Demographic determinants of perceived well-being in eight European countries

This paper reports results of a harmonised study of subjective social indicators carried out in eight member countries of the European Community, sponsored, on an experimental basis, by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Luxembourg). Comparative data from nationwide representative samples from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark are presented for three key dependent measures of perceived well-being: Self-Assessed Health, Satisfaction with Housing and Life Satisfaction. The cross-cultural generalisability of the influence of demographic variables on these three measures in examined, using 4-way analysis of variance. The analyses revealed a remarkable consistency across nations in terms of the effects of certain demographic variables on some of the dependent measures; however, some inconsistencies were also revealed. Substantial discrepancies in mean scores of the same sub-groups in different countries were also observed. While further research would be required to determine whether these differences were due to objective circumstances or to cultural differences in subjective perceptions or response patterns, some tentative interpretations of the differences were put forth.     

The relationship of intimate partner aggression to head injury, executive functioning, and intelligence

Measures of head injury, executive functioning, and intelligence were given to a community sample composed of 102 male perpetrators of intimate partner aggression (IPA) and 62 nonaggressive men. A history of head injury and lower mean score on a measure of verbal intelligence were associated with the frequency of male-perpetrated physical IPA as reported by male perpetrators and their female partners. Lower mean scores on a measure of verbal intelligence also predicted frequency of psychological IPA perpetration. Using the perpetrator subtypes outlined by Holtzworth-Munroe et al. (2000), analyses revealed that compared with other groups, the most severely aggressive subtypes (i.e., borderline-dysphoric and generally violent-antisocial) were the most likely to report a history of head injury and to have significantly lower mean scores on a neuropsychological test of verbal intelligence. The possible role of neuropsychological factors in IPA perpetration and implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed.     

Impact of Empowerment Training on the Professional Work of Family Peer Advocates

A pilot study using a prospective design examined the impact of a collaboratively developed training model, called the Parent Empowerment Program (PEP), for professionally-employed family peer advocates who work with caregivers of children with mental health needs. This training used a combination of didactic, practice exercises, and group discussion. It targeted specific mental health knowledge content and collaborative skills to facilitate the work of family peer advocates in empowering caregivers. Co-delivered by a family peer advocate and clinician, the training consisted of a 40-hour face-to-face training, followed by six monthly face-to-face booster sessions. A total of 15 advocates participated in assessments conducted at baseline and post-training. This group of experienced family peer advocates showed no significant increase in knowledge about mental health content, but post-training assessments indicated increased collaborative skills and mental health services self-efficacy. This initial evaluation has implications for expanding training and support for the emergent workforce of professionally-employed family peer advocates in children's mental health.     

Building Strength Through Challenging Homophobia: Liberation Workshops with Younger and Midlife Irish Lesbians

Drawing on the theoretical framework of liberation psychology, this article details workshops on liberation psychology conducted in Ireland with lesbian and transgendered persons aged from early 20's to late 50's. Both younger and older lesbians in the workshops benefited from the opportunity to focus on oppression and to explore options for transformation. The workshops illustrated many of the strengths and vulnerabilities associated with living with homophobia and demonstrated the value of action and engagement. Midlife lesbians were more aware of the systemic nature of homophobia and of the negative emotions related to that. They saw many of these as understandable and even necessary reactions to oppression rather than as negative patterns. These older lesbians tended to be more accepting of the course their lives had taken and of the ways in which choices had been influenced by homophobia and heterosexism. They tended to be more relativistic in their views on coming out, viewing coming out as a decision for each context rather than an overall principle. They valued the importance of community and of activism, and though they were aware of some of the challenges, they also had more positive experiences in this area. These strengths can facilitate managing both homophobia and aging more effectively.     

The Relationship Between Hope,Eustress, Self-Efficacy,and Life Satisfaction Among Undergraduates

The construct of eustress was studied alongside hope and self-efficacy, to explore how these constructs are related to life satisfaction among undergraduates. Questionnaires were administered to undergraduates to test the hypotheses that (1) as eustress levels increase, so will life satisfaction levels; (2) when eustress, hope, and self-efficacy are examined together, they will predict life satisfaction better than eustress alone; (3) eustress, hope, and self-efficacy will all be positively correlated with life satisfaction; and (4) self-efficacy will be the most positively correlated with life satisfaction. The results revealed a significant positive correlation between eustress and life satisfaction. A Hierarchical Linear Regression analysis revealed significant results supporting hypotheses 2 and 3, but not hypothesis 4. Results indicated that hope is the best predictor of life satisfaction. The work reported provides a reliable tool for measuring eustress, examines eustress in a new way at the academic level, and provides helpful information about student wellness to college administrators.     

Projecting Australia's Fertility—Postscript

An accelerated decline in family size has led to a downward revision of projected fertility. Replacement fertility could be reached in the 1980s with births numbering about 250,000 a year. The population is approaching stability at the younger ages. The potential for poverty arising from large families may be halved in ten years.     

An Experiment in Helping Foster-Carers Manage Challenging Behaviour

A randomized controlled trial was implemented with groups offoster-carers to test the effectiveness of cognitive–behaviouralmethods in the management of difficult behaviour. Contrary toexpectations, no statistically significant differences werefound between the groups with regard to behaviour managementskills, the frequency and/or severity of behavioural problems,and placement stability. In contrast, foster-carers expressedsatisfaction with the overall training programme and increasedconfidence in dealing with difficult behaviour. Discussion ofthe results focuses on a number of competing explanations forsuch findings and concludes with recommendations for futurework.