{"title":"Meaning Making in Growing Up Without a Father: Narratives of Young Adolescent Boys","authors":"M. Langa","doi":"10.2174/1874922401406010056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401406010056","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores young adolescent boys' narratives and lived experiences of growing up without fathers. We conducted Individual interviews with thirty-two adolescent boys, and used discursive data analysis methods to analyse meanings that these participants made about growing up without fathers. We found that participants in the study embraced alternative voices of masculinity that were not destructive to the self and others, despite growing up without father figures. This contradicts the mainstream literature which holds that boys who grow up without fathers are highly likely to experience emotional disturbances and indulge in risk-taking behaviours.","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"56-61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89774446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Shaming Fathers into Providers: Child Support and Fatherhood in the South African Media","authors":"P. Chauke, G. Khunou","doi":"10.2174/1874922401406010018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401406010018","url":null,"abstract":"The media influence society's understanding of gender and other social phenomena including how we view fatherhood. Fatherhood is rarely presented positively in both visual and print media. Through an analysis of newspaper articles from The Sowetan, City Press, The Daily Sun and The Pretoria News, this article shows how shaming is used to represent fatherhood and child support in the South African print media. These representations, the article argues are limiting and provide fewer positives for fathers and fail to account for socio-economic challenges experienced in relation to fatherhood. In conclusion, the article illustrates that the media could play an important role in presenting a balanced sense of fatherhood, where affirmation of positive fatherhood is used as a more effective way of representing fatherhood in the media.","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"30 1","pages":"18-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87463510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"BOOK REVIEW La Grange, Zelda \"Good Morning Mr Mandela\" South Africa: Penguin Books, 2014, pp. v-367","authors":"A. Mthombeni","doi":"10.2174/1874922401406010069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401406010069","url":null,"abstract":"There are a number of books written about Nelson Mandela. ‘Good Morning Mr Mandela’ is a memoir that describes and takes the reader through the life journey and experiences of Zelda la Grange, a once secretary, personal/private assistant for the late, iconic legend, Nelson Mandela. On the one hand, the author explores her experiences from apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa and how Nelson Mandela played a major role in the shift of her world perception. On the other, she displays the kind of man that Madiba was through her lens; who he was, not only to her as his employer, but also to the rest of the world. Not only was this man a grandfather to his grandchildren, a father to his biological children but he was also a ‘father’ to those that were privileged to work with him but mainly a ‘father’ to the nation. The notion of social fathering is prominent with people of African descent. This is true for Africans in Africa, in the Latin and South Americas and in the diaspora [1, 2].","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"69-70"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91309515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
T. Kitamura, M. Uji, Zi Chen, Mikihiko Murakami, Yoshitaka Goto
{"title":"Determinants of Parenting Styles of Japanese Fathers and Mothers with Children Aged 0 to 10: Perceived Parenting During Childhood or Dysphoric Mood?","authors":"T. Kitamura, M. Uji, Zi Chen, Mikihiko Murakami, Yoshitaka Goto","doi":"10.2174/1874922401406010008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401406010008","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose: To study the determinants of current parenting styles in Japan. Methods: Fathers (n = 312) and mothers (n = 333) of children aged between 0 and 10 attending a paediatric clinic were evaluated with regards to the following: parental attitudes rated by spouses using the Parental Bonding Instrument, current dysphoric mood assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, life time history of Major Depressive Episode (MDE), and perceived parenting styles when the parents themselves were children. Results: Path models showed that current parenting styles were predicted by parents perception of maternal rearing during childhood. Moreover, in mothers only, they were predicted by the manner in which the women were raised by their fathers. This prediction was indirect, occurring via lifetime history of MDE and current dysphoric mood. Conclusion: This study suggests that the way in which parents themselves were raised was no less important than how they currently felt in determining how they were raising their child. Current dysphoric mood or lifetime history of MDE mediated such effects only among mothers.","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"17 1","pages":"8-16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73950416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Åsa Carlsund, K. Asplund, E. Sellström, Ulrika Eriksson
{"title":"Swedish Parent's Experiences of Joint Physical Custody","authors":"Åsa Carlsund, K. Asplund, E. Sellström, Ulrika Eriksson","doi":"10.2174/1874922401406010001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401406010001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: Aim: This study’s aim was to learn more about parent experiences, when living in joint physical custody with their children. Methods: The study design was descriptive, using a qualitative ...","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"98 1","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80545700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Family Influences on Adolescent Sexual Activity and Alcohol Use","authors":"T. Kao, Winifred Ann Carter","doi":"10.2174/1874922401305010010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401305010010","url":null,"abstract":"Sexual activity and alcohol use continue to have negative effects on the well-being of today's adolescents. This study used multiple regression analysis to examine relationships among personal factors, family factors, and adolescent sexual activity and alcohol use over three time points. Significant protective factors, which were inversely related to risky behavior, included general adolescent-mother communication, father and family connectedness, and disapproving parental attitudes towards sex. Permissive parenting was associated with self-efficacy for safe sex, early sexual initiation, and increased alcohol use. Health care providers should work to promote positive parent-child relationships and familial protective effects.","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"57 