“Infertile Motherhood”

This study explores the socio-cultural arena following legalization of surrogate motherhood in Israel by analyzing Israel's most popular television series: A Touch of Happiness. The qualitative analysis presented here reveals a constant tension between women's reproductive and sexual bodies. This analysis demonstrates how social institutions of marriage, divorce, and motherhood are serving as instruments that reward fertile and punish infertile women. Advances in medical technology and modern surrogacy enable the infertile female to achieve motherhood even though her body remains infertile. Thus, paradoxically, if a woman selects to avail herself of these medical advances, she becomes an “infertile mother.” Viewed more broadly, the implications of such hybrid conceptions pose a threat to the patriarchal order, and therefore it was negated in this television series by a rich array of narrative and rhetorical devices. Derived by deeply rooted cultural–religious beliefs, the ideological stance applied in the series de-legitimizes female infertility and non-biological motherhood achieved through surrogacy. In doing so, it perpetuates notions of the inferiority of both types of women in the social order and cultivates the perception of biological determinism as a primary measure in determining all women's destinies, solely by the state of their wombs.     

Employers' knowledge and attitudes regarding organizational policy toward workers caring for aging family members

The study examined employers' knowledge of and attitudes toward working carers who care for aging family members. The study was based on the ecological model. One hundred employers were interviewed using structured questionnaires and 13 employers by additional in-depth interviews. Both research instruments included areas of disruption to the organization, existing policies, and feasibility as to developing appropriate policies to support working carers. Results show that caregiving caused a disruption in workers' functioning mainly by being absent, leaving work early, and coming to work late. Usually, there was "no policy," and half of the employers did not support introducing such a policy. Women managers in public organizations, who had less seniority and less previous experience with working-carers, tended to be more positive about supportive policies. Recommendations are included.     

“I did not know there was another life”: Meanings of life in the out‐of‐home Mothers Unit reunification programme

The Mothers Unit is a reunification and treatment programme in a welfare emergency centre in Israel. The unit is the only one in Israel offering joint residence for mothers at risk of abusing or neglecting their children. The unit provides an alternative to out‐of‐home care for young children suffering from maltreatment in order to enable them and their mothers to return to the community together at the end of the treatment. The current qualitative study examines the lived experiences of the women and their children from the subjective perspective of the women currently or previously involved in the programme and of the professionals working with them. Thematic analysis of 36 in‐person semi‐structured interviews reveals the multiple meanings they attribute to life in the Mothers Unit and its perceived effects on their children and themselves.     

“Dynamic Infertility”

Critical content analysis of eight years' of newspaper coverage of advanced reproductive technologies in Israel demonstrates that the public debate over assisted reproduction is largely characterized by personal narratives that accentuate, on the surface, a discourse of individualism. However, this study claims that beneath the surface, these women's “personal dreams,” are in fact realization of the “national dream” that promotes particular social values and demographic goals. The news coverage was found to promote a process we name “dynamic infertility,” in which women are encouraged not to accept physiological infertility but rather undergo as many fertility treatments as necessary, for as long as it takes, ultimately to bring their genetically related children into the world.     

Intergenerational Relations: The Views of Older Jews and Arabs

The aim of the current qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of older Jews and Arabs on intergenerational family relations. Interviews were conducted with 20 men and women, 10 in each group, ages 65 and older. Five themes emerged from the analysis of the interviews: family is the major component of meaning of life; two dimensions of intergenerational relations: solidarity and ambivalence; intergenerational communication; filial expectations; and home and family as sources of honor and respect. Similarities and differences between the two groups were identified and explained, using modernization theory and cultural context.     

The demise of leadership: Positivity and negativity biases in evaluations of dead leaders

Five studies compared evaluations of living versus dead leaders. In Studies 1 and 2, participants displayed a death positivity bias, forming more favorable impressions of dead leaders than of equivalent living leaders. Study 3 demonstrated the death positivity bias in evaluations of real-world leaders in politics, sports, and entertainment. Study 4 showed that death polarizes morality judgments: Moral leaders were posthumously judged as more moral while immoral leaders were posthumously judged as more immoral. Study 5 demonstrated the St. Augustine effect: Dead leaders who had changed from sinners to saints were judged more favorably than living leaders who had undergone the same change. The implications of these findings for theory and research on leadership legacy and organizational impression management are discussed.     

Tracing studies and analysis of the effect of loss to follow-up on mortality estimation from patient registry data

Summary. Before patient registries are used for studies of the long-term mortality that is associated with chronic medical conditions, the potential bias resulting from patients who become lost to follow-up must be investigated. A study design, used for a systemic lupus erythematosus patient registry, is described. The design involves tracing patients who are defined as 'lost to follow-up' according to specific criteria. This provides supplementary information on the mortality experience of patients who are lost to (regular) follow-up. Some methods of analysis are described, based on comparing the mortality experience of patients when under regular follow-up with the experience of patients after they are deemed to be lost to follow-up. The effect of loss to follow-up, death reporting and visits to the clinic on estimation procedures is illustrated and recommendations are made for patient registries which are to be used in mortality studies.     

MONEY MATTERS:

This study examined the significance of earnings ratios, for the division of family work and gender-role attitudes among 136 physician couples in Israel. Consistent with resource theory, 'moderns' (both earned the same) and 'innovatives' (wives earned more than the husbands) had a more egalitarian division of labor in the home and gender-role ideology than 'conventionals' (the husbands earned more than the wives). A discriminant analysis revealed that the three groups of men were distinguished primarily by their behavior in the family - the lower their relative earnings, the greater their participation in child-care and housework - and by the relative importance they attributed to their wives' career success. The three groups of women were distinguished by their attitudes - women who earned less than their husbands had more traditional gender-role attitudes and attributed lesser importance to their own career success than to that of their husbands', but were more satisfied with their ability to combine family and work than women who earned the same or more. The innovative couples combined a strong joint commitment to both their work and their children.     

“It All Depends on the Guy and the Girl”: A Qualitative Study of Youth Experiences with Statutory Victimization Relationships

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine youths’ perceptions of statutory victimization relationships and youths’ experience interacting with professionals. In-person qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 youths identified as statutory rape victims by two child advocacy centers. Using grounded theory, interviews were coded thematically using constant comparison analysis. The discussion of the relationship dynamics suggested a great deal of variation. Some youths described the relationships in exploitive terms. However, more typically, the interviewed youth described the relationship as reciprocal, even some time after it had ended. The professional intervention often resulted in feelings of helplessness for the youth. The results suggest creative and flexible protocols are needed for handling these cases that recognize adolescents’ developing autonomy.