Mitigating Intergenerational Trauma Within the Parent‐Child Attachment

Nine‐year‐old Ben was said to hate women. His mother was terrified he'd ‘grow up a woman basher’. This paper describes the work done with Ben and his family at the Hobart Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. We drew predominantly on three therapeutic modalities: Theraplay, Family Attachment Narrative Therapy and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. Our work enabled Ben's mother to navigate the aftermath of her own trauma history in order to heal Ben's attachment trauma.     

Explaining the Early Development and Health of Teen Mothers’ Children1

The transmission of social disadvantage from teenage mothers to their children is well established, but when and why do these disparities emerge in the early life course? Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Birth Cohort, this study investigated the relationship between teen childbearing and children’s cognition, behavior, and health from infancy through preschool. Developmental disparities between teenage mothers’ children and others were largely nonexistent at nine months but accumulated with age. Having a teenage mother predicted compromised development across several domains by age four and a half. Our conceptual model expected preexisting disadvantage, ongoing resource disadvantage, and compromised parenting quality to explain the association between teen childbearing and child outcomes. Preexisting social disadvantage accounted for much of this relationship. Financial, social, and material resources in the child’s household partially or fully explained each of the remaining significant relationships between teenage childbearing and child outcomes. Parenting quality explained a smaller proportion of these relationships than did resources, and these factors’ influences were largely independent. Because children of teenage mothers with a modest set of resources were not predicted to have compromised development, resources provided in early childhood may have the potential to reduce developmental disparities for teenage mothers’ children.     

Confucian philosophy and influence on perceived values and behavioural orientations by Taiwan’s millennials

This study examines the millennials’ perceptions of Confucianism and their influence on their personal values and behavioural orientations with a sample from Taiwan to address the research gap in intergenerational and intercultural human resource development (HRD) research. It complements results from western research and offers important insights to worldwide managers and HRD practitioners for talent development and learning-related initiatives when working with employees and organizations with East Asia backgrounds. The concept of Confucius’ process of developing into a virtuous person seems to be rooted in the Taiwanese millennials’ mind, who as guided by Confucius tend to have a primary focus on accumulating knowledge, practicing moral behaviour, and correcting one’s mind and behaviour. Along with the globalization and technology advancement, the sampled millennials hold a strong traditional values of Confucian philosophy; yet, such strong cultural values may be attenuated a great deal after exposing to western culture over times. The Confucian virtue (moral) behaviour practice, harmonious relations, and self-cultivation are found as top three factors of Confucian values. Implications for HRD practices and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

The Economic Organization of Extended Family Households by Race or Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status

This study examines differences in the amount of economic support or mutual benefit derived from extended family living arrangements by studying differences in monetary contributions to essential household expenditures across family units in extended family households. Using the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation, multivariate regression and selection models are estimated to assess racial differences in family contributions toward household expenses in extended family households. Extended family households have very unequal monetary contributions toward household rent and utilities, although Hispanics have less unequal monetary contributions when compared with other racial groups. Hispanic and Asian extended family households experience decreasing inequality in financial contributions as the income of each family increases, whereas no relationship between financial contributions and income is found for Whites or Blacks. This suggests a different cultural orientation to extended family living arrangements for Asians and Hispanics when compared with non‐Hispanic Whites.     

Financing Children's Futures: Economic Strategies for Postsecondary Education Among Middle‐Income Families

This paper, based on three waves of qualitative data with middle‐income families outside of Philadelphia, explores how families deal with the challenge of financing postsecondary education over time. Because of economic setbacks, these families adopt a variety of financial maneuvers to support their young adult children's postsecondary educational plans. In particular, families are driven to sacrifice familial savings accounts and retirement funds, take on significant student loan burdens, and downgrade children's college plans to cheaper, often less prestigious, options. These results highlight the financial vulnerability of families in the middle of the income distribution and the complicated relationship between family economics and postsecondary educational plans for children.     

Care networks in play: Understanding death of a parent as a contributing factor to homelessness

Offering an understanding of specialized service needs of those becoming homeless because of the death of a parent or parental figure, this project is set in Detroit’s urban context, where residents face economic hardship and intergenerational poverty. In this study, we analyze the voices of practitioners (n = 5) and men (n = 5) who have experienced parental death as a contributing factor to homelessness in Detroit, Michigan. Findings include the following: (1) the impact of death and dying experiences on these men and (2) the role of care networks in these men’s lives, particularly when these men have and lack “default” caregivers after death of a parent. This community-based research project was a result of a partnership between a local agency serving persons experiencing homelessness, where the practitioner initiated the project with the researcher. The paper concludes with implications for social work practice.     

TimeOut@UCLA: An Intergenerational Respite Care and Workforce Development Program

TimeOut@UCLA is an intergenerational program that recruits undergraduate college students to provide companionship to older adults with early Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia in a community setting, providing respite for their caregivers. In the program, 86 students and 89 seniors participated from September 2015 to December 2016. This program appears to reinforce positive attitudes about working with older adults among undergraduate students and gives caregivers an innovative option for respite time.     

中国农村网络家庭中养老支持的趋势与变迁------来自七省调查的发现

本文利用中国社会科学院人口与劳动经济研究所2010年七省区城乡家庭结构与代际关系调查数据,揭示了农村网络家庭中养老支持的现状、发展趋势,及其影响因素。研究发现,当前农村网络家庭中子女家庭给予父母的养老支持水平较低,且重视经济支持,日常事务性支持与情感支持欠缺。因子女外出就业、结婚而形成的网络家庭中的亲代得到的养老支持显著高于因儿子分家而形成的网络家庭中的老年人;亲代与子代配偶相处得越好,亲代得到的养老支持越多。当前农村网络家庭中亲代家庭与子代家庭在代际支持上“分而不离”,但受居住距离的影响,加之家庭子女数减少,未来网络家庭的养老功能将趋于弱化。在居家养老仍为农村主要养老方式的现实下,为提高农村老年人养老水平,改变农村地区的养老模式,发展农村养老产业,实现农村养老资源多元化的同时,重视农村现代养老文化建设已成为必然。     

城市老年人与子女的双向支持模式探析——以烟台市向阳街道为例

利用山东省社会科学规划基金项目2006年在烟台市进行的"城乡老年人孤独现象的社会学研究"抽样调查数据,采用交互分析,结合烟台市实际状况,分析老年人与子女的代际之间在经济、生活、精神上的双向支持,探讨双向支持与老年人年龄、收入、同分住的关系。研究结果表明:老年人与子女的代际双向支持没有固定的模式,而是老年人与子女的具体情况来决定;老年人与子女的双向支持受到代际之间的经济状况,年龄和身体状况等因素的影响。     

中国老年人家庭代际经济支持模式研究

文章基于转型社会视角,利用2014年中国老年社会追踪调查数据,探讨中国老年人家庭代际经济关系的现实状况,并从微观机制和宏观结构两方面进一步分析其影响机制。研究发现,中国老年人家庭代际经济支持模式仍以供养型为主,但随着现代化进程,互惠型将逐渐占据更加重要的地位。在微观层面,老年人个体禀赋越低、文化观念越传统、健在子女数越多,则更可能身处传统的供养型的代际经济关系之中;家庭网络得分越高,代际关系越紧密,互惠型的可能性更大,游离型的可能性更小;同时,与子女同住的老年人更倾向于对子女的向下经济支持,呈现出抚养型或互惠型的关系。在宏观层面,社会保障的获得与市场化程度的提高一定程度上促进了代际经济资源的双向互惠流动。研究结果对于在转型社会背景下前瞻性应对中国家庭养老风险有一定的现实意义。