Public Fathering, Private Mothering: Gendered Transnational Parenting Class Reproduction among Elite Korean Students

Drawing on 68 interviews with South Korean students at elite U.S. colleges, this article examines the intersectional power of gender and class in elite transnational parenting—a family strategy for class reproduction. Well-educated, stay-at-home mothers intensively managed their children’s school activities, often relying on gender-segregated networks, mostly during early school years. By contrast, cosmopolitan professional fathers heavily engaged in guiding their children’s education abroad and career preparation in later years, using their class resources (i.e., English proficiency, professional careers, and social networks of other elites). In high-achieving children’s narratives, mothers’ lifelong care for and management of their private life was undervalued and criticized, while fathers’ growing involvement in their higher education and career was highly valued and appreciated. The elite fathers’ occasional yet detailed involvement challenges the dichotomy that has long stereotyped Korean—or East Asian—mothers as overinvolved and fathers as distant in their children’s lives, especially with regard to education. Gender, through intensive parenting, reinforces and reproduces class disparity between elite couples and within their families

Raising Global Elites from a Distance: Transnational Parenting of South Korean Students

Drawing on interviews with 74 South Korean (hereafter Korean) students and 34 parents at ten elite U.S. colleges, I examine how elite Korean parents seek to reproduce and extend their family privilege through children’s transnational education. I analyze how each group – children, mothers, and fathers – interprets and represents their views of the elite transnational parenting they experienced or practiced. By triangulating the narratives of three groups, I explore the family dynamics of the transnational families of high-achieving Korean students abroad. Well-educated yet opt-out mothers intensively managed their children’s early education, often relying on gender-segregated networks. In contrast, cosmopolitan professional fathers heavily engaged in guiding their children’s education and career preparation abroad, using their class resources, such as English proficiency, professional careers, and social networks of other elites. In children’s narratives, mothers’ lifelong care for their private life was undervalued and criticized, while fathers’ growing involvement in their later education was highly valued and appreciated. Across employment statuses, mothers in this dissertation shared and internalized the notion of “intensive mothering.” Mothers with professional occupations extended the meaning of being a “good” transnational mother by providing their children with both motherly care and academic support. In contrast, less-transnational opt-out mothers limited the scope of their involvement in their children’s lives abroad due to their lack of transnational resources, such as English proficiency and knowledge about elite education and careers abroad. Elite fathers in this dissertation pursued extensive transnational fatherhood, an extended version of engaging fatherhood. Studied- or worked-abroad fathers emphasized their effort for both academic and emotional support for their children. While they shared a great deal of joy and a sense of fulfillment from their fatherhood, less-affluent, never-studied-abroad fathers undervalued their fatherhood, doubting their capability to help their high-achieving children abroad. Class privilege, or transnational mobility, is being reproduced based on the gender achievement gap within elite families. My findings contextualize the discourse of Asian high achievement, which has been racialized and gendered, reflecting the notions of “model minority” and “tiger mother.” This study re-writes the stereotypical dichotomy between intense mothers and distant fathers in Korean or Asian families

Allons

The purpose of this project was to create a functional yet stylish outfit for plus-sized individuals, appropriate for outdoor activities. The clothes are intended to promote an active lifestyle. The outfit was designed around the fabric choice of cotton and jersey knit to provide the wearer with functional comfort, while offering the desired casual look

Consumers’ Virtual Product Experiences and Risk Perceptions of Product Performance in the Online Co-Design Practice: A Case of NIKEiD

Consumers tend to perceive product performance risk—the uncertainty and consequences of a product not functioning at some expected level— about visual, tactile, and trial attributes of apparel products such as style, fabric, color, touch, weight, fit, or comfort in apparel shopping (Yu, Lee, & Damhorst, 2012). Online consumers might perceive higher levels of visual, tactile, and trial risks of product performance, based on the evaluation of product attributes through virtual product experience (Yu et al., 2012). In particular, mass customized apparel or footwear could engender a greater risk of product performance

Socializing Girls Whose Bodies May Not Align with Contemporary Ideals of Thinness: An Interpretive Study of Mothers

We sought to understand how mothers of young adolescent girls who are perceived as overweight or at risk for becoming so and whose body mass indices are at the 70th percentile or higher socialize their daughters about body, weight, diet, and health. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 mothers. Data were analyzed using constant comparison processes. Findings revealed that mothers adopted a variety of strategies – including teaching, modeling, managing, avoiding, and comforting – to achieve varied socialization goals for their daughters. Specifically, mothers sought to help their daughters to accept the self, reject the hegemonic ideal, maintain a healthful diet, avoid overeating/police the self for over-eating, engage in regular physical activity, and navigate stigmatizing social situations. Mothers\u27 sometimes experienced ambivalence as they socialized their daughters about the body; this conflict seemed to stem from anxiety about how to parent their daughters within a culture laden with discourses stigmatizing larger bodies

