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PurposeBenefits of national-level stay-at-home order imposed in Italy to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission need to be carefully weighed against its impact on citizens’ health. In a country with a strong familial culture and where welfare relies on households, confinement drastically decreased support provided by elder relatives, which may have resulted in mental health worsening.MethodsA web-based cross-sectional study (LOST in Italy) was conducted on a representative sample of Italian adults during lockdown (27th of April–3rd of May 2020). We asked 3156 subjects to report on reduced help in housework and childcare from retired parents to assess the impact of confinement on mental health, through validated scales before and during lockdown.ResultsOverall, 1484 (47.0%) subjects reported reduced housework help from parents, and 769 (64.0%, of the 1202 subjects with children) diminished babysitting support. Subjects reporting reduced housework help had worsened sleep quality (multivariate odds ratio, OR = 1.74, 95% confidence interval, CI 1.49–2.03) and quantity (OR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.28–1.76), depressive (OR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.14–1.53) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 1.53, 95% CI 1.32–1.78), compared to those reporting unreduced help. Worsening in sleep quality (OR = 2.32, 95% CI 1.76–3.05), and quantity (OR = 1.80, 95% CI 1.36–2.37), depressive (OR = 1.79, 95% CI 1.39–2.31) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 1.90, 95% CI 1.48–2.46) was also associated with reduced babysitting help. Mental health outcomes were worse in subjects with poorer housing and teleworking during lockdown.ConclusionConfinement came along with reduced familial support from parents, negatively impacting household members’ mental health. Our findings might inform evidence-based family and welfare policies to promote population health within and beyond pandemic times.

Background/Objectives: Loneliness can be differentiated from social isolation. The first is the subjective perception of being isolated from others, while the other is the entire emotional and social experience. The feeling of loneliness defines the discrepancy between desired and actual social relations. Loneliness is an unpleasant phenomenon that involves quantitative and qualitative impoverishment of interpersonal relationships. The aim of this study was to analyze feelings of loneliness—including intimacy, social connections, and belonging—among adolescents and how these feelings relate to different aspects of family relationships, such as communication, cohesion, autonomy-control, and identity. Methods: The study was conducted among 136 adolescents (aged 15–17, 70% of girls and 30% of boys). The following self-report measures were used: the R-UCLA Loneliness Scale, the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)—X2, and the Family Relations Questionnaire, version: My Family. Correlation analyses were performed, followed by stepwise regression for three loneliness sub-scales. Results: The results have shown that anxiety and adverse family relationship factors were identified as significant predictors of adolescent loneliness. Communication, cohesion, autonomy-control, and identity within the family context each contributed uniquely to the experience of loneliness. Conclusions: The conclusion is that trait anxiety and the evaluation of family functioning are very strong predictors of loneliness among young people. Moreover, distinct aspects of family relationships shape different forms of loneliness, highlighting the multifaceted nature of adolescent social experiences.

This exploratory study investigated whether factors such as gender, age, level of education, monthly income, and the number of family members are associated with verbal and non-verbal communication in Saudi Arabian families. A convenience sampling procedure was used to recruit 182 Saudi Arabian adults who responded to a self-report survey. Verbal and non-verbal communication was categorized into positive and negative communication. Descriptive and ordinal regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationships of familial variables with communication. Female gender status had a small negative association with positive communication, whereas the number of family members, level of education, monthly income, and age did not correlate with positive communication or negative communication. The Discussion section addresses the limitations of the current study and identifies several directions for future research, with special attention to the Saudi Arabian family context.

In this article, David Chandler challenges the often dismissive interpretation of Catherine Johnson’s hugely successful Mamma Mia! (1999) as a sunny, upbeat, lightweight musical. Johnson’s earlier dramatic work was of a more serious cast, and returned repeatedly to scenes of damaging, often exploitative, intergenerational desire. This interest continues in Mamma Mia! though commercial imperatives meant it had to be suppressed and displaced. As Sophie, the heroine, secretly meets the three middle-aged men who could be her father, but who have no idea she may be their daughter, the danger that they may be sexually attracted to her – one of them quickly labels her a ‘minx’ – becomes a subter ranean force shaping the fates of most of the central protagonists and the final surprise irresolution of the paternity plot. Intergenerational relationships blossom in Mamma Mia!, but they are treated differently from the relationships between couples of similar ages. David Chandler is a professor in the English Department at Doshisha Univ er sity, Kyoto. His background is in literary Romanticism, but since 2008 he has also pub lished widely on the history of musical theatre in Britain. He is a director of Retrospect Opera.

Guanxi is known to be an important feature of Chinese society, and while studies of the subject are voluminous, the present study attempts to explore two critical aspects that tend to be neglected. First, previous studies have mostly dealt with guanxi in business activities, but we analyze the meanings of guanxi in the context of ordinary people. More importantly, even though guanxi has routinely been attributed to Confucianism, it begs the more fundamental question of why Chinese society has developed Confucianism and why the latter has become the dominant ideology over the centuries. We provide a plausible account of this important question from both sociological and economic perspectives. Secondly, we illustrate the general implications of guanxi in Chinese society, in particular relating guanxi to the development of democracy and of the rule of law. Consequently, its significance in Chinese society is actually more important than what has been suggested in the literature. Finally, we present some preliminary empirical evidence, based on survey results, of the importance of guanxi in contemporary Chinese society.

