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Family Support of the Elderly and Female Labour Supply: Trade-Offs among Caregiving, Financial Transfers, and Work—Evidence from the US Health and Retirement Surve y

Sarah Harper

in Families in Ageing Societies: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

This chapter examines the relationship between labour supply, time help to parents, and financial assistance to parents for a sample of American women aged 53 to 63. Women who helped their parents ... More

This chapter examines the relationship between labour supply, time help to parents, and financial assistance to parents for a sample of American women aged 53 to 63. Women who helped their parents with personal care assistance worked fewer hours than those who did not. Women who provided financial assistance worked longer hours.Less

Alternatives to the SER

Leah F. Vosko

in Managing the Margins: Gender, Citizenship, and the International Regulation of Precarious Employment

Chapter 7 assesses three alternatives to the SER: the first advances a ‘tiered SER’ reflecting post‐1990 international labour regulations and convergent approaches within and among nation states ... More

Chapter 7 assesses three alternatives to the SER: the first advances a ‘tiered SER’ reflecting post‐1990 international labour regulations and convergent approaches within and among nation states examined in Chapters 4 to Chapters 6; the second involves creating what Bosch (2004) calls a new ‘flexible SER’; and the third aims to move ‘beyond employment’ as the basis for labour and social protection (Supiot 2001). The beyond employment option goes the furthest towards an integrated approach to regulation, recognizing that addressing precarious employment requires not only new employment norms but transformations in gender relations and citizenship boundaries. However, building beyond employment towards the elimination of the margins of the labour market necessitates combining its proposed mechanisms for de‐linking work and employment status and form from dimensions of labour market insecurity, especially notions of labour market membership and social drawing rights, with visions for transforming caregiving and community membership.Less

Reform Proposals and Alternatives to Marriage

Stephen Macedo

in Just Married: Same-Sex Couples, Monogamy, and the Future of Marriage

This chapter examines a range of proposals for the reform or replacement of marriage. These marriage reform proposals range from increasing the contractual aspects of marriage, to further ... More

This chapter examines a range of proposals for the reform or replacement of marriage. These marriage reform proposals range from increasing the contractual aspects of marriage, to further distinguishing and separating the civil and religious dimensions of marriage, and introducing greater choice, personalization, and deliberate design, along with the idea of curtailing no-fault divorce and strengthening marital commitment. The chapter considers the virtues of these alternatives to marriage compared with marriage as a status relation defined in advance by law. It explains and defends the comparative advantages of an open-ended marital commitment and concludes by discussing the conditions of just marriage, which include extending greater support for caring and caregiving relationships, but argues that this should be done by building on the success of marriage rather than by eliminating it.Less

Future Trends In Family Involvement In Treatment

Harriet P. Lefley

in Family Psychoeducation for Serious Mental Illness

This chapter discusses the future of FPE as an accepted intervention within the larger context of families' involvement in the treatment of their loved ones. There is a discussion of divergent ... More

This chapter discusses the future of FPE as an accepted intervention within the larger context of families' involvement in the treatment of their loved ones. There is a discussion of divergent interest groups in family and consumer movements, and of consumers' increasing role in the mental health workforce. There is an obvious distinction between those consumers who can function as providers and those who still require family caregiving. It is suggested that FPE can lead to a more effective role for families in treatment and greater access to information needed for illness management. The pervasive issue of confidentiality is discussed with some recommended solutions. At this juncture, FPE is still used in numerous sites in the U.S. and Europe, both for long-term patients and increasingly as prodromal interventions, and it is still alive and well in China. Accepted as evidence-based practice for schizophrenia, with clear cost-benefit in terms of reduced hospitalizations, FPE may become increasingly attractive for adoption as standard practice by mental health administrations.Less

Introduction

Harriet P. Lefley

in Family Psychoeducation for Serious Mental Illness

This chapter defines the basic concepts used in this book. Evidence-based practice (EBP) refers to the application of empirically-supported treatments in work with clients. As an EBP, family ... More

This chapter defines the basic concepts used in this book. Evidence-based practice (EBP) refers to the application of empirically-supported treatments in work with clients. As an EBP, family psychoeducation (FPE) is a time-limited structured intervention that reduces relapse and rehospitalization of clients with serious mental illness by enhancing their families' knowledge and coping skills. Serious mental illness is defined in terms of diagnosis, severity, and persistence, along with prevalence data from national population-based studies. The chapter presents data on the scope of families' involvement with persons with serious mental illness, in residential caregiving and/or ongoing social support. With few service providers offering education on illness management, education programs were largely developed outside of mental health systems, by organizations such as NAMI and MHA. Within systems, FPE emerged with research support of treatment efficacy by focusing on illness education and training in communication and problem-solving techniques.Less

Quality of the Early Caregiving Environment and Preschool Well-Being: An Examination of Children Entering the Child Welfare System During Infancy

Brenda Jones Harden, Jessica Vick Whittaker, Gregory Hancock, and Kevin Wang

in Child Welfare and Child Well-Being: New Perspectives From the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being

