Suchergebnisse

AbstractBackgroundThe aim of this Flemish study (Dutch speaking part of Belgium) is to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention based on the social learning theory for foster parents who take care of a foster child (ages 3–12) with externalizing problem behaviour (a borderline or clinical score on the externalizing broad‐band or on one of the externalizing problems scales of the Child Behaviour Checklist), with respect to breakdown, foster children's externalizing problems and foster mothers' parenting stress.MethodsA randomized controlled trial was used to compare, at baseline, post‐intervention and three‐month follow‐up, an intervention group (n = 30) with a treatment as usual control group (n = 33) consisting of foster parents of new placements recruited via a routine screening or on‐going placements signed up by their foster care worker. The intervention consists of 10 home sessions.ResultsThe intervention had significant small short‐term en large long‐term effects on externalizing problems and medium short‐term and long‐term effects on parenting stress. No significant effects were found on the breakdown rate.ConclusionsGiving the evidence for its effects on foster children's externalizing and foster mothers' parenting stress, implementation of this foster parent intervention might increase the effectiveness of foster care.

AbstractExisting research demonstrates that parent and child gender may influence important aspects of family relationships; however, most research in this area has been conducted with non‐clinical samples. As clinicians, it is important to consider how gender impacts family relationships, particularly among vulnerable families. This study examined the intersections of gender role attitudes and parenting practices among 34 parents involved with the child welfare system and referred for clinical intervention. Using a mixed methods design, themes regarding gender role beliefs and parenting practices were found through qualitative interviews with parents. Findings suggested that fathers felt responsible for financially providing for their families and expressed challenges in communicating with mothers, and mothers described challenges they face because of a lack of father involvement. Parents also discussed a perceived need to monitor daughters closely while fostering the independence of their sons. Results of the qualitative analyses were supported by quantitative findings indicating significant differences in harsh and inconsistent discipline practices and clear expectations for girls compared to boys. The discussion addresses implications for clinicians, including how a feminist family therapy perspective may help promote client influence over traditional gender norms by questioning gender role attitudes and exploring alternate narratives that may impact family dynamics.

Abstract
The equivocation of the private life of Elizabethan and Jacobean subjects with the public life of monarchy and state endowed mothers with an import, and therefore a power, not previously acknowledged. These changes provoked a fear of female disruption to patriarchal structures which found its way onto Shakespeare's stage by the representation of mothers as 'unnatural' agents of chaos, associated with witchcraft, murder, dangerous ambition, and infidelity; if not by complete absence, which "posits the sacrifice of the mother's desire as the basis of the ideal society" (Rose, 1991: 313). I suggest that in the late romances, specifically The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, Shakespeare found a form that could demonstrate the complexity of the mother's position, while still resolving the action with a satisfactory ending that presented a stable continuation of patriarchal lineage. The fathers rely on a fantasy of parthenogenesis to relocate the role of the mother in themselves, ensuring the children are free from her corruptive influence and the bloodlines are safe. However, as all themes return to maternity - chastity, fertility, lineage for example - the fantasy of eradicating the mother is shown to be limited even in the artificial realm of the romance.

Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood. Less is known regarding how maternal ACEs relate to perinatal depressive symptoms or the intergenerational effect of maternal childhood trauma history on birth outcomes and infant functioning. To address this gap, an at-risk sample of 398 pregnant women was recruited from Women, Infants, and Children health clinics. Participants completed a prenatal ( M = 4.84 months before due date) and postnatal ( M = 6.76 months after birth) assessment and provided birth outcome data. At the prenatal assessment, mothers completed an ACEs measure which assessed experiences of childhood maltreatment and household dysfunction. Self-report measures of maternal depressive symptoms were obtained at both time points. Mothers reported on infant socioemotional functioning at 6 months. Maternal ACEs predicted higher levels of prenatal depressive symptoms. Childhood maltreatment experiences, in particular, predicted higher postnatal depressive symptoms and a smaller reduction in depressive symptoms across the perinatal period. Regarding intergenerational associations, maternal childhood maltreatment directly predicted higher levels of maladaptive infant socioemotional symptoms, whereas maternal household dysfunction indirectly related to infant socioemotional symptoms through maternal age at first pregnancy and infant birth weight. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data to examine the association of cumulative trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorder (SUD) with the probability of arrest in a sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged African American and Latino mothers ( N = 158). Results revealed that 34% of the sample had a history of arrest. Logistic regression revealed that cumulative trauma was significantly and positively associated with the likelihood of arrest. Exposure to increasing numbers of traumas contributed to greater odds of arrest, as much as 62% for each additional trauma exposure. Moreover, binary mediation analyses revealed that PTSD and SUD exerted an intervening influence on the pathway between cumulative trauma and the probability of arrest. Women with a lifetime history of PTSD or SUD were 5–6 times more likely to be arrested than women without either disorder. Lifetime PTSD and lifetime SUD were partial mediators of the association between cumulative trauma exposure and arrest, accounting for 63% of the variance. These findings have important implications for intervention efforts geared toward helping young racial/ethnic minority mothers, especially those with PTSD and SUD, manage the distress and impairment that may contribute to criminal justice involvement.

Dog puppies are born in a state of large neural immaturity; therefore, the nervous system is sensitive to environmental influences early in life. In primates and rodents, early experiences, such as maternal care, have been shown to have profound and lasting effects on the later behaviour and physiology of offspring. We hypothesised that this would also be the case for dogs with important implications for the breeding of working dogs. In the present study, variation in the mother-offspring interactions of German Shepherd dogs within the Swedish breeding program for military working dogs was studied by video recording 22 mothers with their litters during the first three weeks postpartum. The aim was to classify mothers with respect to their level of maternal care and to investigate the effect of this care on pup behaviour in a standardised temperament test carried out at approximately 18 months of age. The results show that females differed consistently in their level of maternal care, which significantly affected the adult behaviour of the offspring, mainly with respect to behaviours classified as Physical and Social Engagement, as well as Aggression. Taking maternal quality into account in breeding programs may therefore improve the process of selecting working dogs.

Teenage pregnancies and teenage motherhood are a cause for concern worldwide. From a historical point of view, teenage pregnancies are nothing new. For much of human history, it was absolutely common that girls married during their late adolescence and experienced first birth during their second decade of life. This kind of reproductive behavior was socially desired and considered as normal. Nowadays, however, the prevention of teenage pregnancies and teenage motherhood is a priority for public health in nearly all developed and increasingly in developing countries. For a long time, teenage pregnancies were associated with severe medical problems; however, most of data supporting this viewpoint have been collected some decades ago and reflect mainly the situation of per se socially disadvantaged teenage mothers. According to more recent studies, teenage pregnancies are not per se risky ones. A clear risk group are extremely young teenage mothers (younger than 15 years) who are confronted with various medical risks, such as preeclampsia, preterm labor, and small for gestational age newborns but also marked social disadvantage, such as poverty, unemployment, low educational level, and single parenting. In the present study, the prevalence and outcome of teenage pregnancies in Austria are focused on.

Dog puppies are born in a state of large neural immaturity; therefore, the nervous system is sensitive to environmental influences early in life. In primates and rodents, early experiences, such as maternal care, have been shown to have profound and lasting effects on the later behaviour and physiology of offspring. We hypothesised that this would also be the case for dogs with important implications for the breeding of working dogs. In the present study, variation in the mother-offspring interactions of German Shepherd dogs within the Swedish breeding program for military working dogs was studied by video recording 22 mothers with their litters during the first three weeks postpartum. The aim was to classify mothers with respect to their level of maternal care and to investigate the effect of this care on pup behaviour in a standardised temperament test carried out at approximately 18 months of age. The results show that females differed consistently in their level of maternal care, which significantly affected the adult behaviour of the offspring, mainly with respect to behaviours classified as Physical and Social Engagement, as well as Aggression. Taking maternal quality into account in breeding programs may therefore improve the process of selecting working dogs.

