The bumpy road to ‘becoming’: capturing the stories that teenage mothers told about their journey into motherhood

Understanding the experience of women who become mothers during their teenage years is central to ensuring that the support that is offered is appropriate to meet their needs. This paper reports on a small part of a larger ethnographic study that captured the lived experience of young mothers who were between the ages of 16 and 19 years that potentially typifies and illuminates the experiences of young women who become mothers in their teenage years. By collecting data from narrative interviews as well as participant and non‐participant observations over an extended period of time it was possible to identify how the young women experienced a range of difficulties as they made their transition into motherhood. Drawing on the findings, this paper argues that this transition for teenage mothers can be significantly different from the experience of older mothers, and it identifies the importance of appropriate support to mediate the challenges that they face. Understanding the young women's journey to ‘becoming’ is critical when planning services because if their experience of support is negative, it can lead to increased levels of maternal stress and reluctance to engage with support services.     

“Phil's Calling Grandma… ”: The Role of External Support in Human–Companion Animal Identity Pairings

This exploratory paper deals with human–animal role identity pairings such as parent–child or sibling–sibling and the necessity of support from other actors both for the formation of these idiosyncratic identities, as well as for their situational placement in social environments not limited to the nonhuman animal. Taken from a qualitative study examining identity formation counter to the nonhuman animal, I use in‐depth interviews of both people with and without human children to demonstrate how human‐to‐human relationships are formed by categorizing the companion animal as a “child” of sorts within the family structure. These relationships prove integral to the continued development and enactment of identities such as the animal “parent” or the animal “sibling” via three different groups: their own parents, partners, and, in one case, adult siblings. This creates positive affect and commitment to the identity across other social situations. Implications of these findings for identity theory and family research are discussed.     

Managing the process of change in residential child care: A consultancy approach

This article explores the impact of a consultancy undertaken with groups of residential child care staff within a large local authority who were experiencing considerable changes in their working environment as a result of a review of residential care structures. The authors were invited to engage directly with staff on an individual and group basis to help them work through the barriers they perceived to changing their approach to practice. The theoretical underpinning for the work was Charles Handy's [1993, Understanding Organisations (Harmondsworth, Penguin)] belief that change is more likely to have a positive outcome when staff have an investment in and contribution to the change processes. The model of change utilised within the sessions with staff was Kurt Lewin's three stages of 'unfreezing', 'change' and 'refreezing'. The consultancy raised a number of issues about the process of change and how this can be achieved within the residential child care context. In particular, it highlighted the problems of assuming that change is a linear process which can be directly controlled and managed in the flux and uncertainty which characterises this sector.     

A CHILD PSYCHOTHERAPIST IN PRIMARY MENTAL HEALTH

This paper outlines the author's application of psychodynamic thinking and approaches to brief therapeutic work with children, adolescents and their families in community mental health settings. It is the author's belief that systemic and narrative therapy insights and techniques combine well with psychoanalysis in the assessment and treatment of many concerns felt and expressed by parents and young people. The therapist's tasks are to listen empathically to clients who are in distress and to explore the clients' beliefs about the origins of their problems, as well as their previously attempted solutions. In proceeding at the family's pace, opportunities arise for facilitating more effective ways of resolving conflict. Clients are often more free than they realise to change their interpretation of their experience, and this has important consequences for the maintenance and solution of problems. Brief therapy seeks to remind clients of their strengths and resources and to share ways to encourage clients to resume effective ways of learning about themselves.     

THE RELEVANCE OF THE CONCEPT OF DISSOCIATION IN CHILD PROTECTION

This paper explores one aspect of unresolved trauma, namely dissociation. Its relevance to child protection is discussed with reference to two aspects: emotional neglect and choice of partner. There is an exploration of the implications for both assessment and treatment. The central place of shame in relation to dissociation is also explored. It is argued that dissociation is an important concept in child protection assessments and that social work assessments should be alert to this.     

Child‐caregiver Attachment Representations in a Non‐Western Context: The Feasibility and Cultural Equivalence of Story Stems in Urban Ghana

Story stem measures are an increasingly popular method for assessing the attachment representations of young children, but little is known of their cross‐cultural applicability. This study aimed to characterise the attachment representations in 73 five‐ to eight‐year‐old children in urban Ghana, West Africa, using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) to test its feasibility, psychometric characteristics and concurrent associations with caregiver‐ and teacher‐rated child behaviour, and to conduct a qualitative thematic analysis of methodological observations. Among the classifiable cases (92 percent), all attachment classifications were observed, yielding a higher rate of secure attachment than in European samples. Inter‐rater reliability, internal consistency, and internal structure were reasonable and largely similar to European studies, although one structural difference was the separation of ‘child assuagement of distress’ from other secure‐related items. MCAST narratives were associated with teacher‐ and caregiver‐rated hyperactivity, but internal consistency was low in most Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scales. Possible culturally‐sensitive explanations for our psychometric and qualitative findings are discussed. Overall, story stems are a promising tool for accessing attachment representations in non‐Western samples, although modifications are likely to improve cross‐cultural equivalence when applied to non‐Western cultures. Further investigation is needed to link MCAST outcomes to parenting and socio‐emotional development.     