This chapter examines outcomes for infants and the youngest children in the NSCAW sample. In particular, it examines placement stability and the quality of the caregiving environment. ... More

This chapter examines outcomes for infants and the youngest children in the NSCAW sample. In particular, it examines placement stability and the quality of the caregiving environment. Developmentalists have identified the early childhood period as particularly important for children's language development, social development, and readiness for formal schooling. Researchers who study the development of young children have been especially concerned about the effects of children's early attachment to caregivers, as well as the cognitive and emotional stimulation in the caregiving environment. Children who encounter child welfare services are thought to be at a particular disadvantage in both regards, because economic deprivation and unstable caregiving relationships are thought to be all too typical of their environments. The chapter illustrates that these two factors—attachment and quality of the caregiving environment—are complex: when both are considered, their respective influences are not straightforward.Less

School-Age Children: Getting a Chance

Jody Heymann

in Forgotten Families: Ending the Growing Crisis Confronting Children and Working Parents in the Global Economy

This chapter focuses on school-age children, the care they lack, and the caregiving gaps they are forced to fill when no one else is available. When pressed about who is caring for school-age ... More

This chapter focuses on school-age children, the care they lack, and the caregiving gaps they are forced to fill when no one else is available. When pressed about who is caring for school-age children, popular unspoken presumptions emerge: that most school-age children can fare adequately when left alone. In some ways, the disparity between the visibility of the needs of preschool children and those of school-age children in the United States is a microcosm of the world. Most employers do next to nothing to help working parents address the needs of children six and over. Federal funding amounts to less than the equivalent of two afternoons' care for school-age children. Similarly, where attention is being paid by global organizations to children in working families, such as by UNESCO and the World Bank, it is almost exclusively paid to early childhood care and education.Less

How We Are with Each Other

Ann Burack-Weiss

in The Lioness in Winter: Writing an Old Woman's Life

This chapter discusses relationships with life partners, friends, and paid helpers, emphasizing and contrasting caregiving and care receiving.

Quality Foster Care: My Home for Now

Jill Duerr Berrick

in Take Me Home: Protecting America's Vulnerable Children and Families

On any given day, there are over half-a-million children in out-of-home care in the United States; the majority of these children reside in family foster care. Yet foster care is plagued by ... More

On any given day, there are over half-a-million children in out-of-home care in the United States; the majority of these children reside in family foster care. Yet foster care is plagued by significant problems. There are too few foster parents available to care for the thousands of children needing care, support for caregivers is woefully inadequate, subsidies to caregivers are insufficient, and monitoring of caregivers’ quality of care is minimal. To make matters worse, although foster care serves as the backbone of the child welfare system, it is nonetheless given scant attention by public policy makers, administrators, and child welfare reformers. This chapter calls attention to caregiving as the centerpiece of the child welfare system with special attention to foster care subsidies, supports, services, and standards.Less

Background and Historical Perspective

R. Michael Brown, Louis A. Penner, and Stephanie L. Brown

in Moving Beyond Self-Interest: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, and the Social Sciences

This chapter provides readers with background information for the volume, Moving Beyond Self-Interest (S. Brown, R. Brown, & Penner, 2011), which describes new developments in theory and research on ... More

This chapter provides readers with background information for the volume, Moving Beyond Self-Interest (S. Brown, R. Brown, & Penner, 2011), which describes new developments in theory and research on human caregiving from evolutionary, neuroscience, and social science perspectives. Scientific interest in caregiving and its motivation is rooted in philosophical thought, especially those ideas that address the phenomenon of altruism. The chapter traces historical roots of scientific attempts to understand altruism, considering the views of important visionaries like Charles Darwin and Peter Kropotkin, as well as contributions from more contemporary thinkers, including biologists William Hamilton, Robert Trivers, and David Sloan Wilson, and psychologists John Bowlby, Martin Hoffman, and Daniel Batson. The chapter’s conclusion underscores Berscheid and Collins’ (2000) clarion call for scientists to mount a serious effort to explore the ”caregiving construct”, and ends by noting that their call for action has not fallen on deaf ears. The cross-discipline efforts described in the Brown, et al. volume hold great potential for advancing our understanding of the caregiving system, extending the frontiers of behavioral science and public policy beyond self-interest, and addressing some of the most vexing problems ever to confront our species.Less

Adult Attachment and Caregiving: Individual Differences in Providing a Safe Haven and Secure Base to Others

Mario Mikulincer and Phillip R. Shaver

in Moving Beyond Self-Interest: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, and the Social Sciences

Over the past two decades, we have been working to transform attachment theory into a general theory of adult personality and behavior in social relationships. This has required expanding the theory ... More

