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One of the principal features of the family is the interdependence among its members and among relationships. This complexity challenges family researchers from a methodological point of view: they have to find and implement the most suitable research strategy to preserve the family's relational specificity. How do researchers handle this complexity? What research designs have been devised? What unit of analysis has been used? How many and which types of family relationships have been investigated? In order to answer these questions, we conducted a systematic review of recently published studies (2003-2013) on the family, and we analyzed two special issues on methodology. The results show that there is a general increase in interest on family topics and on methodological-relational issues. However, most of the studies adopt an individual perspective and do not take interdependence into account. Suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses women's strategies during the economic reforms with a focus on housing policies. It uses the housing issue to address the importance of identifying impacts on both women as individuals and as family members when evaluating development programs. A case study of a family in Cairo illustrates the issues involved. The paper then considers modifications for impact assessment of programs so that the concept of end user is broadened to include the woman and the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dwelling implies the establishment of a meaningful relationship between people and a given environment. Through physical spaces, people identify and orient themselves by symbolically expressing the meaning of social–cultural behavior. This paper examines the spatial meanings in the traditional Chinese family by analyzing the placement and arrangement of walls and courtyards. Specifically, this paper studies how physical space was defined and developed within the Chinese family by the spatial articulation of human relationships and the functions of daily life and how these spatial arrangements reinforced family hierarchies through purposeful separation and togetherness. The findings reveal that through binding together the family relationship and spatial concerns, Confucian discourses and practice were attached to the daily life of every Chinese. In addition, this study indicates that the primary concern in a Chinese house was not togetherness but separateness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to test the hypotheses that (1) similar to other positive pre- and post-natal outcomes, Mexican immigrant mothers are more likely to breastfeed, and to breastfeed longer, than white or Mexican-American mothers; and (2) acculturation accounts for the ethnic/nativity differential in breastfeeding initiation and duration. The results support both hypotheses. Mexican immigrants to the U.S. are much more likely than whites to breastfeed, and to breastfeed longer. Mexican-American mothers, after controlling for background characteristics, have similar initiation and duration to whites. Using expanded acculturation measures developed for this paper, acculturation accounts for some of the difference between whites and Mexican immigrants in breastfeeding initiation, and much of the difference for breastfeeding duration. The results suggest that low levels of acculturation operate to protect Mexican immigrants from choosing to formula-feed, which gives their babies many health advantages, and may be associated with better health outcomes across the life course. The results also suggest that successive generations of Mexican immigrants may abandon breastfeeding, which is deleterious for their infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family scholars have developed a greater sensitivity to the relative neglect of families of color in research. However, there are a number of limitations in the research on families of color; specifically, race and ethnicity are often confounded with socioeconomic indicators and community of residence. This makes it difficult to identify the true effects of ethnicity and culture. In addition, race and ethnicity may interact with chronic poverty in such a way as to further interfere with and reduce life opportunities. Here we discuss some of the theoretical and conceptual issues pertaining to race, ethnicity, and culture as they affect family functioning and children's development. In addition, we introduce a collection of papers that address family functioning and children's development among families who are diverse ethnically, racially, socioeconomically, and by geographical location and community. The issues posed in this paper and in the Special Section challenge the field to reconsider how we study families and child development from culturally grounded perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper confronts Georg Simmel's distinction between the dyad and the triad with the phenomenological analysis of analogous structures undertaken by E. Lévinas, B. Waldenfels, and J.-L. Marion. Simmel insists on keeping the dyad and the triad apart while only the triad is considered worthy of sociological research. On the contrary, phenomenologists reveal deep interrelation between the relationship with the other and the third party where the latter is actually co-present in the dyad. The presupposed link between the two and the three implies a different understanding of sociality that would respect its members in their uniqueness, unlike the world of interchangeable individualities common for social science. The third party can appear as the dimension of law and the ordinary (in Waldenfels), as the other of the other and the figure of humanity (in Lévinas), or as the child in the case of erotic relationship (in Marion). The last aspect of the third party provides a link to family studies. A brief outline of the situation illustrates oscillation between the triadic and dyadic interpretations of the family with the apparent prevalence of the dyad in recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research, constituting secondary data analysis of a current Economic and Social Research Council funded programme of research with parents with disabled children in two areas in Northern England, responds to policy and practice prescriptions for family support services to be responsive and inclusive to a diversity of parenting situations (Department for Education and Skills, 2003; Social Services Inspectorate, 2004). An innovative research methodology, involving the collaborative analysis of a social work researcher and disability studies researcher, was