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511. [Article] Identification of young homemakers' management problems related to resource limitations
This study was designed to identify young homemakers' management problems and to see if limitations of selected resources caused problems. Sources used for current homemaking information were also explored. The ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- Identification of young homemakers' management problems related to resource limitations
- Author:
- Koza, Mary Speckhart
This study was designed to identify young homemakers' management problems and to see if limitations of selected resources caused problems. Sources used for current homemaking information were also explored. The sample was composed of 50 married homemakers, age 30 or under, who were living with their husbands. Homemakers were randomly selected from a newsletter mailing list. Thirty of the homemakers were classified as full-time homemakers. Twelve were employed full-time and six on a part-time basis. Only two were currently enrolled as students taking credit courses. Their average age was 26 years and they had completed a mean of 14 years of education. All but seven had families ranging from one to four children. The family mean income was $10,500. All 17 tasks studied were carried out most often on a regular or sometimes basis by the homemakers. Tasks included: meal preparation, dishwashing, packing lunches, special food preparation, food preservation, regular house care, special house care, upkeep of the home, washing, ironing, sewing and mending, physical care of adults, physical care of children, financial planning, record keeping, marketing for food and marketing for clothing. Homemakers rated tasks on a scale ranging from very simple to very complex. Upkeep of the home was listed as most complex while dishwashing was named the least complex task. Hypothesis 1. Hypothesis 1, management problems of young homemakers will not differ with respect to: length of marriage, age, type of housing, place of residence, homemakers' education, homemakers' occupation, composition of family and income, was accepted since there was no indication of relationship at the 0.10 level of signficance between management problems expressed and the demographic variables. If tasks were complex, homemakers were asked if one or more of six resource limitations including: money, time, knowledge, equipment, energy or space caused the complexity. Chi-square tests indicated that resources were unevenly distributed among the tasks. Limitations causing the most difficulty were time followed by money and knowledge. Resource limitations were unevenly distributed for special food preparation, financial planning, record keeping, marketing for food, marketing for clothing and special house care at the 0.005 significance level. Limitations were unevenly distributed at the 0.01 signficance level for ironing, the 0.05 significance level for food preservation and 0.10 significance level for upkeep of the home. Hypothesis Z. Hypothesis 2, there will be no relationship between the expressed problem areas and the limitations of resources of time, money, knowledge, equipment, energy or space, was rejected for the tasks mentioned above due to the uneven distribution at the stated signficance levels. The task enjoyed most by homemakers was physical care of children even though it took the most time. Dishwashing was least enjoyed, while ironing and packing lunches were least time consuming. The most energy was spent on special house care while washing took the least amount. Sixty-two percent of the homemakers followed daily routines while three-fourths of the homemakers made spending plans regularly. Sixty-eight percent had monetary resources to cover expenditures on a regular basis. Appliances available to all homemakers included a refrigerator or refrigerator-freezer, range and vacuum cleaner. Two-thirds of the families owned or were buying their homes. Twenty-eight felt they could use additional living space. Of these 28, 17 specified the need for at least one additional bedroom. All homemakers received current homemaking information from the Oregon State University Cooperative Extension Service Young Homemaker Newsletter. They requested additional information on community resources, use of personal energy, time, money, household space and equipment via, the newsletter. The majority of homemakers were managing the tasks and resources discussed in this study effectively in terms of the homemakers' satisfactions. The homemakers appeared to place a high value on their dual roles as wife and mother and were willing to try new ideas to enhance their roles.
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512. [Article] Does Disability Severity Matter? The Daily Lives of Parent Caregivers of Children with Developmental Disabilities
Individuals with disabilities and their parents, even within specific disability diagnoses, have diverse life experiences and trajectories. The current study focuses on parents of individuals with developmental ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- Does Disability Severity Matter? The Daily Lives of Parent Caregivers of Children with Developmental Disabilities
- Author:
- Fenn, Meghann L.
