Disabled Children - The psychological status of parents and the social network of siblings

In the present dissertation I survey the results of research carried out in Estonia andSweden regarding the personality characteristics, self-esteem, emotional states anddepression symptoms in parents of disabled children. Social relations and self-esteem of siblings of disabled children are also investigated. The general aim of thecurrent study was to investigate the situation of the parents and siblings ofintellectually disabled children. The first aim was to measure personalitycharacteristics and self-esteem in parents of disabled children and parents of non-disabled children in Sweden and in Estonia. The second aim was to comparepersonality characteristics of parents of disabled children with Estonian norms forthe general population. The third aim was to tind out if there were any differencesbetween parents of disabled children and non-disabled children with reference fodepression symptoms and emotional states. The fourth aim of this study was to findout whether siblings of disabled children differ with respect to social relations, atschool and at home, personality and self-esteem compared to a control group.The methods used in the tirst study were the Adjective Check List (ACL) by Goughand Heilbrun (1983), Eysenck Personality Inventory; EPI (1987) and Self-EsteemInventories, Adult form (SEI) by Coopersmith (1990). In the second study I used ative-factor personality inventoq (NEO-PI). The third investigation was carried outin Estonia and focused on depressive symptoms and emotional states. BeckDepression Inventory (Beck et al., 1961) and emotional states scale by Leskinen(1994) were used. In the fourth investigation sixty siblings of disabled children and acontrol group of sixty siblings of normally developed children aged 12 to 14 werestudied. A questionnaire developed by Andersson (1997) was used.Comparisons of the two parent groups did not give any statistically significantdifferences with respect to EPI and SE1 in the Swedish-Estonian study (Lawenius, &Veisson, 1996). However, the results of the Estonian study showed that parents ofdisabled children were significantly more introvert than parents of non-disabledchildren. Comparisons of personality characteristics between the two groups gavethe following results: 1) mothers and fathers of disabled children have a signiticantlylower Extraversion and Openness level compared to the Estonian norms for womenand men; 2) in Neuroticism mothers of disabled children score higher than theEstonian women s norm, but fathers score higher only in some Neuroticism facets;3) concerning Agreeableness, neither mothers nor fathers differ from Estoniannorms; 4) in Conscientiousness fathers of disabled children score higher than thenorms for men, but the data of mothers do not differ. The results of the third studyshowed that parents, especially mothers of disabled children, had signiticantly morenegative emotional states and also significantly more depressive symptoms thanparents in the control group. Signiticant differences in depression symptoms betweenthe disabled and control parent groups were found in most cases. In the siblinginvestigation (fourth study) the results showed that there were a number ofsignificant differences bemeen the two groups.Key words: Parents, children, mental retardation, siblings of disabled children,personality traits, depression symptoms, emotional states, siblings social relations.Marika Veisson, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Narva Road 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia. Fax: 372 6409118, E-mail: [email protected] 11O1-718X ISRN GU/PSYK/AVH--78--S

Early childhood education professionals in New Zealand kindergartens. Commitment and challenges

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Lasteaiaõpetajate hinnangud ja selgitused oma töö raskuse muutumisele: professionaliseerumine kui sümboolne kapital

Edendamaks alushariduse kvaliteeti ja kergendamaks lasteaiaõpetajate tööd, on Eestis ja mujal tõstetud õpetajate töö- ja haridusalaseid nõudeid. Lasteaiaõpetajad tunnustavad kõrgemaid nõudeid kui oma staatuse tõusu sümboleid, ent tajuvad samas, et lisanduvad kohustused muudavad töö üha raskemaks. Uurimuse eesmärk oli välja selgitada lasteaiaõpetajate hinnangud ja selgitused muutustele oma töö raskuse suhtes. Ankeetküsitlusele vastas 628 Eesti lasteaiaõpetajat, neist viieteistkümnega tehti hiljem individuaalne eluloointervjuu. Sõltumata staažist leidis enamik vastajaist, et töö on muutunud raskemaks, eelkõige lastesse, lapsevanematesse ning vahetusse töökorraldusse puutuvas. Samas väärtustasid vastajad oma ametinimetuse muutumist kasvatajast õpetajaks, erialaste haridusnõuete tõusu ning õppekavamuudatusi õpikäsituse ja õpetaja valikuvabaduse asjus. Lähtudes Pierre Bourdieu sümboolse kapitali teooriast, arutleme lasteaiaõpetajate professionaliseerumise võimaluste üle.  Summar

Perspectives of early childhood teachers on parent-teacher partnerships in five European countries

