Direct, indirect and buffering effects of support for mothers on children's socio-emotional adjustment

Support for mothers may improve children’s socioemotional adjustment, yet few studies have consideredthe benefits of formal support (from health and social work professionals) in addition to social support(from family and friends) or explored the mechanisms. These issues were addressed using a birth cohort(n�2,649) to explore how mothers’ perceptions of social and formal support when children were ages10–22 months predicted trajectories of children’s externalizing and internalizing problems from 58 to122 months. We tested mediating pathways from support to child adjustment via 3 family stressorsmeasured at 46–58 months (maternal distress, economic strain, and dysfunctional parenting) andexamined whether support buffered effects of stressors on child adjustment. Social and formal supportwere simultaneously associated with lower child externalizing and internalizing problem trajectoryintercepts at 90 months but did not predict trajectory slopes. Social support effects were mediated mainlyvia lower maternal distress, which then reduced children’s problems via lower dysfunctional parenting,or more directly. Additional indirect effects involved lower economic strain. Formal support effects weremediated to a lesser extent by reduced dysfunctional parenting. Two buffering effects were found: socialsupport reduced effects of economic strain on internalizing problems, and formal support reduced effectsof dysfunctional parenting on internalizing problems. Findings suggest measures promoting families’social integration should benefit children’s socioemotional adjustment via improved parental psycho-logical and economic resources and by buffering impacts of economic strain. Enhancing access to healthand welfare services through greater awareness and trust should benefit children’s adjustment, viaimproved parenting and by buffering impacts of dysfunctional parenting

Parenting stress and parent support among mothers with high and low education

Current theorising and evidence suggest that parenting stress might be greater among parents from both low and high socio-economic positions (SEP), compared to those from intermediate levels; due to material hardship among parents of low SEP, and to employment demands among parents of high SEP. However, little is known about how this socio-economic variation in stress relates to the support that parents receive. This study explored whether variation in maternal parenting stress in a population sample was associated with support deficits. In order to obtain a clearer understanding of support deficits among high-and low-educated mothers, subgroups were distinguished according to mothers’ migrant and single parent status. Participants were 5865 mothers from the Growing Up in Scotland study, interviewed when their child was 10 months old. Parenting stress was greater among mothers with either high or low education than among mothers with intermediate education, although it was highest for those with low education. Support deficits accounted for around 50% of higher stress among high-and low-educated groups. Less frequent grandparent contact mediated parenting stress among both high- and low-educated mothers, particularly migrants. Aside from this common feature, different aspects of support were relevant for high- compared with low-educated mothers. For high-educated mothers, reliance on formal childcare and less frequent support from friends mediated higher stress. Among low-educated mothers, smaller grandparent and friend networks and barriers to professional parent support mediated higher stress. Implications of differing support deficits are discussed

High and low contraceptive use amongst male young offenders: a qualitative interview study

<b>Objectives</b> There are high rates of fatherhood and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young incarcerated men. Here we focus on a sample of men incarcerated in a Scottish Young Offender Institution, analysing their accounts of their contraceptive use. Those who report low or no use of contraception are compared with those who report high use.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> Semi-structured interviews with 40 young male offenders, aged 16–21 years. Participants were purposively sampled using answers from a questionnaire administered to 67 inmates. Data from those men (n=31) reporting either high (n=14) or low/no use (n=17) of contraception are analysed here.<p></p> <b>Results</b> Low users emphasise their desire for pleasure and appear fatalistic about both pregnancy and disease prevention. High users report a strong desire to protect themselves and their ‘manliness’ by using condoms to avoid the risk of STIs and, to a lesser extent, pregnancy. Both sets of men present themselves in a traditionally masculine way, with high users emphasising power, authority and self-control to justify their non-risk-taking contraceptive behaviour.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> The masculine narrative regarding self-protection, utilised by the high users, may be an effective method of intervention with potential and actual low users. Conventional masculinity valorises risk-taking but if particular forms of risk avoidance – condom use – can be legitimised as confirming one's masculinity it may be possible to persuade low users to adopt them. The opportunity to work with young men whilst incarcerated should be grasped.<p></p&gt

PERSUASIVE DECISION SUPPORT: IMPROVING RELIANCE ON DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

The primary role of a decision support system is to guide and support a decision maker. As reliance on a decision support system is largely discretionary the persuasiveness of the system becomes critically important. In this paper characteristics thought to affect systems persuasiveness are examined. This paper asserts that the target and source of a decision support message, along with the design of the message itself, act to influence the persuasiveness of the decision support provided. Using a purpose built experimental platform with seventy subjects the research finds that the persuasiveness of a decision support message is varied by the perceived difficulty of the task being undertaken, and the perceived usefulness of the decision support provided. The type of decisional guidance provided also affects persuasiveness of the system; in particular, providing suggestive decisional guidance is shown to significantly improve system persuasiveness. The implications of these findings relate to the appropriate design of decision support systems, and the contexts within which a decision support system can be expected to persuade decision makers to reply on the support provided

Designing Effective Decision Support Using Decisional Guidance

This study explores the decision outcomes achieved by 122 subjects using a DSS for an insolvency decision making task. Decision quality improvements occur as a result of collaboration between the decision maker and the DSS at two crucial points in the decision making process. Firstly when the decision maker initially interacts with the DSS to generate a recommendation, and secondly when the decision maker decides whether to incorporate that recommendation into their decision. Good technology design will assist a decision maker to generate a high quality recommendation; however the ensuing acceptance or otherwise of the recommendation is what ultimately affects the decision outcome. The study encompasses exploration of DSS use, and how decision outcomes are subsequently impacted. The results show that providing decisional guidance, in particular suggestive guidance, helped novice decision makers produce higher quality recommendations; and that adoption of those recommendations improved decision quality. The results are consistent with the theoretical premise that a key design issue is providing appropriate guidance to fit the task and individual, rather than simply guidance per se. The results show decision performance is a function of both how the technology is designed and used; and whether the user incorporates the recommendation received into their final decision. DSS use is a necessary, but not sufficient, precursor to improved decision outcomes

Persuasive Decision Support: Improving Reliance on Decision Aids

The primary role of a decision aid is to guide and support a decision maker. As reliance on a decision aid is largely discretionary the persuasiveness of the system becomes critically important. In this paper characteristics thought to affect systems persuasiveness are examined.This paper asserts that the target and source of a decision support message, along with the design of the message itself, act to influence the persuasiveness of the decision support provided.Using a purpose built experimental platform with seventy subjects the research finds that the persuasiveness of a decision support message is varied by the perceived difficulty of the task being undertaken, and the perceived usefulness of the decision support provided. The type of decisional guidance provided also affects persuasiveness of the system; in particular, providing suggestive decisional guidance is shown to significantly improve system persuasiveness. The implications of these findings relate to the appropriate design of decision aids, and the contexts within which a decision aid can be expected to persuade decision makers to reply on the support provided. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol4/iss3/2

User Behavior and Decision Making: The role of decisional Guidance in Decision Support

The very nature of decision support systems (DSS) is to guide and support the user. Yet decisional guidance has surprisingly not dominated empirical DSS research. In this research we examine the role of decisional guidance in decision support. We postulate that the effect of decisional guidance on decision outcomes is mediated by the subjective experience of the user in interacting with the DSS. Furthermore we develop a theoretical and empirical analysis of the different role decisional guidance plays for users of different levels of domain expertise: novices and experienced (but not expert) practitioners. Using a purpose built experimental platform with 135 subjects we find the effects on decisional guidance on perceptions of the DSS and confidence in decision outcomes varies interactively between type of guidance (informative versus suggestive) and level of expertis