Well-being and menopause: an investigation of purpose in life, self-acceptance and social role in premenopausal, perimenopausal and postmenopausal women

Objectives: Many studies have investigated anxiety and depression during the menopausal transition. However, there is little understanding of positive aspects of well-being among menopausal women. This paper reports on two studies which investigated how menopausal stage and age accounted for how women felt about their purpose in life, self-acceptance and social role. Method: In Study One, 304 women from a community sample completed structured questionnaires which included questions relating to demographic background and two subscales of the Psychological Well-being Inventory: purpose in life and self-acceptance. In Study Two, 203 participants from Study One returned a follow-up structured questionnaire related to purpose in life and social role. Results: Study One found that the effects of age group and menopausal group could not be separated: All women felt they would be more positive about these well-being measures in the future than they had been in the past and at present. Study Two found that women who were perimenopausal and postmenopausal did not feel as positive about their role/s in life as premenopausal women, regardless of their age. Conclusions: The results suggest that the menopause may indicate to women that their role/purpose in life is changing. It is important that any understanding of the menopause incorporate psychosocial aspects of women''s lives. Further longitudinal studies are needed to explore well-being factors and the menopause.

Financial reporting for environmental and social responsibility: a normative strategic concept

Corporate responsibility demands that firms address environmental and social values in their firms' policy and key performance indicators. These are integrated through strategic planning and require firms to merge the long-term environmental and social values with short-term economic objectives and performance measures. Each firm's strategy will differ. This paper provides a normative reporting concept to connect the financial implications associated with long-term planning for environmental and social values, with short-term accounting reports. Reporting variants adapted from total cost assessment, life cycle costing and variable costing are integrated to offer upstream information based on a product segment view.

Capitalizing on Bourdieu : how useful are concepts of `social capital` and `social field` for researching `marginalized` young women?

This article considers Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘social capital’ and ‘social fields’, comparing and contrasting his use of these concepts with that of James Coleman and Robert Putnam. It examines how Bourdieu’s ideas offer a different way of understanding the lives of economically disadvantaged young women designated as ‘at risk’ of leaving school early. A micro-level analysis is made of ‘Bluey’s story’, a narrative derived from data gathered during a three-year research project on young women’s negotiations from the margins of education and work in Australia. Deconstructing Bluey’s narrative reveals how social capital is deployed (sometimes unsuccessfully) in a range of social fields. Such narratives can thus be used to ‘speak back’ to educational policies, to provide alternative insights into the issues and needs of economically disadvantaged young women and to challenge current constructs of ‘at risk’.

Stalking, and social and romantic functioning among adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder

We examine the nature and predictors of social and romantic functioning in adolescents and adults with ASD. Parental reports were obtained for 25 ASD adolescents and adults (13–36 years), and 38 typical adolescents and adults (13–30 years). The ASD group relied less upon peers and friends for social (OR = 52.16, p < .01) and romantic learning (OR = 38.25, p < .01). Individuals with ASD were more likely to engage in inappropriate courting behaviours (χ² df = 19 = 3168.74, p < .001) and were more likely to focus their attention upon celebrities, strangers, colleagues, and ex-partners (χ2 df = 5 = 2335.40, p < .001), and to pursue their target longer than controls (t = −2.23, df = 18.79, p < .05). These results show that the diagnosis of ASD is pertinent when individuals are prosecuted under stalking legislation in various jurisdictions.

Educational administration and social justice

After observing that texts in educational administration have largely failed to address the problem of the justice and fairness of social and educational arrangements, this article goes on to examine the necessary relationships between ethical leadership, community and the notion of social justice. Such relationships are argued to be necessarily political, although the field of leadership has historically seen administration as a substitute for politics. The relationship between social justice and disadvantage is examined, as are current approaches to community, choice and diversity. The importance of both redistributive and recognitional approaches to social justice is emphasized as a basis for a model of educational administration centred on the problem of the justice and fairness of social and educational arrangements.