Purpose - This study sets out to capture the consumer perspective regarding the purchase request relationship between parent and child.Design methodology approach - This interpretive study enhances an understanding of these purchase request experiences as they are lived by respondents. The story of both parents, along with children, is thus considered paramount. Using a series of depth-interviews and focus groups with parents and children, a key theme emerged through the interpretive process. \"The game\" permeates their experiences of this request relationship and is virtually unreported until now.Findings - Contrary to extant research, this study positions the contemporary parent-child purchase relationship as a positive experience where an understanding of \"the game\" permeates this natural familial interaction. Furthermore, a tacit understanding and awareness of the intricacies associated with \"the game\", including each other's roles, tactics, outcomes, feelings and perspectives regarding \"the game\", are considered playful and entertaining by all respondents.Originality value - First, adopting a consumer-centric approach as the focus of this research instead of the much reported \"vested interest\" perspective added a new breadth and dimension to an understanding of the parent-child purchase request relationship not previously captured. Second, the departure from extant positivistic research, to an interpretive approach proved very beneficial in uncovering \"the game\": a novel departure from previous pester power research.

Violence against women is a worldwide problem that transcends all boundaries - cultural, geographic, religious, social and economic. However, it is maintained that there are also added particular cultural 'dynamics' or constraints inherent in specific cultural groups. This focus attempts to sketch out the features of a category of Indian women who are assumed as being compelled by particular systemic cultural constraints or familial pressures to 'play the dutiful wife' at the expense of enduring sustained emotional and physical trauma. While there is extensive, even sensational reporting of violence within Indian families and against Indian wives in (predominantly Indian) tabloids, there is conversely less scholarly attention on this category of women and the dynamics and conflicts within Indian households. This piece focuses a narrow scrutiny on the Indian wife within abusive marriages. It looks at what is referred to as 'culturally systemic' violence and a certain commonality of marital discord and abuse experienced by Indian wives who live in extended families, and pays attention to the presence of the mother-in-law within the living arrangement.

A relação entre funcionamento familiar e diferenciação do self é consolidada por autores sistêmicos clássicos, porém pouco explorada por pesquisas empíricas, especialmente no Brasil. Este estudo quantitativo teve como objetivo analisar as relações entre funcionamento familiar e diferenciação do self de universitários brasileiros. Participaram da pesquisa 800 graduandos, de ambos os sexos, com idade média de 22.7 anos. Constatou-se que graduandos com níveis mais elevados de diferenciação do self perceberam de forma mais positiva a comunicação e a satisfação familiares. As famílias emaranhadas demonstraram ser as menos favoráveis ao processo de diferenciação. Verificou-se que indivíduos do sexo masculino e graduandos mais velhos apresentaram níveis maiores de diferenciação. Por fim, universitários com índices mais elevados de diferenciação e pertencentes às famílias consideradas saudáveis mostraram-se mais satisfeitos com o curso. Esses achados podem contribuir para a atuação de psicólogos com jovens adultos universitários, seja no contexto clínico ou de aconselhamento de carreira.

Current and much-needed, this book offers an analysis of the social forces which shape the way friendship is organized. Through varying perspectives, contributors show that a variation exists within–as well as between–the genders. They focus on diversity in men's friendships, and how men develop and maintain friendships with other men and women. Part I focuses on philosophical and historical questions; Part II illustrates the strong connection between social structure and men's friendships; and the final chapters consider cultural diversity. Men's Friendships reorganizes existing knowledge and introduces fresh perspectives within the framework of men's studies. This volume is sure to stimulate debate, raise questions, and offer suggestions for future research. “A very interesting collection, particularly those on black men's relationships–where the author compares working class and middle class black American men's relationships–a history of friendship and the changing nature of men's intimacy and power, and intimacy and sexuality in male athletes' friendships.” – Working with Men “Theory and research on men's studies are alive and well, and Peter Nardi's edited book, Men's Friendships, is a significant contribution to this literature. The book not only provides a useful account of how men develop and maintain their friendships, it introduces a variety of rigorous approaches (historical, sociological, and cross-cultural) to examine this topic.” – Journal of Men's Studies “Provides a thought-provoking, multifaceted look at how men handle friendship under a variety of conditions…. Some of the authors present data-based research findings; others give reflective integrative essays. General readers, undergraduate students, and above.” – Choice “Theory and research on men's studies are alive and well, and Peter Nardi's edited book, Men's Friendships, is a significant contribution to this literature. The book not only provides a useful account of how men develop and maintain their friendships, it introduces a variety of rigorous approaches (historical, sociological, and cross-cultural) to examine this topic…. Men's Friendships is not only an important contribution to men's studies, it is necessary reading for anyone interested in studying friendships.” – The Journal of Men's Studies “Overall, this book demonstrates the vitality of research and theory on men's friendships. Men's Friendships is not only an important contribution to men's studies, it is necessary reading for anyone interested in studying relationships.” – Personal Relationships Issues “The anthology … provides an excellent overview of the permutations of men's friendships. It is both tightly organized and wide ranging, a particularly difficult accomplishment for a collection…. Men's Friendships is one of the most interesting additions to the growing friendship literature. It significantly opens up the debate over gender differences in friendship–both within and between genders.” – Masculinities