Societal conditions impacting on parenting have radically changed during the past two decades. There is variation between and within societies depending on social, cultural, political and economic factors. Today, Early Childhood and Care (ECEC) services play an increasingly important role in supporting families with young children during birth to the age of compulsory education. Accordingly, the collaboration between families and early childhood professionals has emerged as an essential topic of educational research and professional development. The International Parent-Professional Partnerships (IPP) research study focuses on the contemporary challenges of the parent-teacher partnerships in early childhood education from a cross-cultural perspective. The purpose of the research is to examine parent-teacher partnerships in ECEC services in Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Norway and Portugal by looking into the national contexts and comparing these findings with each other. The research utilises both quantitative and qualitative analysis of survey data collected in the participating countries. The survey questionnaire focuses on teachers' views of parents' involvement in ECEC centres. The results show that there are differences in teachers' approaches to parent-teacher partnerships between societies as well as within each country. Parents also differ in their capacity to develop and maintain partnerships with teachers. It seems that there are differences in the professional status of the teachers in each country, which are, in turn, connected to the parents' role in the parent-teacher partnerships in ECEC services. This study aims to deepen the understanding of the nature of parent-teacher partnerships in contemporary contexts of early childhood education through cross-cultural research, and to enhance the training and professional development of early childhood professionals.20 page(s

All they need is love? Placing romantic stress in the context of other stressors: A 17-nation study

The present study focuses on romantic stress and coping styles in the context of identity and future-related stressors in 8,654 adolescents with a mean age of M = 15.3; SD = 1.84. The adolescents from 17 countries were grouped into seven regions, i.e., Mid-Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, South Africa, South America, and the Middle East. Future-related stressors were perceived as being more stressful than romantic stressors by all adolescents, irrespective of the region in which they lived. Identity-related stressors were of greater concern to adolescents from South Africa, South America, and the Middle East. Romantic stress was much higher in adolescents from Mid-Europe and Southern Europe compared to adolescents from other regions. Roughly 80% of all adolescents employed adaptive coping styles in that they negotiated with the romantic partner, sought support from friends and others, and shared an overall positive outlook. Adolescents from Mid-, Northern, and Eastern Europe were the most active in negotiating and support-seeking when dealing with romantic stressors

Family in focus : new perspectives on early childhood special education

This volume consists of articles which summarize both theoretical perspectives and research themes from the project "Multidisability, Family, and Childhood" which was carried out at the Department of Special Education in the University of Jyvaskyla from 1990 to 1993. All writers have participated in the project as consultants or researchers. The chapters cover a variety of topics on the theme of early childhood special education. Thomas Weisner and Ronald Gallimore (University of California, Los Angeles) introduce (Chapter 1) the central principles of ecocultural theory and discuss its applicability to practice. Dianne and Philip Ferguson (University of Oregon, Eugene) examine (Chapter 2) the features of family-professional collaboration. In Chapter 3, Marika Veisson, Aino Saar, and Ene Magi (Tallinn Pedagogical University, Tallinn) present preliminary results from their study on parents' needs in Estonia and support-organizations founded in the 1990's. Markku Leskinen and Jaana Juvonen present (Chapter 4) an attributional model in which parents' responsibility perceptions predict their child-focused emotions which then predict the level of adjustment. !iris Maki examines (Chapter 5) the problems in the assessment of children with severe disabilities and discusses the ecological approach's applicability to early intervention practices. Marjo-Riitta Mattus examines (Chapter 6) different strategies for empowering families by concentrating especially on the of question how an interview could be an intervention. The last set of articles concern families of small premature infants and their development. Maija Virpiranta-Salo discusses (Chapter 7) the development of parenthood in parents whose family-life starts with special circumstances. Annikki Riitesuo provides (Chapter 8) a literature review about speech and language problems in prematurely-born children. Finally, Tuula Laukkanen discusses (Chapter 9) parentprofessional communication in a health care context

Differences in agency? How adolescents from 18 countries perceive and cope with their futures

This study investigated how N = 5,126 adolescents (mean age of 15 years) from 18 countries perceive and cope with future- and school-related stress. The adolescents completed the Problem Questionnaire (PQ), which assesses stress, and the Coping Across Situations Questionnaire (CASQ), which assesses three coping styles (reflection/support-seeking, emotional outlet, and withdrawal/denial). Across countries, adolescents reported considerably higher levels of future-related stress than school-related stress. The adolescents actively coped with stressors in both domains and seldom relied on emotional outlet or withdrawal/denial. A clustering of the countries according to socioeconomic criteria and geographical proximity demonstrated that adolescents from the continental group of countries showed low stress and high coping. Adolescents in the east/Asia group showed medium stress and low coping and those in the south group showed high stress and low coping. Developmental context was more strongly associated with stress perception and coping, style than age or gender, a finding relevant for prevention approaches aiming to endorse positive orientation to the future and improve coping competence