Faced with multiple choices regarding school, friends, and activities coupled with the ever-widening influence of the outside world, parents of 6-12 year olds need help. America's nanny is back to offer a large dose of healthy parenting advice with secrets for raising happy, secure, and well-balanced children.

What is "normal" sexuality for young people? How do they engage with the pornography that saturates popular culture? Are the panics that swirl around young people's access to pornified culture justified? In Young People and Pornography, Mulholland explores young people's own perspectives on the pornification of their world. The book brings the overlooked voices of young people into the debates over sexuality and the role of explicit sexual content in their lives. In the process she concludes that the explicit now occupies a position in public spaces in ways that construct a new normal. However, countering the claims of panic-fuelled public discourses worrying that "anything goes," she reveals how young people use humor, parody, and the spectacular to negotiate pornography in ways that maintain a distance. In addition, Mulholland reveals how young people create meanings about pornified culture remarkably consistent with historical norms of privacy, respectability, and sexuality.

This book aims to reverse the bias shown in research literature concerning the decline of information processing abilities with age. Twenty chapters identify areas of limited or no decline in cognitive functioning with respect to rate of information processing, attentional capacity, object perception, word perception, language comprehension, learning, memory, and problem-solving. These findings attest to the imbalance of previous published research, presenting a fairer portrayal of the aged mind.
Key Features
* Investigates a broad variety of information-processing tasks and capabilities
* Shows that aging adults can look forward to minimum dysfunction over a wide range of intellectual activity
* Reverses the bias toward portrayal of the aged, dysfunctional mind
* Provides information applicable toward interacting with the aged in counseling and care-giving settings

Ageing, Narrative and Identity: New Qualitative Social Research outlines the methodology and results of the Fiction and the Cultural Mediation of Ageing Project (FCMAP), led by a research team from Brunel University, UK. In investigating how older people resist stereotypical cultural representations of ageing, the study demonstrates the importance of narrative understanding to social agency. This book will therefore be of interest not only to students and researchers in the growing interdisciplinary field of Ageing Studies, but also to those with interests in Social Policy, Social Narrative and wider socio-cultural conceptions of the interaction between representation and everyday life.

This book explores various practices and policies related to ageing issues in India. It addresses ageing concerns from a theoretical and empirical viewpoint with in-depth analyses of existential dimensions of ageing. It provides deep insights into ageing in India by discussing demographics related to health and social differentials, gender concerns, retirement problems, epidemiological transition taking place in the country with rising problem of dementia and mental health problems. It consists of 23 chapters written by various established as well as upcoming scholars in the field. The authors cover a broad range of topics with regard to provisions for institutional care, geriatric practice and emerging issues of elder abuse. The book will appeal to professionals and to lay people getting interested in ageing India from a social, health, gender, economic, psychological and emotional aspects.

The toughness model proposed in this book incorporates psychological research and neuroscience to explain how a variety of toughening activities - ranging from confronting mental and physical challenges to meditation - sustain our brains and bodies, and ultimately build our mental and psychological capacities degenerated by stress and by aging.

"The array of topics covered is amazing, making this book a valuable, significant resource for many disciplines...This multidisciplinary review of the literature on minority aging presents the scholarship related to public health and 'social, behavioral, and biological concerns' of aged minorities like no other publication. Graduate students will certainly be well-served by this book, as would faculty teaching aging at both undergraduate and graduate levels...Highly recommended."--Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

" while practitioners of gerontology, family medicine, and any professional involved in the care of the elderly will find some practical guidance in the second part of the book, it will really earn a place on the bookshelf of anyone and everyone with an interest in US sociology and the development of public policy for the elderly. With the general aging of the population and the book's accentuation of current issues, this outstanding review will become an indispensable tool."-Healthy Aging Research

This text provides up-to-date, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive information about aging among diverse racial and ethnic populations in the United States. It is the only book to focus on paramount public health issues as they relate to older minority Americans, and addresses social, behavioral, and biological concerns for this population. The text distills the most important advances in the science of minority aging and incorporates the evidence of scholars in gerontology, anthropology, psychology, public health, sociology, social work, biology, medicine, and nursing. Additionally, the book incorporates the work of both established and emerging scholars to provide the broadest possible knowledge base on the needs of and concerns for this rapidly growing population.

Chapters focus on subject areas that are recognized as being critical in understanding the well being of minority elders. These include sociology (Medicare, SES, work and retirement, social networks, context/neighborhood, ethnography, gender, demographics), psychology (cognition, stress, mental health, personality, sexuality, religion, neuroscience, discrimination), medicine/nursing/public health (mortality and morbidity, disability, health disparities, long-term care, genetics, dietary issues, health interventions, physical functioning), social work (caregiving, housing, social services, end-of-life care), and many other topics. The book focuses on the needs of four major ethnic groups: Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, African American, and Native American. Key Features:

