Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 3166. Adviser: Ramona Faith Oswald. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-91) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

The thesis deals with the combination of the personal life and working life. The target of the thesis is the analysis of necessity to bring in harmony both roles of young people in the age of 20-35 years; the question is if they try to combine the personal life with the professional life and also if they consider the female and male role in present society as equal from the viewpoint of opportunities for the development of work carrier. The analysis of combination of the personal life with working life consists of three stages. The first stage, analysis of conflict of ideas with reality, was elaborated based on the results of investigation having the form of a questionnaire. The output of the second stage, analysis of personal experience of the interrogated persons, are results of individual personal talks deepening the quantitative research which. The last stage is the analysis of strengths and weaknesses. Based on them and based on the theoretical principles acquired from the professional literature, the recommendations were formulated which should result in a more effective harmonization of the personal life and working life.

This dissertation studies ethnographically how ordinary heterosexual people habitually and with the best intentions make homosexuals or LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gendered/trans-sexual) people invisible in their daily and ordinary communication processes in Japanese communities in both Oisawa, Japan and Western Massachusetts, U.S.A. This study raises a general question: what are the scenes and communication practices in and through which homosexuality becomes invisible or irrelevant to identification of the self? The main conceptual frames used are those of stigma theory by Ervin Goffman (1963), ethnography of communication by Dell Hymes 1972, 1974), cultural communication by Donal Carbaugh (1989, 1990, 1996, 2001, 2002, cf. 2003, 2005), and coordinated management of meaning by Vernon Cronen 1994). The methodology involves a variety of data including field observations, various forms of textual data, as well as interviews in each Japanese community in Japan and the U.S.A. In five chapters, different aspects of communicative practices and processes as well as associated cultural premises are explicated, delineated, and analyzed. In each case, both intended and unintended functions of the communication are explored. First, a communicative style of “being ordinary” (futuu) is explored, in and through which ordinary heterosexuals habitually enact a complete lack of awareness of homosexuals. This practice involves actions of “not seeing, not hearing, and not saying” (mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru ) that are enacted individually. When multiple interlocutors enact the actions in collaboration, the communicative practices constitute an event of “pretending nothing happened” (nakatta koto ni suru ), making LGBT identities communicationally invisible. Second, while addressing the Japanese cultural emphases on silence and indirect and ambiguous communication practices, a direct and open mode of Japanese communication practice is examined. This communication practice is called “speaking straightforwardly” (massugu yuu/hakkiri iu), in and through which the speaker expresses candid and sincere thoughts and feelings in accordance with common sense. The recipient of such communication often enacts “being open and receptive” (sunao), that involves listening silently without being defensive or becoming upset. These communicative practices actively and explicitly discourage and at times prohibit discourse about LGBT identities and orientation. Third, cultural premises regarding social and emotional selves associated with the communicative practices of being ordinary and speaking straightforwardly are explicated and analyzed. The dialectic interplay between the two selves becomes salient as the two communication practices are enacted, and it creates tension and human drama. Although ideally speaking an interlocutor has to be always in dialogue with the two selves, one self becomes more salient, as expressed in the communication process, than the other, depending on the situation. These two conflicting selves play a key role in legitimating the heterosexual understanding of what constitutes ordinary personhood, which often marginalizes LGBT identities and orientations as unimportant. Fourth, speaking straightforwardly as a silencing form of communication renders LGBT identities as frightening and cultivates gut-level discomfort against “homosexuals,” without knowing any of them personally. This silencing communication involves cultural conceptualization of human nature, human sexuality, and homosexuality. The family and intimate communication practices function as the gatekeeper, in which the interlocutors express openly and candidly their perceptions and gut-level discomfort about LGBT identities and their implications in society in terms of achieving mundane happiness. This ensures invisibility of LGBT identities, since parents wish for their children nothing but to be able to pursue mundane happiness. Fifth, an analysis of the Japanese heterosexual male-centered lovemaking scenes in ero-manga provides some possible sources of misunderstandings between males, females, and male homosexuals. In particular the analyses seek to identify and examine the intersection between the ero-manga representations and communicative practices of talking about sexuality. Many males often project their own male sense of sexuality on their female counterparts, while trying to please their female counterparts. In the males' communication practices of talking about male “homosexuals,” they project their sense of male sexuality on them. Thus, they express the gut-level discomfort that gay people may aggressively and sexually attack them. These analyses suggest a deeper examination of a gut-level discomfort with “homosexuals” as a communicationally cultivated feeling as opposed to an innate one. This study concludes with a summary of findings about communication generally and Japanese cultural communication practices specifically. It will also expand Goffman's framework of stigma, further develop the framework by discussing three additional categories, discuss the indiscernible power of heterosexual people, point out our communicative (in)actions that stigmatize, marginalize, and dehumanize homosexuals, and make suggestions for minimizing such negative effects.

