The purpose of the study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument designed to assess the parenting and child rearing attitudes of adolescents, Responses to the instrument would allow for the identification of "high risk" adolescents, i.e., those adolescents whose attitudes towards parenting and child rearing indicated a high potential for child abuse. A review of the literature identified the following four parenting constructs most commonly associated with abusive parents: Construct A: Inappropriate parental expectations of the child; Construct B: Inability of the parent to be empathically aware of the child's needs; Construct C: Strong parental belief in the value of punishment; Construct D: Role reversal. These constructs served as the basis for the development of the item domain. The sample used in this study consisted of 2,628 adolescents attending schools located in Utah and Idaho. Employing a Likert format, three Prototypes of the instrument were developed and field tested. Substantial content validity was acquired through the judgments made by a panel of experts in child abuse, test construction, and attitudinal measurement. Construct validity of the instrument was established through the results obtained from factor analysis, interitem correlations, and item-construct correlations. The data generated from the factor analysis indicated 32 items had the highest positive factor loadings (>= .20) in each of the four identified constructs. The range of item-construct correlations for the 32 items (.53 to .75) indicated adequate to high degrees of relationship between the item scores and total construct scores. The data obtained relative to the internal consistency of the items indicated adequate level s of reliability for each construct (Construct A, .70; Construct B, .75; Construct C, .81; Construct D, .82). The test-retest reliability coefficient of the instrument showed an adequate level of stability over a one week period of time (.76). Raw scores, converted into factor scores, indicated approximately 3% of the adolescents who responded to the instrument scored -2 and -3 standard deviations away from the mean. The results of the multi-variant analysis of variance indicated that abused adolescents scored significantly lower (p.

In the United States, like most other parts of the world, there is a commonly held belief that all capable couples should have children. This belief has contributed to the development of a pro-natalist ideology or concept that having children is good. This pronatalist belief tends to spill over into the media, as well. Yet, there are those individuals who do not subscribe to the parenthood belief structure and to the manner in which the media frame the parenthood debate. These people are known as the voluntarily childfree or the childless by choice. This thesis is an exploratory ethnographic examination of the childless by choice subculture and their relationship to potential pro-natalist media framing. It is a search for deeper understanding into the relationship between the media and the voluntarily childfree. In order to gain a better understanding of the childless by choice and their relationship to pro-natalist media representations, this thesis utilized in-depth interviews and participant observation as its methods of data collection. The study utilized eight couples and was conducted during the month of April of 2004. The observation/interview process lasted an average of 85 minutes each. This study found that a perceived relationship exists between the media and childless by choice sub-culture. This association is complex and is further complicated by the media's apparent lack of knowledge about this particular demographic. The suggested role the media play, in this relationship, is one of enforcer. It perpetuates the dominant pro-natalist ideology and reinforces the status quo. The media also assist in contributing to the stigmatization and negative stereotypes of the voluntarily childfree. Some of the stigma associated with remaining childfree could be reduced if the media portrayed having children as a viable option and not a requirement of adulthood. These efforts, combined with a concerted effort on the media's part to include more frequent and positive representations of this demographic, can be most beneficial to the childless by choice subculture. Through a deeper understanding of this relationship, a more accurate representation of this demographic was allowed to surface.

