Search results

As numerous scholars have noted, the law takes a strikingly incoherent approach to adolescent reproduction. States overwhelmingly allow a teenage girl to independently consent to pregnancy care and medical treatment for her child, and even to give up her child for adoption, all without notice to her parents, but require parental notice or consent for abortion. This chapter argues that this oft-noted contradiction in the law on teenage reproductive decision-making is in fact not as contradictory as it first appears. A closer look at the law’s apparently conflicting approaches to teenage abortion and teenage childbirth exposes common ground that scholars have overlooked. The chapter compares the full spectrum of minors’ reproductive rights and unmasks deep similarities in the law on adolescent reproduction – in particular an undercurrent of desire to punish (female) teenage sexuality, whether pregnant girls choose abortion or childbirth. It demonstrates that in practice, the law undermines adolescents’ reproductive rights, whichever path of pregnancy resolution they choose. At the same time that the law thwarts adolescents’ access to abortion care, it also fails to protect adolescents’ rights as parents. The analysis shows that these two superficially conflicting sets of rules in fact work in tandem to enforce a traditional gender script – that self-sacrificing mothers should give birth and give up their infants to better circumstances, no matter the emotional costs to themselves. This chapter also suggests novel policy solutions to the difficulties posed by adolescent reproduction by urging reforms that look to third parties other than parents or the State to better support adolescent decision-making relating to pregnancy and parenting.

The purpose of this paper is to revitalize consumer socialization as a topic of study by presenting a critical review of the concept. The aim is to advance our current understanding of conceptual issues and to outline issues and directions for future research. Consumer socialization can be better understood by studying its multidisciplinary roots and by critically reviewing its definition and meanings. It is suggested that the scope of consumer socialization be expanded to encompass life-long consumer socialization, different life events and spheres of consumption, dialogs, negotiations, and translations, as well as the socio-cultural context in which socialization occurs. In order to capture the complexity of consumer socialization and to maintain the field of consumer socialization as a vital research area, there is a need to rethink both the theories and the methods used. Researchers are encouraged to expand the use of socio-cultural theories and ethnographic methods. Interdisciplinary research is also recommended, allowing a multifaceted pluralism in the study of consumer socialization.

This study examined access to and quality of supports for families of adolescents with disabilities.

An online survey was completed by family members of transition-aged young adults who had participated in parent training sessions on topics related to transitions to adulthood. Survey responses came from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 4 U.S. territories.

More than one-third of families reported unmet information needs related to areas such as employment, housing, preparing for adult relationships, and preparing others to support the family members with disabilities. Families of younger transition-aged youth, youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder or other disabilities, and families with lower household incomes reported more unmet needs. The overall quality of services families reported receiving was 2.19 on a 4-point scale of 1 to 4. Parents reported needing more information and quality of supports related to the transition of youth from school to adulthood.

Given the scope of unmet needs, ongoing collaboration between schools, agencies, organizations, and other entities that serve families is critical. While schools play a key role in supporting the transition process, other organizations also have a role.

The results from this survey demonstrate that the need for support is not limited to youth with disabilities, but that family members also have information and support needs related to their roles as caregivers in the transition process.

This survey provides information about unmet needs and current services from a national sample that includes often underserved populations and includes sufficient numbers of respondents to allow comparisons between families, based on the type of disability their family member had.

To examine the lived experiences of the biological adult daughters of women with breast cancer.

Family systems theory and phenomenology were used to guide this exploratory, qualitative study. Qualitative data were collected via one-time, semi-structured interviews with adult daughters of women with breast cancer.

Predominant themes included: close mother–daughter relationships, untimely disclosure of information, attentive fathers, optimistic outlooks, and influences on participants’ intimate relationships. Perceived strong familial and intimate relationships prior to breast cancer diagnosis helped ensure that mother–daughter relationships would remain strong, or even improve. Fathers’ attentiveness to mothers was pivotal in determining positive and negative attributes in daughters’ own intimate relationships.

Based on the findings from this study, family scientists and healthcare professionals may have a better understanding of the patients’ young adult daughters’ concerns throughout breast cancer treatment and follow up.

Daughters may be at a loss when their mothers are diagnosed with breast cancer. Healthcare professionals can be equipped to recognize these signs when meeting with patients and families, offer suggestions for family members’ coping, and encourage daughters to consider their own breast cancer risk and screening.

This study will provide a new insight into the experiences of daughters of women with breast cancer, and help family and health professionals understand how to support the relatives of breast cancer patients.

This paper draws in part from data of a larger study on marital lives and divorce of women of various ages and backgrounds residing in metropolitan Turkey. The aim of the overall study has been to understand various factors which have paved the ways leading to divorce and the research method used for the study is based on narrative analysis. An important finding of the study is the control of women’s sexuality which is discussed in this paper with the help of the narratives of three women who are raised by dominant fathers and by subordinated mothers. I argue that gender and generation hierarchies are hidden in the idealized image of family life in low- to middle-income families residing in suburban Turkey. Intergenerational conflicts arise due to three women’s oppression in their young ages by their fathers who have decided upon their marriages to control their sexuality. Yet, as young adults, the three women try to find ways to cope with the control of their sexuality. The analysis of the three women’s narratives reveal their endeavors either to challenge the idealized “virgin bride” norm or to get rid of their unwanted marriages through divorce or separation which can be considered as instances of women’s resistance to patriarchal domination and their search for individuation. How much resistance the three women are able to endeavor is dependent on the aspects of gendered interactions and on the embeddedness of ambivalences in gender role models in the patriarchal gender regime of Turkish society.

