Adolescent parenthood : a costly mistake or a search for love?

Family life is changing worldwide and an increasing number of women are choosing single parenthood. Adolescents who become pregnant and early childbearers do not always become pregnant unintentionally; some actively plan pregnancy while others are ambivalent mainly about the timing. This paper reports on a study using an ethnographic approach that explored the mothering experiences of five sole-supporting Australian teenage mothers who had a child over six months of age. It focuses on the story of one of them, a young woman who gave birth at 16 and set up home for herself and her son. Early childbearing is often a response to adverse social conditions such as poverty or homelessness and is not uncommonly chosen by teenage girls from socially deprived backgrounds. Educational and employment opportunities may be limited, whilst motherhood may provide a purpose in life when few other options are possible. Young women who make this choice need comprehensive services to support them in the parenting role, including appropriate health care, welfare and housing benefits, and support in dealing with parenting, a role which they may greatly desire but are not automatically well prepared for.

Transition to parenthood and the conflict of unrealized role expectations

Attempts to evaluate the effects of role expectations on transition to parenthood. Resultant changes in the partnership are measured. Highlights the enormity and complexity of the transition and underlying influences.

Behind the mask : the hidden struggle of parenthood

A dvd presentation of the debilitating and often secretive issue of post-natal depression and anxiety, featuring people who have personally experienced and overcome the conditions as well as insights from health professionals.

Gatekeeping parenthood : should the state play a role in determining eligibility criteria for assisted reproductive treatment?

The use of assisted reproductive treatment to conceive a child provides the opportunity for the state and/or medical practitioners to play a role in deciding who should or should not become a parent. This article explores the primary criteria used to "screen" people wishing to use assisted reproductive treatment and to exclude them from treatment in some circumstances. It argues that idiosyncratic judgment or general legal presumptions against treatment are not satisfactory, as they are unlikely to predict whether the best interests of a child born as a result of assisted reproductive treatment will be compromised. Rather, such judgments may serve to be discriminatory, and are often misinformed. The author suggests that the law and society should rather serve to support children and parents in need, and to protect existing children from actual suffering or risks of harm.

Consumers' health perceptions of three types of milk: a survey in Australia

A survey was conducted among 345 randomly selected shoppers in Melbourne, Australia, to identify their perceptions of the healthiness of whole milk, reduced fat milk and soy milk and to investigate demographic influences on health perceptions and types of milk consumption. The survey revealed major differences in shoppers' perceptions of the three types of milk along the themes of bone health, weight control, disease prevention, and, allergy and disease causation. Generally whole milk was perceived more negatively than soy or reduced fat milk. There were few demographic differences in the shoppers' perceptions of the three products. Reported consumption of reduced fat milk was more frequent among women and elderly people, and whole milk consumption was positively related to parenthood. The findings suggest that previous marketing and education campaigns have been effective but the widespread uncertainty and erroneous beliefs about milk products suggest that many consumers have not assimilated new findings about milk products. This represents a challenge for industry and public health practitioners.

Consumers` sensory and nutritional perceptions of three types of milk

Objective: To identify consumer perceptions of whole milk, reduced-fat milk and soy milk, and to investigate demographic influences on perceptions and types of milk consumption.

Design and setting: Questionnaires covering nutritional and sensory perceptions of three types of milk.

Subjects: Three hundred and sixty-one randomly selected shoppers in Melbourne, Australia.

Results: Generally, respondents held positive perceptions about milk. Milk was considered as having good sensory properties, providing a good source of nutrients, and being a convenient and safe product. However, despite these findings, misperceptions and unawareness about the nutrient content of milk were prevalent. Negative perceptions were most common for whole milk and were mostly related to its perceived high fat, cholesterol and energy contents. Soy milk received lower ratings on sensory quality and convenience than dairy milk. There were few sociodemographic differences in consumers' perceptions. Although reduced-fat milk consumption was more frequent among elderly people and type of milk consumption was related to parenthood, no other significant effects of demographic variables were found on the consumption of specific milk types.

Conclusion: Although positive perceptions were common, negative perceptions and misperceptions appear to be prevalent, presenting a challenge for nutrition education. Sociodemographic factors were not shown to be important predictors of perceptions and type of milk consumption.

Family law in Australia: re Patrick and the matter of Child A

In Re Patrick, Guest J of the Family Court of Australia dealt with the issue of whether a gay sperm donor, known to the lesbian mother of the child, had a right under Australian law to regular contact with the child. Justice Guest held that the sperm donor was allowed contact with the child to the extent that this was in the child's best interests. His Honour did, however, find that due to the way in which particular provisions of Australia's Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) are drafted, a sperm donor cannot be regarded as the 'parent' of the child, and accordingly called for legislative reform to recognise the rights of known sperm donors wanting involvement with the child. In this article, we discuss the matter of Re Patrick, comparing it with the strikingly similar matter of Pursuer Against Defender in the Case of Child A, decided recently by Sheriff Laura Duncan in the Glasgow Sheriff Court. We will then outline a proposal to amend the Family Law Act 1975 so that sperm donors can apply for an order to be a 'parent' for the purposes of the law, and therefore have the same rights and responsibilities as any other parent. In response to the tragic ending to the matter of Re Patrick, we conclude by stressing the need for an educational programme to be established, so that lesbian women who are considering parenthood may do so in the knowledge that the sperm donor does have the status of 'father', and in some jurisdictions 'parent', rather than merely being a 'donor'.

