Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender-based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental-leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental-leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental-leave policies and women’s political representation partially explained cross-national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender-egalitarian parental-leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross-national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross-national variations in women’s (rather than men’s) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender-egalitarian policies (linked to men’s higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men’s leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed

Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender-based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental-leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental-leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental-leave policies and women’s political representation partially explained cross-national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender-egalitarian parental-leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross-national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross-national variations in women’s (rather than men’s) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender-egalitarian policies (linked to men’s higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men’s leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed.Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 CountriespublishedVersio

Social capital in social media networks

New social media such as Facebook and Google+ are web-based communication platforms that enable socially meaningful interactions between contacts in the virtual space (Ellison et al. 2014). Studies show that new social media are particularly conducive to social capital development, as they offer its users the possibility of creating heterogeneous, extremely large electronic social networks (Hampton et al. 2011). This article presents the results of a quantitative research study on the social capital and trust of the Lithuanian population in the electronic social networks. The study used an adapted D. Williams’ Internet Social Capital Scale (2006)

Pilietinis dalyvavimas ir įsitraukimas į elektroninius socialinius tinklus: tendencijos Lietuvoje

The debates on how to foster civic participation have intensified in current years, especially with the coming of digital era. New electronic social networks and other digital platforms promising the unseen possibilities for variety of activities including civic participation, has been emphasized as a factor facilitating civic engagement (Smith, 2013). In this article, we test a hypothesis that people, who are actively engaged in electronic social networks at the same time are more likely participate in civic activities. The findings show that electronic social networks generally have a positive relationship with participation in various civic activities. More specifically, we find that engagement in specific networked activities, such as "offering topics for discussion", "contributing to organized events" or "publication of content" have more influence on civic participation than others

Political Leader Crisis Communication on Social Networks during the COVID-19 Pandemic

CC BY 4.0Effective crisis communication by a political leader can be significant in managing a pandemic situation. In this article, we examine Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda's crisis communication on the social network Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use a mixed content analysis method to analyse the posts published on the president's account between 2020 and 2021. Our research showed that Gitanas Nauseda recognised the health crisis caused by COVID-19 early and spread clear and empathetic messages that calmed residents and informed them on how to behave during the pandemic. However, due to the low frequency, the president's communication was barely seen and heard. In addition, there was no cooperation with the national government in the crisis communication. These factors may have led to a relatively small president's crisis communication role in the COVID-19 pandemic management in Lithuania

Pilietinis dalyvavimas ir įsitraukimas į elektroninius socialinius tinklus: tendencijos Lietuvoje

The debates on how to foster civic participation have intensified in current years, especially with the coming of digital era. New electronic social networks and other digital platforms promising the unseen possibilities for variety of activities including civic participation, has been emphasized as a factor facilitating civic engagement (Smith, 2013). In this article, we test a hypothesis that people, who are actively engaged in electronic social networks at the same time are more likely participate in civic activities. The findings show that electronic social networks generally have a positive relationship with participation in various civic activities. More specifically, we find that engagement in specific networked activities, such as “offering topics for discussion”, “contributing to organized events” or “publication of content” have more influence on civic participation than others.Pastaraisiais metais suintensyvėjo diskusijos apie pilietinio aktyvumo skatinimą. Elektroniniai socialiniai tinklai ir kitos skaitmeninės platformos, siūlančios neregėtas galimybes įvairioms veikloms, taip pat ir pilietiniam aktyvumui, pradėtos akcentuoti kaip veiksnys, palengvinantis piliečių dalyvavimą. Šiame straipsnyje yra tikrinama hipotezė, teigianti, kad žmonės, kurie aktyviau dalyvauja elektroniniuose socialiniuose tinkluose, yra labiau linkę dalyvauti ir pilietinėse veiklose. Rezultatai rodo, kad dalyvavimo elektroniniuose socialiniuose tinkluose ir pilietinėse veiklose santykis iš esmės yra teigiamas. Konkrečiau nustatyta, kad specifinės tinklinės veiklos, tokios kaip „temų diskusijoms siūlymas“, „prisidėjimas prie organizuotų renginių“ ar „turinio viešinimas“, daro didesnę įtaką pilietiniam aktyvumui už kitas veiklas

