How Do Infants Experience Caregiving?

To describe the social, intimate and sexual relationships of Dutch adolescents with cerebral palsy compared with their able-bodied age mates. Cross-sectional study. A total of 103 adolescents with cerebral palsy without severe learning problems aged 16-20 years. We used a structured interview and questionnaires to assess subject characteristics such as age, type of cerebral palsy, gross motor function and level of education. Main outcome measures on social, intimate and sexual relationships are the Life-Habits questionnaire, the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale, and a structured interview developed for Dutch studies in able-bodied persons and persons with spina bifida. Experienced competence was assessed with the Dutch version of the Self-Perception Profile of Adolescents and the Physical Disability Sexual and Body Esteem Scale. These data were compared with matching reference data, mainly from able-bodied (Dutch) adolescents. Approximately 30% of the subjects functioned socially below their age level. Adolescents with cerebral palsy find it difficult to develop intimate relationships and they have less sexual experience than their able-bodied age mates. Although adolescents with cerebral palsy do have social relationships, it is difficult for them to develop intimate relationships. They perceive various barriers, but seem to have a positive self-perception.

The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project: An Introduction

In this retrospective qualitative study, the researcher reviewed 55 client records of The Breath Odour Clinic. The purpose was to determine if individuals attended a clinic specialised in treating oral malodour for medical or social reasons. The study focused on the psychosocial and breath odour history. Clients had agreed to the use of information for research purposes. Society uses odour as a means to define and interact with the world. The olfactory, smelling experience is intimate, emotionally charged and connects us with the world. It follows that the smell from mouth breath odour can connect or disconnect a person from their social environment and intimate relationships. How one experiences one's own body is very personal and private but also very public. Breath odour is public as it occurs within a social and cultural context and personal as it affects one's body image and self-confidence. Body image, self-image and social relations mesh, interact and impact upon each other. Breath odour is a dynamic and interactive aspect of the self-image. In addition, breath odour may be value-coded as 'bad'. In 75% of the cases reviewed, decreased self-confidence and insecurity in social and intimate relations led clients to seek treatment at the specialised breath odour clinic. Their doctor, dental hygienist or dentist had treated medical and oral conditions but not resolved their breath odour problem. When a person perceives a constant bad breath problem, she/he uses defence techniques, and may avoid social situations and social relations. This affects a person's well-being.

Mainstream pornography is popular, freely accessible, and infused with themes of male dominance, aggression, and female subservience. Through depicting sex in these ways, mainstream pornography has the potential to influence the further development of harmful sexual scripts that condone or endorse violence against women and girls. These concerns warrant the adoption of a harms-based perspective in critical examinations of pornography's influence on sexual experiences. This chapter reports on findings from interviews with 24 heterosexual emerging adults living in Aotearoa/New Zealand about how pornography has impacted their lives. Despite a shared awareness among participants of mainstream pornography's misogynistic tendencies, and the potential for harm from those displays, men's and women's experiences were profoundly gendered. Men's reported experiences were often associated with concerns about their own sexual behaviors, performances, and/or abilities. Conversely, women's experiences were often shaped by how pornography had affected the way that men related to them sexually. Their experiences included instances of sexual coercion and assault which were not reported by the men. These findings signal the need for a gendered lens, situated within a broader harms-based perspective, in examinations of pornography's influence.

Understanding how social experiences throughout life shape later loneliness levels may help to identify how to alleviate loneliness at later lifestages. This study investigates the association between social relationship adversities throughout the lifecourse and loneliness in later life. Using prospective data from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development (N = 2,453), we conducted multivariable analyses to investigate independent, cumulative and moderated effects between the number of social relationship adversities experienced in childhood, mid-adulthood and later adulthood and the feeling of loneliness at age 68. We examined interactions between social relationship adversities and current quantity and quality aspects of social relationships. We found evidence of a step-dose response where greater exposure to social relationship adversities experienced at three earlier lifestages predicted higher loneliness levels in later life with more recent social relationship adversities more strongly related to loneliness. The results also demonstrated support for exacerbation and amelioration of earlier adverse social relationship experiences by current social isolation and relationship quality, respectively. This study suggests that social relationship adversities experienced throughout the lifecourse continue to influence loneliness levels much later in life. A key finding is that adverse social relationship experiences in earlier life may explain why otherwise socially similar individuals differ in their levels of loneliness. Implications for policy and research are discussed.

Despite the difficulties people with disabilities may have garnering intimate relationships, intimate relationships may be particularly beneficial for people with disabilities as they result in greater self-acceptance, less internalized stigma, and more camaraderie. The aim of this study was to explore the intimate relationships of adults with disabilities (n = 1,443) in its many forms (from intimate friendships to romantic relationships). We particularly explored what factors increased the odds of adults with disabilities having intimate relationships, what supports resulted in increased likeliness to have intimate relationships, and what factors resulted in the presence of favorable intimate relationship outcomes. Our analysis revealed service organizations are key to enhancing the social and intimate relationships of adults with disabilities.

