Search results
1 – 10 of 572SunWoo Kang and Nadine F. Marks
Guided by a life course theoretical perspective, this study aimed to examine associations between providing caregiving for a young or adult son or daughter with special needs and…
Abstract
Purpose
Guided by a life course theoretical perspective, this study aimed to examine associations between providing caregiving for a young or adult son or daughter with special needs and multiple dimensions of physical health status among married midlife and older adults, as well as moderation of these associations by gender and marital quality (i.e., marital strain).
Method
Regression models were estimated using data from 1,058 married adults aged 33–83 (National Survey of Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS), 2005).
Findings
Parental caregiving for a young or adult child with special needs (in contrast to no caregiving) was linked to poorer global health and more physical symptoms among both fathers and mothers. Father caregivers reported slightly more chronic conditions than noncaregiving men, regardless of marital quality. By contrast, mother caregivers reported a much higher number of chronic conditions when they also reported a high level of marital strain, but not when they reported a low level of marital strain.
Originality/value
Overall, results provide evidence from a national sample that midlife and older parents providing caregiving for a child with special needs are at risk for poorer health outcomes, and further tentatively suggest that greater marital strain may exacerbate health risks, particularly among married mother caregivers.
Details
Keywords
Sara E. Green, Julia Barnhill, Sherri Green, Diana Torres Hawken, Loretta Sue Humphrey and Scott Sanderson
Purpose – The purpose of this work is to explore ways in which parents of children with disabilities actively seek to create a place for themselves and their children within…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this work is to explore ways in which parents of children with disabilities actively seek to create a place for themselves and their children within supportive communities of others – despite structural and attitudinal barriers.
Methodology – Semi-structured, interactive interviews were conducted with six mothers and six fathers of older teens and young adults with severe impairments. Interview transcripts were analyzed for themes related to barriers to social participation and strategies used to create and sustain communities of supportive others.
Findings – Results suggest that, while there are indeed many barriers to social participation, these mothers and fathers have successfully utilized a variety of strategies in order to create a sense of community for themselves and their children including: garnering support from family; creating enclaves of “wise” individuals; and active social networking. Findings also suggest that children with disabilities can provide opportunities for parental community involvement in unexpected ways.
Limitations, implications and value – The sample is small and selective and the study used retrospective interviews to examine parental memories. Despite these limitations, the narratives of these parents provide a provocative look at the potential role of personal agency in the community experiences of parents of children with disabilities. The stories told by these parents clearly suggest that it takes concerted effort to construct a village in the face of significant barriers to social participation. Once created, however, that village of supportive others can provide life enhancing support for children with disabilities and their families.
Details
Keywords
This study, based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households, confirms normative preference for nuclear households across all cohorts and racial/ethnic groups…
Abstract
This study, based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households, confirms normative preference for nuclear households across all cohorts and racial/ethnic groups throughout this century. However, a noteworthy minority (about 30%) did live with grandparents at some time during their childhood. Living with grandparents as well as having a grandparent live in one's parental household were somewhat more prevalent during the 30's and 40's, indicating that extended households may have been formed in response to the Depression and especially World War II. There also is a significant effect of nuclear family structure: living arrangements with grandparents predominate among those who did not live with both parents at some time during their childhood. The data also suggest that it is important to differentiate between grandparental living arrangements that are oriented toward the care of the grandchildren and those arrangements that imply care for the grandparent: the former arrangement predominates among Blacks, whereas the latter is more common among Whites. During the past decade there has been increased interest in extended family living arrangements and particularly in households including grandparents and/or grandchildren. This interest reflects several demographic trends during the latter part of this century, especially increases in divorce and in parental problems (drugs, AIDS) that preclude parents from taking care of their own children as well as increases in longevity and in the survival of frail elderly, many of whom come to live with their adult children. Census data offer information on the prevalence of extended family arrangements at any one point in time, but they are insufficient to estimate a person's lifetime “risk” of living with grandparents and provide only limited information on the duration of such living arrangements. Data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) include information not only on whether individuals ever lived with their grandparents but also on the type and the duration of such arrangements. Based on this data set, this article assesses trends in living arrangements with grandparents, and variations in these trends by race and childhood family structure.
Nina Thorup Dalgaard, Marie Høgh Thøgersen and Edith Montgomery
The purpose of this paper is to explore the defining characteristics of an interdisciplinary culturally sensitive approach to family therapy with traumatized refugee families…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the defining characteristics of an interdisciplinary culturally sensitive approach to family therapy with traumatized refugee families affected by family violence. Furthermore, the paper aims to explore the mechanisms of change as seen from the perspective of the therapists.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with therapists working in an interdisciplinary team as well as observations of treatment conferences, the study identified the ways in which therapists perceive the challenges faced by their patients, the ways in which positive change is facilitated within therapy and the characteristics of a culturally sensitive interdisciplinary approach to family therapy with traumatized refugee families.
Findings
The study identified a number of defining characteristics of the treatment model, which includes the interdisciplinary approach, treatment objectives and concrete interventions targeting these objectives.
Originality/value
Through a theoretically informed critical analysis of the data, the present study examined the defining characteristics of the treatment model as well as the mechanisms of change as perceived by the therapists.