<p>Postnatal depression (PND) is a condition which affects about 8-15% of recent parents. The cause of PND is unknown but several underlying factors have been purposed through different studies. This descriptive literature review aims to illuminate the parent’s situation when the mother is affected with PND. In search of literature, the databases Medline (via PubMed), Academic Search Elite, Cinahl, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES and SweMed+ were used. Fourteen articles were finally included in this study. The result of the chosen articles, both from the woman’s and the men’s perspective, could be divided into three categories; thoughts and feelings about the own situation, thoughts and feelings surrounding the partner and the baby and thoughts and feelings about the perception of support. The women felt that the expectations they had of motherhood, before the baby was born, was not matched by later experiences and they perceived themselves as bad mothers. They also found it hard to talk about their feelings with both their partner and with people outside the family, thinking that no one would understand. The men felt as though they, due to their partner’s condition, had lost control of life and that there, for them, was no organized help or support available.</p> / <p>Postnatal depression (PND) är ett tillstånd som drabbar ca 8-15% av nyblivna föräldrar. Orsaken till PND är inte känd men flera troliga bakomliggande faktorer har föreslagits genom olika studier. Föreliggande beskrivande litteraturstudie syftar till att belysa föräldrarnas situation när modern drabbats av PND. Vid sökning av litteratur användes databaserna Medline (via Pubmed), Academic Search Elite, Cinahl, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES och SweMed+. Fjorton artiklar inkluderades slutligen i studien. Resultatet av valda artiklar kunde, både ur kvinnans och ur mannens perspektiv, delas in i tre kategorier; tankar och känslor om sin egen situation, tankar och känslor omkring partnern och barnet samt tankar och känslor om upplevelsen av stöd. Kvinnorna upplevde att de förväntningar de haft på moderskapet före barnets födelse inte överensstämde med den senare erfarenheten och de uppfattade sig själva som dåliga mammor. De upplevde det även svårt att tala om sina känslor, både med partnern och med personer utanför familjen, i tron att ingen skulle förstå. Männen upplevde att de, i och med partnerns tillstånd, förlorade kontrollen över livet och att det, för dem, inte fanns organiserad hjälp eller stöd att få.</p>

Postnatal depression (PND) is a condition which affects about 8-15% of recent parents. The cause of PND is unknown but several underlying factors have been purposed through different studies. This descriptive literature review aims to illuminate the parent’s situation when the mother is affected with PND. In search of literature, the databases Medline (via PubMed), Academic Search Elite, Cinahl, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES and SweMed+ were used. Fourteen articles were finally included in this study. The result of the chosen articles, both from the woman’s and the men’s perspective, could be divided into three categories; thoughts and feelings about the own situation, thoughts and feelings surrounding the partner and the baby and thoughts and feelings about the perception of support. The women felt that the expectations they had of motherhood, before the baby was born, was not matched by later experiences and they perceived themselves as bad mothers. They also found it hard to talk about their feelings with both their partner and with people outside the family, thinking that no one would understand. The men felt as though they, due to their partner’s condition, had lost control of life and that there, for them, was no organized help or support available. / Postnatal depression (PND) är ett tillstånd som drabbar ca 8-15% av nyblivna föräldrar. Orsaken till PND är inte känd men flera troliga bakomliggande faktorer har föreslagits genom olika studier. Föreliggande beskrivande litteraturstudie syftar till att belysa föräldrarnas situation när modern drabbats av PND. Vid sökning av litteratur användes databaserna Medline (via Pubmed), Academic Search Elite, Cinahl, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES och SweMed+. Fjorton artiklar inkluderades slutligen i studien. Resultatet av valda artiklar kunde, både ur kvinnans och ur mannens perspektiv, delas in i tre kategorier; tankar och känslor om sin egen situation, tankar och känslor omkring partnern och barnet samt tankar och känslor om upplevelsen av stöd. Kvinnorna upplevde att de förväntningar de haft på moderskapet före barnets födelse inte överensstämde med den senare erfarenheten och de uppfattade sig själva som dåliga mammor. De upplevde det även svårt att tala om sina känslor, både med partnern och med personer utanför familjen, i tron att ingen skulle förstå. Männen upplevde att de, i och med partnerns tillstånd, förlorade kontrollen över livet och att det, för dem, inte fanns organiserad hjälp eller stöd att få.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to illuminate and compare how teachers and parents are describing the homework. The study will also attempt to answer these issues; How is the purpose of the homework described from teachers and parents? How are the effects of the homework described by teachers and parents? How do teachers and parents describe the responsibility for the implementation of the homework? Methods: Qualitative study, a comparison between teachers and parents description of the homework phenomenon. The material that forms the discussion are fetched from blog forums. Summary of conclusions: The Swedish school system is based on democratic values. This means that the students are supposed to gain equal opportunity for qualified education independent of their socioeconomic backgrounds. Based on this context is the study relevant as the homework reveals that conditions and qualifications differ between students. It also becomes obvious that the homework is a well established method in the Swedish school even though that it no longer is even mentioned in the official curriculum guidance.