Diversity, tradition and family : Australian same-sex attracted parents and their families

This paper describes the diversity of family forms within a sample of 455 families parented by same-sex couples and same-sex attracted sole parents from Australia and New Zealand. Around one-third of this sample had conceived at least one of their children while in a previous heterosexual relationship. The remaining two-thirds had conceived at least one child within a same-sex relationship or while they were single. Among this group, the largest proportion was women who conceived using home-based self-insemination with a known donor. A smaller proportion of women had conceived through clinic-based insemination or assisted reproduction with a known or unknown donor. There were 60 male participants in the sample. Around 20% of these men were raising children they had conceived through a surrogacy arrangement; the rest had conceived their children within previous heterosexual relationships or through donor arrangements with single women or lesbians. Around 50% of participants described their family form in terms of a two-parent model, where they and their partner were their children's only parents. Around 34% were sharing care of their children with ex-partners, either a previous heterosexual (opposite sex) partner or a previous same-sex partner. Around 10% described themself as their child's sole parent. In large part, participants in this study were not creating radically new family formations, with around half of all participants describing their family in terms of a two-parent ‘nuclear’ model, albeit a model involving parents of the same gender. However, pathways to conception and/or parenthood did reflect nontraditional patterns.

Commentary on planned gay father families in kinship arrangements

The article presents the author's views on the research by Henny Bos, professor on the planned families by gay fathers kinship arrangements. It states that according to Bos, gay fathers are more likely top be attacked by the society. It mentions that with reference to the book "The Transformation of Intimacy:Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies," by A. Giddens, the formulation of freely chosen roles and relationship is more easy.

Everyone’s life is so different : the experiences of young Australian adults who return home

The article focuses on the experiences of young Australian adults who return to their parent's homes. It cites several factors that lead young people to return home such as unemployment, divorce and parenthood. It uses qualitative interviews of 22- to 30-year-olds as basis of young adults' experiences. It argues that the decision of returning home is not a failure, but a positive choice in living arrangement.

Putting families of origin into the queer picture : introducing this special issue

In undertaking our own separate research projects and in our crosscontinental comparative analyses of those projects, we became aware of the gaps between the richness of research on GLBT lives, including experiences of intimacy and parenthood, and the paucity of research on their relations with their families of origin. Still marginal is, in particular, research on the perspectives of the families of origin themselves: parents, but also siblings, grandparents, and other members of extended families. For the purposes of this special issue, we are deploying the term families of origin to mean heterosexual-identifying family members (at least as they publicly perform and display their sexualities), living within a heteronormative socio-politicocultural system. As we will argue in this introduction, however, there is a need to document and research, and thereby historically situate, family diversity, including the increasing shifting discourses and lived experiences of same-sex and other queer families of origin.

The transition to motherhood: towards a broader understanding of perinatal distress

A substantial body of research has focused on maternal perinatal mood and wellbeing, with the focus predominantly being on depression, and to a lesser extent, anxiety. Perinatal maternal stress has also been investigated recently, but to a far lesser extent. The present paper questions whether the term 'perinatal distress' accurately captures the range of challenges experienced by women during the perinatal period, when the scope of 'distress' is limited to the experience of depression and anxiety alone.

Psychological wellbeing among same-sex attracted and heterosexual parents: Role of connectedness to family and friendship networks

© 2015 Australian Association of Family Therapy. Increasing numbers of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults are entering into parenthood. Previous studies indicate many of these parents receive little or no support from their families of origin due to family members' negative attitudes toward homosexuality. This study looks at the extent to which LGB parents report a lower sense of connectedness to family of origin and friendship networks than heterosexual parents and whether this has an impact on psychological wellbeing in either of these groups. Data were derived from two studies of parents: Work, Love, Play, a study of Australian and New Zealand LGB parents (n=324); and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a population-based study of young children and parents (n=6460). Structural equation modelling was used to explore the relationships between: parent sexuality and family/friendship connectedness, family/friendship connectedness and psychological wellbeing, parent sexuality and psychological wellbeing. LGB parents reported feeling less connected to their families of origin but more connected to their friendship groups than heterosexual parents. Counter to previous studies, we found no difference in the psychological wellbeing of LGB parents compared to heterosexual parents when examining the direct effect of sexuality on psychological wellbeing. Clinical implications for counsellors and family therapists are discussed.

The baby makes 3 plus project in the Great South Coast region: final report from the external evaluator, January 2016

This report presents the evaluation of the Baby Makes 3 Plus project in the Great South Coast region of Victoria. Baby Makes 3 Plus was one of 12 projects funded by the Department of Justice and Regulation in Victoria under initiative to support primary prevention and early intervention-focused partnership projects to address violence against women and children. The project provided the Baby Makes 3 relationship education program to new parents across the region, and conducted a variety of training to increase the skills of Great South Coast early years practitioners (the Plus component of the project). The three key objectives of the project were:• To increase the capacity of first time parents to build equal and respectful relationships in response to the lifestyle and relationship changes that follow the birth of a child.• To increase the capacity of health professionals and organisations to promote equal and respectful relationships during the transition to parenthood.• To building capacity to identify women at risk of experiencing family violence through a gender equity component of in-service training.