Frontiers in Sociology最新文献

Introduction: Decent work and gender equality are critical for fostering sustainable economic and social development. Even though the last three decades have seen several positive advancements in gender equality, disparities still exist in several ways, with research indicating that young women face more obstacles to employment and professional advancement than their male counterparts.

Methods: An on-line cross-sectional survey was conducted with a sample of 190 Portuguese young adults who work to examine key factors of decent work such fundamental principles and values at work, adequate working time and workload, fulfilling and productive work, meaningful remuneration for the exercise of citizenship, social protection, opportunities and health and safety.

Results: The analysis reveals gender differences in most of the dimensions of decent work, suggesting that gender plays a significant role in shaping these perceptions. Findings also suggested differential effects of having a team leader position and work schedules for male and female young workers.

Discussion: Understanding these gendered perceptions is crucial for policymakers and employers aiming to promote gender equality and decent work for all. By addressing the specific perceptions of decent work both men and women using the gender equity lens can raise awareness about the barriers that act against equitable work environments, enabling to both men and women to create a positive future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Background: Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause neurodevelopmental disorders affecting children's brain function, educational and social skills throughout their lives. International literature highlights the challenge for families of raising an affected child. Beyond their exposure to alcohol, these children face other negative events such as separation from their biological families, the mental health problems of their parents, and so forth, which will have repercussions on their childhood and their future health.

Methods: This research used semi-structured interviews with 107 participants, namely 53 social and health-care professionals and 54 families (foster, adoptive or biological) of 62 children prenatally exposed to alcohol. All were recruited in two regions and a national association of parents in France. Families were diverse in terms of members, regions, ages, and social and cultural backgrounds. A thematic analysis was performed to distinguish parenthood styles and stressors.

Results: The analysis allowed identification of three types of parenthood used to cope with these neuro-disabilities, independent of the legal status of the family: first, intensive parenting with a major involvement of the adults in charge; second, inclusive parenting seeking to normalize the child within the siblings, school group or society; and third, distanced parenthood where the disability was down-played and the child considered to have lesser abilities. In all cases, the stress, and the difficulties encountered, have a negative influence on the mental health of the parents and/or on the integrity of the family unit, with different modalities of shared parenting.

Conclusion: Becoming the parent of a child with disabilities, even more so when the origin is attributed to stigmatized and stigmatizing behavior for both mother and child, is a long process that requires adequate diagnosis and management to avoid loss of opportunity. Parental investment, which determines the family trajectories, is based on social and cultural resources.

Introduction: This study investigates how Omani elites perceive women's representation in national media and how structural, cultural, and political forces shape gender narratives in the Sultanate. It explores how women's visibility is instrumentalized to project modernization while maintaining patriarchal authority, situating the Omani case within broader Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) media-gender dynamics.

Methods: The research draws on 38 semi-structured elite interviews conducted between 2021 and 2025 with parliamentarians, journalists, academics, activists, and government officials. Interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis within the frameworks of state feminism, neopatriarchy, and symbolic annihilation, complemented by media observation and document analysis to triangulate findings.

Results: Findings reveal that women's visibility in Omani media is predominantly symbolic and event-based, emphasizing ceremonial achievements and depoliticized empowerment. Elites describe a system where modernization coexists with patriarchal control, producing what can be termed "modernization without liberation." Media governance and restrictive laws-such as those protecting the "majesty of the state," limit editorial independence and suppress rights-based gender discourse. Women are often silenced or stereotyped, with their lived realities of discrimination and inequality omitted from mainstream narratives.

Discussion and conclusions: The study argues that women's representation in Omani media functions as a technology of legitimacy within an authoritarian developmental model that merges inclusionary rhetoric with moral governance. Moving beyond symbolic visibility requires reforms that strengthen media autonomy, institutionalize women's participation in decision-making, and expand digital pluralism. Such measures could transform Omani media from a vehicle of state image management into a platform for genuine dialogue, justice, and equality, contributing to wider debates on gender, media, and state-society relations in the GCC.

Introduction: Preterm birth profoundly impacts both the infant's health and the family's psychosocial well-being. In NICUs, communication between professionals and parents unfolds in contexts of high emotional stress, technical complexity and structural power asymmetries. Whilst effective dialogue supports family well-being, some structural and contextual factors in the studied NICUs often prevent it. This study, part of the e-ParWelB project, examines healthcare staff's perspectives on structural barriers, the role of digital technologies, and authority dynamics, especially strategies for managing high-uncertainty communication with preterm parents.

Materials and methods: We conducted 76 semi-structured expert interviews with a maximum variation sample of NICU staff across four Italian hospitals. Focused ethnographic observations complemented interviews. Data were analysed using a concept-driven coding strategy in NVivo 15.

Results: Barriers extend beyond language and ethnicity, including vertical (educational) and horizontal (disciplinary) gaps. Digital technologies increase parental assertiveness but also fuel misunderstandings, anxiety and mistrust. Parents' peer group chats offer support but can amplify stress and conflict. Clinicians respond with varied, individualised strategies, especially pedagogical explanations and emotional support. In a landscape where their authority requires continual negotiation, they struggle to preserve their professional legitimacy whilst providing the best possible care for newborns and cultivating relationships with parents.

