Variations in fathers' discourse on fatherhood and in family alliances during infancy

The aim of this pilot study is to analyse the discourse of fathers of toddlers concerning fatherhood and the link between some particularities in the discourse and family alliance. The sample consists of 13 Swiss first time fathers (5 fathers of girls and 8 of boys). In order to evaluate the paternal discourse, the fathers were given a semi-structured interview, which was later analysed using the research package Alceste. The family alliance, i.e., the degree of coordination among the partners when executing a task together, was assessed through the Lausanne Trilogue Play (Fivaz-Depeursinge & Corboz-Warnery, 1999). The main results indicated an interesting link between classes of paternal discourse grouped around the following themes "affective relationship", "daily routine" and "educational goals", and the family alliance (defined in two major categories; functional and problematic alliances). Finally, clinical perspectives on links between paternal representations and family functioning at an interactive level are discussed

Fertility discourse in parental leave policies' media coverage : a frame analysis of French-speaking Swiss press articles from 1999 to 2009

This paper analyses the media coverage of parental leave policies (parental and paternity leaves) in Swiss French-speaking press articles from 1999 to 2009. Switzerland is one of the rare European countries which has no statutory parental or paternity leave. The aim is to describe the mediatisation of these policies and to analyse the arguments in favour and against their implementation. We investigate the status of a fertility frame - the mobilisation of discourse relating to fertility issues - among the various arguments used to justify or reject parental leave policies. We proceed with a content analysis of 579 press articles, as well as a frame analysis on a subset in which parental leave policies are the central theme (N=206). Results show that paternity leave is the predominant public issue addressed in the dataset. A mediatisation peak was reached in 2007, following an initiative of a member of the Federal executive to implement a short paternity leave. Parental leave policies are predominantly represented in a positive light. The main positive frame is economic, in which leaves are represented as serving the interests of companies. Involved fatherhood and gender equality are also frequently mentioned as positive frames. The fertility frame is only moderately used in articles covering Swiss news on paternity leaves. Conversely, the fertility frame is largely mobilised in articles covering parental leave in other countries. We discuss some interpretations of this discrepancy and suggest future avenues of research on parental leave policies in Switzerland.

Chronically connected? Internet use among adolescents with chronic conditions.

Little is known about Internet use among adolescents with chronic conditions (CCs). Our results indicate that CC females, but not males, are more likely to be heavy Internet users than their peers. CC youths are also more likely to visit health-related web sites, but less frequently than other sites.

Psychosocial analysis of ETA's violence legitimation discourse

This study analyses the fundamental components shaping the violence legitimation discourse of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askasuna). With this aim, a category system has been built, which organizes the psychosocial processes identified in previous studies related to violence legitimation. Based on the proposed category system, a content analysis was conducted on 21 statements of ETA, released between 1998 and 2011. An intraobserver and inter-observer reliability analysis reveals high level stability and replicability of the categorization. The results show, firstly, that outgroup components have a predominant presence over ingroup components. Secondly, in the components hierarchy, we observe that elements referring to identity come in first place, followed in similar frequencies by those related to violence representation and the definition of the situation.

Psychosocial analysis of ETA"s violence legitimation discourse

Este artículo analiza los componentes fundamentales que configuran el discurso legitimador de la violencia de ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna). Con este objetivo, se construye un sistema de categorías, el cual organiza los procesos psicosociales identificados en investigaciones previas relacionadas con la legitimación de la violencia. A partir del sistema de categorías propuesto, se realiza un análisis de contenido en 21 comunicados de ETA publicados entre 1998 y 2011. El análisis de fiabilidad intraobservador e interobservador muestra una alta estabilidad y replicabilidad de la categorización. Los resultados muestran, en primer lugar, que los componentes exogrupales son predominantes respecto a los endogrupales. Segundo, en la jerarquización, se observa la preminencia de los elementos referidos a la identidad, seguido por frecuencias similares los relacionados con la representación de la violencia y la definición de la situación.