1","pages":"10-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84881700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Household Size and Structure in Iran: 1976-2006","authors":"A. Aghajanian, V. Thompson","doi":"10.2174/1874922401305010001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401305010001","url":null,"abstract":"In addition to significant political changes, Iran has experienced a multitude of demographic and economic changes during the last four decades (1976-2006). First, there have been somewhat dramatic changes in marriage and reproduction during this period, with a sharp lowering of fertility to replacement level, an expansion of a strong rural public health program that has increased child survival, increase in age of marriage for both males and females, and an increase in the divorce rate. These changes took place in the context of structural changes in the society, with an increase in urbanization from below 40 percent in 1976 to 68 percent in 2006 and a marked transference in the economy from an agricultural base to manufacturing and service. This paper reports on the analysis of this household transition in Iran during the 1976-2006 period in the context of other changes experienced in this period. We find that despite significant fertility transition along with other demographic and social structural changes, which are expected to lead to conjugal family patterns, as of 2006, a large proportion of households in Iran continue to have five or more members and there has been very modest decline in the share of extended households. It is not clear if this situation is due to the selectivity in continuity of large and extended co- residential households or the result of housing pressure particularly in urban areas.","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"91 1","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84029517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Relationship Between Maternal Incarceration and Foster Care Placement","authors":"Amy Lynn Dworsky, A. Harden, Robert M. Goerge","doi":"10.2174/1874922401104010117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401104010117","url":null,"abstract":"We use administrative data to examine the temporal relationship between maternal incarceration and foster care placement among incarcerated mothers and their children in Cook County, Illinois. We also compare the discharge outcomes of foster children whose mothers were incarcerated to the discharge outcomes of all foster children in Illinois. We found that more than three quarters of the children who entered foster care did so prior to the mother's first observed incarceration and that children whose mothers had been incarcerated were more likely to be adopted and less likely to be reunified than foster children generally. The implications of these findings for both the child welfare and criminal justice systems are discussed..","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"4 1","pages":"117-121"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87053421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Please Remember Me: Unintended Consequences Affecting Children of the Incarcerated","authors":"A. Cook, Robyn L. Diehl, Gabrielle Brost","doi":"10.2174/1874922401104010101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401104010101","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the ways in which one local church community responded to the devastating effects of parental incarceration. In their efforts to \"reverse the jail trail\", New Canaan International Church in Richmond, Virginia established a non-profit agency, New Jubilee to promote resilience in children and families from \"at risk environments.\" Initiatives include a partnership with the Virginia Department of Corrections to offer video visitation to inmates and families. In addition, a mentor program is available for children between the ages of 4-18 who have a parent incarcerated in a state or federal institution. The public is often misinformed about the nature and extent of crime. Media accounts tend to exacerbate this problem and fuel the public's already misinformed opinions, while politicians capitalize on the public's frequent demands that \"something be done about crime.\" Unfortunately, this \"get tough\" approach, primarily begun in the 1980's, appears to have produced unintended consequences for the children of the incarcerated in an effort to satisfy the public's demand for safer communities. Upon examination of the exploding prison population, it certainly seems that something has indeed been done - offenders have been increasingly sentenced to prison. According to the Sentencing Project, a national organization which promotes reform in sentencing, there has been a 500 percent increase in the number of prison sentences over the past thirty years. Meanwhile, interestingly enough, criminologists claim that crime at its lowest point in thirty years (1). After providing a brief review of the impact that incarceration has on children, our primary focus is to highlight the needs, resilience and coping mechanisms of these children. We provide illustrative examples of two community-based programs where the Virginia Department of Corrections and a local church in Richmond, Virginia serve the community by responding to families of the incarcerated. In general, governmental policies produce unintended consequences, both positive and negative. In his paper published in 1936 titled \"The Unintended Consequences of Purposive Social Action,\" the prominent sociologist, Robert K. Merton, analyzed unintended consequences, positing that they are unanticipated outcomes of social action. Merton (1936) popularizes the phrase \"unintended consequences\" and further describes a variety of sources for them, such as ignorance, error, immediate interest, basic values, and self-","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"77 1","pages":"101-104"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86603309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Caregivers of Children with Incarcerated Parents","authors":"A. Nesmith, Ebony L. Ruhland","doi":"10.2174/1874922401104010105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874922401104010105","url":null,"abstract":"With rising attention toward the plight of children with incarcerated parents, there has, as yet, been little focus placed on the adults who care for them, individuals who may have a profound impact on the children's relationships with their incarcerated parent. This study explores unique parenting challenges the caregivers faced, from their perspectives and presents their voices. Caregivers discussed the strain of serving as a gatekeeper between the child and imprisoned parent, coping with stigma and isolation, and negotiating a predominantly child-unfriendly visitation system. The findings suggest that caregivers need information about raising a child in this context, connections with others in similar situations, and a more child-friendly and transparent judicial and visitation process.","PeriodicalId":75160,"journal":{"name":"The open family studies journal","volume":"40 1","pages":"105-116"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77459202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}