A review of the literature on the Filipino elderly reveals that social and cultural expectations of filial duty and obligations are still strong in the Filipino family. Filial piety based on the concept of “utang na loob” or debt of gratitude to parents, and respect for age are important traditional Filipino values as evident in the support given by children to their parents, and in the words and practices showing deference to the older generation. Studies have shown that the most common living arrangement of the elderly is co-residence with children or to have at least one child living close by in the neighborhood. With the generally poor economic well-being of the elderly, they rely heavily on their children both in the Philippines and abroad for support. Caregiving of the elderly is family-based with the children, particularly the daughters, as major providers of care and assistance to maintain their physical well-being. Studies have also shown the importance of intergenerational solidarity for the social well-being and mental health of the elderly through constant communication and visits, with a two-way flow of economic and emotional support between parents and children. Institutionalization of the elderly appears to be a last resort to complement rather than replace the welfare function of the family.

For future research, it is recommended that government laws benefitting the elderly and their implementation be analyzed, including the most effective way to reach those in remote areas in order to disseminate information on their benefits. Studies should also be done to develop programs for caregiving training and incentives, on ways to uphold standards and monitor the quality of facilities of private retirement homes, to establish more government homes or home-care services for the indigent who needs long-term care. It is also recommended that studies on geriatric centers and facilities be done to ensure high-quality of elderly care.

This chapter expands our understanding of daughters’ inclusion in family business succession, analyzing why and how it can and does take place. Our work reveals that things are much more complex and diverse than research tells us in terms of daughters, their families, and their businesses.

Daughters are not only “in” or “out” of the family business. They can be included in a variety of ways, at different moments, following different paths, in a diversity of contexts. Based on 10 years of qualitative research data on family business succession, we explain and discuss how gender dynamics in the family and the business systems affect succession practices and outcomes, beyond the individual level analysis.

We used six selected and contrasted cases to illustrate the influence that gender, birth order, family inherited culture, business hierarchies and history, interpersonal relationships (parents-heirs-other stakeholders), as well as ownership transfers, governance rules and management procedures have on intergenerational succession, and particularly in daughters’ family business inclusion. From our findings, readers can draw practical recommendations for family business owners, managers and successors.

This research aims at explaining the phenomenon of the “black children” (heihaizi), a very little-known generation who lived with concealment under the one-child policy in China. The one-child policy was officially introduced to nationwide at the end of 1979 by permitting per couple to have one child only, later modified to a second child allowed if the first was a girl in rural China in 1984. It was officially replaced by a nation-wide two-child policy and most existing research focused on the parents’ sufferings and policy changes. The term “black children” has been mainly used to describe their absence from their family hukou registration and education. However, this research aims at expanding the meaning of being “black” to explain the children who were concealed more than at the level of family formal registration, but also physical freedom and emotional bond. What we do not yet know are the details of their lived experiences from a day-to-day base: where did they live? How were they raised up? Who were involved? Who benefited from it and who did not? In this way, this research challenges the existing scholarship on the one-child policy and repositions the “black children” as primary victims, and reveals the family as a key figure in co-producing their diminished status with the support of state power. It is very important to understand these children’s loss of citizenship and human freedom from the inside of the family because they were concealed in so many ways away from public view and interventions. This research focuses on illustrating how their lack of access to continued, stabilized, and reciprocally recognized family interactions framed their very idea of self-worth and identity.

Previous studies as well as anecdotes have indicated that parental involvement in adult children’s marital conflicts is fairly common in Korea. This study attempts to explain how in-law conflicts – arguably a structural outcome of the traditional Confucian family – lead to marital disruption in contemporary families.

This study adopts the hypotheses of the corporate group, mother identity, and gendered-role expectations, which are instrumental to understanding the social context in which the legacy of the Confucian culture interacts with the knowledge-based neoliberal economy to revive in-law conflicts. Divorced-couple data are from in-depth interviews and court rulings, and their analysis illustrates the trajectories of marital breakdown.

The findings provide support for the hypotheses. Parents, especially mothers, who heavily invested time and money in their children’s education and career building meddle in their marriages in hopes to ensure the best returns to their investment. Normative prescriptions of gendered roles provide references for the parents regarding the roles of their children and children-in-law, and the gaps between their expectations and perceived reality trigger parental meddling and in-law conflicts. Adult children who are indebted to the parents for their status formation may acquiesce to the parental intervention.

In the traditional patriarchal family, in-law conflicts were restricted to mother- and daughter-in-law relationships, but are now extended to mother- and son-in-law relationships, reflecting a paradoxical twist in gender-role expectations. This chapter suggests that heavy parental investment in their children can have an unexpected consequence increasing the probability of adult children’s marital disruption.

The purpose of this study was to explore how mothers with an ADHD child living in the household experience, perceive, and manage family communication.

A qualitative research design study was employed where in-depth interviews were conducted amongst nine married mothers who have an ADHD child.

Three themes emerged from the interview data: managing internal relations, managing stigma, and difficulties in managing the communication process. Mothers communicate with their ADHD child differently than their non-ADHD children, as conversations with the ADHD child are often unpredictable, negative, and erratic. They specifically experience these conversation patterns when giving directions, during times of discipline, and when the child acts impulsively or cannot focus.

Mothers are not always open about their child’s ADHD with nonfamily members as they are afraid of the stigma that is attached to the condition. Mothers recognize the difficulties in the communication process as they spend a considerable amount of time on their child’s ADHD issues, and their time given to others in the family may be compromised. They also recognize that because of the amount of stress and emotional burnout they feel from having an ADHD child, they need emotional and pragmatic support from family, friends, and professionals. The mothers who receive the least amount of emotional support from their spouses also feel the highest amounts of stress.