Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / South Africa has among the highest reported rates of neonaticide and infanticide, yet we do not know much about the circumstances surrounding parental child killing. Therefore, this dissertation sought to address this lacuna in the research literature. The dissertation is divided into two phases. Phase one includes a scoping review, which describes research on the homicide of infants (aged 0-1 year), pertaining to victim and perpetrator characteristics. A search of 18 databases, yielded 53 included articles, of which 39 were case studies, two were qualitative, and 12 were quantitative. The review’s main finding is the shortage of good quality data as most included studies were case studies. Therefore, we hope that this review encourages the development of a larger scholarship of robust research focused on the homicide of infants. Phase two presents the findings of a life history study, couched within a biopsychosocial epistemology, undertaken to uncover the life stories of parents who are incarcerated for killing either a biological child, a stepchild, or a child in their care. The qualitative study draws on 49 in-depth interviews with 22 participants. Attachment theory, epigenetics, feminist theory, and the social ecological theory assisted in understanding this crime. Through a grounded theory analysis of the life stories presented, it becomes evident how traumatic parent-child experiences in the form of absent parents, neglect, and abuse, had a profound impact on these participants. Their narratives suggest that, in the absence of reparative environments, their histories of childhood abuse and abandonment were potentially risk factors for negative consequences in the parenting role, as they likely reenacted these cycles of unhealthy behavior with partners and children.

This study concerns a group of foreign parents' experiences with Swedish preschool. The purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of the foreign guardians' experiences of the phenomenon. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with six informants, and the results of the interviews are compiled and linked to theoretical concepts in the analysis. The concepts that I have chosen to define are culture, Swedishness (svenskhet) and life-world. In the discussion section, I link the results to previous research on the preschool's work on diversity. The results show that the custodians experience a lack of collaboration between preschool and home and a lack of communication. Cultural differences lead to prejudice, and negative attitudes and language deficiencies give custodians a sense of exclusion.

<p>Parents play a major role in the choices their children make regarding academics, leisure activities, and college and career preparation. Parent outcome expectations and behaviors are informed by their parenting self-efficacy in a specific subject or task. Parenting self-efficacy is the confidence parents have in their abilities to influence their children’s motivation, environments, and behaviors that could result in positive youth development. Parenting self-efficacy is informed by personal factors and experiences. Parenting self-efficacy can help to describe why or why not a parent engages in certain activities with their child.</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to explore and describe how the motivation of parents of urban middle school students plays a role in their child’s interest in agriculture or STEM-related activities. The convenience sample for this study were parents of urban middle schools in Indianapolis, IN (<i>N </i>= 53) who’s children participated in afterschool programs. Quantitative data were collected using a parenting self-efficacy questionnaire, which included items related to participants’ parenting self-efficacy (PSE) as it pertains to their child’s academics, STEM and agricultural activities; parent outcome expectations (POE) as it pertains to their child’s college and career preparation, and discussing STEM and agriculture activities with their child; and, parents’ perceptions of their child’s post-secondary career and educational options and intended career field. Descriptive statistics including means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages were used to analyze the data. Correlations were computed to explore the relationships between the variables.</p> <p>There were four conclusions for this study. First, urban parents were self-efficacious regarding their child’s academic performance and STEM activities, and had positive outcomes expectations regarding their child’s college and career preparation and engaging their child in agriculture and STEM activities. Second, on average urban parents reported participating in four different types of activities with their child, and recreational sports, visiting museums, computer games, and visiting the zoo were most popular. Third, urban parents agreed that their child would most likely pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree in arts, humanities, and social sciences as their post-secondary options. Finally, urban parents’ parenting self-efficacy for academic performance, STEM, and agriculture were positively related to parents’ outcome expectations regarding agricultural activities. Moreover, parenting self-efficacy regarding agricultural activities was positively related to the number of activities parents did with their children. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research were discussed.</p>

朱穎. / "2010年8月". / "2010 nian 8 yue". / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-100). / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Zhu Ying. / 目錄 --- p.3 / 論文摘要 --- p.5 / Abstract. --- p.6 / Chapter 第一章 --- 引言 --- p.7 / Chapter 1.1 --- 文獻綜述 --- p.10 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- 子女分工 --- p.10 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- 性別分工 --- p.11 / Chapter 1.1.3 --- 理想和現實的落差 --- p.13 / Chapter 1.1.4 --- 老人的養老期望 --- p.15 / Chapter 1.2 --- 研究方法 --- p.15 / Chapter 1.3 --- 文章架構 --- p.22 / Chapter 第二章 --- 當代農村家庭中的養老內容 --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1 --- 經濟支持 --- p.26 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- 農村家庭中老人的收入來源 --- p.26 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- 農村家庭中老人的經濟需求 --- p.28 / Chapter 2.2 --- 日常照料 --- p.29 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- 老年父母的需求 --- p.29 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- 農村養老與社區情理 --- p.32 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- 居住安排 --- p.34 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- 由現今居住棋式所引發的養老問題 --- p.37 / Chapter 2.3 --- 情感支持 --- p.40 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- p.40 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- "“主與我同在"" " --- p.44 / 討論 --- p.45 / Chapter 第三章 --- 子女間的分工合作 --- p.46 / Chapter 3.1 --- 養老分工的傳統理想模式 --- p.46 / Chapter 3.2 --- 養老分工理想模式的轉變 --- p.55 / Chapter 3.3. --- 理想與現實的落差 --- p.59 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- 當女兒付出了比期望多 --- p.59 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- 子女出去打工了 --- p.63 / 討論 --- p.66 / Chapter 第四章 --- "“家庭策略與家庭迷思""一家庭關係中的權力變動與日常生活中的協商 " --- p.67 / Chapter 4.1 --- 性別策略 --- p.68 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- "對“男女平等""的解釋:""耙子""和""匣子""" --- p.68 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- """考順女兒""的權力象徵" --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- 兒媳的策略:利益結盟和自立門派 --- p.73 / Chapter 4.2 --- 留守子女:依照空間劃分的責任 --- p.75 / Chapter 4.3 --- 父母的策略 --- p.77 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- "“息事寧人""的矛盾調停者 " --- p.77 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- "“兇狠的兒媳,懦弱的兒子"" " --- p.78 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- 自力更生的態度 --- p.79 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- 風險分擔:參與保險 --- p.81 / 結論 --- p.81 / Chapter 第五章 --- 結論 --- p.83 / 參考文獻 --- p.91

