Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-94). Also available in print.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Very little is known about the psychological experiences related to childcare use among lowincome mothers in South Africa. In rural and semi-rural communities, where affordable and accessible childcare is almost non-existent, low-income mothers often have no alternative but to rely on their own mothers for childcare. Despite strong theoretically based indications that these particular childcare arrangements are psychologically complex, research on this topic is almost completely lacking. This dissertation sets out to investigate (a) how childcare arrangements (including multigenerational childcare) manifest in one particular low-income South African community, and (b) how low-income South African mothers experienced the use of childcare psychologically. This study was set in a poor, semi-rural, so-called Coloured community in the Western Cape, South Africa. Two open-ended, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight participants. The transcribed interviews were analysed using constructivist grounded theory and case studies in a sequential data analysis approach. Theoretically, this study was informed by postmodernism, social constructionism, feminism and psychoanalytic theory. The data analysis resulted in a detailed documentation of the range of childcare arrangements utilised by the participants. It further showed that contextual, relational and personal constraints made it impossible for the participants to mother and care for their children as they wanted to. The participants had to compromise on their childcare ideals and this created a range of psychological and emotional sequelae. In order to cope with these, the participants resorted to both conscious and unconscious coping mechanisms and processes. The findings indicated that the use of multigenerational childcare was psychologically complex, as mother-daughter relationships consciously and unconsciously impacted on childcare decision-making, the emotional and psychological repercussions and the participants’ coping therewith. The absence of men and fathers in the provision of childcare concurred with international findings on the gendered nature of childcare. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that mothering and childcare are indeed issues of concern to low-income mothers. It is also a subject that warrants further investigation in the discipline of psychology. Recommendations in this regard are included and highlight the need to use theoretical frameworks and research methods that are sensitive to the multilayered, complex psychological experiences of motherhood and childcare among low-income women. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Baie min is bekend oor die sielkundige ervarings wat verband hou met kindersorg onder laeinkomste moeders in Suid-Afrika. In landelike en semi-landelike gebiede waar bekostigbare en toeganklike kindersorg feitlik niebestaande is, het lae-inkomstemoeders dikwels geen ander keuse as om op hul eie moeders staat te maak vir kindersorg nie. Ten spyte van sterk teoreties gebaseerde aanduidings dat hierdie spesifieke kindersorgreëlings sielkundig kompleks is, ontbreek navorsing oor hierdie onderwerp feitlik heeltemal. Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek (a) hoe kindersorgreëlings (met inbegrip van multigeneratiewe kindersorg) manifesteer in een spesifieke Suid-Afrikaanse lae-inkomstegemeenskap en (b) hoe laeinkomste Suid-Afrikaanse moeders die gebruik van kindersorg sielkundig beleef. Die studie is in ’n behoeftige, semi-landelike, sogenaamde bruin gemeenskap in die Wes- Kaap geplaas. Twee oop, diepgaande onderhoude is met agt deelnemers gevoer. Die getranskribeerde onderhoude is geanaliseer met gebruikmaking van konstruktivisties gegronde teorie en gevallestudies volgens ’n sekwensiële data-ontledingsbenadering. Teoreties is hierdie studie beïnvloed deur postmodernisme, sosiale konstruksionisme, feminisme en psigo-analitiese teorie. Die data-ontleding het gelei tot ’n gedetailleerde dokumentasie van die omvang van kindersorgreëlings wat deur die deelnemers gebruik is. Dit het verder gewys dat kontekstuele, relasionele en persoonlike beperkings dit vir die deelnemers onmoontlik gemaak het om hul kinders te bemoeder en te versorg soos hulle graag wou. Die deelnemers moes hul kindersorgideale kompromitteer en dit het ’n reeks sielkundige en emosionele gevolge geskep. Ten einde dit te hanteer, het die deelnemers gebruik gemaak van sowel bewuste as onbewuste hanteringsmeganismes en -prosesse. Die bevindinge het aangedui dat die gebruik van multigeneratiewe kindersorg sielkundig kompleks was, aangesien moeder-dogter verhoudings bewustelik en onbewustelik ’n uitwerking gehad het op kindersorgbesluite, die emosionele en sielkundige belewing daarvan, en die deelnemers se hantering daarvan. Die afwesigheid van mans en vaders in die voorsiening van kindersorg het ooreengestem met internasionale bevindinge oor die gender-gebaseerde aard van kindersorg. Gebaseer op die bevindinge van hierdie studie kan tot die slotsom gekom word dat moedersorg en kindersorg inderdaad kwessies van belang onder lae-inkomstemoeders is. Dit is ook ’n onderwerp wat verdere navorsing in die sielkunde vakgebied regverdig. Aanbevelings in hierdie verband word ingesluit en vestig die aandag op die behoefte om teoretiese raamwerke en navorsingsmetodes te gebruik wat sensitief is ten opsigte van die veelvlakkige, komplekse sielkundige ervarings van moederskap en kindersorg onder laeinkomstevroue.