<p>The present research tested whether the lower educational achievement and greater incidence of parenthood among Latino relative to Anglo high school students arise from differences across ethnic groups in the standards held for these behaviors and whether these different standards and differential success across groups at meeting them contribute to ethnic group differences in self-esteem. I tested this regulatory model in two different research designs. In the first study, I used longitudinal data on race/ethnicity and attitudes, expectations, and behavioral outcomes for education and parenthood from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health, Udry, 2003). In the second study, I used an experimental design to test the causal mechanisms involved in this regulatory process. I assessed Anglo and Latina adolescent girls' standards in terms of explicit self-report ratings and then prompted them to imagine themselves in scenarios related to education or parenthood. After participants viewed the scenarios, I assessed their self-esteem and affect. In both studies, I anticipated that ethnic group differences in standards for education and parenting would help explain differences in behavioral outcomes for the groups, along with differences in ethnic group affect and self-esteem. These studies provided some evidence that Anglos espouse more favorable attitudes toward education and less favorable attitudes toward adolescent pregnancy than Latinos. As anticipated, adolescents experienced increases in self-esteem and positive affect when they acted in ways that confirmed valued standards.</p> / Dissertation

The current study examined the relations between parental and relationship functioning and infant social-emotional functioning, with an emphasis on the differential predictive power of mothers and fathers. This is the first study to examine certain specific predictors of parent functioning: parental alliance, parental identity, relationship adjustment and relationship conflict in an infant sample during the transition to parenthood. Results indicated that fathers’ functioning better predicted infants’ dysregulatory problems, while mothers’ functioning better predicted infants’ internalizing problems. Specifically, fathers’ functioning predicted negative emotionality and eating problems in their infants, while mothers’ functioning predicted general anxiety and separation distress in their infants. Results also showed that several combinations of differential predictive power (e.g., the highest functioning parent vs. the lowest functioning parent) were not significant predictors of difficulties in their infants, indicating that the impact of one parent does not depend on the functioning of the other. Important theoretical implications based on the gender differences in predictive power found, as well as the lack of contextual effects found in the present sample, are discussed.

This study examined Erikson&rsquo / s proposition that &ldquo / generativity&rdquo / plays an important role in adult lives and caring for one&#039 / s children is the ultimate expression of this particular developmental task. Thus, the general goal of the current study is to explore the connection between parental experiences and individual development especially generativity development in mid-adulthood within both qualitative and quantitative studies. Qualitative examination attempted to record the midlife parent experiences in order to verify the existence of parental generativity themes. This study conducted within a retrospective semi-structured interview schedule with 13 mothers and 10 fathers aged 37 to 61. All parents had at least one child at 17 or older. Overall, the results revealed that the most important theme of life for most of the midlife adults was parenthood. However, mothers&rsquo / role identities with respect to maternal role were much more stronger than fathers&rsquo / . The qualitative part of the present study contributes further to understanding of the connections between the perception of parental role, parents&rsquo / active involvement in childrearing, and adult development. In the quantitative study, the importance of parental behaviors in adult development and generativity both for females and males were tested within a proposed model. In the proposed model, both direct and indirect relationships between general well-being, marital satisfaction, self perception of the parental role, parental belief, parental involvement and societal generativity in gender-differentiated groups of mid adulthood were examined. 274 females and 207 males who were in a work settings participated in this study. The results with Lisrel analyses revealed that perceived parental role and more strongly parental involvement which were determined by parents&rsquo / marital satisfaction, categoric belief, perspectivistic belief (but not for male sample) and general psychological well-being (but not for female sample) predicted the societal generativity and played some important mediating roles in the model. Both mothers&rsquo / and fathers&rsquo / parenting were related to societal generativity. Therefore, the direct influences of parental experiences on generativity indicate that parenting contributes to one&rsquo / s sense of caring for the next generation or generativity development.