This study evaluated the associations between relationship distress, depression symptoms, and discrepancy in interpersonal perception within couples. After completing a series of discussion tasks, couples (N=88) rated their behavior using the circumplex-based Structural Analysis of Social Behavior Model (SASB; Benjamin, 1979, 1987, 2000). Overall, couple members were strikingly similar in their interpersonal perceptions, and tended to see themselves as friendly, reciprocal in their focus, and balanced between connection and separateness. As hypothesized, however, perceptual discrepancy was related to relationship distress and depression. Relationship distress was associated with discrepancy regarding transitive behavior focused on the partner, while depression was associated with disagreement about intransitive, self-focused behavior. Analysis of affiliation and autonomy revealed that relationship distress was associated with seeing oneself as reacting with more hostility than the partner sees, and perceiving one's partner as more hostile, more controlling, and less submissive than he or she does. Partners of depressed individuals viewed themselves as more controlling than their mate did. Men's depression was associated with disagreement between partners regarding men's self-focused behavior. Results underscore the importance of considering interpersonal perception when conceptualizing relationship distress and depression within intimate relationships.

This prospective research tested the theory that morbidity is influenced by personality, affect and quality of intimate social relationships. Seventy-eight community-dwelling 35-55 year-old men and women completed self-report questionnaires measuring self-esteem, neuroticism, existence and quality of intimate relationships, and retrospective illness. They also maintained a daily illness log for three months. With the effects of physical symptoms controlled in both retrospective and prospective illnesses, the study showed that being previously ill or highly neurotic and in an unsatisfactory intimate relationship significantly predicted future morbidity. These results support the theory that a salient component of psychological contributors to health/illness is the quality of intimate social relationships.

The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today. Andrew J. Cherlin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2009. 271 pp. ISBN 9780307266897. $25.95 (cloth). As Andrew Cherlin points out in his most recent book, marriage in the United States differs in fundamental ways from marriage in other Western countries. On the one hand, most Americans strongly support marriage and bestow a considerable degree of symbolic value on it. Correspondingly, most people marry, marry relatively early, and remarry if their first marriages end in divorce. On the other hand, most Americans embrace the tenets of expressive individualism: the belief that people have a right - perhaps an obligation - to seek personal happiness and psychological growth. As a result, large numbers of Americans divorce every year because they do not feel fulfilled in their marriages. Because of these two contrary cultural models, people in the United States form partnerships, split up, and repartner more often than just about anywhere else. Curiously, this pattern - a high rate of union formation combined with a high rate of union dissolution - appears to have existed throughout American history, albeit not as sharply as in the present era. Although earlier observers have commented on the unique features of American marriage, no other writer has developed these ideas as clearly and comprehensively as Cherlin has. Cherlin argues that cultural support for marriage is related to. the central role of religion in American life. Religion is taken more seriously in the United States than in most Western societies, as reflected in attendance at religious services and the widely shared conviction that religion should play a central role in everyday life. Religious influence had its origin partly in early colonial life, when many immigrants (who viewed marriage as the cornerstone of society) came to the United States to escape religious persecution in Europe. More important, because a single religious tradition does not dominate in the United States (in contrast to many European countries), Americans are able to seek out religions that best meet their personal needs in an open marketplace of beliefs and practices. Because most religions value and support marriage, most Americans have accepted marriage as a central feature of life. The flip side of the coin is American individualism. This cultural element was originally manifested in utilitarian individualism - the beliefs that people can succeed through hard work; should seek their own solutions to problems without the assistance of the federal government; and in a frontier society, should go west to seek their fortunes. The more recent manifestation of this cultural element is expressive individualism - the belief that people should seek personal growth and emotional fulfillment through their jobs and social relationships, including marriage. The American way of marriage may be unique, but does that matter? From an adult perspective, it is not clear whether frequent turnover in intimate relationships is good or bad. Although some adults may suffer from the strains of repeated relationship instability, other adults may benefit from opportunities to keep trying until the right marriage partner comes along. Cherlin argues that we should be concerned, however, because relationship instability is not good for most children. Having to adjust to parents (and parents' partners) moving in and out of the household is stressful for children and increases the risk of emotional and behavioral problems. Of course, research on divorce suggests that children benefit, in the long run, when marital dissolution removes them from highconflict homes in which parents have overtly hostile relationships (Amato, Loomis, & Booth, 1995). Correspondingly, when parents remarry after divorce (or marry for the first time after a disrupted cohabiting union), some children develop close relationships with stepparents and benefit from the presence of a supportive parent figure in the household (Hetherington, 2006). …

Ontogenetic diet shifts, where individuals change their resource use during development, are the rule rather than the exception in the animal world. Here, we aim to understand how such changes in diet during development affect the conditions for an adaptive radiation in the presence of ecological opportunity. We use a size-structured consumer–resource model and the adaptive dynamics approach to study the ecological conditions for speciation. We assume that small individuals all feed on a shared resource. Large individuals, on the other hand, have access to multiple food sources on which they can specialize. We find that competition among small individuals can hinder an adaptive radiation to unfold, despite plenty of ecological opportunity for large individuals. When small individuals experience strong competition for food, they grow slowly and only a few individuals are recruited to the larger size classes. Hence, competition for food among large individuals is weak and there is therefore no disruptive selection. In addition, initial conditions determine if an adaptive radiation occurs or not. A consumer population initially dominated by small individuals will not radiate. On the other hand, a population initially dominated by large individuals may undergo adaptive radiation and diversify into multiple species.

