Too sick to move: distant ‘crisis’ care in transnational families

This paper examines the crisis of acute and chronic illness, death, and dying in transnational families. These are the stages in the family life-course when physical co-presence is required to deliver hands-on care and intimate emotional support for the sick family member. It is a time when distant kin feel they need ‘to be there’, including for their own sense of well-being. This period of ‘crisis’ (in the anthropological sense) makes visible all of the impediments to transnational family caregiving that often remain hidden during those periods when ‘routine’ forms of distant care are adequate. Of particular relevance are the macro-level factors generated by national borders and the policies that define them, including those that govern employment, travel, visa, health, and aged care provisions. It is in these family life phases of crisis that nation-state structures can work to constrain individual agency and rights, making compellingly evident the growing need for transnational structures and policy. At issue are the largely invisible (in a policy sense) but increasingly common micro-level responses of family and individuals that characterize ‘crisis distant care’, which are characterized by the urgent need to visit and to intensify use of ICTs. The paper examines the experiences of migrants living in Australia who are trying to care for acutely unwell family members abroad.     

Transforming the Way We Live Together: A Model to Move Communities From Policy to Implementation

Most cities, counties, and neighborhoods are not designed for an aging population. By providing a range of services to all residents, Lifelong Communities allow individuals to age in place. Although the Lifelong Communities Initiative is based on established guiding principles, little information exists regarding the realities of moving from policy to implementation. The Atlanta Regional Commission conducted a case study in Mableton, Georgia, and found successful implementation requires a combination of support from local citizen groups and government. The Atlanta Regional Commission is replicating these best practices in other communities and providing support to those aspiring to launch or expand Lifelong Communities.     

Competing Frameworks in Planning for the Aged in the Growth Corridors of Melbourne

The Ageing in the Growth Corridors Project was initiated as a partnership between the University of Melbourne and the Department of Health in the Northwest Metropolitan Region of Melbourne, Australia. It involved a research team working with six project officers appointed to stimulate development in relation to an aging population in the sprawling outer metropolitan growth corridors. This article identifies the key lessons learned in terms of project implementation relating to attitudinal and structural barriers to the development of an age-friendly environment in areas of rapid urban growth. The findings illustrate some of the dilemmas raised by competing program conceptions, a dynamic and changing federal/state policy context, and local resource and strategic management constraints. The partnership with the university, nevertheless, provided a point of stability and continuity for the project officers in implementing their mandate.     

建立中国特色的社区综合养老社会服务体系

支持老人就地养老是当前老年社会服务的一个核心实践。它不仅能够让老人在熟悉的社区环境里度过晚年,维系对身心健康具有重要意义的社会网络和社会支持,而且与机构照顾相比,能够显著降低社会成本。分析我国当前社区养老服务的有利条件和不利因素,总结梳理国际上的养老服务经验,提出在我国城市和农村建立社区综合养老社会服务体系的框架。这一框架试图将当前参与养老社会服务的多元主体纳入其中,包括社区养老服务、机构养老服务、居家养老服务、家庭(类似家庭或模拟家庭)养老、结伴(老年公寓)养老等方面。最后就政府的宏观战略规划、完善社会服务支持体系和构建良好的养老环境提出了政策建议,以期对社区综合养老服务体系的建立和完善提供必要支持。     

制约农村养老社会化发展的因素分析

我国农村养老社会化既是养老制度发展的客观规律,也是我国农村经济和社会发展的客观要求。但是,事实上,我国农村养老社会化程度偏低,其原因在于我国农村存在着种种制约养老社会化发展的因素。加快农村养老社会化发展的措施主要是转变传统的家庭养老观念,健全社会养老法律制度,社会养老与农业政策紧密结合,加大国家经济支持力度,理顺社会养老管理体制,分层次、循序渐进地完善农村社会养老制度。     

Examining cross-state variation in the increase in father-only families

Each state has the power to establish its own policy and laws relating to child custody determination. The number of single-parent families with children that are headed by fathers has been growing in the United States. This paper explores the extent of cross-state variation in the prevalence in father-only families in 1990, and the extent to which there was cross-state variation in the increase in father-only families in the 1980s. The 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) drawn from the US decennial censuses are used. Decomposition analyses of growth indicate that increases in the number of father-only families occurred across all states during this period, but at varying rates. The primary reason for the increase in most states is an increase in the proportion of ever-married single-parent families that are headed by a father. It is for these families that are headed by divorced or separated parents that state policy relating to child custody determination is most relevant.     

人口老龄化与赡养问题的医学社会学分析

中国老人抚养问题不能只依靠家庭抚养,应逐渐转向社会抚养,即由家庭责任主体过渡到国家或社会责任主体。针对我国人口老龄化起步虽晚但发展速度却很快等特点,采用社会学方法对这一问题进行认真的统计,与其他国家进行比较和分析,很有现实意义。     

Low‐Income Mothers’ Private Safety Nets and Children’s Socioemotional Well‐Being

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐being Study (N = 1,162) and the National Evaluation of Welfare‐to‐Work Strategies (N = 1,308), we estimate associations between material and instrumental support available to low‐income mothers and young children’s socioemotional well‐being. In multivariate OLS models, we find mothers’ available support is negatively associated with children’s behavior problems and positively associated with prosocial behavior in both data sets; associations between available support and children’s internalizing and prosocial behaviors attenuate but remain robust in residualized change models. Overall, results support the hypothesis that the availability of a private safety net is positively associated with children’s socioemotional adjustment.     

Competition for Resources: A Reexamination of Sibship Composition Models of Parental Investment

The predictions of resource dilution and sibship gender composition models of educational investment are tested using the Japanese Nationwide Survey on Families (N = 6,985). Japan is an important case because of its postindustrial economy, coupled with high levels of dependence on parental investment to attend a university and persisting gender inequality in educational attainment. In previous between‐family analyses of educational attainment in Japan, boys were found to drain resources from their sisters. The within‐family, multilevel models of parental educational investments in this analysis show that girls with college‐educated brothers fare better than their peers without brothers. An alternative model incorporating the educational investments received by brothers in the same family is proposed.     

城乡困难家庭的求助网络及其政策启示

文章使用“城乡困难家庭调查”2014年跟踪数据,对我国城乡困难家庭的求助网络结构和家庭因素进行分析,发现：血缘和亲缘关系仍是我国城乡困难家庭最天然的帮扶网络,但官方社会救助系统的作用已超过民间系统,邻里朋友仅在血亲和官方系统失灵时起补充作用;基层治理结构对求助网络的城乡差异产生影响,流动人口家庭求助网络呈现多元均衡的特征,但面临官方救助系统的制度性缺失;人口规模、低保资格两个家庭因素对城乡困难家庭求助网络有显著影响。文章认为,应进一步发挥社会力量的作用,针对我国城乡困难家庭建立官民并举、多元协作的社会救助政策体系。