Total Economic Consequences of an Influenza Outbreak in the United States

Pandemic influenza represents a serious threat not only to the population of the United States, but also to its economy. In this study, we analyze the total economic consequences of potential influenza outbreaks in the United States for four cases based on the distinctions between disease severity and the presence/absence of vaccinations. The analysis is based on data and parameters on influenza obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and the general literature. A state‐of‐the‐art economic impact modeling approach, computable general equilibrium, is applied to analyze a wide range of potential impacts stemming from the outbreaks. This study examines the economic impacts from changes in medical expenditures and workforce participation, and also takes into consideration different types of avoidance behavior and resilience actions not previously fully studied. Our results indicate that, in the absence of avoidance and resilience effects, a pandemic influenza outbreak could result in a loss in U.S. GDP of $25.4 billion, but that vaccination could reduce the losses to $19.9 billion. When behavioral and resilience factors are taken into account, a pandemic influenza outbreak could result in GDP losses of $45.3 billion without vaccination and $34.4 billion with vaccination. These results indicate the importance of including a broader set of causal factors to achieve more accurate estimates of the total economic impacts of not just pandemic influenza but biothreats in general. The results also highlight a number of actionable items that government policymakers and public health officials can use to help reduce potential economic losses from the outbreaks.     

Responding to child deaths: the work of Australia's Victorian Child Death Review Committee

The Victorian Child Death Review Committee (VCDRC) in Australia is a multidisciplinary Ministerial Advisory Committee established to review the deaths of children either currently child protection clients or known to the statutory child protection system. The Committee provides advice about each child death as well as insights into what are the surrounding patterns and issues. Key to this role is examining the contribution of the service sectors to the protection of children and the routine practices that are in place to respond to children and vulnerability. This paper provides a snapshot of the cases referred to the VCDRC and the key messages for practice drawn from them. What emerges is that often the threshold for when statutory child protection services must be involved in child and family matters can be ambiguous and that agreement about intervention, the level and nature of need or risk, and when cumulative harm and neglect require statutory responses are not always shared between agencies. It is clear that the lack of common frameworks about what constitutes child protection intervention challenges services. It is recommended that there be and used agreed definitions and frameworks to ensure shared understandings and collaborative responses across the service and legal systems.     

小学校长服务型领导对教师知识分享行为的影响研究

以山东省248名小学教师为有效样本，探讨了服务型领导、教师同事信任、情感承诺和教师知识分享行为之间的关系。研究结果显示：服务型领导与教师知识分享行为显著相关；教师同事信任部分居间联系了服务型领导与知识分享行为之间的关系；教师同事信任部分居间联系了服务型领导与情感承诺之间的关系；情感承诺对服务型领导与知识分享行为关系的中介作用不显著。     

How do my parents react when I feel happy? Longitudinal associations with adolescent depressive symptoms,anhedonia, and positive affect regulation

Parental emotion socialization plays a role in the development of adolescents’ emotion regulation and is associated with adolescents’ depressive symptoms. Most research has focused on parental socialization of negative affect. The scarce research on parental socialization of positive affect (PA) shows that parental downgrading responses to adolescents’ PA are associated with concurrent adolescent depression. The aims of the present study were to examine longitudinal associations of both maternal and paternal responses to adolescents’ PA with how adolescents regulate their PA (i.e., dampening and enhancing) and with adolescents’ general depressive symptoms and anhedonia. We also considered associations in the opposite direction from adolescent regulatory responses and symptoms to parental responses. In a two‐wave study (1‐year interval), 635 adolescents from Grade seven completed questionnaires. Cross‐sectionally, maternal and paternal responses to adolescents’ PA were associated with concurrent adolescents’ PA regulation as well as adolescents’ depressive and anhedonic symptoms. Longitudinally, low maternal and paternal enhancing responses to adolescents’ PA predicted relative increases in anhedonic symptoms and relative decreases in adolescent enhancing over time. Low maternal enhancing was also predictive of relative increases in depressive symptoms. The present study points to bidirectionality of relations as adolescents’ level of depressive symptoms predicted maternal and paternal responses.