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Comm. (Business Management) / Changes in the corporate landscape and an increase in female participation rates in corporate workforces necessitate a better understanding of female career paths and how organisations can accommodate them better. The purpose of this study is to identify the most appropriate work-life balance benefits organisations can offer to female employees to assist them in achieving greater work-life balance. The study further aims to identify learning and development opportunities that females who have exited from their professions can follow to remain relevant and up to date in their fields. Through the literature review the study examines the need for women in corporate workforces, and inspects reasons for the underrepresentation of women in workforces. It further investigates alternative career models female professionals often embark on in an attempt to gain more balance between family responsibilities and career demands and subsequently discusses the costs associated with losing female talent. It then explores how organisations can assist female employees by offering work-life balance benefits. The study was conducted by using an online questionnaire and respondents were selected by employing a snowball sampling method. In this study research found that the most appropriate work-life balance benefits are flexible working hours, on-site childcare facilities, parental leave, part-time work, mobile working and virtual or cyber working. Conversely, the most inappropriate work-life balance benefits are weekend work, shift work, overtime, temporary or casual work, term-only working and fixed term contracts. It further found that employees who have exited from their professions can follow certain learning and development opportunities to assist them to remain relevant and up-to-date in their fields and assist them to return to full-time employment. The following learning and development opportunities were listed as being most appropriate: Attending continuous professional development courses and workshops, reading and further studies, keeping in touch with colleagues to stay updated with new developments at the office and the organisation, attending seminars and doing ad hoc, private, part-time or consulting work.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Sociology

There were three underlying purposes to this study: 1) To test the main effect of gender on work -> family and family -> work conflict; 2) To re-examine the predictors of inter-role conflict used by Frone, Russell, and Cooper (1992) (i.e., job involvement, job stress, family involvement, and family stress); and 3) To investigate the importance of using personality characteristics as predictors of how individuals deal with inter-role conflict. A questionnaire was assembled, consisting of: a work -> family conflict spillover scale, a family -> work conflict spillover scale, a job involvement scale, a family involvement scale, a job stressors scale, a family stressors scale, and two sub-scales from the California Psychological Inventory (i.e., the Managerial Potential scale and the Work Orientation scale) . Questionnaires were completed by 134 employees of a civil service agency. Results indicated that gender was not a significant predictor of either work -> family or family ->work conflict. Job stress was found to be a significant predictor of both work -> family, and family ->work conflict. Where as family stress was found to be a significant predictor of family -> work conflict only. Job involvement was found to be a significant predictor of work -> family conflict for managers only. When all predictors were assessed simultaneously, Work Orientation was the only variable found to be a significant predictor of work -> family conflict. The results from this study clarify and add to Frone, Russell, and Cooper's (1992) study of the work-family interface.

The interaction effects of perceived work schedule flexibility (PWSF) and the number of hours worked on work-family conflict, and the interaction effects of PWSF and the type of work schedule on work-family conflict were investigated for employees of a regional bank headquartered in the Pacific Northwest. A 50% response rate was obtained from a survey questionnaire administered to 2,000 randomly selected employees. Hierarchial multiple regression analyses conducted on 526 subjects revealed no significant interaction effects for PWSF and type of work schedule. The interaction effect for PWSF and number of hours worked was not tested due to a significant correlation between number of hours worked and type of work schedule. However, significant main effects were found for both PWSF and the type of work schedule. Employees_working a "part-time" schedule reported significantly lower work-family conflict than employees working a "standard" or "flexible" schedule. No significant differences were noted in work-family conflict between employees who worked "flexible" and "standard" work schedules. Overall, as PWSF increased, work-family conflict decreased. Employees who reported having "a lot" or "some" PWSF experienced significantly lower levels of work-family conflict than those employees who reported having "hardly any" or "no" PWSF. Supplemental analyses were conducted on the number of hours worked variable. Results revealed that the number of hours worked made a unique contribution to the total variance in work-family conflict above and beyond that accounted for by type of work schedule. In contrast, both PWSF and number of hours worked contributed uniquely to the total variance in work-family conflict above and beyond that accounted for by each variable individually. Limitations of the research study are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 326-338).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2001. / Title from title page screen (viewed Sept. 10, 2002). Thesis advisor: Jon P. Coddington. Document formatted into pages (vii, 73 p. : ill. (some col.)). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-40).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Rebecca Miles, Florida State University, College of Social Sciences, Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Apr. 8, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.