Changes in Employment Uncertainty and the Fertility Intention–Realization Link: An Analysis Based on the Swiss Household Panel

How do changes in employment uncertainty matter for fertility? Empirical studies on the impact of employment uncertainty on reproductive decision-making offer a variety of conclusions, ranging from gender and socio-economic differences in the effect of employment uncertainty on fertility intentions and behaviour, to the effect of employment on changes in fertility intentions. This article analyses the association between a change in subjective employment uncertainty and fertility intentions and behaviour by distinguishing male and female partners’ employment uncertainty, and examines the variation in these associations by education. Using a sample of men and women living in a couple from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP 2002–2011), we examine through multinomial analysis how changes in employment uncertainty and selected socio-demographic factors are related to individual childbearing decisions. Our results show strong gendered effects of changes in employment uncertainty on the revision of reproductive decisions among the highly educated population.     

Beyond survival: Strengthening community-based support for parents receiving a family service intervention

This paper presents parents' experiences of community support and their recommendations for how their communities, and the services within them, might support their families. Generated through a human-centred design methodology and using a desire-centred framework, the findings suggest that parents receiving a family service require support invoking feelings of intimacy, trust, reciprocity, inclusivity, connection and belonging. Parents' recommendations for community support include addressing material and attitudinal constraints impacting on engagement with services; creating non-judgmental services tailored to their needs but accessed as a last resort; and creating peer-based opportunities to support each other. Parents reflect that moving beyond basic survival of risk and vulnerability to a position where thriving is possible requires purposeful integration of parent's existing and desired community into service interventions. Facilitating deliberate change at the intersection of community and service support is pertinent to current and future social work policy and practice. Wider opportunities for understanding and enabling the needs and aspirations of parents, which are often overlooked because of a focus on addressing risk and vulnerability, are considered.     

Hope,Coping, and Relationship Quality in Mothers of Children With Down Syndrome

Parenting a child with Down syndrome may pose unique challenges for parents’ relationship quality. This study used structural equation modeling with a sample of 351 mothers of children with Down syndrome to test if hope mediated the association between mothers’ various coping behaviors and mothers’ relationship quality. Hope was defined as a generalized positive state that comes from a personal sense of agency. Results indicated a greater degree of religious coping and internal coping were each significantly associated with more hope, whereas support seeking was not related with more hope. Higher hope was significantly associated with greater relationship quality. Bootstrapped indirect effects from both religious coping and internal coping to hope, and then hope to relationship quality, were identified. Implications for therapists and future research are described.     

Systemic traumatic stress: the couple adaptation to traumatic stress model

Research traditionally has focused on the development of symptoms in those who experienced trauma directly but overlooked the impact of trauma on the families of victims. In recent years, researchers and clinicians have begun to examine how individual exposure to traumatic stress affects the spouses/partners, children, and professional helpers of trauma survivors. However, empirically supported, theory-based literature that identifies the mechanisms by which interpersonal or "secondary trauma" occurs in response to traumatic events is limited. Here, we present the Couple Adaptation to Traumatic Stress Model, a systemic model of the development of interpersonal symptoms in the couple dyad based on empirical literature. Potential mechanisms and clinical vignettes are included to describe the systemic processes that occur with trauma couples. Areas for future research and clinical implications also are identified.     

Factors That Differentiate Distressed and Nondistressed Marriages in Army Soldiers

Data from U.S. Army soldiers (N = 697) were analyzed to determine the factors that differentiate distressed from nondistressed relationships. Results show that most soldiers had relationship satisfaction scores that categorized them as nondistressed. In addition, soldiers in dual-military marriages had relationship satisfaction scores similar to those of soldiers in military-civilian marriages. Finally, several variables including rank, relocation status, relationship length, and relationship status differentiated distressed from nondistressed relationships. Implications for intervention programming and future research directions are discussed.     

Comparing Parents of Children With Down Syndrome at Different Life Span Stages

The present study explored the experiences of parents of children with Down syndrome at different phases of the life span. Using a mixed‐method design, the current study included 445 participants who were divided into 4 groups based on the age of the child: (a) parents of children under 5 years of age (early childhood), (b) parents of children between 5 and 11 years of age (middle childhood), (c) parents of children between 12 and 18 years of age (adolescence), and (d) parents of children over the age of 18 (chronological adults). Parents reported higher coping strategy scores during the middle childhood and adolescent years than early childhood or later years (adult children). Qualitative data identified key areas that parents across the 4 groups reported, including acceptance of the diagnosis, having a positive attitude, their child's developmental level, and other internal and external factors that contribute to their attitudes and coping.     

Fundamentals of Theory and Practice Revisited: Boszormenyi‐Nagy and Contextual Therapy: An Overview

This paper provides an overview of the work of Ivan Boszormenyi‐Nagy, the originator of Contextual Therapy. The initial form of Contextual Therapy is surveyed, but closer attention is paid to more recent developments in the theory and practice. Several critiques of Contextual Therapy are introduced. The paper includes a detailed example of a first session conducted according to Boszormenyi‐Nagy's principles.     

Explaining U.S. Federal Deficits: 1889–1998

We review and jointly test various competing theoretical and empirical models of U.S. federal deficits using annual data from 1889 to 1998. We find that tax smoothing matters and that political and interest group/distributional factors are also present in our results.     

Title V of the Older Americans Act, the Senior Community Service Employment Program: participant demographics and service to racially/ethnically diverse populations

Title V of the Older Americans Act, the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), is a 40+-year-old federal program providing subsidized community service and employment training to low-income, unemployed individuals aged 55 and older. It is the only nationally mandated workforce training program for seniors. Because of SCSEP's dual mission, participants added 48 million hours of community service (valued at almost $1 billion) to the U.S. economy in 2008. Almost half (48.9%) of the participants are racial or ethnic minorities, which makes it crucial to understand the program experience of these individuals. Participation, program duration, and employment placement of minorities are examined. Findings show successful enrollment rates, an interactive effect of age and education on program duration, and no indication of a minority disadvantage in employment placement. Recommendations include funding for innovative grants, leveraging of federal partnerships, and targeted technical assistance.