Explaining Family Change and Variation: Challenges for Family Demographers

Twenty years ago, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) issued a request for proposals that resulted in the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), a unique survey valuable to a wide range of family scholars. This paper describes the efforts of an interdisciplinary group of family demographers to build on the progress enabled by the NSFH and many other theoretical and methodological innovations. Our work, also supported by NICHD, will develop plans for research and data collection to address the central question of what causes family change and variation. We outline the group's initial assessments of orienting frameworks, key aspects of family life to study, and theoretical and methodological challenges for research on family change. Finally, we invite family scholars to follow our progress and to help develop this shared public good.     

大学生人际紧张问题与自我和谐

采用追踪研究方法考查大学生心理健康与自我和谐水平的关系，着重考查自我人际问题认知对自我和谐的影响。结果表明，人际关系紧张水平与自我和谐三个因子都存在一定相关，其中与自我不和谐因子达中等相关水平。研究发现，能正确认知自己的人际关系问题的大学生，具有更好的自我和谐水平，这与罗杰斯关于自我和谐的理论是一致的。自我和谐水平测验可以帮助我们更好地从认知层次了解大学生的人际关系紧张问题。     

Organization–public relationships: An exploration of the Sundre Petroleum Operators Group

This study explored the organization–public relationship (OPR) within the context of the Sundre Petroleum Operators Group (SPOG) and the local community in Sundre, Alberta, Canada. A qualitative orientation was adopted because of the case study's focus on the individual experience of the relationship and the interest was to explore how the relationship was perceived by the people involved. Key relational elements such as trust, transparency, dialogue, control mutuality, commitment and satisfaction were examined in relation to the importance for relationship building and maintenance. In-depth interviews were conducted with both SPOG industry and community members (N = 18). The results indicated that after a crisis transparency was critical for rebuilding trust which was the foundation for the development of the industry–community relationship. Other relational elements were also considered important for maintaining healthy OPRs, but were considered secondary in relation to trust.     

Reconfiguring Friendships: Social relationships and the Internet

Debate on the social role of the Internet has centred on whether its use will tend to isolate or connect individuals, undermining or reinforcing social ties. This study moves away from this focus on more or less connectivity to explore the degree to which people use the Internet to make new friends and, thereby, reconfigure their social networks. The analysis identifies those who create new ties through the Internet and investigates under what conditions these online ties migrate to face to face settings. The analysis is based on data from the 2005 Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), a national probability sample survey of individuals aged 14 and over in Britain. The findings indicate that about 20 per cent of Internet users have met new friends online, and about half of these individuals go on to meet one or more of these virtual friends in person. Sociodemographic characteristics, such as being single, shape patterns of Internet use, and are related to the greater propensity of some individuals to make online social relationships. However, experience with the Internet and the ways people choose to use the Internet, such as for chatting or communicating more generally, are most directly associated with who makes new connections over the Internet and who does not. These findings suggest that the Internet plays an important role in reconfiguring the social networks of many users. Also, multivariate analyses indicate that the dynamics of online friendships are driven more by the idiosyncratic digital choices made by users of the Internet than by any mechanistic social or technological determinism.     

新时期社会主义意识形态发展中的几个关系

新型社会主义意识形态在中国特色社会主义实践中逐步生成,新时期社会主义意识形态发展过程中正确处理了新型社会主义意识形态与传统意识形态、与非马克思主义和反马克思主义错误思潮、与马克思主义理论创新、与人类以往价值理念、与经济发展和社会进步之间的关系。因此,总结和分析新时期社会主义意识形态发展规律中的几个关系问题,具有深远的理论意义与现实意义。     

Managing the Multifather Family: Stepfathers as Father Allies

Drawing on qualitative in‐depth interviews with 46 stepfathers, we explore how stepfathers characterize the biological father and their relations with him. We focus specifically on instances in which stepfathers directly and indirectly act like a father ally; that is, they presumably help the father sustain or improve his relationship with his child. Our analysis generates theoretical insights about father ally properties (development, purpose, awareness level, reciprocity routines, building trust/respect, and social capital) while discussing conditions that either facilitate (male bonding, avoiding the threshold of discomfort, stepfather’s romantic relationship security, father’s perceived worthiness, and having biological children) or could foster (mother as gatekeeper/mediator, quality of stepfather‐child relationship) its expression. We consider how stepfathers conceptualize and display a cooperative interactive style reflecting a less traditional masculine self. Our study illustrates some of the interpersonal complexities associated with stepfamily fatherhood in the United States.     

‘There Isn't Supposed To Be a Speaker Against!’ Investigating Tensions of ‘Safe Space’ and Intra‐Group Diversity for Trade Union Lesbian and Gay Organization

Trade union engagement with the continuing inequalities facing minority groups has been one of the guiding principles of attempts to re‐energize the labour movement in recent years. This article focuses on attempts by six British trade unions to create and maintain separate organizational ‘spaces’ for their lesbian and gay members. Through consideration of group representation within a union framework, the strategy of separate organizing and the complications of representing a diverse membership, this article considers issues of intra‐group diversity and ‘safe space’ for this particular group of members. It concludes that the recognition and actualization of the internally diverse lesbian and gay constituency will be important in the long term for trade unions seeking to renew their pool of potential activists.     

Internal crisis communication: The effects of negative employee-organization relationships on internal reputation and employees’ unsupportive behavior

This study seeks to advance the growing body of research in internal crisis communication by exploring the role of negative employee-organization relationships (NEOR) in determining crisis outcomes (employees' unsupportive behavior and internal reputation). The current study was conducted using 465 full-time employees working in the technology sector (phone manufacturing industry) in the United States. The employees were recruited using an online research tool, Qualtrics. Multiple hierarchical regression and path analysis were used to analyze the results. The results reveal that a) NEOR affects internal reputation negatively and increases the likelihood of unsupportive behavior, b) timing does not affect the relationship between NEOR and crisis outcomes, c) rebuilding strategies help in overcoming employees' unwillingness to support the organization during a crisis, and d) negative emotions influence the effect of NEOR on the crisis outcomes. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

转型时期的企业和谐发展与人力资源管理之探讨

人力资源是企业中的第一资源,人是促使企业和谐发展的最重要因素,是活的资源。本文通过对人力资源的基本特征的分析,就企业人力资源管理如何应对社会转轨时期的种种挑战,以促进企业和谐发展作了初步探讨。     

失地农民市民化困境的解读——一个社会空间分析视角

以社会空间为分析视角,对失地农民旧社会关系网络的破裂和新社会关系网络的重建进行分析,从而发现失地农民市民化困境的原因在于社会空间的重组。这种空间重组造成了空间的分异、公共空间营利化、日常生活商品化以及空间私有化,从而造成失地农民难以融入城市空间而被边缘化。