Family Abandonment Research Articles

P02-446 - Borderline Personality Disorder: Vicissitudes Related to Hospitalization Based on a Case Report

IntroductionBorderline personality disorder (BPD) patients present a diffuse pattern of unstable interpersonal relations, self-image, affection and considerable impulsiveness.ObjectiveDescribe the circumstances related to prolonged hospitalization of a BPD patient; denote doubts, difficulties, polemics and feelings generated in the care team when managing this situation; and seeking scientific literature support on BPD.AimsUnderstand the circumstances related to prolonged hospitalization of a BPD patient and the effects of this situation on the care team.MethodAn exploratory and descriptive research was carried out at the Psychiatric Ward at Ribeirão Preto Medical School Hospital of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Interviews with five professionals were submitted to thematic content analysis and data from the patient's file were presented as a case report.ResultsTwo categories emerged from the interviews. “Team management in conducting the case”: divergencees in case conduction, bad feelings and counter-transference; the patient made demands and wanted to break rules. “Family abandonment”: although ready for discharge, the patient remained hospitalized due to lack of family and economic support. The only alternative was her transfer to a psychiatric hospital. Despite the difficulties, the team considered the experience gained in conducting the case was positive.ConclusionInvestments are needed in programs aimed at better preparing the family to understand and welcome the patient after discharge from hospital. Moreover, greater cooperation is needed among the social structures of health care, patients and family members.

„Cała Polska liczy eurosieroty”. Panika moralna i płeć w wykluczeniu oraz stygmatyzacji rodzin migrantów

This article analyses the transnational parenting phenomenon in Poland and the moral panics — reaction to it as shown in both public discourses and actions of public institutions. Such features can be found while analysing discourses about “euro-orphans” (such a label is given to migrants’ children) that have occupied public discourses since mid-2007 in Poland. Based on discourse analysis of about 500 press articles from 2007–2008, I argue that in spite of the growing influence of global mobility in contemporary family life, and economic migration as a family strategy of survival, various “moral entrepreneurs” such as leaders of NGOs, social workers, educational workers, therapists, scientists, etc. construe the features of transmigrant parents as deviants, and label the strategy of migration as an individual act of family abandonment and serious threat to the well-being of the nation, etc. This deviancy discourse pertains particularly to the trans-national strategy adopted by mothers whose gendered role is in the Polish culture strictly connected with the role of child-rearing and with nurturing the nation the “Mother Pole” icon). I argue that moral panics in reaction to contemporary family change and actions of public institutions serve the function of the re-traditionalisation of the family to the traditional functionalist model.

Stories of street children: Findings from a field study

Survey findings and case study material compiled for 40 street children (18 males and 22 females) showed that the factors which mostly push children to the streets include family discord, domestic abuse, abandonment, eviction, and poverty-driven prostitution. Though the Indian Parliament has recently passed a new law entitled ‘Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000’ (after repealing the ‘Juvenile Justice Act, 1986’), the main problem lies with implementation. More infrastructure facilities along with proper planning and management are required for doing justice to neglected juveniles.

Association of adverse childhood experiences, age of menarche, and adult reproductive behavior: does the androgen receptor gene play a role?

Previous research has reported associations between adverse childhood experiences, early menarche, and early sexual activity. One hypothesis to account for these findings is that an X-linked androgen receptor GGC-repeat polymorphism predisposes fathers to behaviors which include family abandonment and their daughters to earlier menarche and sexual activity and less stable relationships. Retrospective data relevant to this theory were examined from a community survey involving 3,702 women in the age groups 20-24, 40-44, and 60-64 years, and another involving 908 women aged 18-79 years. Earlier age of menarche was found to be associated with adverse childhood experiences and earlier sexual activity. However, the androgen receptor gene polymorphism was unrelated to adverse fathering behavior or to marital breakdown.

Parent-daughter transmission of the androgen receptor gene as an explanation of the effect of father absence on age of menarche.

Based on an evolutionary theory of socialization, Belsky and colleagues proposed that girls exposed to a stressful environment, especially when due to father absence in the first 7 years of life, showed an early onset of puberty, precocious sexuality, and unstable relationships as adults. The authors of this article examined an alternative explanation that a variant X-linked androgen receptor (AR) gene, predisposing the father to behaviors that include family abandonment, may be passed to their daughters causing early puberty, precocious sexuality, and behavior problems. The results of a study of 121 White males and 164 White females showed a significant association of the short alleles of the GGC repeat polymorphism of the AR gene with a range of measures of aggression and impulsivity, increased number of sexual partners, sexual compulsivity, and lifetime number of sex partners in males; and paternal divorce, father absence, and early age of menarche in females. These findings support a genetic explanation of the Belsky psychosocial evolutionary hypothesis regarding the association of fathers' absence and parental stress with early age of onset of menarche and early sexual activity in their daughters. A genetic explanation of the father absence effect is proposed in which fathers carrying the AR alleles are more likely to abandon a marriage (father absence) and pass those alleles to their daughters in whom they produce an earlier age of menarche and behavioral problems.

Stability of informal long-term care.

Driven by projections of increasing needs for long-term care coupled with changing social trends, fear of family abandonment of caregiving has persisted. Data from two longitudinal studies confirm that informal caregivers are not withdrawing their help. Not only were family and friends the first source of assistance, but they also continued to be the primary source of care over 10 years. Further, although the majority of elders retained the same primary caregiver, if there was a change, it was typically to a new informal caregiver in the next generation. Very few elders who remained in the community ceased receiving informal care or turned from informal care to formal services.

The Aging of the Family

A central policy issue is the development of services for older people in the United States, specifically the extent to which families can be expected to continue to provide the bulk of needed services vis-à-vis community responsibility. Though there has been thorough documenta tion of continuing responsible family behavior toward their aged, the development of services provided by the community has been hampered by the myth of widespread family aban donment. Historically, adult children, primarily daughters and daughters-in-law, have provided the vast majority of care services for the old. The oldest segment of the elderly popula tion has been increasing proportionately at a much more rapid rate than the older population as a whole and this trend will continue. Those on whom they depend, therefore, also are older—often in the aging phase of life themselves. The fact that there now exist many of these aging families in which the adult children as well as parent(s) are old serves to reduce family resources for service provision. Another relevant social trend is the increasing entry of women into the work force, a trend which is bound to make them less available as care givers. Though family concerns, caring, and affectional ties have not diminished, the community must develop sup portive services to supplement and buttress the family's ef forts to care for its aged members.