This thesis takes as its subject Polish families who migrated to Edinburgh after Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004. It analyses the families’ post-migration trajectories and experiences, and investigates how these are influenced by factors relating to Polish history and culture, by features particular to the post-accession migration wave and by families’ individual characteristics. Theoretical approaches are drawn from a range of academic disciplines including, reference group theory, literature relating to gender-division of paid work and child-care, and ‘mobilities’ theory, and these approaches are all employed in exploring the factors that influence family members’ integration, employment and lifestyles and their plans for the future. This qualitative study focuses on the experiences of thirty families living in and around Edinburgh in the two years from 2009 to 2011, and combines a variety of methods in data-collection and in analysis. Families were interviewed twice with a year lapse between interviews, couples were interviewed jointly and conversational interviews were supplemented with questionnaires. These design features enable analysis of change over time, provide insight into family-dynamics and generate a range of forms of data. In analysis the combination of thematic coding of interview transcripts with Qualitative Comparative Analysis, allows in-depth exploration of experiences at the individual and family level to be positioned within the context of trends and patterns observed across the whole group. The study finds that the families fall into distinct types according to particular key characteristics and migration strategies, and that the different family types are linked to different experiences of life in Scotland and plans for the future. Younger migrants who arrived independently, decided to stay and later started families are found to be embarking on new careers and making use of the greater flexibility of the employment market in the UK to enact their preferred division of work and childcare. In line with previous research findings, for families whose oldest child is preschool age, school start date in Poland is identified as critical in limiting the period in which parents feel the decision about whether to return can be made. Parents who migrated with school-age children because of financial hardship in Poland are highlighted in this study as a previously under-researched post-accession migrant group; among these families most parents within the study group are found to have been considering permanent settlement at the time of migration and to be maintaining this intention; their decision to stay is particularly influenced by concerns about the difficulties that they anticipate their children would encounter in re-entering the school system in Poland and about their own reduced ability to re-enter the labour market there after de-skilling in employment in the UK. Parents who migrated to take up professional work in the UK are identified as possessing the highest levels of ‘motility’, that is, capacity to make use of mobility generally; among the study group these parents are found to have the most varied options and future plans and to be those who indicate the greatest likelihood of leaving the UK in the short term.

<p> Holding both work and family roles can be a central experience for men and women, young or old. Yet, to date, the bulk of knowledge on holding roles in both domains is specific to young adults, a critical gap as conditions warrant longer work life. This inquiry thus focused on older working men and women (over 50 years of age) with at least one family role (spouse, parent of adult children, caregiver to an aging parent, or grandparent). With survey data from the Health and Retirement Study in 2010 and 2012, latent profile analysis, path analyses, and regressions were conducted to investigate multiple roles in later adulthood: 1) The extent older workers experience role enhancement and conflict between work and family roles because of role stressors and rewards, and patterns of role enhancement and conflict experiences, 2) The extent role enhancement and conflict (a) mediate between role rewards/stressors and psychological well-being (aging self-perceptions, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms), and (b) interact with each other when exerting their psychological impacts, 3) Gender differences in role enhancement and conflict experiences and in their psychological consequences. Holding multiple roles in later life was characterized predominantly by work and family roles mutually enhancing each other, rather than conflicting with each other, a pattern driven primarily by low role stressors and secondarily by high role rewards. Role enhancement and conflict mediated the effects of role stressors/rewards on psychological well-being, especially on self-perceptions on aging. Interactive effects were also found: Psychological well-being was fostered by work conflicting with and enhancing the family but compromised by a similar circumstance in the family. Finally, gender differences emerged. Women benefitted more than men from multiple sources of role enhancement and from their work role (even when it enhanced and conflicted with the family). Men&rsquo;s psychological well-being was neutral to multiple sources of role enhancement, enhanced by multiple sources of role conflict, and compromised by later-life family (when it enhanced and conflicted with work). In conclusion, although men and women experienced multiple roles in unique ways, they overwhelmingly benefitted from socially recognized activities from work and family roles.</p>