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Research has shown that sleep disturbance (e.g., sleep latency, wakefulness after sleep onset [WASO]) negatively affects physical, emotional, and mental health. For many adults, the postpartum period is one that is particularly highlighted by sleep disturbance and fatigue. Postpartum mothers are also more vulnerable to psychiatric disorders such as depression. We sought to investigate whether the number of children and presence of an infant predicted clinically significant sleep disturbance, and subsequently, depressive symptoms, for both mothers and fathers. We found that having an infant was significantly associated with increased wife WASO, which in turn was associated with increased depressive symptoms for wives. Further, husband WASO was associated with decreased wife WASO which was similarly associated with decreased depressive symptoms for wives. Thus, by helping with nighttime care so that mothers can get more sleep fathers can greatly contribute to the physical and emotional health of mothers.

This study offers a better understanding of the reasons why parents from six different countries across the Western hemisphere chose private, non-denominational schools for their children’s education. The findings deepen the knowledge in what is currently an underdeveloped field of research in education. The overarching research question was: What are the primary reasons why parents chose a private nondenominational school in Mexico, Spain, Costa Rica, United States, United Kingdom, and South Africa for their children’s education? To explore this question in depth, the researcher considered five sub-questions and employed a grounded theory qualitative research design. Data were collected twofold through focus groups and individual interviews and analyzed iteratively to develop a fresh theoretical perspective on the topic of parent school choice. Extant literature explains that the most frequent reasons to choose a private school include quality of education, location, participation of parents and being able to be heard, financial resources, and parents’ prior educational experiences. Contributing to the literature, this study revealed four major reasons for private school selection: consideration of private education as an investment for the future, smaller class size, the opportunity for students and their families to establish social contacts, and the academic quality of the school. In addition, three reasons specific to certain countries were identified: importance of learning the English language, quality of the facilities, and extended school day. Finally, eight additional secondary reasons were found including: international character of the school, happiness of the students in the school, distance from parents’ home, quality of the environment, prestige or tradition of the school, private management and organization, values and ethos of the school, and the non-denominational nature of the school. These findings can help private—and public—school administrators make better decisions to improve the quality of their educational offerings in knowing what parents most value. Parents may also find value in understanding the factors for consideration when evaluating public versus private school options. Finally, recommendations for practice and research for the field of education are offered. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Foster and adoptive parents are crucial in the child welfare system, with the large number of foster children in the system at any time. Same-sex foster and adoptive homes are underrepresented in the child welfare system, despite the shortage and need for more certified foster and adoptive homes. There are limited studies documenting the experiences of gay and lesbian foster and adoptive parents. Some research has demonstrated that "non-traditional," or same-sex couples are met with more obstacles to become certified foster and adoptive parents, in comparison to their heterosexual counterparts. This qualitative study explores the experiences of same-sex foster and adoptive parents during the certification process. The findings suggest that social workers need to gain more knowledge regarding the values and practices of same-sex families, provide resources specific to same-sex family challenges, be sensitive to the unique circumstances of same-sex families, and most importantly, treat same-sex couples equally during the foster and adoptive certification process. Further research is needed looking at the areas of Family Court and judges' rulings, as well as social workers' perceptions in working with same-sex foster and adoptive parents.

Parental incarceration is a serious problem in the United States, due to the significant number of parents and children impacted by incarceration. The sizable number of individuals incarcerated in the United States has resulted in the development of forensics as a growing field that requires social workers to integrate a working knowledge into their professional practice. The researcher hypothesized social work students who had personal and/or professional experience with the criminal justice system have a more favorable attitude towards incarcerated parents and are more willing to work with this population. Quantitative data was collected via surveys constructed and administered through the online Qualtrics data collection program from a sample of 79 social work students attending a school of social work at a university in Southern California. The data was analyzed using a Chi-Squared statistical analysis test using the SPSS data analysis software program. Significant findings were found that supported the hypothesis. A significant relationship was found between the status of having visited someone in jail or prison for personal reasons, as well as having someone close who was previously incarcerated, along with having the willingness to work with children of incarcerated parents in the future. Also, a significant relationship was found between a participant’s ethnicity, wanting to work with children of incarcerated parents in the future, with believing incarcerated parents and their children are an underserved population, and believing social workers are an important part of the rehabilitation process for incarcerated parents. Participants’ gender and the belief incarcerated parents could benefit from learning parenting skills was also found to be significant. This study also found having personal experience with incarcerated individuals may impact a social work student’s willingness to work with incarcerated populations. Lastly, the results and findings of this study contribute to the body of research focused on introducing social work students, who have a willingness to work with incarcerated populations, to the field of forensics with the goal of increasing the number of social workers working with incarcerated parents.