Familial Undercurrents

Not long after her father died, Afsaneh Najmabadi discovered that her father had a secret second family and that she had a sister she never knew about. In Familial Undercurrents, Najmabadi uncovers her family’s complex experiences of polygamous marriage to tell a larger story of the transformations of notions of love, marriage, and family life in mid-twentieth-century Iran. She traces how the idea of “marrying for love” and the desire for companionate, monogamous marriage acquired dominance in Tehran’s emerging urban middle class. Considering the role played in that process by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century romance novels, reformist newspapers, plays, and other literature, Najmabadi outlines the rituals and objects---such as wedding outfits, letter writing, and family portraits---that came to characterize the ideal companionate marriage. She reveals how in the course of one generation men’s polygamy had evolved from an acceptable open practice to a taboo best kept secret. At the same time, she chronicles the urban transformations of Tehran and how its architecture and neighborhood social networks both influenced and became emblematic of the myriad forms of modern Iranian family life.

The Attitudes and Experiences of Marriage and Family Counselors for Same-Sex Couple and Family Clients: A Qualitative Study

Same-sex marriage and family counselors usually do not have enough experience and training background to help same-sex couples with marriage and family issues. Some counselors may have a personal bias toward same-sex couples due to the absence of same-sex couples and families’ background. Marriage and family counselors provide counseling services to their clients with marriage and family problems and conflicts, resulting in a positive recovery negotiation. The purpose of this study was to understand and investigate the attitudes of marriage and family counselors regarding same-sex couples and families, an area ignored in mainstream marriage and family counseling. Based on 300 surveys and 38 interviews from marriage and family counselors in the United States, the researcher categorized that more than half of the participants expressed negative attitudes against same-sex couples and families, due to cheating, unsafe sexual activities, and domestic violence. Some counselors refused to provide counseling services to same-sex couples and families due to misunderstanding and prejudice. The results suggested that additional in-service professional developments and curriculum reforms are essential to promoting multicultural family structure. Received: 13 September 2021 / Accepted: 25 November 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

A Case of the Tail Wagging the Dog: The Medicare Mental Health Coverage Gap and Its Impact on Providers and Beneficiaries

Nearly one in four Medicare beneficiaries have been diagnosed with mental health or substance use disorders, and research indicates this population responds well to mental health treatment. However, Medicare policy omits licensed mental health counselors (LMHCs) and licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) as approved providers, exacerbating an existing national provider shortage. Emerging research demonstrates that the provider omission, referred to as the Medicare mental health coverage gap (MMHCG), profoundly impacts excluded providers and the communities they serve. This paper represents a synthesis of the most current scholarship on Medicare research, policy, and advocacy. In particular, we explore three ways the MMHCG impacts providers and beneficiaries alike: limiting provider choices, thwarting continuity of care, and creating challenging decisions for beneficiaries and providers. Our aim is to help mental health counselors better understand and navigate the MMHCG and aid in advocacy efforts for legislation to include LMHCs and LMFTs as approved Medicare providers.

Dreams of Flight

In Dreams of Flight, Fran Martin explores how young Chinese women negotiate competing pressures on their identity while studying abroad. On one hand, unmarried middle-class women in the single-child generations are encouraged to develop themselves as professional human capital through international education, molding themselves into independent, cosmopolitan, career-oriented individuals. On the other, strong neotraditionalist state, social, and familial pressures of the post-Mao era push them back toward marriage and family by age thirty. Martin examines these women’s motivations for studying in Australia and traces their embodied and emotional experiences of urban life, social media worlds, work in low-skilled and professional jobs, romantic relationships, religion, Chinese patriotism, and changed self-understanding after study abroad. Martin illustrates how emerging forms of gender, class, and mobility fundamentally transform the basis of identity for a whole generation of Chinese women.