used to gain a more holistic understanding of the issues in working with social work populations by investigating the concerns of a normative population. Findings identified a number of barriers to inclusion even for mainstream disabled families, particularly in the area of parent-social worker communication. The paper provides an initial contribution to current social work concerns of the need to improve the theoretical underpinning of 'specialist social work communication skills' for different practice settings (Social Care Institute for Excellence, 2004) by identifying communication issues and skills for work with parents of disabled children. Moreover, as secondary analysis of qualitative data is rarely reported, the paper provides a useful commentary on this type of research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on findings from a study of outcomes for young people leaving care funded by the Department for Education and Skills. It explores the informal support networks available to a sample of 106 young people over a period of 12-15 months after leaving care. It examines patterns of contact with birth families and caregivers, the support that emanated from these links and the strategies of leaving care professionals to strengthen these connections. It also considers the new families created by many young people through relationships with partners and the onset of parenthood and discusses the continuing support needs of young parents. The paper situates the needs and experiences of care leavers in a wider youth transitions framework and highlights the need for continuing professional attention to be given to strengthening family links as one strategy for helping care leavers to negotiate the transition to adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As newcomers on college campuses, family policy courses have the potential to benefit policymaking, fill a void in undergraduate and graduate education, strengthen families, and prepare students for lifelong political engagement during a pivotal period in their development. Yet, family policy has proven a challenging course to teach. Family policy is an esoteric concept, which makes courses difficult to distinguish from other policy courses. The content of a family policy course is fluid and inherently value laden. This paper proposes course content and teaching techniques to transform these challenges into learning opportunities. The author discusses similarities and differences in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses and recommends cross-university dialogue and resource exchange to improve the teaching of family policy in college classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's education has become an important part of urban family consumption, and the rapid expansion of private tutoring schools and supplemental lessons has constituted a big part of the children's education market. Taking the perspective of family studies and using China Education Panel Survey (2013–2014) data, this paper explores the relationship between family structure, parenthood, and the consumption of children's education. This research shows that family investment in children's education exhibits dual characteristics of instrumental rationality and emotional expression; children from one-child families, living with both parents and receiving more attention and affection from their parents, have more educational opportunities outside of school; girls receive more advantage over boys. Meanwhile, social class differences in the consumption of children's education are significant. Middle-class families have greater education expectation and will invest more in children's education, displaying a significantly stratified preference in supplemental lessons. These findings illustrate the need to take a new look at family studies and consumption research regarding the issue of child education consumption in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the effects of inter-generational transmission of resources and of the pooling of resources within families on the transition into first-time home-ownership of couples, using detailed life-course data from the 1992/3 Netherlands Family Survey. Strong relationships are found between the socioeconomic characteristics and wealth - particularly self-employment and home-ownership - of the parents of both members of the couple and home-ownership of the couple. Parents who are self-employed or own a home have more opportunities than parents who rent their home to help their children financially and they do, in fact, provide help substantially more often. Socialization towards home-ownership arguably also plays a role. The results further show that the cumulation of home-ownership within families is increased by assortative mating. If the parents of one of the members of the couple own a house, or offer help, the probability that the other partner's parents also own a house or offer help increases. With regard to the partners' own characteristics, the current work status, self-employment, and education of the man are more important than those of the woman, but the socioeconomic status of the woman is found to be almost as important as that of the man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are bibliometric studies of journals in various fields, the field of family studies remains unexplored. Using the bibliometric metrics of the two-year and five-year Journal Impact Factors, the H-index, and the newly revised CiteScore, this paper examines the relationships among these metrics in a bibliometric study of forty-four representative family studies journals. The citation data were drawn from Journal Citation Reports, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The correlation analysis found strong positive relationships on the metrics. Despite the strong correlations, discrepancies in rank orders of the journals were found. A possible explanation of noticeable discrepancy in rankings was provided, and the implications of the study for stakeholders were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the different aspects of change in familial culture. It looks at how family relationships remain of great consequence in contemporary Britain, notwithstanding the changes there have been. It also discusses the conceptual differences between household and family, specifically distinguishing the dynamics of household demography from the family as a solidaristic network of members, some of whom at times live in the same household. Moreover, it discusses some influential theories of family change which suggest that the growth of individualism undermines family solidarity.