<p> Depression is a serious mental disorder with prominence in the literature, but information on its manifestation in males has been overlooked until fairly recently. Attention should be paid to depression for several reasons, including the risk of suicide. The presentation of depressed males differs from that of depressed females. They may display additional symptoms not typically associated with depression, such as anger, hostility, withdrawal and substance abuse, and may not show sadness or tearfulness. Men's reluctance to seek help, and the strong association between shame and depression, make detection even more difficult. Research suggested that families in which fathers display negativistic parenting practices, such as hostility and low levels of warmth, suffer undesirable outcomes. Conflict resolution strategies may be impaired in depressed men, and there is research available showing that depression is correlated with marital discord. Men with depression may also be at risk for substance abuse disorders, intimate partner violence, and child maltreatment. Cultural factors may affect manifestation of depression, and cultural background and adherences should be considered when working with depressed men.</p>

This project explored the experiences of ten gay male couples who chose to become parents. Of the twenty fathers who were interviewed, ten fathers (five couples) created a family with children through surrogacy, and ten fathers (five couples) adopted their children. The manuscript begins with a discussion of the historical roles of the father, a review of research on contemporary conceptualizations of fatherhood, and a consideration of the motivation to parent in the context of Erik Erikson's concept of generativity. Discussion then moves to the topic of the surrogacy process as it relates to the choice of gay men to father a child. Following elucidation of the practical and legal aspects of surrogacy, terms are defined which pertain to impregnation, gestation, and birth. The manuscript includes discussion of the ways in which these fathers conceptualize parenthood, including their various roles and responsibilities, and how their conceptualizations influence childcare. Fathers also discuss what motivated them to become parents. Experiences with discrimination associated with being gay are explored, with special consideration of the ways in which such discrimination affects the children and parents in a gay family system. Finally, consideration is given to the relative advantages and disadvantages of surrogacy vs. adoption, with attention to the significance of biological connectedness to a child.

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No description available.

Although there is little official data, early girls’ marriage before the age of 18 appears to have increased in Tajikistan over recent years, due to the limited socio-economic opportunities. This study aimed to explore the main causes behind the fall in the age of marriage for girls. As Tajikistan is based on patriarchal values, where family is the core of decision-making, the study looks into the family dynamics and interrelationships to analyse the driving forces behind the decision to arrange marriage for the girls at an earlier age. Using triangulated methods of qualitative data collection, such as interviews, focus group discussions and case studies, the study was conducted in urban, semi rural/semi urban and rural areas of Tajikistan. The findings confirm that early marriage exists in Tajikistan. Although marriage has always been important for Tajiks, recently early age of marriage has been more prioritized. The young girls today leave school when they reach puberty, limit their socialization with their friends outside of the house and rigorously learn skills that qualify them as a ‘desirable’ kelin [bride] to increase their chances of getting a marriage proposal within what is a short marriage window. At the same time, the study argues that the family decision to pursue an early age of marriage for daughters is not because of the low status of the women as it has been suggested in some earlier research. Instead, the study argues that marriage is a strategy to provide girls with what is often the only opportunity of an economically and socially secure future in the country under the current socio-economic and political context. Relations within the families are more complicated than dominant-subordinate as previously portrayed but are based on respect, love and responsibility towards each other. This ‘connectivity’ assists in shaping the girls as potent Tajik women ready for their future roles of mothers and wives. The young girls, as this study suggests, are usually not completely powerless either, as they exercise the limited agency provided by the patriarchal system and actively engage in negotiating their interests. Thus, the study aimed to (1) draw attention to the issue of early marriage among girls in Tajikistan and (2) to contribute to the scholarly discussion on early marriage and on gender and family dynamics in Tajikistan. Based on the findings, it is recommended that more research needs to be conducted to discuss the phenomenon of early girls’ marriage in Tajikistan. Further, legal, political and social changes are necessary to provide a safety net for women married at an early age but divorced or abandoned later. Although bringing changes to the marriage values might be a challenging task, it is hoped that this research and others similar to this one will demonstrate the importance of the issue and will result in appropriate attention and an effective policy response.