Pastoral Support for Married Couples and Families during the Pilgrimages of John Paul II to Poland

Pilgrimages are one of the forms of popular piety carried out for centuries and in various ways. A special type of pilgrimage are papal pilgrimages to individual countries, which is the implementation of Christ’s mission: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations (…). and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you’ (Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu w przekładzie z języków oryginalnych. 1980. Mt 28: 19–20). Pilgrimages give the Pope the opportunity to come closer with the faithful and confirm them in their faith. They also make possible common prayer on different continents and teaching, the personal perception of which can bring people a profound change and improvement of life. John Paul II was the first after 455 years non-·Italian pope to visit his country of origin, Poland, eight times. He spent 64 days in his homeland and delivered 264 speeches. He taught freedom and continued his catechesis on marriage and the family, which was a topic to which he attached great importance. The subject of marriage and family is an important matter for the whole world. Therefore, it is worth introducing the papal teaching delivered during all pilgrimages to Poland to people from other countries, especially since some of the speeches are not translated into English. The article is a selection of pro-family content contained in the speeches of John Paul II in Poland, useful in the formation of spouses and parents. It may prove useful in their marriages and families, as well as in the professional help provided to students undertaking education in family life, students in the field of familiology preparing for marriage, spouses, parents and grandparents who educate their children and grandchildren.

Messages about the family in the press and media

Family is the most solid fulcrum and incomparable peace for every human being. It is always a place full of love to return to, so the message of marriage and family is mentioned often in the media in many different ways. This study explores which topics about marriage-family are mentioned the most, how male and female images appear in the family, specifically: the role in maintaining family happiness is assigned. Who are the perpetrators and causes of domestic violence, and how is the gender division of labor in the family reflected in the media? Through research to overcome and gradually eliminate gender stereotypes in media messages, contribute to promoting gender equality.

“A Gauntlet” by Bjornstjerne Martinius Bjørnson and “Vera: One for Many: From a Girl's Diary” by Bettina Dorothea Kris in the context of a public discussion about male chastity and double morality in the Russian Empire in the late 19th – early 20th centuries

The article examines the controversy that arose in the public space of the Russian Empire after the publication in Russian of two resonant works of fiction – “A Gauntlet” by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and “One for Many” by Betty Kris – and gave impetus to the development of ethical views broadcast by their authors. In these books, translated into Russian with a difference of almost ten years, practically identical innovative and, one might say, sensational ideas for their time are expressed – Svava and Vera, the main heroines of the works, advocate the abolition of “unjust dual morality” and expect from a man the same premarital “purity”, the preservation of which was traditionally required exclusively from a woman within the framework of the patriarchal paradigm of marriage and family relations. The call for the abolition of double standards, expressed by B.Bjørnson and B.Kris (and embodied, which is important, precisely through the women, the heroines of their works), was directly related to the women’s movement developing during this period. There were incomparably more opponents of the ideas broadcast by the authors, who continued to adhere to the traditional view of sexual morality and the position of women in society, than its supporters. However, the very fact that such a discussion appeared in the public field and the fact that a number of representatives of the medical community, public figures, writers and journalists supported these ideas, speaks of the changes that have already begun to take place in the public consciousness.

For the Life of the World: Some Reflections

As its title would suggest, For the Life of the World: Towards a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church offers a comprehensive statement of the ideals and principles that should guide Orthodox Christians, and the church itself, in the effort to live a Christlike life in today's pluralistic society. The expression “social ethos” might suggest that this document limits itself to social questions as these are commonly understood, offering a kind of Orthodox equivalent of Roman Catholic social encyclicals. On examination, it is clear that this document goes beyond the standard topics pursued under the rubric of social ethics. It includes an extended discussion of marriage and family life, addressing questions of marital relations and family dynamics as well as the social dimension of marriage; a comparably extended discussion of medical ethics; extended comments on ecumenical and interfaith relations; and reflections on the liturgy as the ultimate context for the moral life. We even find brief but perceptive remarks on our treatment of animals. This document is not so much a presentation of social ethics as a treatise on moral theology comprehensively considered. The nearest Roman Catholic parallel would be Veritatis Splendor, rather than one of the social encyclicals.