This paper suggests that most, if not all, prior research findings concerning a nonlinear relationship between marital satisfaction and stages of the family life cycle may be based on statistical artifacts arising from inadequate protection against type I errors. It then provides guidelines for avoiding such errors and demonstrates how these affect interpretations of data in a recent study. Because of the very weak relationships that are typically found in such studies, it is suggested that the family lifecycle model is not a viable conceptual tool for the explanation of a large number of quality of life indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Division of labor in wedding planning varies for first-time marriages, with three types of couples—traditional, transitional, and egalitarian—identified, but nothing is known about wedding planning for remarrying individuals. Using semistructured interviews, the author interviewed 14 couples in which at least one person had remarried and used directed content analysis to investigate the extent to which the aforementioned typology could be transferred to this different context. In this paper she describes how a triangulation of analytic techniques provided validation for couple classifications and also helped with moving beyond "blind spots" in data analysis. Analytic approaches were the constant comparative technique, rank order comparison, and visual representation of coding, using MAXQDA 2007's tool called TextPortraits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Change has transformed societies globally through the spread of education, the evolution of formal labor markets and the new roles individuals now play in the development of their societies. Just as economic institutions have been affected so have social institutions like the family, been transformed. Urbanization has led to the disintegration of the joint family to the independent, small, nuclear family. With residential autonomy and lack of control from the joint family elders, divorce rates have been rising universally. This paper studies the trend of Divorce in Kuwaiti Society. Kuwait is an oil rich Gulf state where rapid economic development has been witnessed for over four decades. Urbanization and the Governments' Welfare policies have helped young married couples to move to new areas and establish their homes. While social allowances for wife, children, etc were intended to help the Kuwaiti family, cope with the rising cost of living, divorce rates did not decline. Through Vital Statistics, data from the court of Justice and past research, the paper tries to examine the characteristics of those getting divorced. What factors have had an effect on this trend -- education, age at marriage, women's labor force participation? How has the State attempted to help divorced women to readjust? Modernization has led to contradictions and challenges -- weakening of the family support systems, legal reforms and a new awareness of rights and duties among the two sexes. How can these changes shed light on the problem of divorce? This study attempts to explain why divorce is a problem in Kuwait and some possible solutions to reduce the negative impact of divorce on future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose- This paper aims to explore international training and development policies and practices in Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). The issues examined in this study include pre-departure and post-arrival training for expatriates and their spouse and families, training for host-country nationals (HCNs), reasons for Chinese MNEs not providing adequate training and the approaches of Chinese MNEs to international management development. Design/methodology/approach- This paper used a semi-structured, interview-based survey for collecting data from ten Chinese MNEs. The case companies consist of a range of industries and economic ownership types. A total of 30 in-depth interviews involving general managers, HR managers at headquarters and executive managers in subsidiaries were carried out. Findings- The paper reveals that Chinese MNEs provide only limited training to expatriates and other nationals, and lack a systematic international management development system. They adopt usually an ethnocentric approach to international training and development, and provide different levels of international training and management development for HCNs and PCNs. Research limitations/implications- The paper has many issues, especially those relating to the organizational determinates of international training and management development, their impact on organizational performance, and the effect of different approaches to training and development on different nationals; these require further investigation. Originality/value- the paper shows that HRM in Chinese MNEs has not been much considered. This study has examined a selection of international training and management development issues in Chinese MNEs that have not been reported in the literature to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the change of generational relations in Germany based on demographic development. It is said that demographic index numbers have significant meanings for explaining structure and development of generational relations in families. Birth, marriage, separation and divorce are factors which substantially determine family and partnership structures. During the second half of the twentieth century, the change of timing of childbirth in the life-course, the lengthened life expectancy, and the increased numbers of separations and divorces are three important factors affecting intergenerational family structure significantly. In this paper, it is shown that these demographic factors changed the structure of generations. Specifically, the changing role of grandparents in the family as well as the changing nature of contact between generations are delineated.