Details
Keywords
Phyllis Moen, Anne Kaduk, Ellen Ernst Kossek, Leslie Hammer, Orfeu M. Buxton, Emily O’Donnell, David Almeida, Kimberly Fox, Eric Tranby, J. Michael Oakes and Lynne Casper
Most research on the work conditions and family responsibilities associated with work-family conflict and other measures of mental health uses the individual employee as the unit…
Abstract
Purpose
Most research on the work conditions and family responsibilities associated with work-family conflict and other measures of mental health uses the individual employee as the unit of analysis. We argue that work conditions are both individual psychosocial assessments and objective characteristics of the proximal work environment, necessitating multilevel analyses of both individual- and team-level work conditions on mental health.
Methodology/approach
This study uses multilevel data on 748 high-tech professionals in 120 teams to investigate relationships between team- and individual-level job conditions, work-family conflict, and four mental health outcomes (job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, perceived stress, and psychological distress).
Findings
We find that work-to-family conflict is socially patterned across teams, as are job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Team-level job conditions predict team-level outcomes, while individuals’ perceptions of their job conditions are better predictors of individuals’ work-to-family conflict and mental health. Work-to-family conflict operates as a partial mediator between job demands and mental health outcomes.
Practical implications
Our findings suggest that organizational leaders concerned about presenteeism, sickness absences, and productivity would do well to focus on changing job conditions in ways that reduce job demands and work-to-family conflict in order to promote employees’ mental health.
Originality/value of the chapter
We show that both work-to-family conflict and job conditions can be fruitfully framed as team characteristics, shared appraisals held in common by team members. This challenges the framing of work-to-family conflict as a “private trouble” and provides support for work-to-family conflict as a structural mismatch grounded in the social and temporal organization of work.
Details
Keywords
This article considers some of the implications of research findings into relational conflict and couple violence and suggests links with elder abuse. An outline of a research…
Abstract
This article considers some of the implications of research findings into relational conflict and couple violence and suggests links with elder abuse. An outline of a research design to study elder abuse from an attachment perspective is discussed.
Details
Keywords
Jennifer W. Purcell, Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez and Kelsey A. Ring
The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper on women in the formal workforce is grounded within the leadership and organization development literature.
Findings
The authors posit the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent instability in the US workforce, particularly among women and mothers, is effectively examined through the lens of punctuated equilibrium. Specifically, the widespread disruption initiated by the pandemic provides an opportunity for transformative change within organizations and society. Furthermore, working women impacted during this punctuated equilibrium are likewise positioned for transformation. The authors suggest the pandemic and its impact on the formal workforce can be leveraged for individual and organizational development as well as transformation, resulting in advancement toward self-authorship and increased equity within organizations, respectively.
Originality/value
This paper offers a novel integration and application of three leadership and organization development concepts: punctuated equilibrium, the self-authorship theory and Theory U, to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women.
Details
Keywords
Melissa Farboudi-Jahromi, Asli D.A. Tasci and Sevil Sönmez
This study aims to examine the factors that influence hotel/motel employees’ helping behavior toward the victims of human trafficking.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the factors that influence hotel/motel employees’ helping behavior toward the victims of human trafficking.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a survey-based quantitative method, this study examines and compares two models of helping behavior based on egoism and altruism theories to measure the helping tendencies of lodging employees toward victims of human trafficking.
Findings
The study results show that perceived intrinsic rewards of helping and empathy with the victims are the major antecedents of employees’ likelihood to help the victims.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributed to the egoism school of thought and the Cost-Reward Model by showing that only perceived intrinsic rewards drive individuals’ intention to help in risky covert situations, such as human trafficking, while perceived extrinsic rewards may demotivate people to help in these situations.
Originality/value
Previous studies overlooked the role of the lodging industry in human trafficking. This study focuses on service employees as potential helpers of the victims as they notice in hotels/motels.
Details
Keywords
Emily M. Douglas and Kerry A. Lee
Approximately 1,750–2,000 children die in the United States annually because of child abuse or neglect. Official statistics show that women are more often the perpetrators of…
Abstract
Approximately 1,750–2,000 children die in the United States annually because of child abuse or neglect. Official statistics show that women are more often the perpetrators of abuse and neglect-related deaths, even though child welfare professionals largely attribute these deaths to men. Either acting alone or with another individual, mothers are responsible for roughly 60% of deaths and either together or alone, fathers are responsible for roughly 40% of deaths. Despite the consistency of this information, it is not widely accepted by child welfare workers – the professional group whose job it is to identify risk factors and to protect children from harm. Previous research shows that workers are more likely to believe that men are responsible for children’s deaths and that deaths are perpetrated by non-family members. In this chapter, we explore the potential explanations for workers’ misperceptions including the role of gender norms, ideology, confusion concerning how children die, and also which kinds of cases result in criminal charges and thus, shape the public’s understanding of fatal child maltreatment. Incomplete and inadequate information about the perpetration of maltreatment deaths potentially puts children at risk for future fatalities. Implications for child welfare and social service professionals, their training, and practice are discussed.
Details