Research Review: Independent living programmes: the influence on youth ageing out of care (YAO)

Independent living programmes (ILPs) aid in promoting productive outcomes for youth ageing out of care (YAO). This narrative review aimed to determine if sufficient evidence exists to substantiate statements regarding the effectiveness of ILPs based upon outcome studies published from January 2006 through December 2012. Are current ILPs effectively promoting independent living and productive outcomes among youth leaving foster care, relative to similar youth who do not participate in an ILP? Six studies published in English, in the USA and in peer‐reviewed journals included non‐experimental design (n = 1), quantitative designs (n = 2), mixed methods design (n = 2) and randomized design (n = 1). Five outcomes addressing education, employment, housing, mental health, and living skills emerged. Weak evidence that ILPs effectively aid YAO exists. Additionally, inconsistencies exist in methodology. Finally, differences in important components in the ILPs exist, making comparisons difficult.     

What families in poverty consider supportive: welfare strategies of parents with young children in relation to (child and family) social work

In current European Welfare states, Child and Family Social Work has been assigned a pivotal role in constructing a route out of (child) poverty. The direction, processes and outcomes of these interventions are, however, rarely negotiated with the families involved. Based on a retrospective biographical research with parents of young children who experienced financial difficulties over time, this paper therefore seeks to uncover and understand how parents give meaning to welfare which strategies they accordingly develop and how these perspectives and welfare strategies interact with Child and Family Social Work interventions. We aim to acquire knowledge about how interventions are constructed, interpreted and being used as potentially supportive levers in realizing the well‐being of parents and children in poverty situations and explore how they may influence families' routes out of poverty. Drawing on Lister's analytical framework of agency within the bounds of structural constraints, our research provides insights in the essentially complex, multi‐layered and paradoxical nature of support and suggests that support cannot simply be perceived as synonymous to mobility out of poverty.     

Forecasting With Model Uncertainty: Representations and Risk Reduction

We consider forecasting with uncertainty about the choice of predictor variables. The researcher wants to select a model, estimate the parameters, and use the parameter estimates for forecasting. We investigate the distributional properties of a number of different schemes for model choice and parameter estimation, including: in‐sample model selection using the Akaike information criterion; out‐of‐sample model selection; and splitting the data into subsamples for model selection and parameter estimation. Using a weak‐predictor local asymptotic scheme, we provide a representation result that facilitates comparison of the distributional properties of the procedures and their associated forecast risks. This representation isolates the source of inefficiency in some of these procedures. We develop a simulation procedure that improves the accuracy of the out‐of‐sample and split‐sample methods uniformly over the local parameter space. We also examine how bootstrap aggregation (bagging) affects the local asymptotic risk of the estimators and their associated forecasts. Numerically, we find that for many values of the local parameter, the out‐of‐sample and split‐sample schemes perform poorly if implemented in the conventional way. But they perform well, if implemented in conjunction with our risk‐reduction method or bagging.     

How to Describe It? Why the Term Coming Out Means Different Things in the United States and France

Drawing on 30 in‐depth interviews with U.S. and French lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, we find important similarities in how U.S. and French respondents strategically managed the visibility of their sexual identities but differences in the vocabulary used to discuss those experiences. Specifically, all of the Americans used the expression coming out spontaneously while only five French respondents did so. Instead, French respondents typically rejected coming out in favor of other words or expressions. Rather than simple effects of speaking different languages, these differences stemmed from distinct connotations given to the same—widely diffused—expressions within each local context. Unlike their American peers, who saw the expression's origin in their own history and used in everyday lives, most French respondents resisted what they perceived to be an American cultural object imported by the French media. We also find evidence that the meaning of coming out is changing in both contexts such that in the future, the French and Americans may perceive and use it more similarly. This research contributes to our understanding of the intersection between language, meaning, and political context, within a cross‐national setting.     

Crowding‐Out and Fundraising Efforts

The crowding‐out of private donations by government grants is an integral element in designing an efficient method of financing nonprofit activity. This article looks at elements of crowd‐out, both the direct impact on donors and the indirect impact caused by the response of nonprofits. We include both theoretical and empirical analyses of the reactions by donors and nonprofits to an increase in government funding based on data from the League of American Orchestras’ annual reports from 2004 to 2007. To combat indirect crowd‐out, renewed emphasis should be placed on grant design; for direct crowd‐out, theories of collective action are appropriate.     

Disclosure of Transgender Identity and Status in the Context of Friendship

This study focuses on understanding disclosure of transgender identity within the context of friendship. Participants were 536 individuals who self-identified as transgender or gender variant. Participants completed an online questionnaire regarding friendship experiences. Thematic analysis focused on understanding experiences of identity disclosure to friends. Participants reported positive and negative experiences associated with the identity disclosure process, with responses falling into five distinct categories: positive or affirming responses, negative responses, a variation of responses, an impact on the friendship status, and emotional responses from friends. Within these five theme categories, distinct subcategories were apparent including responses that reflected support, physical violence, gaining or losing friends, and friends being unsurprised or not caring about the disclosure. These findings point to the ways in which the friendship experiences for transgender individuals are complex and unique. Clinical implications for understanding the needs of clients regarding disclosure of transgender identity and status to friends are discussed.     

文化流离、仪式变迁与农村“闪婚”现象的发展——基于赣南B村农村闪婚现象的考察

农村青年闪婚现象是农村婚恋研究领域新近关注的重点和焦点,本研究从文化的角度来探讨农村闪婚现象的产生以及快速发展。在对婚姻礼仪与过程的对比中,我们可以发现农村婚姻原有的文化意涵逐渐远去,这也即是本文所称的文化流离。婚姻仪式的极大简化不仅仅是传统文化无力的表现,更是现代性观念冲击农村青年婚姻观念的客观结果。农村传统文化的流离与解体是农村青年闪婚的内在原因,而农村婚姻市场化程度的提高也是通过传统文化的消解对农村婚姻产生影响。     

The Pathos of the Closet and the Generations: Gay Professors and Their Students During and Post Gay Liberation in the United States

This article focuses on gay professor–student relationships in the United States, during and post gay liberation. Exploring personal writings, student periodicals, and academic documents between the late 1960s and the 1990s, I argue that interactions between gay professors and their students illuminate an ambiguous affectionate relationship wherein the closeness was based just as much on different generational sensibilities as the individuals themselves. Further, I show that these relationships suggest a therapeutic potential to education through the articulation of personal knowledge in the classroom, one that was increasingly open to challenge in the 1980s and 1990s.     

外来打工人员与大学生主观幸福感比较研究

通过对影响幸福感的原因进行分析发现,外来打工人群的心理健康水平低,但其主观幸福感高是与以往生活条件、预期水平等有很大的相关。女性比男性更会寻求外界帮助和支持,而女性打工者比女大学生更能建立稳定长期社会关系。     

论西门庆与林黛玉之死——兼及《红楼梦》对《金瓶梅》的反模仿

《金瓶梅》写西门庆之死与《红楼梦》写林黛玉之死,同在章回的“七”、“九”之数,情节皆“三而一成”,皆因自戕和遭遇对象突然打击,有同一人生哲学的况味。这些基于两书中男女主人公分别一死一生和一生一死之生死错位的极相近似之处,溯源一是两部书的命意、中心不同,二是西门庆与林黛玉在各自书中地位角色的不同,三是写人叙事艺术上意足神圆的要求。其后先相反而实极相近似之迹,可见“《红楼梦》深得《金瓶》壶奥”之一大法门,是其大处每与《金瓶梅》适得其反,所谓“反弹琵琶”,可称为“反模仿”。