This article discusses the theme of the research papers presented in the Autumn 2004 issue of the "Journal of Comparative Family Studies." The journal issue comprises seven papers which discuss the intergenerational relations between youth and their families. The papers present issues such as intergenerational transmission, conflict and interaction patterns between generations, and structural and cultural variations of youth decisions. All papers are based on empirical data of large sample sizes, and quantitative analysis is the common method used to delineate the intergenerational interaction pattern among youth families. Policy implications are also discussed, with relevant research findings to substantiate the stated proposals.

This paper examines the departure from parental home in two European countries: Italy and West Germany. A common trend toward longer education and marriage delay has had, in the two societies, different residential outcomes. Cohort comparisons indicate that two different pathways out of the parental home emerged: Italians wait for marriage, while Germans increasingly depart for premarital independence. In this paper, the author argues that the timing of and the reasons for leaving home differ according to the resources available, but relate also to the existing cultural values and institutional contexts. Moreover, this paper also points out some important within-country differences, above all gender and regional variation.

This paper examines intergenerational value transmission between Taiwanese parents and their teenage children. Child rearing values, revised from Kohn's scale with cultural concerns considered, are used to test the expected relationship. An attempt is also made to test the Western work socialization hypothesis in shaping parental child rearing values in Taiwan. It is argued in this paper that besides the manifest effect of parent's occupation, the social norms imbedded may serve a more powerful explanation and should be taken into account. The paper further intends to delineate an indigenous classification of social class in a society like Taiwan, to incorporate cultural elements such as traditional social values and sex-role attitudes in the analysis, and to present comparative research results in line with previous efforts on the value transmission in the family.

The article presents information about the 2004 Family Conference, held in Singapore. The Australian Institute of family Studies participated in the conference that was held to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family (IYF). The IYF celebrations culminated in a two-day Family Conference followed by a Family Festival. The Family Conference was organized by Singapore's Committee on the Family, the IYF taskforce, and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. The conference comprised two parts: a Regional Family Policy Forum and Family Matters Seminar. Speakers from various countries were nominated to present papers and to join in panel discussions which involved considerable audience participation. The article discusses various issues raised in the papers presented at the Regional Family Policy Forum. In total, nine papers were presented during the Forum. Considerable consistency in findings or conclusions emerged not only within the three sessions but also across these sessions.

The term "childless" is highly problematic. Attempts to split it into "voluntary" and "involuntary" may appear to give more detail on context, but the differentiation can be misleading. The condition of "-less" has negative connotations and implies "missing" something; possibly something which is "natural." The term "childfree" has been employed as an alternative expression which denotes active choice, freedom, and emancipation. Few studies, however, have explored how individuals refer to themselves, or how they interpret—or even care—about these distinctions. Such existing studies only explore the use of these English expressions among speakers of English as their primary language. This exploratory qualitative study explores how women without children define themselves in their native language in an Asian setting—Cantonese in Hong Kong. It also explores how such women interpret the various terms developed in English to describe their circumstances. Respondents refer to themselves in neutral, factual terms—literally "without children." Others make an explicit link between being unmarried and childless status. While respondents find the English expression of "childfree" positive, they do not express a strong need to either deploy it in English, nor "develop" a Cantonese equivalent. The study provides further evidence that "labels" generated and applied by academics in one context and in one language may not be universally applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the Australian Institute on Family Studies' Housing Across the Life Course project. This paper set out to illustrate how the key concepts of a risk society might become manifest in contemporary Australian housing careers. This led to a consideration of whether entry to home purchase shows signs of increased differentiation and disconnectedness. Analysis reveals no evidence of increased differentiation; on the contrary, the age-related norm of entry to home ownership appears to be strengthening. That is, entry to home ownership by later cohorts is increasingly likely to have been attained within a narrower span of years than earlier cohorts. The data suggest that if individuals have not entered home ownership by their early thirties, they are increasingly unlikely to do so. With regard to disconnectedness, analysis found that entry to home ownership is becoming increasingly disconnected from other life course events. The paper has provided brief illustrations of the manifestation of risk society concepts and what they might mean for our understanding of family life.