Provides current, comprehensive information about minority aging through a multidisciplinary lens Integrates information from scholars in gerontology, anthropology, psychology, public health, sociology, social work, biology, medicine, and nursing Emphasizes the principal public health issues concerning minority elders Offers "one-stop shopping" regarding the development of a substantial knowledge base about minority aging Includes recent progressive research pertaining to the social, cultural, psychological and health needs of elderly minority adults in the US

When Congress enacted Social Secuirty in 1935, with the age of retirement set at age 65, average life expectancy was 62 years. By the time Medicare was enacted 30 years later, life expectancy had risen to age 70. Since the enactment of Medicare, life expectancy has risen to age 76 today and may be expected to increase further in the decades to come. Clearly, the increase in post-retirement life expectancy has significant implications for the level of national expenditures attributable to an aging population. One of the approaches suggested as a solution to the so-called income transfer problem is to redefine old age, that is, to push retirement and its associated benefits off to a later age. This would effectively increase the size of the workforce, with older workers continuing to contribute their payroll taxes for an extended period of time. The critical question Sicker poses is, will there be enough appropriate employment opportunities for a growing number of older workers in the workforce of the future? The evidence for a positive response is far from clear or compelling.

Sicker examines the prospective place of the aging worker in the employment environment of the 21st century in light of the restructuring of American business and the world of work in the final decades of the last century. In doing so, he raises serious concerns about the validity and utility of some of the neoclassical economic ideas and assumptions that have become part of the conventional wisdom of our time. Sicker contends that these dubious propositions have unwittingly contributed signficantly to the problem through their manifestation in public policy. However, the principal focus of his analysis is not on economic theory as such, but on the realities and uncertainties that an aging American workforce will face in the decades to come. This book is significant reading for scholars, researchers, and the general public interested in labor force and aging policy issues.

Drawing on diverse theoretical perspectives, this book examines questions of youth citizenship and participation by exploring their meanings in policy, practice and youth experience. It examines young people's participation in non-government and youth-led organisations, and asks what can be done to bridge the democratic disconnect.

While studies of San children have attained the peculiar status of having delineated the prototype for hunter-gatherer childhood, relatively few serious ethnographic studies of San children have been conducted since an initial flurry of research in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on the author's long-term field research among several San groups of Southern Africa, this book reconsiders hunter-gatherer childhood using "play" as a key concept. Playfulness pervades the intricate practices of caregiver-child interactions among the San: immediately after birth, mothers have extremely close contact with their babies. In addition to the mother's attentions, other people around the babies actively facilitate gymnastic behavior to soothe them. These distinctive caregiving behaviors indicate a loving, indulgent attitude towards infants. This also holds true for several language genres of the San that are used in early vocal communication. Children gradually become involved in various playful activities in groups of children of multiple ages, which is the major locus of their attachment after weaning; these playful activities show important similarities to the household and subsistence activities carried out by adults. Rejuvenating studies of San children and hunter-gatherer childhood and childrearing practices, this book aims to examine these issues in detail, ultimately providing a new perspective for the understanding of human sociality.

This book examines the transformations of Egyptian childhoods that occurred across gender, class, and rural/urban divides. It also questions the role of nostalgia and representation of childhood in illuminating key underlying political, social, and cultural developments in Egypt.

On the basis of a national research project undertaken in England, this volume explores how and why young people's engagement is so important globally in education and society, and looks at what teachers and students think about citizenship and community. The authors make recommendations to enhance understanding and the potential for engagement.

This book provides a critical understanding of contemporary issues within global society and how these relate to six case study examples (UK, USA, China, India, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Japan). The authors draw on their diverse experience to explore four major themes of contemporary relevance: overall aging of societies; governance and institutions; emergency services and public health provisions; and community activism and involvement. The key issues within the book--sociability, social capital, and community development--are examined in the context of an ever increasing aging world. The authors' sense of optimism is linked to growing evidence that community activism is on the rise and can effectively plug the gap between public need and provision of service.

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In the last half century, developmental scientists have become increasingly interested in studying contexts beyond the home environment that contribute to children's growth and development, including physical contexts such as schools and neighborhoods, as well as social contexts such as poverty. During this same period, a number of social trends have significantly impacted children's daily lives, including shifts in gender roles and expectations, the emergence of an early care and education system, and the proliferation of media technology. Societal Contexts of Child Development provides comprehensive literature reviews for six broad contextual influences on children's development that have emerged as key areas of inquiry in contemporary society - gender, child care, culture and ethnicity, poverty, schools and neighborhoods, and media. In the spirit of applied developmental science, this book considers these six contextual domains in a series of two linked chapters written by experts in the interdisciplinary field of developmental science. The first chapter in each section is organized as a review of basic research relevant to a particular context, including a discussion of prominent theoretical and methodological issues. The second chapter in each section then addresses the same context from an applied research perspective, examining and documenting how research has been, can be, or should be used to enhance the everyday lives and developmental outcomes of children and their families through interventions and/or social policies. The book concludes with a chapter specifically dedicated to making connections between research and practice and an epilogue that situates the book's chapters within the field's study of contexts. Societal Contexts of Child Development will appeal to a broad audience of scholars, students, practitioners, and policymakers from the disciplines of psychology, sociology, economics, human development, and public policy.

