory study was to gain insights into fathers' perceptions of their involvement with a child in foster care. Data were collected from demographic questionnaires and two focus groups with 17 men. Fathers expressed how kinship compared with non‐kinship placements affected their involvement. Fathers were also in agreement that their financial hardships were a significant factor affecting their involvement. Several fathers also reported how they experienced discrimination in the child welfare system as men. Surprisingly, uncommon to findings from other studies, few men viewed the child's mother as being a barrier to their involvement. The findings provide insights into factors requiring attention to help non‐residential fathers become involved with their children.     

Does the desire to conform to peers moderate links between popularity and indirect victimization in early adolescence?

This study of 426 Canadian early adolescents (M_age = 12.52; 53% girls) investigated whether associations between popularity and indirect victimization (i.e., reputational victimization, exclusion) varied as a function of gender and the desire to conform to characteristics and competencies that are valued within the peer group (i.e., peer conformity goals). Regression analyses revealed popularity was uniquely and positively associated with reputational victimization, but was not significantly related to exclusion after accounting for the effects of meanness and likeability. The associations between popularity and indirect victimization were moderated by peer conformity goals and gender. The results indicated that popular girls with high peer conformity goals experienced more reputational victimization and exclusion than popular girls with low peer conformity goals. However, popular boys with high peer conformity goals experienced less exclusion than popular boys with low peer conformity goals. The findings suggest that peer conformity goals carry with them some risks for popular girls, but may serve a protective function for popular boys.     

Gender‐specific or Common Classroom Norms? Examining the Contextual Moderators of the Risk for Victimization

We tested whether gender‐specific vs. common classroom norms were more powerful moderators of the association between a risk factor (rejection) and peer victimization among girls and boys. The participants were 1220 elementary schoolchildren from grades 4–6 (with 10–13 years of age). We compared different multilevel models including combined vs. separate regressions for boys and girls, as well as the effects of norms of the whole class, same‐sex classmates, and cross‐sex classmates. Among girls, the association between rejection and victimization was strongest in classes where bullying behavior was common, and anti‐bullying attitudes were rare among girls. Among boys, the strength of the slope of victimization on rejection could not be explained by either common or gender‐specific classroom norms, but boys' level of bullying behavior was related to overall classroom level of victimization. The findings suggest that contextual factors may contribute to victimization especially among high‐risk girls. The importance of exploring multiple levels of influence on children's social development is discussed.     

Framing microfinance in Australia – gender neutral or gender blind?

In Australia, microfinance is gaining visibility as a distinct poverty alleviation strategy. Within the Australian microfinance policy and program discourses, the microfinance sector is framed as targeting both men and women equally. Yet at the practice level, the majority of loan recipients are women. Such a gender neutral framing is in stark contrast to microfinance policy and practices developed elsewhere. This paper explores how gender is represented in microfinance policy and practice in Australia, drawing on an analysis of the policy and practice statements of Australian microfinance programs. It is argued that the robust feminist assessments of the relationship between microfinance and gender equality that have emerged in developing countries could usefully inform Australian developments in this area of social policy, but that this shift requires acknowledging gender in the framing of the problem Australian microfinance seeks to address.