This study scrutinizes the mothering experiences of professional women living in istanbul. It is about class based mothering experiences of professional women, who are being influenced from both mothering and professionalisation ideology. It analyses many different aspects of mothering experience starting from the pregnancy period to the decision making about the socialization of children through their relation with the changing understanding of control on mothering experience. It is argued that professional understanding of mothering necessitates being successful and this necessity is supported by the mothering ideology assigning women as the primary responsible parent from child caring. Professional women, who have been considered as advantageous because of both their class positioning and professional role in the labor market, continue to experience the burden of the gendered structure of parenting. On the other hand, they have an active role in the reproduction of gender and class based structure.

<p>This theises focus on how a ideal parentship can be reproduced and established in an organization that is incorporated in the familycourt, provided by the social institution. The organization provides help for parents and children during and after a divorce or separation, the organization also provides help for families where violence has occured or in cases when parent and child doesn´t know one another. When a custodial dispute arise´s and one of the two is granted soul costody of the child, the guardian in most cases is the mother. Therefor this organization mostly handels fathers and their children. The study shows that gender, class and possesing of the right will are the three main aspects that have an effect on who ends up at the organization. This study also shows how the mothers continuously are reproduced as the head guardians, and how the fathers parenthood are subordinated the parenthood of the mothers.</p>

Previous research has indicated that intellectual disabilities and parenting is not socially accepted and compulsory care of children often occurs in families where one or both parents have an intellectual disability. This study aims to, thru a document analysis, investigate ideas and representations of parents with intellectual disabilities that emerge in Swedish legal cases. The legal cases is about children who are taken care of according to LVU § 2, where one or both parents have a intellectual disability. The results of the study revealed that people with intellectual disabilities are seen as not capable of developing parenting ability, in some cases aroused concerns about parenting during pregnancy, these suggesting stereotypes of parents with intellectual disabilities. Of the documents reveals that social workers word overrides in the decision-making, this leads to a position of power where the parents are at a disadvantage.

Section A presents a critical review of current literature regarding the parental experiences of receiving, and making sense of, a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for their child where there is no learning disability present. It begins with an overview of the current debates in the diagnosis of ASD and considers how parents make sense of a diagnosis. The review then evaluates papers pertaining to parents' experiences of receiving a diagnosis for their child, their experience of living with ASD and the efficacy of post-diagnostic psychoeducation interventions. A consideration of the clinical and research implications of these findings concludes the section. Section B provides the findings of a narrative study examining the development of parental narratives following the diagnosis of their child with high functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. Seven parents who were participating in a post-diagnostic psychoeducation group were interviewed across two time points. The findings highlight the parents’ development of a new framework enabling the creation of an alternative personal and family narrative. The implications this has on parental well-being are discussed and recommendations are made for future research to build on these initial findings. Section C provides a critical appraisal and reflective account of the study presented in section B. This includes consideration of development of research skills, limitations of the study, clinical implications, and future research ideas.

