Challenges and Successes in Developing an In-Home Respite Program

Demographic trends indicate that the increasing population of very frail elderly is putting enormous strains on caregiving families. Share-the-Care is an attempt by a community agency to provide in-home respite care by using trained neighborhood workers. The program is particularly unique in that it attempts to implement a business-oriented model of service due to the lack of public funds in Pennsylvania for this type of program. The authors hope this article, which describes the development of Share-the-Care, will be helpful to others who are considering offering in-home respite services.     

Lessons from Erikson

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine issues related to autonomy across the life span and to draw comparisons between a young child's search for autonomy and an older adult's efforts to maintain autonomy. The paper includes an introduction of the challenges for young children and older adults as related to autonomy. A definition of autonomy and an explanation of Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development are included. Each of Erikson's stages is reviewed with consideration given to traits, characteristics, and needs of the young child and older adult. Similarities and differences between young children and older adults in their search for autonomy are examined. The paper concludes with implications for caregivers regarding their practices with young children and older adults.     

Polyamory and Gay Men

Abstract

Some gay men practice polyamory, which results in the formation of stable, complex polyamorous families of choice. These relationships do not fit within the western heterosexual model of the family. They can be understood using concepts from the intergenerational or transgenerational approach to family systems, along with concepts from Enneagram, a personality topology. A polyamorous gay male family is described and future areas for research are discussed.     

中英气候伦理对话：从分歧走向共识——第四届气候变化与公共政策国际学术会议综述

2014年9月21日至23日,第四届气候变化与公共政策国际学术会议暨中英气候伦理与政策研讨会在英国雷丁大学和牛津大学召开。会议围绕五组主题展开：代际气候正义与代内气候正义,气候贫困与消费者选择,平等与发展,国际法律与国际制度,新问题与新技术方案。此次会议对中英学者在应对气候变化问题上增进了解、求同存异、寻找共识起到了重要作用,进一步提升了我国学者参与国际气候问题交流与合作的水平和能力。     

代际交换与城市老年人的生活满意度

基于"2013年上海市老年人口状况与意愿跟踪调查"数据,通过交互表观察城市家庭中双向的代际交换以及老年人的生活满意度状况,并采用二元Logistic回归的方法讨论双向代际交换对老年人生活满意度的影响.分析结果显示:代际交换中已出现重心下移趋势,即亲代对子代的支持多于子代对亲代的支持.亲代对子代的支持与老年人生活满意度有显著的相关性,老年人与子女相处过程中表现出利他性,为子女照看孙辈对提高其生活满意度有正向作用.而子代对亲代的支持与老年人生活满意度无显著相关,老年人经济上的独立性反而会提高其生活满意度.     

What About the Grandparents? Children's Postdivorce Residence Arrangements and Contact With Grandparents

Despite the importance of grandparents in their grandchildren's lives, little is known about grandparent–grandchild contact after parental divorce. In this study, the authors investigated differences in grandparent–grandchild contact across 3 postdivorce residence arrangements (mother residence, father residence, and shared residence) using recent survey data from the Netherlands (N = 3,842). The results indicated that contact with maternal grandparents after divorce was highest in mother‐residence arrangements, followed by shared residence and then father residence. Contact with paternal grandparents was highest for children in father‐residence and shared‐residence arrangements, followed by mother residence. Parental conflict had little influence on children's contact with maternal grandparents, but it decreased contact with paternal grandparents. Moreover, the results partly support the assumption that conflict moderates the relationship between residence arrangements and grandparental contact, with differences between residence arrangements being more pronounced in the case of high‐conflict divorced families than in low‐conflict ones.     

Family Ties and Young Fathers' Engagement in Cape Town,South Africa

Young South African fathers are often engaged in their children's lives even if they do not live together. Using longitudinal data on children (n = 1,209) from the Cape Town area, the authors show that although only 26% of young fathers live with their children, 66% of nonresidential fathers maintain regular contact, and 61% provide financial support. The father–child relationship, however, is embedded in broader family ties. The type of father–mother relationship is strongly associated with whether fathers coreside with their children but not with fathers' contact with nonresidential children. Close mother and maternal grandmother bonds reduce the likelihood that fathers live with their children, whereas close ties between fathers and paternal grandmothers increase the chance that fathers visit nonresidential children. Family ties do not affect fathers' financial contributions, which are driven by men's current economic situation. These findings illustrate that father–child relationships are best understood in the context of interacting family systems.     

How Childhood Circumstances Moderate the Long‐Term Impact of Divorce on Father–Child Relationships

Using retrospective survey data collected in the Netherlands in 2012, the author examined how childhood circumstances moderate the effect of an early parental divorce on relationships between fathers and adult children. Using adult children's reports about the frequency of contact and the quality of the relationship, he found strong negative effects of parental divorce. These effects are moderated by 3 childhood conditions. The more fathers were involved in childrearing during marriage, the less negative the divorce effect on father–child relationships. Father's resources also moderated the effect, with a smaller divorce effect for more highly educated fathers. Finally, high levels of interparental conflict reduce the impact of divorce as well, generalizing the stress relief effect to a new outcome. In general, the study shows that the impact of divorce is heterogeneous; that childhood circumstances play an important role in this; and that, under specific conditions, there is virtually no negative effect of parental divorce.     

“I'll Give You the World”: Socioeconomic Differences in Parental Support of Adult Children

Research has shown that parents with higher socioeconomic status provide more resources to their children during childhood and adolescence. The authors asked whether similar effects associated with parental socioeconomic position are extended to adult children. Middle‐aged parents (N = 633) from the Family Exchanges Study reported support they provided to their grown children and coresidence with grown children (N = 1,384). Parents with higher income provided more emotional and material support to the average children. Grown children of parents with less education were more likely to coreside with them. Parental resources (e.g., being married) and demands (e.g., family size) explained these patterns. Of interest is that lower income parents provided more total support to all children (except total financial support). Lower income families may experience a double jeopardy; each grown child receives less support on average, but parents exert greater efforts providing more total support to all their children.     

Estrangement Between Mothers and Adult Children: The Role of Norms and Values

Relationships between mothers and their children are expected to be lifelong and rewarding for both members of the dyad. Because of the salience of these ties, they are likely to be disrupted only under conditions of extreme relational tension and dissatisfaction. In this work, the authors drew on theoretical arguments regarding societal norm violations and value similarity to examine the processes that lead to estrangement between mothers and adult children. To address this issue, they used quantitative and qualitative data on 2,013 mother–adult child dyads nested within 561 later life families, including 64 in which mothers reported being estranged from at least 1 of their children. Value dissimilarity was found to be a strong predictor of estrangement, whereas violation of serious societal norms was not. Qualitative data revealed that value dissimilarity created severe relational tension between mothers and adult children leading to estrangement.