Narcotics Anonymous participation and changes in substance use and social support

In Victoria (a southern Australian state) in 1995, Narcotics Anonymous had a small but growing membership providing an opportunity to study the early experience of new self-help members. Ninety-one new members were interviewed and 62 (68%) were reinterviewed after 12 months. Three measures of self-help participation were examined: service role involvement, step work, and stable meeting attendance. Lower prior involvement in treatment services and greater participation in self-help predicted subsequent self-help participation. Higher levels of secondary school education predicted service role involvement and longer periods in stable meeting attendance. Higher self-help participation through the 12 months prior to follow-up was associated with lower levels of hazardous alcohol use and higher emotional support at reinterview. Multivariate regression analysis suggested stable self-help meeting attendance and step work continued to predict reductions in hazardous alcohol use and improvements in social support, after controlling for a range of alternative predictors.

A preliminary investigation of the relationship between parental empathy and social anxiety and children's social anxiety

This study investigated the association between parents' social anxiety and empathy, and their children's social anxiety, Twenty-one mothers, 12 fathers and 24 children aged between 7 and 12 years were recruited from state primary schools in the eastern metropolitan region of Melbourne, Australia. Parents completed self-report questionnaires assessing their parental empathy and level of social anxiety. Children completed a modified version of the social anxiety questionnaire. All parent variables, except for maternal anxiety, were related to children's social anxiety. Overall, parental empathy was found to have a considerable association with child social anxiety, which is consistent with arguments that micro-level family mechanisms are important influences on child social anxiety. Future studies of parental empathy with clinical populations and data collection from multiple sources are recommended.

Relationship between body image and social and sexual functioning: gender and development trends

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between body image and social and sexual functioning. The respondents were 426 men and women from metropolitan and rural Victoria, who ranged in age from 18 to 86 years (mean age = 42.26). Respondents completed measures of attractiveness, body satisfaction, body image importance, body image behaviours, appearance comparison, social physique anxiety, self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and social and sexual functioning. Regression analyses were used to detelmine the prediction of social and sexual functioning by body image variables for men and women of different age groups, beyond the effects of psychological adjustment. The results demonstrated that while there were moderate correlations between body image and sociallsexual functioning variables, many of these relationships were best explained by the shared variance of self-esteem. There were some exceptions, particularly among middle-aged men, which are discussed.

Environmental and social responsibility: a normative financial reporting concept

The inclusion of environmental and social values in a firm’s policy and key performance indicators can enhance its reputation and create wealth for both the firm and its investors. Social values and associated activities are initially integrated with financial resources through the strategic plan, which requires firms to merge the longer term environmental and social values with short term economic objectives and performance measures. Strategies will differ between individual corporations. This paper provides a normative reporting concept which connects the financial implications associated with longer term planning for environmental and social values, with short term accounting reports. Reporting variants adapted from total cost assessment, life cycle costing, variable costing are integrated to offer opportunities to present both past and predicted information based on a product segment view.

Festivals, art and mentoring : disseminating knowledge, enhancing skills and developing networks in regional Victoria

Many regional festivals use art as a vehicle to engage with a broader cross-section of the community; highlight the artistic talent of their region; introduce art to their region; and to distinguish theirs from others. Regional Arts Victoria and Arts Victoria recently piloted a mentoring program, Directions, for regional festivals that indicated an interest in developing their artistic direction. Three experienced artistic directors were selected to participate in the program as mentors, and each of these mentored two festival directors whose festivals are located in Regional Victoria. The aim of this paper is to highlight the potential of mentoring within the context of festival management by exploring the outcomes of Directions. A case study approach is used, and although this limits the generalisability of the results to other festivals, the information gained provides insights into managing festivals within the context of artistic direction. A number of themes emerged from the study that appear to have broadened the perspective of 'art' in those festivals participating in the program. Furthermore, the program has highlighted that while festivals and artistic directors in regional locations experience varying degrees of isolation, they have a great deal of creativity and skill. Directions provided organisers of the festivals with the confidence to make decisions that enable them to capitalise on their extant creativity and skills. Festivals are then able to be marketed against their competitors with unique selling positions, which is important for sustainability. The results obtained through the evaluation of this pilot program provide Regional Arts Victoria and Arts Victoria opportunities to effectively assess the need for such programs for festivals in regional Victoria in the future.