This paper explores the potential role of family socioeconomic factors in school achievement outcomes at two separate periods in the life course-early in childhood and during late adolescence. Using data from an 18-year longitudinal study of families and their children which provides measures of parental socioeconomic characteristics across this entire period, we examine several issues related to the influence of early and late family factors on achievement outcomes assessed during the period of the completion of secondary schooling. We examine the extent to which differing conclusions are reached through the use of parental socioeconomic variables assessed during these two periods, and we explore the question of the relative impact of these two sets of influences. Our results indicate that in part due to the inter temporal consistency of some socioeconomic variables, most relationships are quite similar using either the early or later variables. While these patterns make it very difficult in some instances to ascertain the relative effects of early and late socioeconomic factors, our analytic results point to a potentially stronger role of early socioeconomic factors in cognitive development and school learning. In a single instance-the case of family size-we find independent effects on school achievement from both early and late socioeconomic experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper growth rates, marriage patterns, fertility, mortality, population composition and urbanization in England and her American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are compared. The purpose is to see whether the colonists perpetuated English demographic patterns in the New World, or whether new environments led to new behaviour. The results are derived from numerous local studies, often based on family reconstitution. Taking into account regional variations in America, colonial demographic patterns were quite different from those in the mother country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper effects of censored variables on estimates of genetic and environmental influences were studied. Analytic results showed that with 50% censoring, about 15–20% of the variance may be attributed to the wrong source and that this amount increases rapidly with more than 70% censoring. Censoring effects on comparisons between different genetic studies, subgroups within a study (e.g., sex or age groups), or different behaviors (e.g., the heritabilities of delinquency and depression) were also examined. Results indicated that censoring may be quite influential for these kinds of comparisons. For instance, it was demonstrated that, especially for unstandardized solutions, small initial group differences in means can lead to seriously biased conclusions concerning the resemblance in biometric parameters. Finally, a simulation study supported the applicability of the general analytical results and showed that summed scores of censored Likert-type items may be seriously affected by censoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on various studies related to dyslexia and their comparisons. Jean M. Healy and Dorothy M. Aram use family histories in their study of hyperlexia and its relation to dyslexia. Based on their investigation of twelve children with hyperlexia, they conclude that, like dyslexia, hyperlexia has familial and sex-related elements, although the link between the two remains speculative. They suggest that further research into this rare condition, clearly related to autism, may prove useful in extending the knowledge of the genetic and neurological factors affecting language ability. The effect of learning disabilities on psychological growth is the focus of Jonathon Cohen's paper. Bobbie H. Jones focuses on the educational and emotional needs of gifted dyslexics. The effect of training based on subtypes is the topic of Christina A. M. Fiedorowicz's paper. Training in this study, including computer-assisted instruction, emphasized accuracy and speed of response and was designed to address specific subtype skill deficits. Fiedoro-wicz found this training to be effective in improving component reading skills and suggests that further research in this area may prove fruitful in determining the most effective and efficient training methods for children with specific disability subtypes.

Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension programs rely on the expertise of qualified FCS educators to impact individuals, families, and communities through community-based educational programs. Due to a crucial shortage of FCS educators, it is challenging to hire to hire qualified FCS extension educators to fill vacancies in some areas of the country. The purpose of this paper is to discuss findings of a study of perceptions of FCS Extension Program Leaders on future supply and demand issues of FCS extension educators. Strategies for recruitment to ensure career pathways for qualified employees are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Seminare Learned Investigations / Seminare. Poszukiwania naukowe is the property of Francis de Sales Scientific Society / Towarzystwo Naukowe Franciszka Salezego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents the comments on sociologist Martin King Whyte's study entitled "Family Role Differentiation and Women's Subsistence Contribution." Perhaps the place to begin is to point out that Whyte has presented only a partial version of sociologist George P. Murdock's 1937 table. A different conclusion arises from reading that table as a whole, his associated comments and his more explicit statements in his 1949 book. Similarly, Whyte claims that sociologists Joel Aronoff and W.D. Crano misuse the original sources. It is particularly illogical to believe that Aronoff and Crano would think that they could hide evidence from a source, which they cite and that is accessible to all. Of course they know that the literature is full of statements such as this. That is why they wrote the paper. If the references that Aronoff and Crano cite are not sufficient for Whyte to believe that the field indeed has coded the phenomena in the way that Aronoff and Crano outlined, it hardly seems possible that an additional dozen references would be more convincing.

