Generational differences in perceived responsibility for adolescent support: A study of adolescent females,mothers, and maternal grandmothers

The issue of parent and adolescent responsibilities was explored in a sample of 195 adolescent females, 192 mothers, and 153 maternal grandmothers to assess whether generational differences in views about responsibility, particularly financial ones, existed. A 43-item Responsibility Scale was developed, and principal components analysis of the instrument yielded five factors. Significant generational differences emerged on several items, with the largest generational differences being found on the items comprising a factor describing parental protection of family values. Whereas all three generations viewed parents as having responsibilities to provide material goods, adolescents were more likely to link parental provision of material goods with autonomy issues than were their mothers or grandmothers.This research was supported by a grant from the Grants and Research Funding Committee of Southeast Missouri State University.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from The University of Texas at Austin. Interests include competence, coping, risk, vulnerability, and intergenerational relationships.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from West Virginia University. Interests include life-span developmental psychology, cognition and aging, problem-solving, intergenerational issues, and courtship violence.     

Domineering mothers in the 1950s: image and reality

While new economic and social possibilities were opening up for American women in the post World War II period, it was a time in which the only acceptable goals for women were marriage and the family. However, in spite of the fact that so many women conformed to this norm, they were simultaneously blamed for being overbearing with their children. Mothers were especially blamed for overprotecting their sons and creating weak and unmasculine men. It was a period of changing gender configurations and new personality goals. The anxiety and hostility this generated was directed at the mothers who were devoting themselves to their children in the way they were ‘supposed’ to.     

The relationship of observed maternal behavior to questionnaire measures of parenting knowledge,attitudes, and emotional state in adolescent mothers

Although relationships have been found between maternal psychological characteristics and cognitive and emotional outcomes in children, the behaviors which may mediate these relationships are seldom examined. This is especially true for adolescent mothers, whose children are thought to be at high risk for adverse outcomes. In this study, adolescent mothers in two special programs completed questionnaires measuring perception of the newborn (Neonatal Perception Inventory), knowledge of influences on child development (Infant Caregiving Inventory), and emotional state (General Health Questionnaire); they were also systematically observed while interacting with their infants in a naturalistic situation. Specific maternal behaviors were found to vary with the age of the mother and of the baby. Mothers with neutral or negative perceptions of their infants touched them less than did mothers with positive perceptions. Degree of emotional disturbance was inversely related to the amount of time that the mother looked at her infant while in physical contact.This research was supported in part by NIH Biomedical Research Support Grant No. BRS 507 RR 05445-19 to Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.Received her Sc.D. in mental hygiene (comparative behavior) from Johns Hopkins University. Main interests include relationships between observable behavior and reported psychological states, and behavioral and emotional disorders of children.Received her Ph.D. in population dynamics from Johns Hopkins University. Main interests are adolescent health and pregnancy and population changes influencing perinatal health.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from George Peabody College. Main interests include parenting of infants and children's rights.Received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Florida. Main interests include adolescent health and utilization of health services by children and adolescents.Received his Ph.D. in child psychology from the University of Iowa. Main interests are infant and child development, with focus on measurement of developmental status and its determinants.     

Getting tough on mothers: regulating contact and residence

This article critically examines the relationship between shared residence and contact after the breakdown of the parents’ relationship. It examines the background to the government’s main emphasis on methods of monitoring, facilitating and enforcing contact as the most efficacious method of proceeding in respect of the law reform agenda, focussing particularly on the potential impact of punitive enforcement measures on primary carers, usually mothers. The article sets the discussion within its wider cultural context in respect of fathers’ rights claims that family law currently favours mothers, and shows how recent legal developments constitute part of a package to manage post-separation relationships between parent and children. It also examines some of the emerging case law to show how the judiciary is using shared residence orders and transfer of residence to deal with protracted and very difficult contact disputes, and in ways which were not anticipated when shared residence orders were first introduced. Drawing on feminist legal commentaries the argument will be made that the use of transfer of residence and shared residence orders in these disputes is extremely worrying, especially in light of the growing body of empirical research which heralds caution. The article will conclude by suggesting that far from favouring mothers, both the law reforms and the case law effectively construct mothers as integral to the problem of contact. They are treated as the site of and solution to the ‚problem’ of contact, and the means of dealing with the problem is by increasingly punitive measures which are inappropriate in a family law context. At the same time non-residential fathers who do not uphold contact escape legal sanctions.     

Performing breastfeeding: embodiment,ethics and the maternal subject

Many feminist sociologists would agree that most breastfeeding research to date has been primarily undertaken from the perspective of medical and public health discourses. While there is evidence of a shift in research on breastfeeding to qualitative studies that focus on the lived experiences of breastfeeding women, this article addresses a number of concerns remaining in the literature surrounding breastfeeding. First, it questions the absence of breastfeeding as a legitimate philosophical topic, and, as a corollary, the invisibility of breastfeeding women as moral or ethical subjects. Second, by drawing on Michel Foucault's account of ethics and Judith Butler's notion of performativity, it is suggested that breastfeeding is best conceptualized as a gendered and embodied ethical practice rather than an aspect of one's being. Finally, this materialist approach to theorizing breastfeeding is discussed in relation to the Lucy Lawless poster that was released in Aotearoa New Zealand to launch World Breastfeeding Week in August 2002.     

