This study examined the criteria children, adolescents, and adults intuitively apply when they distribute a resource between two protagonists who differ systematically in need and effort. Two main questions were investigated: (a) Do the allocation criteria (equality, need, effort, integration of need and effort) differ by age? (b) Do the allocation criteria of adolescents differ in accordance with whether they attend a vocational or an academic‐track school? A total of N = 481 participants took part in two experiments. In each, they had to make 18 decisions about how to allocate a resource fairly. The experiments differed in their operationalization of need (amount of sweets in Experiment 1 vs. number of toys in Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, allocation decisions made on the basis of need information alone occurred primarily in 7‐ and 9‐year‐olds and became less frequent in 12‐ and 16‐year‐olds and adults. Allocation decisions made on the basis of effort information alone were rare in children and occurred with increasing frequency in adolescents and adults. An integration of need and effort was the most common principle chosen from ages 9 to 16, followed by an orientation toward integration or effort alone in adults. Adolescents’ allocation patterns did not vary by the type of school they attended. In Experiment 2, only adolescents and adults participated. Their results largely replicated those of Experiment 1. The discussion addresses the impact of cognitive development and socialization processes for the development of distributive justice.
(1) Background: In their efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, most countries closed schools and kindergartens. To date, little is known about the strategies of working families reconciling work and parenting during repeated lockdown situations. (2) Methods: We performed a quantitative survey of working parents in Italy during a week of ‘hard lockdown’ in February/March 2021. (3) Results: 3725 voluntary adult participants from different households responded. Though officially not allowed, 53.4% of all participants sought help from people outside the nuclear family to bridge the situation, mostly the grandparents (79%; n = 1855). Overall, parental coping strategies included alternating working–childcare-turns with their partner (35%, n = 1316), working early in the morning or during nighttime (23%; n = 850), or leaving the children unattended (25%, n = 929). (4) Conclusions: The closure of schools/kindergartens forcefully shifts the responsibility for childcare onto the nuclear family, where new strategies arose, including health-damaging models of alternating work–childcare-shifts, ‘illegal’ involvement of third parties from outside the nuclear family, as well as neglect of age-related childcare. Our findings underline that working families need additional support strategies during repeated closure of childcare institutions to be able to reduce contact and minimize secondary damage.
The presented research project deals with current issues of family and services working with families (social affairs, health, education) in South Tyrol (Northern Italy). The qualitative data were collected in an extensive survey through 120 interviews with parents from different family types and service staff. The qualitative part of the project is based on the Grounded-Theory-Methodology. Therefore the differentiated subject areas were developed in the research process itself. In parallel, a quantitative data collection was implemented. For this purpose, about 1300 parents were interviewed by a written questionnaire.
Among the most significant results of the study are the often hardly existing or missing social networks of families (results of the qualitative part with ego-centred network maps and quantitative questionnaires coherent), the frequent description of pressure and stress on all levels, lack of comprehensible information (especially in the area of financing support, services and health topics) and dissatisfaction with social and health services. Based on these results, the relationships between these variables will now be investigated and first evaluations will show that there is a direct correlation between social networks and described well-being, stress or pressure perception, but also in the use of and satisfaction with social and health services. There existsis also a correlation between children's health status and parents' social networks. It is not only about the quantity of networks (number of network partners), but also about qualitative aspects, for example who these network partners are and how positive or conflictual relationships have been described.
The results illustrate the relevance of working with social networks as a public health issue and why further research is needed.
Key messages
Social networks are an important determinant of health. There is a need for more research about the connection between social networks and health.
ZusammenfassungDas hier vorgestellte partizipative Forschungsprojekt untersucht die Chancen und Herausforderungen eines gesunden Alterns im ländlichen Raum. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf einer kritischen Auseinandersetzung des Grades der Teilhabemöglichkeiten aller Stakeholder im Forschungsprozess und bietet damit eine Diskussionsgrundlage, wie partizipative Forschung mit älteren Menschen im ländlichen Raum umgesetzt werden kann.
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