Representation of Social Actors in the Discourse of Political Issues: The Case of the Teachers' Pay Reform

CC BY 4.0The article addresses social actors’ representation in the political discourse. The theoretical part of the article discusses the issues related to the communication of political problems in news media as well as social actors’ participation as the basic condition of the discourse. The remaining part of the article introduces the study which reveals the social representation of social actors in the political discourse with a focus on the case of the teachers’ pay reform. The analysis of the research data shows that the discourse of the teachers’ pay reform existed as the battleground for various social groups and information about the planned and implemented reform was disseminated to the public. The data presented in this article show that representatives of the state and authorities as well as teachers represented by the trade unions were the most active social actors’ groups in the mediated discourse. The first category of actors was actively pursuing the campaign to promote the reform while the second was seeking to draw attention to the shortcomings of the reform and calling for its improvement. The confrontation between these two camps was consistently accompanied by the analyzed discourse on the reform of teachers’ pay

Studentų gyvenimo kokybės vertinimas ir pasitenkinimas studijomis : teorinės įžvalgos ir empiriniai radiniai

Šiuolaikinės „gyvenimo kokybės“ sąvokos ištakų galima ieškoti įvairiose sociologijos ir psichologijos srityse. Jau kelis dešimtmečius tarptautinės organizacijos atlieka gyvenimo kokybės tyrimus. Lietuvoje tai dar gana nauja tyrimo sritis. Užsienio tyrimuose pastebėta, kad aukštosiose mokyklose studijuojančio jaunimo pasitenkinimas savo gyvenimo kokybe yra žemesnis nei visuomenės vidurkis, tačiau stinga studijų, nagrinėjančių ryšį tarp studentų subjektyvios gyvenimo kokybės ir pasitenkinimo savo studijomis vertinimo. Todėl šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjama studentų gyvenimo kokybė ir pasitenkinimas studijomis. Teorinis tyrimo pagrindas remiasi subjektyvios ir objektyvios gyvenimo kokybės teorijomis bei modeliais. Remiantis šiomis teorinėmis prielaidomis apibrėžtos pagrindinės empiriniame tyrime analizuotų indikatorių grupės: bendroji gyvenimo kokybė, situacinė gyvenimo kokybė, materialinės gyvenimo sąlygos ir psichoemocinė asmens būklė. Siekiant nustatyti studentų pasitenkinimą savo studijomis, pasitelktas anketavimo metodas. Tyrime naudotas 1982 m. Vokietijos Konstanco universiteto tyrėjų sudarytas klausimynas. Apklausa Lietuvoje atlikta 2009 m. lapkritį–gruodį, apklausoje dalyvavo 964 studentai (544 moterys ir 273 vyrai), reprezentuojantys keturių didžiųjų Lietuvos miestų universitetines ir neuniversitetines aukštąsias mokyklas. Duomenų analizei buvo naudoti ANOVA ir faktorinės analizės metodai.This article analyzes student’s quality of life and their satisfaction with studies. The theoretical research model is based on the theories and models of subjective and objective quality of life. On the basis of the analysis of these theoretical attitudes, the main groups of empirical research indicators were distinguished: general quality of life, situational quality of life, material life conditions and psycho-emotional state. The questionnaire was presented to the students to measure their satisfaction with studies. It was prepared by the research group of Konstanz University in 1982 (Germany). The data for this study come from a students survey (conducted in November-December 2009) in Lithuania. The survey involved 964 respondents (544 women and 273 men), who represent university and non-university higher schools of major Lithuanian cities (Kaunas, Klaipeda, Siauliai and Vilnius). The methods of Factor analysis and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The research has shown that various parameters of student’s quality of life affect significantly the quality evaluation of studies and teaching. When the hypotheses were checked, statistically reliable models were obtained in all the case