Psychosocial analysis of ETA's violence legitimation discourse

This study analyses the fundamental components shaping the violence legitimation discourse of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askasuna). With this aim, a category system has been built, which organizes the psychosocial processes identified in previous studies related to violence legitimation. Based on the proposed category system, a content analysis was conducted on 21 statements of ETA, released between 1998 and 2011. An intraobserver and inter-observer reliability analysis reveals high level stability and replicability of the categorization. The results show, firstly, that outgroup components have a predominant presence over ingroup components. Secondly, in the components hierarchy, we observe that elements referring to identity come in first place, followed in similar frequencies by those related to violence representation and the definition of the situation.

In the eye of the listener: pupil dilation elucidates discourse processing.

The current study investigated cognitive resource allocation in discourse processing by means of pupil dilation and behavioral measures. Short question-answer dialogs were presented to listeners. Either the context question queried a new information focus in the successive answer, or else the context query was corrected in the answer sentence (correction information). The information foci contained in the answer sentences were either adequately highlighted by prosodic means or not. Participants had to judge the adequacy of the focus prosody with respect to the preceding context question. Prosodic judgment accuracy was higher in the conditions bearing adequate focus prosody than in the conditions with inadequate focus prosody. Latency to peak pupil dilation was longer when new information foci were perceived compared to correction foci. Moreover, for the peak dilation, an interaction of focus type and prosody was found. Post hoc statistical tests revealed that prosodically adequate correction focus positions were processed with smaller peak dilation in comparison to all other dialog conditions. Thus, pupil dilation and results of a principal component analysis suggest an interaction of focus type and focus prosody in discourse processing.

Are the World AIDS Conferences guilty of gender bias? Evidence from trends in the monitoring of WAC scientific discourse from 1989 to 2012

Background : The issue of gender is acknowledged as a key issue for the AIDS epidemic. World AIDS Conferences (WAC) have constituted a major discursive space for the epidemic. We sought to establish the balance regarding gender in the AIDS scientific discourse by following its development in the published proceedings of WAC. Fifteen successive WAC 1989-2012 served to establish a "barometer" of scientific interest in heterosexual and homo/bisexual men and women throughout the epidemic. It was hypothesised that, as in other domains of Sexual and Reproductive Health, heterosexual men would be "forgotten" partners. Method : Abstracts from each conference were entered in electronic form into an Access database. Queries were created to generate five categories of interest and to monitor their annual frequency. All abstract titles including the term "men" or "women" were identified. Collections of synonyms were systematically and iteratively developed in order to classify further abstracts according to whether they included terms referring to "homo/bisexual" or "heterosexual". Reference to "Mother to Child Transmission" (MTCT) was also flagged. Results : The category including "men", but without additional reference to "homo-bisexuel" (i.e. referring to men in general and/or to heterosexual men) consistently appears four times less often than the equivalent category for women. Excluding abstracts on women and MTCT has little impact on this difference. Abstracts including reference to both "men" and "homo-bisexual" emerge as the secondmost frequent category; presence of the equivalent category for women is minimal. Conclusion : The hypothesised absence of heterosexual men in the AIDS discourse was confirmed. Although the relative presence of homo-bisexual men and women as a focal subject may be explained by epidemiological data, this is not so in the case of heterosexual men and women. This imbalance has consequences for HIV prevention.

Is my hand connected to my body? The impact of body continuity and arm alignment on the virtual hand illusion

When a rubber hand is placed on a table top in a plausible position as if part of a person"s body, and is stroked synchronously with the person"s corresponding hidden real hand, an illusion of ownership over the rubber hand can occur (Botvinick and Cohen 1998). A similar result has been found with respect to a virtual hand portrayed in a virtual environment, a virtual hand illusion (Slater et al. 2008). The conditions under which these illusions occur have been the subject of considerable study. Here we exploited the flexibility of virtual reality to examine four contributory factors: visuo-tactile synchrony while stroking the virtual and the real arms, body continuity, alignment between the real and virtual arms, and the distance between them. We carried out three experiments on a total of 32 participants where these factors were varied. The results show that the subjective illusion of ownership over the virtual arm and the time to evoke this illusion are highly dependent on synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation and on connectivity of the virtual arm with the rest of the virtual body. The alignment between the real and virtual arms and the distance between these were less important. It was found that proprioceptive drift was not a sensitive measure of the illusion, but was only related to the distance between the real and virtual arms.