This book traces the development of sexuality in the child from the prenatal, through birth and up to puberty and adolescence. Very little has been written about children's sexuality in spite of a large literature on child abuse. Western society has been slow to recognize sexual experiences and conceptualizations as an important part of a child's development. This is the only work that has been written in a frank and open manner about the many sexual encounters that children have on a daily basis as part of their normal psychological development. Martinson's study is unique in that children speak for themselves in telling about their explorations, confusions, fears, and satisfactions. The book traces the life of children in their day-to-day encounters as they grow and develop. It complements and rounds out Robert Coles's important works on "The Moral Life of Children," "The Political Life of Children," and "The Spiritual Life of Children."

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

"In this remarkable volume, Paula S. Fass, a pioneer and pace-setter in the burgeoning field of children's history, demonstrates that a knowledge of history is essential to understanding contemporary controversies over child protection, the commercialization of childhood, multiculturalism in public schools, and the impact of globalization."
--Steven Mintz, author of "Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood"

aThought-provokinga--"Choice"

Paula S. Fass, a pathbreaker in children's history and the history of education, turns her attention in Children of a New World to the impact of globalization on children's lives, both in the United States and on the world stage. Globalization, privatization, the rise of the "work-centered" family, and the triumph of the unregulated marketplace, she argues, are revolutionizing the lives of children today.

Fass begins by considering the role of the school as a fundamental component of social formation, particularly in a nation of immigrants like the United States. She goes on to examine children as both creators of culture and objects of cultural concern in America, evident in the strange contemporary fear of and fascination with child abduction, child murder, and parental kidnapping. Finally, Fass moves beyond the limits of American society and brings historical issues into the present and toward the future, exploring how American historical experience can serve as a guide to contemporary globalization as well as how globalization is altering the experience of American children and redefining childhood.

Clear and scholarly, serious but witty, Children of a New World provides afoundation for future historical investigations while adding to our current understanding of the nature of modern childhood, the role of education for national identity, the crisis of family life, and the influence of American concepts of childhood on the world's definitions of children's rights. As a new generation comes of age in a global world, it is a vital contribution to the study of childhood and globalization.

This book examines the use of violence by children and young people in family settings and proposes specialised and age-appropriate responses to these children and young people It interrogates the adequacy and effectiveness of current service and justice system responses, including analysis of police, court and specialist service responses. It proposes new approaches to children and young people who use violence that are evidence based, non-punitive, and informed by an understanding of the complexity of needs and the importance of age appropriate service responses. Bringing together a range of Australian and International experts, it sheds new light on questions such as: How can we best understand and respond to the use of family violence by young people? To what extent do traditional family violence responses address the experiences of adolescents who use violence in family settings? What barriers to help seeking exist for parental and sibling victims of adolescent family violence? To what degree do existing support and justice services provide adequate responses to those using adolescent family violence and their families? In what circumstances do children kill their biological and adopted parents? The explicit focus on child and adolescent family violence produces new knowledge in the area of family violence, which will be of relevance to academics, policy makers and family violence practitioners in Australia and internationally.

There has been a widespread fascination with age-dissimilar couples in recent years. This book examines how the romantic relationships of these couples are understood. Based on qualitative research, McKenzie investigates notions of autonomy, relatedness, contradiction, and change in age-dissimilar relationships and romantic love.

Successful survivors speak for themselves in this exhaustive study of the lives, attitudes, and lifestyles of more than 500 centenarians. A product of the late pioneer gerontological researcher Belle Boone Beard's over forty years of teaching, study, research, and writing in the field of aging, the book extends the author's belief that centenarians have a grasp of the essence of life itself. The volume, not a statistical research report, is based on the largest collection of data on centenarians to date. The centenarians describe their characteristics, lifestyles, and personal philosophies in response to questions such as: What characteristics and daily living patterns aided their longevity? and Do centenarians have answers about survival and successful living? Separate sections address the areas of health, education, socioeconomic status, work, social life, philosophy, romance, and individuality. Beard's insights regarding the personal characteristics and principles by which centenarians live contain some unexpected findings in the areas of social relationships and social environments. This posthumously edited volume is faithful to Beard's goals, writing style, and content themes. The five-part volume begins with an introduction that contains an overview of centenarians from the point of view of the author's forty years of study. Part II describes some of the personal characteristics of centenarians' daily lives and points up important commonalities in actions, thought, and goals. Centenarians' contributions in the areas of work, family, and community are presented in Part III, which highlights their imagination, work ethic, and persistent romantic feeling about all of life. The focus of Part IV is on the relationship between personal growth achievements and national history. The last part reports on the study's findings and suggests further research implications. The appendices contribute documentation, fifteen short stories by or about centenarians, and a form for contacting the Belle Boone Beard Gerontology Center. Excellent supplemental reading for courses in Interdisciplinary Gerontology, Sociology of Aging, Psychology of Aging, and Demographics, this volume will also be of interest to any reader who wishes to learn about the correlates of extreme longevity.