This article focuses on the development and the limitations of convivial, instrumental, and intimate family relations among diverse rural residents in the Inner Moray Firth area of the Scottish Highlands. Drawing on 22 semi‐structured interviews with international migrants (EU nationals), internal migrants (UK nationals), and participants who were born there and never left, this article identifies and critically discusses how different types of social relations develop, or not, within and between these groups of rural residents. This article indicates that while all participants experienced convivial relations, these encounters did not always transfer into close, meaningful relations. The instrumental and meaningful relations, however, were more ambivalent in practice and related to internal divisions within rural communities defined along the lines of who is perceived to be “local” or “not local.” The instrumental ties were developed among participants with common interests, similar life stages, and experiences and varied in terms of ethnic and national composition. Similarly, while family ties were crucial for a sense of belonging, their ethnic and national composition differed. By illustrating the complex composition of convivial, instrumental, and family ties in rural Highlands, this article highlights that meaningful social relations supporting social integration should not be understood via social encounters with “local” residents only, but also intimate and instrumental social relations within and between migrant populations.

Objective: To investigate possible barriers to successful social and sexual relationships in adolescents and young adults of normal intelligence with cerebral palsy. Design: A literature review based on a PubMed and PsycINFO search for the period 1990–2003. Included were studies focusing on one or more of the outcome parameters (i.e. social, intimate and sexual relationships) or on associated factors that described relationships with the outcome parameters. Results: Fourteen papers were selected. Two studies investigated exclusively people with cerebral palsy whereas 12 concerned people with a congenital disability and/or physical disabilities, including people with cerebral palsy. All studies addressed adolescents or adults of normal intelligence. A. Social and sexual relationships: In social relationships adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy were less active than their age mates, and dating was often delayed and less frequent. Adolescents with congenital disabilities indicated that sexuality is an important aspect of their lives, but they experienced difficulties developing a sexual relationship. B. Associated factors: Psychological maladjustment, insufficient self-efficacy and low sexual self-esteem may impair the development of social and sexual relationships. Overprotection in raising children with cerebral palsy and the negative attitudes of other people may have a negative influence on the self-efficacy of people with cerebral palsy. Conclusion: The reviewed studies suggest many factors that may influence the development of social and sexual relationships in adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy. However, evidence was found only for the personal factors self-efficacy and sexual self-esteem and their interrelationships with the parents' way of raising their children and successful experiences in social situations.

Young adults explore sexuality through social media, using smartphones to conduct their intimate social relationships. This includes sexting behaviors that may have negative repercussions, such as bullying or non-consensual dissemination of content. Our study examines the connections between emotion regulation, moral judgment, and sexting behavior (with instant messages) among young adults. We tested the research variables—sexting, emotional regulation, and moral judgment—in a sample population of 682 young Israeli adults, ages 18–25. The study’s findings indicate that 45.9% of the sample population of young adults have sent sexual messages and 47.9% have received such messages. No disparities in sexting behavior were found between young men and young women. Higher use of sexting was found among those who were in an intimate relationship. Difficulty in emotion regulation was found to correlate with lower capacity for ethical/humane moral judgment, which in turn signaled a higher likelihood of sexting behavior.

This study qualitatively explored social capital available to individuals (N = 17) within a community-based purposive sample of adult male immigrants from India in New York City (NYC). Analysis of in-depth interview data identified possible pathways for social capital's influences upon acculturative stress. The study defined social capital in terms of the participants' social relationships among peers, in the workplace, and with their ethnic community. Their relationships were assessed in terms of support, trust, and reciprocity. Among the recent immigrants, hopelessness and frustration about future work prospects were associated with symptoms of depression and substance abuse. The participants identified wealth as a distinct marker of social class and they described social class as a combination of education and occupation. Social class largely determined the particular peer and community networks each participant joined. Participants relied upon ongoing connections with family in India, despite their geographic separation, to relieve acculturative stress. Social support from peers was the participants' most useful and immediate resource for alleviating acculturative stress. For participants of lower socioeconomic status, acculturative stress was compounded by social-relationship expectations and norms from India that persisted within NYCs immigrant community. Namely, lower-SES participants were more likely to experience frustration and setbacks when they sought out intimate social relationships with women.

The quality of individuals’ social relationships consistently predicts greater well-being. But little is known about the relative importance of different relationship types for life satisfaction, including the relative importance of friendships compared to other types of relationships. Some have theorized that one intimate relationship is all you need. However, romantic partners, family, and friends may contribute uniquely or interactively to well-being. The current study assessed life satisfaction and relationship satisfaction in survey data collected from a large, diverse sample of respondents. Satisfaction with each type of relationship was significantly and independently associated with life satisfaction, over and above other variables in the model. Friendship (not family) interacted with intimate relationships: when respondents were highly satisfied with their intimate relationships, they were happy with their lives regardless of friendship quality. But when they were unhappy with their intimate relationships, they were only happy with their lives if they had good friends.