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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Choosing To Be Childfree: Research On The Decision Not To Parent, Amy Blackstone, Mahala Dyer Stewart Sep 2012

Choosing To Be Childfree: Research On The Decision Not To Parent, Amy Blackstone, Mahala Dyer Stewart

Sociology School Faculty Scholarship

Decisions about whether to have or rear children, as well as perceptions of people who choose not to parent are linked to a variety of social processes and identities. We review literature from a variety of disciplines that focuses on voluntarily childless adults. Early research in this area, emerging in the 1970s, focused almost exclusively on heterosexual women and utilized a childless rather than a childfree framework. Later work saw a shift to a “childless-by-choice” or “childfree” framework, emphasizing that for some, not being parents is an active choice rather than an accident. While more recent research includes lesbian women …


Parent And Family Engagement: The Missing Piece In Urban Education Reform, Sonya D. Horsford, Tonia Faye Holmes-Sutton Aug 2012

Parent And Family Engagement: The Missing Piece In Urban Education Reform, Sonya D. Horsford, Tonia Faye Holmes-Sutton

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

Parent and family engagement in the educational lives of children and youth positively influence student learning and achievement. While this connection may seem obvious, varying ideals of parent engagement limit the ways in which school communities understand, encourage, and benefit from meaningful school‐home‐community interactions. This is frequently the case in culturally diverse, urban communities where education reform has focused heavily on high‐stakes testing, teacher accountability, and school choice, but less on the fragile connections that often exist between schools and the families they serve. The purpose of this policy brief is to review selected research on parent involvement and expand …


Epic Families: Equipping Parents To Reclaim Their Biblical Mandate While Inspiring Children To Know And Love The God Who Made Them, Marybeth Meltzer Aug 2012

Epic Families: Equipping Parents To Reclaim Their Biblical Mandate While Inspiring Children To Know And Love The God Who Made Them, Marybeth Meltzer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A review of current literature demonstrates that there is a fundamental problem in the church today: the church has taken on the primary role of discipling children, while many parents have abrogated their biblical mandate as outlined in Deuteronomy 6:6-9. Surveys of parents as well as practical ministry experience confirm that great confusion exists among parents as to the scope of their biblical responsibilities. This project reviews historical perspectives and the present situation in the church and offers guidance to both parents and ministry professionals to help parents reclaim their God-given responsibilities.


Parenting Patterns In Urban African American Families: Raising Healthy Adolescents In The Context Of Economic Hardship And Community Violence, Donald Hamilton Tyler Jun 2012

Parenting Patterns In Urban African American Families: Raising Healthy Adolescents In The Context Of Economic Hardship And Community Violence, Donald Hamilton Tyler

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The aims of the current study were to identify natural patterns of environmental risk conditions and parenting practices in African American families, assess the similarities and differences between the parenting patterns and mainstream parenting types, clarify the efficacy of each parenting pattern in reducing risk and promoting adolescent adjustment, consider key variables that may influence these processes, and thereby advance understanding of African American child rearing in social-ecological context. A case-centered approach featuring cluster analysis was utilized to permit exploration of multiple child rearing behaviors across the dimensions of parental warmth and control and to afford examination of multiple combinations …


Young Black Children's Representations Of The Father Figure In Low-Income Households, Shawnae Shalae Thompson May 2012

Young Black Children's Representations Of The Father Figure In Low-Income Households, Shawnae Shalae Thompson

Honors Scholar Theses

This study investigated the cognitive-emotional schemas surrounding the father role in 50 young, low-income, Black children in relation to the amount of father involvement in the first 5 years of their lives. These representations were framed within four parenting categories: Nice, Mean, Authoritative, and Authoritarian. Diana Baumrind’s parenting style framework was utilized to create the Authoritative and Authoritarian parenting categories. This question was investigated in low-income families; the impact of gender of the child was also considered. Information on fathers’ involvements in the children’s lives were gathered through interviews and self-reports from the children’s fathers and mothers. Story Stem Narrative …


The Parent Mediation Program – A Pathway To Cooperative Parenting, Mette Kreutzmann, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston Apr 2012

The Parent Mediation Program – A Pathway To Cooperative Parenting, Mette Kreutzmann, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Parent Mediation Program is a community-based program for parents who are no longer able to live together but still want to co-parent. The Program partners with five Community Mediation Centers. Funding is provided by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division through a child access and visitation grant from the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services.