Individuals with disabilities and their parents, even within specific disability diagnoses, have diverse life experiences and trajectories. The current study focuses on parents of individuals with developmental disabilities. Developmental disabilities (DD) are a diverse group of severe chronic conditions evident at birth or acquired during childhood that affect major life activities such as language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living; and include conditions such as Down syndrome, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders, and general developmental delays. This study builds on previous literature concerning stress, caregiving, and disability by examining the daily lives, experiences, and wellbeing of parents of children with DD. The majority of health and wellbeing research being done in this area focuses on overall or global wellbeing. Comparatively little research has examined the daily lives, experiences, and wellbeing of these parents, who exist within extremely fluid contexts that change daily. Furthermore, this study also aims to build on previous research by considering the severity of the child’s disability, in order to further contextualize and understand the complex levels of influence within these parents’ daily lives. Using data from the second wave of the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE), the daily diary project of the National Survey of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), this study examined these topics further by answering three specific research questions; First, to what extent does the association between daily stressors and same-day positive and negative affect differ for parents of children with and without DD? Second, to what extent does the association between daily positive events and same-day positive and negative affect differ for parents of children with and without DD? And lastly, are these associations further moderated by the severity of the child’s disability? A total of 82 participants (Mean Age = 57.4; 59% female, 96% non-Hispanic White, 79% married, Mean Education = 14 years) were identified as parents of children with DD. A sample of 82 individuals who were parents of typically developing children were identified and matched as a comparison group based on: parent gender, parent age, number of children in the household, child age, whether the target child lives with the parent, parent marital status, and parent educational attainment. Participants completed 8 nightly telephone interviews, which included assessments of their daily stressors and positive events, as well as positive and negative affect. Results from the current study found that the daily lives of individuals with disabilities and their parents are diverse and complex. Compared to their matched counterparts, parents of children with DD experienced significantly greater increases in negative affect associated with the experience of daily stressors. In contract, parents of children with DD exhibited comparable increases in daily positive affect associated with the daily positive experiences. With respect to severity of disability, the longevity of the child’s disability diagnosis, the number of comorbid disability diagnoses, and the number of comorbid mental health diagnoses, did selectively moderate daily experience-wellbeing associations, but not in a symmetric fashion across indicators. Taken together, the daily experiences and daily wellbeing of parents caring for a child with a disability cannot be understood and defined merely by knowing their child’s disability status. Parents of children with DD may be vulnerable because of the chronic stress context of caring for a child with a disability, and they show more reactive patterns of daily wellbeing when experiencing daily stressors, however, they also show resiliency in their daily wellbeing when experiencing daily positive events. The current study attempted to better contextualize and understand the daily lives of caregiving parents by moving beyond a binary definition of disability (yes/no a disability is present), and findings suggest that severity of disability is a complex phenomenon in need of continued empirical investigation.
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The two literary touchstones of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Willa Cather examined in this thesis anchored a larger discussion of the discourse about gender and sexuality during the First and Second Waves ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- A literary discourse on the evolution of gender & sexuality in the first & second waves of feminism : Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" deconstructs established gender roles as Willa Cather's "Paul's Case" reconstructs them
- Author:
- Hotard, Tami
The two literary touchstones of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Willa Cather examined in this thesis anchored a larger discussion of the discourse about gender and sexuality during the First and Second Waves of feminism in America. "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Gilman deconstructed the notion of "femininity" manifested at the turn of the century in America, while Cather's "Paul's Case" reconstructed the notion of "masculinity." Both Cather and Gilman wrote their short stories at the turn of the century in America during the First Wave of Feminism yet they resurfaced in discussions about gender and sexuality in the Second Wave of Feminism. Readings of both Cather and Gilman's writings have evolved with the First and Second Waves because their protagonists defied and undercut the established social norms enabling them to be re-examined much after their publication date. Although their writing styles are different, Gilman and Cather share a complex understanding of gender and sexuality that