Advice about Life Plans from Mothers, Fathers, and Siblings in Always-Married and Divorced Families during Late Adolescence

The frequency of advice about life plans that older adolescents in always-married and divorced families received from mothers, fathers, and siblings was examined. Also, a pattern-analytic approach that grouped adolescents according to the amount of advice about life plans received from each parent and a sibling was employed to explore the connections between patterns of advice and adolescents' future occupational, educational, and family plans. The sample included 544 and 95 older adolescents in always-married and divorced families, respectively. Findings suggested that while adolescents relied on mothers for advice in both always-married and divorced families, adolescents in divorced families depended on fathers and siblings for advice less often than did adolescents in always-married families. Although there was some evidence of family context differences in the connections between patterns of advice and life plans, overall, adolescents in both family contexts who received more advice from a parent and, in some cases, a sibling compared to other adolescents were the most positive about their future life plans.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45291/1/10964_2004_Article_345952.pd

The dilemma of change in Vietnamese journalism

Two steps forward, one step back? Or one step forward, two steps back? That\u27s the dilemma in trying to judge changes in Vietnamese journalism today. The nation\u27s media, even though still government-owned, are in a state of flux under doi moi (market renovation policy). Take a few examples of the parry-and-thrust between reporters, editors and Party overseers. A glossy, full-colour monthly called Thoi Trang Tre (New Fashion) proves wildly popular among Vietnamese youth with fashion and make-up tips, and bikini-clad photos of shapely Western and Vietnamese models. Yet its staff frets over each Cindy Crawford or Elle MacPherson photo lest a cultural official decry the corruption of a Western lifestyle. The editor, Vu Quang Vinh, a former art director and playwright for the state\u27s Youth Theatre, steers clear of political issues. But the magazine\u27s contents crystallize the cultural pitfalls that top-level Party conservatives fear as Vietnam opens at often breakneck speed to the outside world, especially since the two-year-old magazine already exceeds 60,000 circulation, despite a princely US$l price when most Vietnamese periodicals go for US15 cents or less. So, when prominent leaders exhort the media to promote good deeds and to avoid British tabloid style stories on love, sex, and other cultural debasements, the media take heed