‘Forlorn on the Fringe of Life’: Exploring Working-Class Childhood in Katherine Mansfield’s Short Stories

In Katherine Mansfield’s short story ‘Life of Ma Parker’, the old, widowed charwoman is plagued by ‘unbearable’ thoughts of her deceased grandson Lennie: ‘Why did he have to suffer so?’ Lennie’s unfortunate death in the story is not a solitary instance of tragic portrayal of working-class childhood in Mansfield’s short fiction. In several of her tales she empathetically explores the marginalized existence of such children, occasionally juxtaposing their deplorable existence with their elite counterparts’. From social exclusion, child labour, parental rejection, infant and child mortality on the one hand to physical and verbal abuse, bullying in the school and appalling living conditions on the other; Mansfield's exploration of the working-class childhood in her short fiction is not only psychologically complex but sociologically significant. Focusing on the relevant short stories in her oeuvre, this brief analysis intends to closely examine such depictions of marginalized childhood experiences, particularly in light of the oppressive societal conditions that validate their repressive alienation and sufferings. Tracing various biographical circumstances that may have fostered Mansfield’s deep empathy with the children’s’ predicament, this analysis also draws attention to her subtle oblique narrative strategies that effectively represent the plight of working-class children in a convincing and an ingeniously nuanced manner.

Individual and Environmental Correlates of Adolescents’ Moral Decision-Making in Moral Dilemmas

While extensive research has been conducted on adults’ judgments in moral sacrificial dilemmas, there is little research on adolescents. The present study aimed at: (1) adding further empirical evidence about adolescents’ moral decisions (deontological vs. utilitarian) in sacrificial moral dilemmas and (2) investigating how these moral decisions relate with gender, school grade, emotional traits (callous-unemotional traits), context-related experiences (perceived parental rejection and community violence exposure), and moral-related factors (moral disengagement and universalism value). A sample of 755 Italian adolescents (54.7% females; Mean age=16.45, SD=1.61) attending the second and the fifth year of secondary school took part in the study. Two sacrificial trolley-type dilemmas (where harmful actions promote the greater good) were presented. In the “switch” scenario (impersonal sacrificial dilemma), the choice is whether to hit a switch to save five people killing only one person. In the “footbridge” scenario (personal sacrificial dilemma), the choice is whether to push a large man off a footbridge saving five persons. For each scenario, participants had to indicate whether the proposed action was “morally acceptable” or not. Data were analyzed performing generalized linear mixed models. Our results showed that: (1) Adolescents were more likely to indicate as admissible to hit the switch rather than to push the large man; (2) male adolescents, compared to females, were more likely to say it was morally acceptable to intervene in the footbridge dilemma, whereas younger adolescents said it was morally acceptable both in the switch and the footbridge situations; and (3) higher levels of callous-unemotional traits, perceived parental rejection, and moral disengagement, on the one hand, and lower levels of universalism, on the other hand, were associated to higher admissibility to intervene in the footbridge scenario. Higher community violence exposure was associated with a lower propensity to intervene in the switch scenario. Overall, the present study expands the research on sacrificial dilemmas involving a sample of adolescents. The findings support previous studies concerning the role of emotions in making moral decisions but, at the same, open new perspectives regarding the role of contextual experiences and moral-related factors.

Sexual Identity in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning Emerging Adults: The Role of Parental Rejection, and Sexuality Specific Family Support

The present study provides critical contributions to the study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) emerging adults by examining the role of family and sexuality specific family support, as well as the moderating effect of gender, on sexual identity development. Specifically, the role of mother and father rejection and sexuality specific family support on both affirmed identity and identity struggles of students were assessed. Using a sample of 338 LGBTQ emerging adults at a midwestern University, findings illustrate that for sexual identity development, mother and father parental rejection positively influenced identity struggles while sexuality specific family support positively influenced affirmed identity. Also, moderation by participant gender was not supported. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Interpersonal Problems as Mediator Between Parental Rearing Styles and Internalizing-Externalizing Problems in Adolescents

The mental health of youth is considered a big challenge in recent years for mental health professionals. Adolescents are known to have an increased prevalence of internalizing-externalizing problems that lead to adverse social, academic, and personal outcomes. This research is investigating the role of interpersonal problems as the mediator in the association of parental warmth and rejection with internalizing-externalizing problems in 732 adolescents (girls = 49%, boys = 51%) recruited through multistage sampling technique. Measures included Egna Minnen Betraffande Uppostran for Children (EMBU-C) (Saleem, Mahmood, & Subhan, 2015), the Youth version of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001), and the Interpersonal Difficulties Scale (Zahra & Saleem, 2020). Correlation analysis confirmed the significant association among parental warmth, parental rejection, internalizing-externalizing problems, and interpersonal problems. Findings of mediation analysis revealed that parental warmth and parental rejection have effects on internalizing-externalizing problems via interpersonal problems. Implications are discussed in terms of the counseling of adolescents.

The Influence of Parental Rejection Style on Children’s Depression: The Moderating Role of Teacher Support

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between parental rejection and childhood depression and the moderating role of teacher support in this relationship. EMBU-C, CES-D10, PSSS and other tools were used to measure parental rearing style, children’s depression mood and perceptive teacher support. The results showed that parental rejection style was positively correlated with children’s depression, and teacher support was negatively correlated with children’s depression. Teacher support acted as a buffer effect between parental rejection and children’s depression.

Parental rejection in early adolescence predicts a persistent ADHD symptom trajectory across adolescence

Despite a general decrease of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms during adolescence, these may persist in some individuals but not in others. Prior cross-sectional studies have shown that parenting style and their interaction with candidate genes are associated with ADHD symptoms. However, there is a lack of longitudinal research examining the independent and interactive effects of parenting and plasticity genes in predicting the course of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms across adolescence. Here, we investigated how children perceived their parents’ parenting style (i.e., rejection, overprotection, and emotional warmth) at the age of 11, and their interaction with DRD4,MAOA, and 5-HTTLPR genotypes on parent-reported ADHD symptoms at three time points (mean ages 11.1, 13.4, and 16.2 years) in 1730 adolescents from the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Growth Mixture Modeling in Mplus identified four ADHD symptom trajectories: low, moderate stable, high decreasing, and high persistent. Perceived parental rejection predicted class membership in the high persistent trajectory compared to the other classes (p < 0.001, odds ratios between 2.14 and 3.74). Gene-environment interactions were not significantly related to class membership. Our results indicate a role of perceived parental rejection in the persistence of ADHD symptoms. Perceived parental rejection should, therefore, be taken into consideration during prevention and treatment of ADHD in young adolescents.