While developmental research on the period of midlife has received increased attention in the literature, limited focus has been paid to the transitional stage into midlife, particularly for women. In this study, 286 women between the ages of 38 - 47 years completed online surveys comprised of a demographic questionnaire, the Social Connectedness Scale – Revised (SCS-R; Lee, Draper, & Lee, 2001), the Life Regard Index – Revised (LRI-R; Debats, 1998), and the Five Factor Wellness Inventory – Adult (FFWel-A; Myers & Sweeney, 1999). Participants were recruited through local community-based organizations and snowballing efforts. Participants resided in a major southern metropolitan city. Results from this study indicate that wellness was significantly higher for women who had advanced degrees, higher income levels, and were in a parenting role. Full-time employment and higher education levels were significantly related to higher feelings of meaning in life for women, but being in a parenting role was not linked to higher meaning in life. Implications for counseling women in the Mid-Life Transition Stage are explored and directions for future research are discussed.

The aim of the thesis is twofold: the first aim is to identify a number of reproductive logics that are used to construct Swedish regulation of embryo donation for reproductive use as either ethical or unethical in the governmental – and medical discussions – and to examine how these logics are interconnected with notions of gender and parenthood. The second aim is to identify a number of tensions that arise in the application of the governmental ethical logic on the embryo and embryo donation and discuss how these tensions can be solved with a feminist material approach. I argue that the terminology used to distinguish between genetic, biological, social and legal parenthood in my material is insufficient for understanding the value of the embryo outside its pre-human status. I therefore argue for an embryonic feminist bioethics that is attentive to the embryos post-human status, and for a reformulation of the parenthood terminology in line with what I call „reproductive ties‟.

No description available.

The transition to parenthood brings a host of changes to new parents; two key areas of change are decreases in relationship functioning and a worsening of women's eating, weight, and shape (EWS) concerns. Past research has suggested that a connection may exist between women's EWS concerns and relationship functioning during this transition. This study explored the impact of women's EWS concerns on both partners' relationship functioning in a sample of 74 couples (148 individuals) having their first baby. The study was part of a larger project exploring interventions during the transition to parenthood; thus, all couples had at least one risk factor for future relationship problems. Participants completed questionnaires approximately seven months into pregnancy and at one and three months postpartum. Results revealed that relationship functioning and women's EWS concerns worsened from pregnancy to three months postpartum, which is consistent with previous literature. Changes in women's EWS concerns from before and during pregnancy to three months postpartum were not generally related to changes in either partner's relationship functioning during the same period. However, the EWS concerns that predicted poorer relationship outcomes, including women's drive for thinness and bulimia symptoms, suggest the possible role of third factors such as negative affect or neuroticism. Also, increases in women's Body Mass Index from pre-pregnancy to three months postpartum predicted increases in relationship functioning, indicating the possibility of a larger construct such as general acceptance of the post-birth process, both in terms of weight changes and relationship changes. Thus, preventive efforts could include an emphasis on helping partners to accept the changes they will experience during this transition. Finally, the significant relations between women's EWS concerns and relationship functioning were often mediated by men's reported frequency of sexual activity, suggesting the importance of sex as a mediator. Although findings were limited, the results should be interpreted in light of previous research and the current study's limitations. Overall, this study indicates the need for future research exploring the relations between women's EWS concerns and the couple relationship during the transition to parenthood.

Thesis (MSN) -- University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on February 1, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Nursing Faculty of Nursing. At head of title: University of Alberta. Spring 2010. Includes bibliographical references.