Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Taking Care, Kelly A. Dorgan

Kelly A. Dorgan

Excerpt: It’s July 26, 2010, late. I’ve sunk onto the edge of the bed in my childhood home. The bedroom reminds me of one of those cozy, pretty Valentine’s Day shoeboxes I made back in elementary school: small, pink, white, flowery.

The Truth About The Surrender Of My Foster Child, Kelly A. Dorgan

Kelly A. Dorgan

Excerpt: My best efforts at parenting weren’t enough to make him stay. My son no longer wanted to call me “Mom.”

Mothered, Mothering & Motherizing In Illness Narratives: What Women Cancer Survivors In Southern Central Appalachia Reveal About Mothering-Disruption, Kelly A. Dorgan, Kathryn L. Duvall, Sadie P. Hutson, Amber E. Kinser

Kelly A. Dorgan

Informed by a mothering-disruption framework, our study examines the illness narratives of women cancer survivors living in Southern Central Appalachia. We collected the stories of twenty-nine women cancer survivors from northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia using a multi-phasic qualitative design. Phase I consisted of women cancer survivors participating in a day-long story circle (n=26). Phase II consisted of women cancer survivors who were unable to attend the story circle ; this sample sub-set participated in in-depth interviews (n=3) designed to capture their illness narratives. Participants' illness narratives revealed the presence of: (1) mothering-disruption whereby cancer adversely impacted the mothering role …

Big Mama And The Uncertain Leap, Kelly A. Dorgan

Kelly A. Dorgan

Excerpt:I live in a place that evokes fear, a place deformed by layers and layers of pulse-racing images, of intoxicating whiskey-dark stories.

Holding On By Letting Go: Personal Agency As Maternal Activism, Amber E. Kinser

Amber E. Kinser

Despite the efforts of maternal advocates and feminists through 150 years or more, a great many mothers today feel dissatisfied, shortchanged, and/or inadequate in their own lives. Even those who have reckoned with the fact that standards for mothering are absurdly out of synch with the real lives that families are living in contemporary times, or have carved out comfortable personal and familial space for themselves just beyond, or far beyond, the margins of mainstream motherhood ideologies, often struggle nevertheless with a needling sense of unrest and lack of personal agency. Further, women who agree that maternal empowerment is an …

Mothered, Mothering & Motherizing In Illness Narratives: What Women Cancer Survivors In Southern Central Appalachia Reveal About Mothering-Disruption, Kelly A. Dorgan, Kathryn L. Duvall, Sadie P. Hutson, Amber E. Kinser

Amber E. Kinser

Informed by a mothering-disruption framework, our study examines the illness narratives of women cancer survivors living in Southern Central Appalachia. We collected the stories of twenty-nine women cancer survivors from northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia using a multi-phasic qualitative design. Phase I consisted of women cancer survivors participating in a day-long story circle (n=26). Phase II consisted of women cancer survivors who were unable to attend the story circle ; this sample sub-set participated in in-depth interviews (n=3) designed to capture their illness narratives. Participants' illness narratives revealed the presence of: (1) mothering-disruption whereby cancer adversely impacted the mothering role …

Book Review Of Mothers And Daughters: Complicated Connections Across Cultures, Amber E. Kinser

Amber E. Kinser

Excerpt: As both a daughter to a mother and a mother to a daughter, I have lived, and pushed against, and been formed by, the profound truth about mother-daughter relationships suggested by this book's title: it's complicated.

Our Family Functions: Functions Of Traditional Weddings For Modern Brides And Postmodern Families, Medora W. Barnes

Medora W. Barnes

In many ways the continued popularity of traditional weddings in the United States may seem surprising in light of the increased rates of divorce, cohabitation, and non-marital child-bearing in the latter half of the twentieth century, which have accompanied the rise of what has come to be called the "postmodern" family. This research draws upon in-depth interviews with twenty white, middle class women who recently had traditional weddings and explores the connections between the postmodern family context and the desirability of traditional weddings. Specifically, it examines how traditional functions of formal weddings are still relevant within contemporary society. Findings indicate …

Gender Differentiation In Paid And Unpaid Work During The Transition To Parenthood, Medora W. Barnes