Discussion: NICU communication is shaped by structural inequality, shifting authority and digital mediation. Healthcare staff broadly agree on an increased emphasis on relationships with parents compared to the past. Nonetheless, implicit and explicit challenges to professional authority often manifest in expectations that parents legitimise their involvement by demonstrating commitment through constant presence in the NICU and compliance with staff directives. Enhancing relational competence, embedding cultural mediation and institutionalising collaboration with parent associations could help reframe these dynamics into trust-based and inclusive forms of care, to the benefit of both families and healthcare workers.

This study investigates the influence of social norms on male caregiving in Uganda and considers the implications for tailoring and scaling the REAL Fathers mentoring program across six regions. By identifying key norms and reference groups, the findings inform strategies to enhance father engagement in early childhood development within culturally and socially relevant frameworks. This study employed an exploratory Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) approach, integrating in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and community validation workshops to identify and prioritize social and gender norms across the study regions. We found that norms influence male engagement in care giving directly, by setting expectations for how men should behave with their wives and children. Norms also have a strong indirect influence through social expectations about what is appropriate for men and women related to power, decision-making and gender roles. Data shows that the norms and the reference groups that sustain them are consistent across cultural regions and the social sanctions that enforce the norms are largely intangible. We also found some exceptions to the norms. For norm shifting interventions to be effective, practitioners should be intentional in engaging reference groups and take advantage of exceptions to norms as leverage points for behavior change. Also, the different norm shifting strategies adopted should be able to address the complexity and interconnectedness of the norms.

This study re-examines the experiences of children of divorced parents within Indonesia's collectivist and religious context through the lens of the Communication Theory of Resilience and Negotiated Identity Theory. It introduces the Transformative Communication of Resilience Model, which conceptualizes resilience as a communicative, relational, and meaning-making process rather than a static psychological trait. The model identifies five interrelated dimensions-Strategic Construction of Normalcy, Identity Transformation Process, Relational Communication Architecture, Cultural and Religious Meaning-Making, Emotional Negotiation, and the Paradox of Resilience-to explain how children reconstruct identity, reframe trauma, and develop agency through dialog and social interaction. Findings reveal that children are not passive victims but active communicative subjects who negotiate stigma, gendered expectations, and moral judgment while transforming pain into adaptive narratives of growth. Communication functions as both a healing mechanism and a performative act of social resilience, enabling children to redefine their belonging within supportive relational and cultural networks. The practical implications extend to education, counseling, and policy, emphasizing communicative spaces that empower children's voices and promote emotional literacy, narrative reflection, and cultural inclusivity. Ultimately, resilience is reframed as a transformative communicative act linking trauma to self-redefinition and fostering an inclusive understanding of family and identity in post-divorce contexts.

Introduction: Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) is a growing public health and safeguarding concern in the UK, compounded by long-standing data quality issues in police records. Incomplete or inaccurate recording of key variables undermines the ability of police, health services, and partner agencies to assess risk, allocate resources, and design effective interventions.

Methods: We evaluated two machine learning models (Random Forest and DistilBERT) for classifying the type of victim/offender relationship (ex-partner, current partner, and family) from approximately 19,000 DVA incidents recorded by a UK police force. Models were benchmarked against a static rule-based classifier and assessed using precision, recall, and F1-score. To reduce false positives in the most challenging relationship categories, we implemented a selective classification strategy that abstained from low-confidence predictions.

Results: Both machine learning models outperformed the baseline across all metrics, with average absolute gains of 11% in precision and 16% in recall. Ex-partner cases were classified most accurately, while current partner cases were classified with the least accuracy. Selective classification substantially improved precision for underperforming categories, albeit at the expense of reduced coverage.

Discussion: These findings demonstrate that computational tools can enhance the completeness and reliability of police DVA data, provided their use balances predictive accuracy, interpretability, and safeguarding risks.

Objective: This study aims to explore the mechanisms through which the multidimensional reconstruction of childbearing values in the post-pandemic era influences fertility intentions among Chinese individuals of reproductive age, while elucidating the interplay between economic rationality and cultural norms in fertility decision-making, thereby providing theoretical foundations for targeted fertility policy formulation.

Methods: Utilizing data from the 2022 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we analyzed a sample of 1,758 individuals of reproductive age. Factor analysis was employed to extract three dimensions of childbearing values-psychological affection, economic utility, and familial responsibility. A logistic regression model incorporating control variables (gender, household registration, education, etc.) was constructed, followed by heterogeneity analyses across demographic subgroups.

Results: All three dimensions of childbearing values exhibited significant positive effects on fertility intentions, with familial responsibility demonstrating the strongest impact (coefficient = 0.249, p < 0.01). Heterogeneity analysis revealed that psychological affection predominantly influenced females (coefficient = 0.316, p < 0.05) and rural populations, while economic utility exerted a pronounced effect on high-income groups (coefficient = 0.306, p < 0.05). Educational attainment consistently enhanced fertility intentions (coefficient = 0.206, p < 0.01).

Conclusion: Fertility decisions emerge as a dynamic interplay between cultural values and resource endowments. Sustainable enhancement of fertility intentions necessitates differentiated policy interventions that reinforce familial responsibility, alleviate economic constraints, and address emotional needs.