Breastfeeding has become a subject of moral concern as its benefits have become well known. Encouraging mothers to breastfeed has been the goal of extensive public health promotion efforts. Emmanuel Levinas makes absolute responsibility to the Other central to his ethics, with giving food to the Other the paradigmatic ethical act. However, Levinas also provides an important critique of the autonomous individual who is taken for granted by breastfeeding promotion efforts. I argue that the ethical obligation to feed the hungry child must be recognized as coextensive with meeting the needs of women, especially given the current absence of important social and economic supports for breastfeeding. Under a Levinasian framework, each of us is ethically responsible for feeding children; this responsibility is not limited to mothers. This ethical responsibility needs to be expressed through improving social and economic supports necessary for those individuals who wish to breastfeed, instead of attempting to convince women to breastfeed. This ethical responsibility must also be understood in a broader context of a politics of hunger, which provides access to quality food for all, and goes beyond mere nutrition to include the importance of culture, touch, and intimacy in the enjoyment of food—what Levinas calls "good soup."

Inhalt -- Vorwort -- 1 Einleitung -- 1.1 Relevanz des Themas -- 1.2 Verschärfung der Vereinbarkeitsthematik, familiärer Wandel und die materielle Lage von Familien -- 1.3 Handlungsmodell -- 1.4 Aufbau der Arbeit -- Literatur -- 2 Bedürftigkeit von Müttern: Dauer des Leistungsbezugs im SGB II und Ausstiegschancen -- Zusammenfassung -- 2.1 Einleitung -- 2.2 Konzeptuelle Überlegungen, Forschungsstand und Hypothesen -- 2.2.1 Wandel der Familie und Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Erwerbstätigkeit -- 2.2.2 Dynamische Armutsforschung und SGB-II-Bezug -- 2.2.3 Forschungsstand zu Transferbezug von Familien -- 2.2.4 Hypothesen -- 2.3 Datenbasis und Methoden -- 2.4 Deskriptive Ergebnisse -- 2.5 Ergebnisse der multivariaten Analyse -- 2.6 Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse -- 2.7 Ausblick -- Literatur -- 3 After recent policy reforms in Germany: Probability and determinants of labour market integration of lone mothers and mothers with a partner who receive welfare benefits -- Abstract -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Policy Reforms in Germany: towards an adult worker model? -- 3.2.1 German gender arrangement and trends in German Family Policy -- 3.2.2 Social Policy: Reform of basic income support in 2005 -- 3.3 Benefit receipt, poverty and labour market participation in a family and gender context -- 3.3.1 Welfare benefit receipt and labour market participation of families -- 3.3.2 Theoretical framework and hypotheses -- 3.4 Data and Methods -- 3.5 Descriptive Results -- 3.6 Multivariate results -- 3.7 Discussion -- 3.8 Conclusion -- References -- 4 Individuelles Arbeitsmarktverhalten und Überwindung der Bedürftigkeit von Müttern im SGB II: Analyse eines zweistufigen Prozesses -- 4.1 Einleitung -- 4.2 Theoretischer Rahmen und Hypothesen -- 4.3 Daten und Methoden -- 4.4 Ergebnisse: Inzidenz von Arbeitsaufnahmen und damit einhergehender Bedarfsdeckung

Objectives. Grandparents play an important role in looking after grandchildren, although intensive grandparental childcare varies considerably across Europe. Few studies have explicitly investigated the extent to which such cross-national variations are associated with national level differences in individual demographic and socio-economic distributions along with contextual-structural and cultural factors (e.g., variations in female labor force participation, childcare provision, and cultural attitudes).

Methods. We used multilevel models to examine associations between intensive grandparental childcare and contextual-structural and cultural factors, after controlling for grandparent, parent, and child characteristics using nationally representative data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.

Results. Even controlling for cross-national differences in demographic and socio-economic distributions, contextual-structural factors play an important role in explaining grandparental childcare variations in Europe. In particular, higher levels of intensive grandparental childcare are found in countries with low labor force participation among younger and older women, and low formal childcare provision, where mothers in paid work largely rely on grandparental support on an almost daily basis.