Medora W. Barnes

The transition to parenthood may be especially difficult because relationships need to be largely reorganized to meet demanding new challenges. For scholars interested in gender inequality, the transition to parenthood is a critical time in which gender differentiation is generated by both economic and cultural forces. Although newly married childless couples tend to share both paid and unpaid labor rather equally, when men and women become parents, their patterns become increasingly differentiated by gender. Cultural beliefs that emphasize mothers as the primary parent and fathers as secondary reinforce unequal patterns in housework and childcare. Time availability models, bargaining perspectives, and …

The Potential Of Three Computer-Based Communication Activities For Supporting Older Adult Independent Living, Melinda Heinz, Jinmyoung Cho, Norene Kelly, Peter Martin, Johnny Wong, Warren Franke, Wen-Hua Hsieh, Joan Blaser

Johnny Wong

Technology has become an increasingly integral part of life. For example, technology allows individuals to stay in touch with loved ones, obtain medical services through telehealthcare, and enjoy an overall higher quality of life. Particularly for older adults, using technology increases the likelihood that they will maintain their independence and autonomy. Long-distance caregiving has recently become a feasible option where caregivers for older adults can access reports and information about their loved one’s patterns that day (e.g., food and medication intake). Technology may be able to offset age-related challenges (e.g., caregiving, accessing healthcare, decreased social networks) by applying technology to …

Sham Marriages, Ancillary Powers, And Moral Discourse: Toh Seok Kheng V. Huang Huiqun; Adp V. Adq, Siyuan Chen

Siyuan CHEN

Is marriage an institution (of public morality) or a contract (of private ordering)? In Toh Seok Kheng, the High Court concluded that it was unable to declare a “sham marriage” void just because the motives behind the marriage seemed improper. In ADP, the High Court held that since a void marriage meant there was no marriage to begin with, the “wife” was not entitled to maintenance, and there could not have been any “matrimonial assets” to be divided, unless she had a strong “moral” claim. This piece considers how the aforementioned moral-contractual dichotomy emerges in these cases.

Amendment Of The Abortion Law: Relevant Data And Judicial Opinion

John Noonan

No abstract provided.

Parental Leadership: The Mary Poppins Metaphor, Brad Van Alstyne

Brad Van Alstyne

Existing theories on leadership are usually based on efforts we are familiar with in which leaders are easily defined (work, war, sports, etc). Little analysis to date has been placed on the role of parents as leaders outside of the social sciences where the focus of the research is usually an offshoot of psychology or childhood development. The parent as leader is a unique focus in that there are several qualities of the parent role that are quite different from that of the typical supervisory roles we normally discuss, while at the same time it would be foolish to think …

Trojan Women And Devil Baby Tales: Jane Addams On Domestic Violence, Marilyn Fischer

Marilyn Fischer

In this discussion I will show how Addams used these bodies of knowledge in shaping a pragmatist-feminist analysis of the devil baby tales and of domestic violence. Pragmatists begin with people's concrete experience within specific, lived contexts and then return to experience to test their theories and concepts. Feminist pragmatists such as Addams give women's experiences central place. In her analysis of the devil baby tales and domestic violence, Addams presents the most marginalized women, not merely as victims, but as agents and artists in their own right.

New Hampshire Juvenile Sex Trafficking Survivor Urges Representatives To Vote Against Decriminalized Prostitution, Darlene Pawlik, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles, Elizabeth Dugan, Frank Porell, Nina Silverstein, Ruth Palombo, Stacey Mann

Nina Silverstein

The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles was created by researchers at the Gerontology Institute of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston and commissioned by the Tufts Health Plan Foundation.

In this report, we have created a custom profile of nearly 100 healthy aging indicators for every city and town in Massachusetts including the 16 neighborhoods of Boston (367 Community Profiles). Each Community Profile is designed to help community residents, agencies, providers, and governments understand the older adults who live in their cities and towns – their ages, …

Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles, Elizabeth Dugan, Frank Porell, Nina Silverstein, Ruth Palombo, Stacey Mann

Elizabeth Dugan

The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles was created by researchers at the Gerontology Institute of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston and commissioned by the Tufts Health Plan Foundation.

In this report, we have created a custom profile of nearly 100 healthy aging indicators for every city and town in Massachusetts including the 16 neighborhoods of Boston (367 Community Profiles). Each Community Profile is designed to help community residents, agencies, providers, and governments understand the older adults who live in their cities and towns – their ages, …

Health And Safety Overregulation, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

The Resilient Self: Gender, Immigration, And Taiwanese Americans, Chien-Juh Gu

Chien-Juh Gu