Drawing on original empirical research, this paper presents a comparative and comprehensive portrait of household composition, size and structure in Southeast Asia, using data from various rounds of Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). Countries included in the analyses are Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. Findings point to similarities across countries in the region on some aspects of household such as household structure. However there are important differences in other aspects such as household headship. Overall, the findings show both the diversity and similarities in households in Southeast Asia. The findings are interpreted by situating them within the broader historical, cultural, social and demographic frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The battered women's movement in the United States contributed to a sweeping change in the recognition of men's violence against female intimate partners. Naming the problem and arguing in favor if its identification as a serious problem meriting a collective response were key aspects of this effort. Criminal and civil laws have been written and revised in an effort to answer calls to take such violence seriously. Scholars have devoted significant attention to the consequences of this reframing of violence, especially around the unintended outcomes of the incorporation of domestic violence into criminal justice regimes. Family law, however, has remained largely unexamined by criminologists. This paper calls for criminological attention to family law responses to domestic violence and provides directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Array CGH has recently been introduced into our laboratory in place of karyotype analysis for patients with suspected genomic imbalance. Results require confirmation to check sample identity, and analysis of parental samples to determine inheritance and thus assess the clinical significance of the abnormality. Here we describe an MLPA-based strategy for the follow-up of abnormal aCGH results. Results: In the first 17 months of our MLPA-based aCGH follow-up service, 317 different custom MLPA probes for novel aCGH-detected abnormalities were developed for inheritance studies in 164 families. In addition, 110 samples were tested for confirmation of aCGH-detected abnormalities in common syndromic or subtelomeric regions using commercial MLPA kits. Overall, a total of 1215 samples have been tested by MLPA. A total of 72 de novo abnormalities were confirmed. Conclusions: Confirmation of aCGH-detected abnormalities and inheritance of these abnormalities are essential for accurate diagnosis and interpretation of aCGH results. The development of a new service utilising custom made MLPA probes and commercial MLPA kits for follow-up studies of array CGH results has been found to be efficient and flexible in our laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we report an empirical study of the photographic portrayal of family members at home. Adopting a social psychological approach and focusing on intergenerational power dynamics, our research explores the use of domestic photo displays in family representation. Parents and their teenagers from eight families in the south of England were interviewed at home about their interpretations of both stored and displayed photos within the home. Discussions centred on particular photographs found by the participants to portray self and family in different ways. The findings show that public displays of digital photos are still curated by mothers of the households, but with more difficulty and less control than with analogue photos. In addition, teenagers both contribute and comply with this curation within the home, whilst at the same time developing additional ways of presenting their families and themselves online that are ‘unsupervised’ by the curator. We highlight the conflict of interest that is at play within teen and parent practices and consider the challenges that this presents for supporting the representation of family through the design of photo display technology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the use of birth cohorts in epidemiological studies. Principles and ideas to consider in the use of future birth cohorts are discussed, including the collection of data for key research objectives and hypotheses relevant to adult health and well-being, collection of data from mothers and fathers, and direction of research toward low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The use of foresight in the selection of birth cohorts is deemed beneficial for future studies.

