Search

This article describes a qualitative study examining two interrelated facets of the school-to-work transition among urban high school students: their relationships with important adults within that transition and the ways they experience the subjective aspects of social class and class-related constructs in those relationships. Participants were 27 urban adolescents participating in a school-to-work program or otherwise employed after school. We analyzed data generated from participants' elaborations on their scaled responses to adapted Relational Health Index items pertaining to supervisors and other important adults at work. Qualitative analysis identified four thematic categories of how social class is experienced in urban adolescents' relationships at work: Navigation of Identity; Perceptions of Similarity, Difference, and Being Understood; Receipt of Mobility Encouragement; and Awareness of Stratification. Results suggest that the first two of these categories represent the ways that participants work to find balance between the dual realities of Mobility and Stratification.

Despite the frequently referenced graying of the U.S. workforce, we know relatively little about the work-related concerns and experiences of older workers--those aged 55+. This qualitative study addresses that gap by examining the current employment situations of a purposive sample of 37 older workers. Thematic content analysis revealed a vast diversity in the concerns and experiences of contemporary older workers, with participants being actively involved in all of the traditional stages of work-life development. Findings suggest a deepened or more nuanced view of the principal meanings of work--in particular, identity and social interaction--and highlight several negative aspects of later-life employment such as pension insecurity, unemployment, age discrimination, not having found one's "niche," and chronic interpersonal difficulties with co-workers. Findings are discussed against the backdrop of a rapidly changing workplace and dramatically shifting work-retirement trajectories in which job stability and predictable retirement are less common.

Examines how religious/spiritual coping was related to caregiving and psychological distress among informal caregivers (N=127) to community-residing disabled elders. Caregivers who used religious or spiritual beliefs to cope with caregiving had a better relationship with care recipients, which was associated with lower levels of depression and role submersion. (Author/MKA)

Examines the relationship between meaning in caregiving (positive beliefs about the caregiving situation and the self as caregiver) and the psychological well-being of 131 informal caregivers to community-residing frail elders. Results indicate that meaning in caregiving explained a significant portion of the differences in depression and self-esteem scores. (RJM)

This article examines the ways that 11 offspring caregivers talk about the possibility of nursing home admission for their physically disabled parents and explores the relationship between caregiver burden and nursing home placement. Participants were part of a longitudinal population-based study of community- residing older people. Content analysis of extended case narrative from qualitative, semi-structured interviews indicates that caregiver burden is related to feelings about nursing home use but does not necessarily signal a reluctance to continue providing care in the community. Findings are discussed in terms of future efforts to support caregivers and keep elders in the community. Keywords: Informal caregivers, caregiver burden, attitudes about nursing homes, offspring caregivers, disabled elders

This study examined the extent to which an urban village exists, in a sample of 206 African American, European American, and Hispanic American families with an elementary school-aged child. The urban village was evident in parental social networks with family, friends, and neighbors, although the nature of these networks varied. Multiple regression analyses indicated that parental social networks have an indirect effect on children's socioemotional development, mediated by parenting. Parents who received more emotional support and had less homogeneous social networks were more warm and responsive, provided a more stimulating home environment, and felt more effective as parents. These parenting characteristics, in turn, were associated with fewer behavior problems and more social competence in the children.