This study is about parents with young children and how parenthood affects their personal physical exercise habits and what would be done to facilitate those habits. Research has shown that a large part of the Swedish adult population do not exercise enough. Besides it has been shown that parents exercise less than adults without children. According to research, parenthood changes the life situation and with this occurs factors that complicates the possibilty to exercise regularly. The aim of this study was therefore to analyse parents’ view of and approach to their own exercise. This with the expectations to create knowledge that could be useful for local sports clubs about how they can operate to attract more parents to exercise in their organisations. Questions about how exercise habits changes when becoming a parent, what obstacles that can emerge and what is requested from the parents to be able to exercise were examined. The data was collected through means of qualitative interviews of parents. The results showed that parenthood involves a change of the life situation and with it many obstacles occurs such as changed prioritys, childcare and lack of time. Additionally to this parents feel neglected as a group and requests solutions of their obstacles. Therefore, the sportsclubs’ need to adapt so they can provide parents with their requests.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att, utifrån yrkesverksammas perspektiv, undersöka socialtjänstens arbete med mödrar med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning i ett nyblivet föräldraskap, samt hur de yrkesverksamma uppfattar detta arbete. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en kvalitativ metod använts. Fem enskilda intervjuer har genomförts med yrkesverksamma inom socialtjänsten i tre olika kommuner i Mellansverige. Resultatet ifrån intervjuerna tolkades och analyserades med hjälp av de två teoretiska perspektiven normalitetsdiskursen och den goda viljans diskurs. Uppsatsens teoretiska ansats kan beskrivas som socialkonstruktionism. Det framkom två övergripande former för socialtjänstens stöd till mödrar med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning: stöd i hemmet och stöd utanför hemmet. Stödet som erbjöds mödrarna skiljde sig inte från det stöd som fanns att tillgå för alla föräldrar som behövde stöd i ett föräldraskap. De yrkesverksamma upplevde att mödrarnas brist på insikt och deras rädsla för socialtjänsten medförde svårigheter i arbetet. Arbetet upplevdes även svårt utifrån en brist på kunskap och adekvata metoder för arbetet med mödrar med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Resultatet visade att de yrkesverksamma uppfattade mödrar med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning som avvikande från ett normalt föräldraskap. Det framkom skilda uppfattningar om mödrarnas kapacitet att utveckla ett tillräckligt bra föräldraskap. Stödet som erbjöds mödrarna präglades mer eller mindre av ett kontrollerande syfte. / The purpose of this study was to, based on the social workers perspective, examine social services’ work with mothers with intellectual disability in an early parenthood, and how the social workers perceive this work. To achieve the purpose of this study, we used a qualitative method. We performed individual interviews with five social workers who worked in social service in three different municipalities. The results from the interviews were analyzed by means of the two theoretical perspectives the discourse of normality and the discourse of the good will. The theoretical approach of this study can be described as social constructionism. It appeared two general forms of social services’ support to mothers with intellectual disability: support at home and support outside the home. The support offered to the mothers did not differ from the support that was available to all parents who needed support for parenthood. The social workers felt that the mothers' lack of understanding and their fear of social services caused difficulties at work. The work also experienced difficult from a lack of knowledge and adequate methods for working with mothers with intellectual disability. The results showed that the social workers perceived mothers with intellectual disability as deviant from normal parenting. Differences emerged on the mothers' capacity to develop a good enough parenting. The support offered to mothers was characterized more or less of a controlling purpose.

This dissertation examines the creation and development of the United States government's Title X family planning program from 1965 to 1988. It argues that Title X became controversial when its supporters shifted their focus from promoting family self-sufficiency to celebrating individual reproductive freedom. The new individualist arguments profoundly threatened many Americans who wanted government policy to support the patriarchal nuclear family. Support for federally-subsidized family planning programs in the 1960s rested on an ideology of nuclear family economic independence. Advocates reasoned that birth control services would enable poor Americans, especially African-Americans, to have children only within stable, self-sufficient marriages. Using these arguments, family planning advocates developed nearly-unanimous support for family planning programs among federal policymakers. In the early 1970s, though, family planning supporters embraced feminist and anti-racist critiques of their earlier ideas, leading them to promote subsidized family planning as a route to individual women’s reproductive freedom. In turn, the dissertation examines the growth of the New Right in reaction to the new liberal focus on individual freedom. While some dissenters had opposed family planning programs in the 1960s, this opposition mushroomed in the 1970s as opponents identified Title X as a threat to the family. Family planning opponents focused on two aspects of subsidized birth control programs that endangered the patriarchal nuclear family: abortion and teenagers’ access to contraception. Both of these issues jeopardized the husband’s and father’s authority over his dependents. In addition, opponents claimed that federal government spending on Title X overused their tax dollars, compromising their own ability to be self-sufficient and, thus, the survival of their own independent nuclear families. As a result, they mobilized in opposition to Title X in the 1970s and 1980s. The dissertation uses a wide variety of archival materials, government documents, and published sources to document the trajectory of debates over federally-funded family planning programs / History