The lives of our mad mothers: Aging and contemporary performance

This paper investigates representations of aging in contemporary British and Irish theatre. The turn towards portraits of female, as opposed to male, aging in theatre, popular television comedy, and literature is notable. It is the purpose of this paper, therefore, to excavate the politics that lie beneath this cultural development. While, of course, older women have long populated the stage, it is the contention of this article that it is recent years that one can witness a concern to stage particular aspects of the lived experiences of older women's lives in contemporary British and Irish society. Through an examination of stereotype, comedy, illness roles, acting, intergenerational heritage, tragedy, and politics, this paper seeks to better understand the politics of staging age.     

Filters of influence: The help-seeking process of African American single mothers living in poverty seeking mental health services for their children

There are a disproportionate number of African American children living in poverty who are in need of mental health services. African American children who live in poverty tend to underutilize mental health treatment due to the barriers their caregivers face; however, far less research has been conducted on the percentage of children who do access mental health treatment and the experiences of their caregivers in maneuvering through the barriers in their environments. This grounded theory study systematically generated a help-seeking theory that was constructed through the experiences of single African American mothers living in poverty who accessed mental health treatment for their children.     

Matrilocality and female power: Single mothers in extended households

Based on a qualitative study of non-marital pregnancy and childbearing in the Republic of Ireland, this article reports on the gendered power position of unmarried women who return to their parental homes following their babies' births. It is argued that in matrilocal households, centralised male power associated with the traditional nuclear family is diffused to some extent. Empirical evidence to support this notion is to be found in analysing the position of the putative father as ‘guest’ in the home of his partner and child (the martrilocal household) and also in exploring the relationship between the participant and her own father within that household. In relation to her own father, it was found that reproducing an offspring provided the women with some bargaining leverage vis-à-vis her own father within the family home. These reshaped relationships represent, to some extent at least, the undercutting of centralised male authority within the household.     

The demographic correlates of admissions to the child and adolescent inpatient clinic at a midwestern metropolitan mental health complex

Using the data from the 1970 census of population and housing for the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, demographic information was recorded for each of the approximately 300 census tracts in the Milwaukee County pertaining to population characteristics, marital status, age stratification, economic characteristics, and housing characteristics. Also, information was collected on number of admissions into the child and adolescent inpatient clinic for each census tract. The 300 census tracts were then divided into four categories: very low admission, low admission, high admission, and very high admission. Using a computer method, a demographic analysis of these four groups of census tracts was then carried out to examine the correlation between the density of admissions and various demographic characteristics. During the course of the study, various correlations between high admissions to the child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient clinic and various demographic characteristics emerged. Implications of these findings, in terms of present service and future planning, are discussed.Received his medical training in India, his psychiatric training in England, and has practiced in the United States since 1976. Current interests are psychoanalytic psychiatry and the epidemiologic aspects of mental health.     

The prison letters of Alice Ker and Mary Ellen Taylor: suffragettes and mothers

ABSTRACT

This article considers the prison letters of Dr Alice Ker and the relatively unknown Mary Ellen Taylor which are held in the Women’s Library at LSE Library. These women were suffragettes and mothers who were both arrested on 4 March 1912, in separate incidents, but as part of the Women’s Social and Political Union’s window-smashing campaign. The letters allow us to consider what these women must have been feeling and reveal what factors they felt were important to write about at that time. Of even more significance is that they provide an insight into these women as people. The article also considers the effect that suffrage campaigning had on family life and family relationships and whether the letters convey any sense that campaigning caused tensions or concerns within families.     

Lone motherhood past and present: The life stories of Finnish lone mothers

The aim of this study is to examine how Finnish lone mothers of two age cohorts construct their lone motherhood and also to show how the meanings ascribed to social phenomena are socially and historically embedded. Finland presents an interesting case for studying the links between the social and the individual because the country has experienced rapid social shifts since World War II. It is shown how specific social contexts to some degree set the parameters for how social phenomena are understood and interpreted, as shown by the differences in how two cohorts of life-story writers construct lone motherhood.     

Understanding child abuse: Ideologies of motherhood

Child abuse is usually considered to be a social problem where ‘bad mothering’ is of central concern.This study argues that the institution of motherhood in western society is oppressive, however; indeed, under the circumstances, it is surprising that incidents of child abuse are not more widespread. Some of the difficulties and dilemmas of women as mothers are discussed with a view to suggesting ways in which women can break out of the isolating experience of abusing children.     

Child-rearing practices and attitudes of working and full-time mothers

Mothers who wish to work are faced with the double burden of paid employment and childcare. They also have to confront the widely held view that ‘a woman's place is in the home’ and the prevailing popular opinion that a mother who also works outside the home is somehow harming her child. Previous research has shown little evidence that maternal employment disadvantages children.The present study, a comparison of the child-rearing practices and attitudes of a group of working (both full- and part-time) and a group of full-time mothers of 4 year olds, reveals few significant differences between the two groups. Mothers in paid employment differ in only one child-rearing practice: they place greater stress on table manners.However, a number of significant attitudinal differences emerged between the two groups of mothers: working mothers found their child rearing more pleasurable, their relationship with the child was better and the child was more likely to be described as happy and contented. Working mothers were rated warmer, higher in self-esteem and less anxious about their child rearing. Husbands of working mothers were more likely and more willing to participate in childcare and were rated as having a more affectionate relationship with the child. Overall, the results of the study are strongly supportive of the aspirations of the growing number of women who wish to combine work and motherhood.