Don't Worry....Be Happy: The Influence Of Parental Anxiety On Adolescent Self-Esteem, Holly Olson Coutts Feb 2012

Don't Worry....Be Happy: The Influence Of Parental Anxiety On Adolescent Self-Esteem, Holly Olson Coutts

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to explore the direct and indirect influences of both paternal and maternal anxiety on adolescent self-esteem as mediated by parental criticism and autonomy allowance. Participants included 331 parent-child triads with a child between the ages of 12 and 15 from the Flourishing Families Project. Findings suggested that maternal anxiety had a significant negative influence on adolescent self-esteem while paternal anxiety did not. Also, the influence of maternal anxiety on adolescent self-esteem was carried directly rather than indirectly through autonomy allowance and parental criticism; however, this influence was only significant prior to adolescent gender …


The Mother-Love Myth: The Effect Of The Provider-Nurturer Dichotomy In Custody Cases, Kalie Caetano Feb 2012

The Mother-Love Myth: The Effect Of The Provider-Nurturer Dichotomy In Custody Cases, Kalie Caetano

The Macalester Review

This paper is a discursive analysis that evaluates the effect of gender stereotypes relating to parenting roles and how they have influenced custody cases. Specifically it looks at the historically gendered distinction between the provider (typically the father) and the nurturer (typically the mother) and speculates as to how those identities may have initially formed in US society, what changes they have undergone and how these stereotypes still affect family court outcomes in cases of divorce. Particular focus is given to an article appearing in Working Mother magazine entitled “Custody Lost,” detailing a new trend in custody cases, which allegedly …


“Your Kids Or Your Job”: Navigating Low Wage Work And Parenting In Contexts Of Poverty, Michelle Miller-Day Jan 2012

“Your Kids Or Your Job”: Navigating Low Wage Work And Parenting In Contexts Of Poverty, Michelle Miller-Day

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Contexts of poverty seem to magnify vulnerabilities in mothers, especially women who have few resources for coping and little support in parenting. Adding to the challenges of poverty are government mandates to move women off of welfare into the workforce. Focusing on the experiences of four mothers who moved from welfare into the low-wage workforce and then back to unemployment, this study offers a description of how these mothers and their adolescent children navigate and make sense of low-wage work, family life, and cumulative disadvantage.


Six Ways To Keep The "Good" In Your Boy: Guiding Your Son From His Tweens To His Teens, Dannah (Barker) Gresh Jan 2012

Six Ways To Keep The "Good" In Your Boy: Guiding Your Son From His Tweens To His Teens, Dannah (Barker) Gresh

Alumni Book Gallery

When bestselling author Dannah Gresh was body-slammed by her 12-year-old son, she was hit with reality: raising a boy is a whole new ballgame! A boy's relationship with his mom during the formative age between 8 and 12 is vital to his future well-being. So how can moms teach sons to be honest, confident, and respectful when the world and situations encourage them to make bad decisions and grow up too fast? Dannah's practical experience and research, along with advice from her husband, Bob Gresh, provide a mom with six proactive ways to help her son: honor his body in …


Wholeistic EducationTm, Cerissa Leigh Desrosiers Jan 2012

Wholeistic EducationTm, Cerissa Leigh Desrosiers

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation introduces Wholeistic EducationTM (WEDTM), an innovative, values-based, interdisciplinary pro-social theory that is the culmination of centuries of scientific and philosophical learning and exploration about optimal mental health and human development. WED is based on basic human nature and universal human rights, and so it applies to all variations of human society- racial, ethnic, religious, or otherwise. WED is a foundation theory to which any targeted implementation strategy can be applied. It is both a proactive strategy for seeking and maintaining health before a crisis arises in families, schools, and organizations as well as a treatment …


Family Value Transition In A Changing Turkey, Yudum Akyil Jan 2012

Family Value Transition In A Changing Turkey, Yudum Akyil

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation consists of two articles. The first article presented is a literature review written to identify and review studies of intergenerational value transmission and social change. The main outcomes fell into five subsections (a) culture and values (b) social change and values, (c) continuing and changing values in Turkey, (d) parent-adolescent relationship adaptation to social change, and (e) implication for clinicians working with changing families. Overall, the literature review illustrated the complexity of value transmission process for families in rapidly changing societies and the need for more understanding of those families' experiences for the clinicians. The second article extends …


The Origin Of A Sense Of Self In Women, Kimberly Dewing Robbins Jan 2012

The Origin Of A Sense Of Self In Women, Kimberly Dewing Robbins

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This phenomenological study focuses on how a strong sense of self in women changes social precepts and gender stereotypes empowering women to define themselves instead of being defined by society. A sense of self may be defined as the ability to distinguish one’s own values from those of any outside persuasions, and to do so well enough to be able to protect those ideals from unwanted external influence. Is a sense of self, realized at a young age, an innate feeling or developed over time through adversity and the maturation process? This study will specifically look at what influences can …