Thermo-Physiological Comfort Assessment of Performance Cooling Fabrics in Medical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Healthcare workers wear medical PPE during contagious disease outbreaks, but the protective garments often create a microclimate that causes thermo-physiological discomfort in the wearer. To investigate solutions for this problem, we tested inner-layer garments made of 3 cooling fabrics and 1 control fabric with no cooling properties. Eight male participants were recruited. They were asked to fill out a demographics survey; have their physical body dimensions measured; and participate in a 30-min exercise program while wearing a test garment made of each of the selected fabrics under the full ensemble of medical PPE. Critical biofeedback was monitored along with subjective thermal comfort. This study evaluated the cooling effectiveness of the performance fabrics, and identified effective cooling fabrics that could be used in medical PPE applications. This study was conducted in a lab setting, and it will be desirable to verify the study findings with human subjects in real medical fields

Educational and Social Psychological Outcomes of a STEM Program for Adolescent Girls

The purpose of this research was to explore how participation in Fashion FUNdamentals (FF) shaped girls\u27 interest and confidence in the STEM disciplines, their STEM learning, and their feelings about themselves. FF is a two-week, no-cost, summer program (M-F, 9 am-5 pm) targeting underserved adolescent girls aged 10-13 years. Fashion FUNdamentals is a unique STEM program insomuch as it frames STEM learning within the context of fashion and includes both technical and social programming. FF has been offered three times (2015-2017) and has served 129 girls. At the conclusion of each year\u27s program, the FF team conducted focus groups with participants. Analysis of focus group data revealed five themes. Findings demonstrate that participating in FF can support girls\u27 STEM interest/confidence/comprehension as well as their self-confidence and educational and career preparedness, suggesting that adopting a lens of fashion to explore the STEM disciplines can promote girls\u27 academic and personal development

How virtual avatar experience interplays with self-concepts: the use of anthropometric 3D body models in the visual stimulation process

We explored how viewing ones anthropometric virtual avatar would affect the viewers self-body perception through the comparative evaluation of self-concepts—self-esteem and self-compassion, within the framework of allocentric lock theory. We recruited 18 female adults, aged 18–21, who identified themselves to have some level of body image concerns, and who had had no clinical treatment for their body image. Participants were randomly assigned either to the experimental or control group. The experimental group participated in both body positivity program and virtual avatar program, whereas the control group attended the body positivity program, only. The results affirmed that the body positivity program served as a psychological buffer prior to the virtual avatar stimulus. After the virtual avatar experience, the participants demonstrated self-acceptance by lowering their expectation on how they should look like. The findings from exit interviews enriched the quantitative results. This study verified the mechanism of the altered processing of the stored bodily memory by the egocentric sensory input of virtual avatars, and offered practical potential of the study outcomes to be applied in various emerging fields where novel applications of virtual 3D technology are sought, such as fashion e-commerce.This work was supported by the New Faculty Startup Fund from Seoul National University (Grant No. 350-20190080) and Colorado School of Public Health Faculty Seed Grant (Grant No. 1307986)

Arhgef16, a novel Elmo1 binding partner, promotes clearance of apoptotic cells via RhoG-dependent Rac1 activation

AbstractElmo is an evolutionarily conserved mammalian ortholog of Caenorhabditis elegans CED-12 with proposed roles during the removal of apoptotic cells, cell migration, neurite outgrowth, and myoblast fusion (Katoh and Negishi (2003) [1], Park and Tosello (2007) [2], Grimsley et al. (2004) [3], Hamoud et al. (2014) [4]). Elmo mediates these cellular processes by interacting with various proteins located in the plasma membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus, and by modulating their activities although it has no intrinsic catalytic activity (Park and Tosello (2007) [2], Hamoud et al. (2014) [4], Li et al. (2013) [5], Margaron, Fradet and Cote (2013) [6], and Mauldin et al. (2013)[7]). Because there are a limited number of proteins known to interact with Elmo, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen using Elmo1 as bait to identify Elmo1-interacting proteins and to evaluate their mode of regulation. Arhgef16 was one of the proteins identified through the screen and subsequent analyses revealed that Arhgef16 interacted with Elmo1 in mammalian cells as well. Expression of Arhgef16 in phagocytes promoted engulfment of apoptotic cells, and engulfment mediated by Arhgef16 increased synergistically in the presence of Elmo1 but was abrogated in the absence of Elmo1. In addition, Arhgef16-mediated removal of apoptotic cells was dependent on RhoG, but independent of Dock1. Taken together, this study suggests that the newly identified Elmo1-interacting protein, Arhgef16, functions synergistically with Elmo1 to promote clearance of apoptotic cells in a RhoG-dependent and Dock1-independent manner