Discussion. Encouraging older women to remain in paid work is likely to have an impact on grandchild care which in turn may affect mothers' employment, particularly in Southern European countries where there is little formal childcare.

Pronatalism expects and presumes that all women will be mothers, and stereotypes, stigmatises and excludes those who fail to conform. Yet, within the context of pronatalism, little is known about women without children's attitudes towards motherhood, and their subsequent childbearing. This study aimed to determine if women's attitudes towards children and motherhood predicted future motherhood status, using data from the Negotiating the Life Course Study. Women 18 years and over at Wave 1, who did not have children, were included in the analysis (n = 122). Logistic regression was used to predict motherhood status at Wave 4 based on attitudes at Wave 1. A positive attitude toward the importance of children in one's life increased the likelihood of future motherhood, while believing children negatively impact on freedom increased the likelihood of not future childlessness. Findings also suggested that attitudes relating to the burden of children, or the impact of children on a woman's career, are similar for those who do and do not become mothers. Women's attitudes towards children and motherhood may be a poor predictor of future childlessness. This study counters some of the negative attitudinal stereotypes towards childless women in a pronatalist society.

There is currently no quantitative tool for measuring paternal involvement in childcare and housework. To address this, we run Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on a sample of households from the 2001-02 sweep of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study. Two quantitative measures of paternal involvement in childcare and housework are derived for when the child is aged nine months old, which appear to be isomorphic with two dimensions of Michael Lamb's paternal involvement: engagement and responsibility. Two, moderately correlated latent variables are produced, which are then used to explore employment and socio-demographic characteristics of involved fathers. Our results show that paternal engagement and responsibility are correlated, albeit weakly, with fathers' employment hours, education and gender role attitudes. The strongest correlation is with mothers' employment hours, which suggests that mothers' employment schedules are more important than fathers' for fostering paternal involvement when the child is aged nine months old. There are also variations in paternal engagement and responsibility according to ethnicity, which suggests cultural differences might interact with the ability of fathers to be involved. This highlights the need for further exploratory analyses on variations of paternal involvement by different ethnic classifications, which has been fairly limited to date.

In this essay, I am interested in the possibilities of maternal autobiography in court documents. I focus specifically on the trial records of mothers charged with infanticide between 1700 and 1800. Drawing on the Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913, I consider these narratives both through the lenses of legal and social histories of infanticide, and in relation to Marlene Kadar et al.'s notion of "autobiographical traces," fragmentary stories that emerge when pieces of individual lives are stitched together with the historical, social and political context in which they emerged. The fragments I explore in this essay include not only the limited textual interventions of the accused mothers themselves, as they took the stand to speak in their defense, but also their silences and erasures. In addition to this, I consider the autobiographical potential of these women's actions and behaviours, as witnessed and deposed by those called to the stand. Finally, I consider the stories of self that emerge from the reproductive and maternal body; that is, I am interested in the ways that bodily stories and understandings inevitably complicate textual and behavioural narratives. This article was submitted to the European Journal of Life Writing on 15 September 2014 and published on 25 June 2015.

AbstractWhen interacting with infants, human adults modify their behaviours in an exaggerated manner. Previous studies have demonstrated that infant‐directed modification affects the infant's behaviour. However, little is known about how infant‐directed modification is elicited during infant–parent interaction. We investigated whether and how the infant's behaviour affects the mother's action during an interaction. We recorded three‐dimensional information of cup movements while mothers demonstrated a cup‐nesting task during interaction with their infants aged 11 to 13 months. Analyses revealed that spatial characteristics of the mother's task demonstration clearly changed depending on the infant's object manipulation. In particular, the variance in the distance that the cup was moved decreased after the infant's cup nesting and increased after the infant's task‐irrelevant manipulation (e.g. cup banging). This pattern was not observed for mothers with 6‐ to 8‐month‐olds, who do not have the fine motor skill to perform the action. These results indicate that the infant's action skill dynamically affects the infant‐directed action and suggest that the mother is sensitive to the infant's potential to learn a novel action.A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNS2IHwLIhg&feature=youtu.be