earmark the social position of women in America which can be interpreted by the most contemporary critics of present date. During the First Wave of Feminism, women discussed how their ability to reproduce contributed to unbalanced gender relations, caused middle and upper class women to remain confined to the household, and economically dependent upon their husbands. This devaluation of women's participation in valued economic work sickened many women and left them reliant on their physician's care as well. Challenging this social structure, Gilman recorded her experience after being diagnosed with neurasthenia by Dr. Mitchell, ordered to remain in bed for months while consuming fatty foods and with no support from friends. Meanwhile, Cather expressed her discontent with the social construction of gender in America by asserting a male character that reconsidered the established norms for men and women of Victorian America. When the Second Wave of Feminism emerged in America, the discussions about gender and sexuality reread these touchstone texts of Gilman and Cather as flexible visions of reality but in different discursive contexts depending on the social time frame in which they reviewed them. In the 1960s, the Women's Rights Movement and the Women's Liberation Movement generated most theoretical discussions on the condition of women themselves, the issues pertaining to women's confinement like establishing a political voice and the "problem with no name." While in the 1970s, discussions about gender and sexuality concluded that the "sex/gender system," also known as patriarchy, defeated their purpose toward complete liberation because of its economic structure aimed at benefiting men. Although they appreciated the notion of a collective voice for all women, the development of individual voices among women played a more significant role in the 1970's discourses about gender and sexuality. Because men have predominantly controlled the medical field, women in the 1970s, who wrote about gender and sexuality then, also attacked physicians like Dr. Mitchell who diagnosed women with strange treatments and also worked for the prohibition of the practice of mid-wifery in America at the turn of the century. Other critics of the 1970s decided that Cather's life reflected that of a lesbian, so that by the 1980s, literary discourses involving gender and sexuality began asking questions about the purpose of Cather and Gilman's writings. If female authors like Cather and Gilman lived such politically conscious lives, then why did they not create narratives that reflected their political agendas? After questioning their narratives, some critics decided that Cather and Gilman carried a "duplicitous nature" or a twofold message in their short yet complex stories. This duplicitous style of writing explained how that by the 1990s discussions about gender and sexuality had evolved into the "crafting of characters" that resulted in "gender performances," and one acting out one's gender. While First and Second Wavers fought for the elimination of binary gender divisions and a balance in gender relations that supported the economic development of all women in America, Cather and Gilman's writings facilitated discussions during both Waves that contributed to the reasons why the social construction of gender and sexuality did not result in equal human treatment, and should therefore be reconstructed. The literature concerning women during the First and Second Waves of Feminism can be summarized as a tactfully-formulated, continuing rumination on the question of the nature and genesis of women's oppression and social subordination, and how to change its effects on the future of the human race. What started off as strictly constructed and enforced gender roles in Victorian America evolved into gender performativity in the latter part of this century. This socio-sexuo evolution lies within the protagonists' discontent and total rebellion in Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Cather's "Paul's Case," whose stories both surfaced at the turn of the 20th century in America, when socially-conscious citizens inspected these rigid Victorian ideals, and whose stories later resurfaced again during the Second Wave of Feminism at the middle to end of the 20th century, when individuals re-enacted these same socially constructed gender roles, and deconstructed them. Lather's "Paul's Case" functions as a touchstone of her short fiction that even Cather agreed valued notice, since she only allowed it to be reprinted of all her other stories. With consideration toward conducting future research, a more thorough examination of say The Professor's House and A Lost Lady as well as My Antonia to explore more glimpses of Cather confirming this fluctuating, non-conforming, even elusive authorial approach toward gender and sexuality that has made her reputation outlast herself, should reveal even a deeper sense of her literary complexities. Gilman's utopian novels, Moving the Mountain, Herland, and With Her in Ourland, that came after "The Yellow Wallpaper" deserve a closer look in the same respect as she struggled to portray the possibilities and barriers facing a woman who attempted to combine love and work. The movement in Gilman's writing progressively develops the possibilities and highlights the key barriers for a woman: female resistance to social change and male incomprehension concerning the necessity for love and work in a woman's life. She visualized the transition from the present to the future as one of internal conversion to an egalitarian society. This is a dual process of women awakening to their own interior power and men renouncing oppressive power structures as individuals and as a society. Perhaps too this is why Gilman, like Cather, switched to a male narrator in order to express her utopian vision.