This paper discusses findings from a small-scale qualitative pilot study exploring the family structure of Emirati families in the United Arab Emirates. Here four Emirati families participating in the study discuss the effects of rapid social change across the generations and the perceived influence of these upon the roles and responsibilities of men and women in contemporary society in relation to child-rearing practices. Parental expectations for adult children in relation to marriage and careers are explored, focusing finally on the attitudes and perceptions towards ageing. Topics were considered in relation to how cultural, religious and social precepts govern and shape gender norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of otherness as it applies to the content of sociology of the family texts. We conducted a study of the content of the indexes and the body of texts on sociology of the family, examining the way in which the experiences of whites were addressed relative to families of color. We found that whites were more often presented as a comparison group to families of color rather than as groups with histories and experiences of their own. We recommend that textbooks avoid separate sections for families of color, examine whites with the same scrutiny as families of color, examine white privilege as well as minority disadvantage, and focus on the positive experiences of families of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical assessment of the distinction between the public and the private spheres as often used in family studies. In place of the focus on a single public/private dichotomy which is common in sociological usage, it points to the multiple, cross-cutting, context-specific zones of privacy found in social life. It provides an empirical illustration of the nature and effects of such zones of privacy by examining some instances of social policy development in Ireland in the present century where questions of family privacy were very much at issue. It concludes by suggesting that the public/private dichotomy should be understood not as an objective division of the world into two spheres, but as a flexible cultural image which is put to use in wide variety of situations so as to serve a great diversity of interests and purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a report of the first coordinated program of its kind aimed at young Black, Spanish speaking, Asian and American Indian males in relation to family life education, family planning and parental concerns. The project sought to develop an approach to the promotion of sexual responsibility and the reduction of repetition of unwanted, out-of-wedlock pregnancy through goal-directed support and assistance to unwed fathers and potential unwed fathers, 14 to 24 years of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an edited version of a paper presented to the Sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria on 25-29, November 1998, concerning attachment theory and marital adjustment. Pre-marriage education has a long history in Australia and there is a wide range of pre-marriage and relationship education programs offered by religious and secular organisations. Some of these programs, through raising awareness and teaching relationship skills, aim to prepare young couples for marriage, while others provide opportunities for married couples to identify their strengths and develop ways of dealing with current and potential problems. Practitioners in both the education and counselling fields draw on a vast body of theory and knowledge about relationships which provides both descriptive and explanatory information, and experiential learning tools and resources. A rapidly expanding field of research, attachment theory, provides a framework for explaining how relationships form, develop, and break down, and offers educators and counsellors tools for informing and challenging those preparing for, and experiencing difficulties in, marriage. INSET: Attachment theory and research..

Presents an edited version of a paper presented to the Sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria on 25-29, November 1998, concerning low pay and family poverty in Australia. To be in paid work but poor used to be a contradiction in terms in Australia's "wage earners" welfare state. In the early 1970s, the Commission of Enquiry into Poverty estimated that less than 2 per cent of families with an adult in full-time employment could be described as poor. In the 1990s, however, having employment is no longer a guarantee of staying out of poverty. The ACTU's Living Wage Case attempted to put working poverty on the public agenda by expressly linking the question of low pay with that of household deprivation. Yet many low-paid workers live in better-off households, and the links between individual and family income status are complex. A study in progress at the Social Policy Research Centre suggests that a trend towards working poverty has accelerated in the 1990s, and this article draws on the research to trace the links between individual low pay and family poverty.

The subject of investigation in this paper is the status of family and marriage among the Mannans--a tribal community of Kerala, which is one of the thirty five Scheduled Tribes of the state of Kerala, India. The Scheduled Tribes are those tribes included in the schedule of the Constitution of India for special protection. The family as the standard social unit has been found in one form or another at almost all levels of cultural development. The form and basis of familial groupings have varied from time to time and from place to place. Different types of families have been observed in various societies and at different points of time and space. But as a basic social group, the family existed in all societies at all times. For the present study 100 conjugal families were taken from four different hamlets. Twenty five families each were taken from the four hamlets by simple random sampling. A household survey was conducted to elucidate information on like, family size, education, age, sex, authority pattern in the family, type of residence, and impact of government programmes on the family.

This article presents summary of articles, related to family studies. As international contacts increase, more and more people find themselves living temporarily or even permanently outside their own societies. Taking two samples of foreign women married to Nigerian and Japanese men who have returned to live in their husband's countries, this paper explores several propositions on marginality and its reduction. This article presents an intervention for couples who come from two different cultural backgrounds. The approach emphasizes that the therapist have knowledge of culture-specific strategies, general knowledge of the cultures involved. This article seeks to improve the understanding of the relationship between intermarriage and religio/ethnic identity by examining the differences between competing sets of sociological theories of intermarriage. One set of theories equates intermarriage with assimilation, a case of homogenization versus pluralism. The second set of theories sees intermarriage as a function of tolerances for pluralism and heterogeneity. Mixed married couples whose children were enrolled in an unique Jewish religious school were surveyed in the light of the competing sets of theories.

This paper summarizes a qualitative study of family-school relationships in white working-class and middle-class communities. The results indicate that schools have standardized views of the proper role of parents in schooling. Moreover, social class provides parents with unequal resources to comply with teachers' requests for parental participation. Characteristics of family life (e.g., social networks) also intervene and mediate family-school relationships. The social and cultural elements of family life that facilitate compliance with teachers' requests can be viewed as a form of cultural capita!. The study suggests that the concept of cultural capital can be used fruitfully to understand social class differences in children's school experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]