Over the past two decades, we have been working to transform attachment theory into a general theory of adult personality and behavior in social relationships. This has required expanding the theory to address many new issues that have arisen in studies of adults. More emphasis has been placed on what Bowlby, the creator of attachment theory, called “behavioral systems.” In the present chapter we focus on the two behavioral systems that govern support seeking and support provision in relationships, the attachment and caregiving systems. The first of these, attachment, governs one person’s (e.g., an infant’s) reliance on another person (e.g., a parent) for protection and emotional support, especially when fear is aroused or help is needed. The second behavioral system, caregiving, is the motivational heart of a parent’s (or other adult’s) response to a child’s distress or need for support. It is the core of all empathic, compassionate reactions to other people’s needs. We begin by explaining the behavioral system construct in some detail and show how individual differences in a person’s attachment system affect the functioning of the caregiving system. We review examples from the attachment research literature, focusing on what attachment theorists call providing a “safe haven” for others in distress. We also describe the few studies that have addressed how individual differences in attachment affect what theorists call providing a “secure base” for others’ exploration and self-development. We then sketch some new studies of this important issue.Less

The Role of Empathic Emotions in Caregiving: Caring for Pediatric Cancer Patients

Louis A. Penner, Felicity W. K. Harper, and Terrance L. Albrecht

in Moving Beyond Self-Interest: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, and the Social Sciences

This essay focuses on a particular kind of caregiving--parents caring for children who have pediatric cancer. Pediatric cancer requires extensive and costly involvement from the parents of the ... More

This essay focuses on a particular kind of caregiving--parents caring for children who have pediatric cancer. Pediatric cancer requires extensive and costly involvement from the parents of the children, especially during the invasive and highly stressful treatments that are required to treat the disease. We view this caregiving as an example of a costly long-term investment and examine the causes and the consequences of differences in parents’ motives to engage in such actions. We have found that positively- valenced empathic responses ( i.e.,” empathic concern”) among parents immediately before treatments were associated with children experiencing less pain and distress during treatments, possibly because of how high empathic concern parents communicate with their children. Drawing on Selective Investment Theory we posit that empathic concern is an emotion regulating state that is coordinated by the social bonds proposed in the theory. That is, when parents are faced with a costly long-term investment, the emotions associated with empathic concern may serve to resolve the caregiving conflict between selfish and altruistic motives in favor of the latter. We also have found that children who are resilient and cope well with stressors elicit the highest levels empathic concern from their parents. Drawing on the concept of inclusive fitness, we suggest because parents who experience high levels of empathic concern are more effective helpers; this confers additional benefits on already resilient and adaptive children. This, in turn, increases the likelihood that the genetic characteristics associated with such altruistic behaviors will be present among the descendants of these caregivers. We present some preliminary data to support this argument.Less

The Costs and Benefits of Informal Caregiving

Richard Schulz and Joan K. Monin

in Moving Beyond Self-Interest: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, and the Social Sciences

This chapter explores the costs and benefits of informal caregiving at the individual level. On the cost side of the equation we describe the negative physical and psychological health effects of ... More

This chapter explores the costs and benefits of informal caregiving at the individual level. On the cost side of the equation we describe the negative physical and psychological health effects of caregiving as well as the effects of caregiving on labor force participation and vice versa. On the benefits side we describe recent findings that caregiving may be psychologically or physically beneficial to caregivers. We reconcile these divergent literatures and show how caregiving can either help and harm the caregiver depending on the intensity of care demands, the magnitude of care recipient suffering, and caregivers’ ability to positively affect care recipient outcomes.Less

A New View of UtilityMaximizing “Optimal Investment”

Dylan M. Smith, Stephanie L. Brown, and Mary L. Rigdon

in Moving Beyond Self-Interest: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, and the Social Sciences

In this brief essay, we review benefits of the caregiving system for health and well-being, and argue that these benefits are not reflected in economic models of how to maximize utility. We then ... More

In this brief essay, we review benefits of the caregiving system for health and well-being, and argue that these benefits are not reflected in economic models of how to maximize utility. We then describe how the caregiving system highlights the tension between appetitive motives versus maintaining deeper relationships, a sense of purpose, meaning, etc, and point out how this tension is reflected in existing debates within economics. We discuss how new discoveries about the caregiving system can be used to inform these debates, and conclude with a discussion of some potential practical implications.Less

Motivation and the Delivery of Social Services

Julian Le Grand

in Moving Beyond Self-Interest: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, and the Social Sciences

This chapter considers the implications of the neuroscience of caregiving and altruism for the discipline of political science. It describes the non-biological explanations for human behavior widely ... More

This chapter considers the implications of the neuroscience of caregiving and altruism for the discipline of political science. It describes the non-biological explanations for human behavior widely used in political science and questions their validity given new knowledge about the evolution of altruism and the neurophysiology of human behavior. In an effort toward consilience of biology and the social sciences, a set of hypotheses concerning the origins and development of human society is derived from the model of the caregiving system. After demonstrating that the hypotheses regarding the effects of the caregiving system on social evolution are consistent with existing archeological and anthropological evidence, the chapter turns to an analysis of myths and institutions in the polis of ancient Athens to explore how biology and culture have interacted to form and sustain large-scale societies and polities. The conclusion considers how knowledge of the caregiving system helps not only to explain the path of human social evolution, but also problematic features of contemporary politics, such as national identity and conflict, and the willingness of citizens to fight, kill, and die for their countries in war.Less