Search Results (251)

Building on Juan Linz’s well-known distinction between political religion and politicized religion, this contribution adopts the latter perspective, which involves the instrumentalization of religion for political purposes. Within this framework, the article advances the hypothesis that a new form of religiosity is emerging from the communicative practices of certain conservative right-wing and far-right party formations. Their narratives display a strong appeal to religious values by evoking forms of identification and belonging that are largely detached from lived religious practice. Drawing on three corpora comprising electoral programs, political discourses, and interview excerpts from Fratelli d’Italia (Italy), Alternative für Deutschland (Germany), and Vox (Spain), the analysis combines a keyword-in-context approach with qualitative content analysis. The resulting communicative frame is composed of terms and concepts that function as symbolic realities similar to those of traditional religion, such as religion itself, the family, and the homeland, which are rearticulated within fully secularized contexts. This symbolic and narrative reactivation of such elements not only constitutes a strategic use of religious references but also points to the emergence of a distinctively political form of religiosity, which operates both as a stimulus for electoral behavior and as a cohesive force for highly identity-oriented party communities. Full article

This article examines queer Hmong identity and cultural change in the United States over the past fifty years, a period shaped by refugee resettlement, intergenerational negotiation, and evolving family practice. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten queer Hmong individuals and analyzing the findings through two frameworks centering Hmong epistemologies, this article argues that queer Hmong belonging is negotiated through placement: the positioning of queer Hmong children in Hmong genealogical structures. Participants describe acceptance not only through “coming out” or verbal acceptance, but through everyday acts of care, inclusion, and protection that sustain family life. By centering acceptance, obligation, and sacrifice, this article reframes queerness as an act of cultural continuity emerging through intergenerational care, mutual accommodation, and shared responsibility, rather than through the rejection of Hmong tradition. These findings show how Hmong parents and queer children actively negotiate shifting norms while reconfiguring belonging, family cohesion, and cultural responsibility within the diaspora. In doing so, this article contributes to critical Hmong studies, queer of color critique, education, and social work by offering a framework for understanding queer identity formation that is grounded in Hmong genealogical and epistemological terms, rather than measured against Western models of visibility and disclosure. Full article

The financial well-being of urban middle-income households in developing economies is an urgent yet theoretically underexplored issue. In Malaysia, the Middle 40 percent (M40) group faces a middle-income squeeze, where wage growth has failed to keep pace with rising urban costs, leaving them ineligible for means-tested aid but lacking the financial resilience of higher income-earners. Existing research largely links financial vulnerability to absolute poverty among the Bottom 40 percent (B40), treating financial strain, financial behaviour, and perceived inequality as separate factors. This leaves the M40’s financial erosion conceptually disjointed and untested as a cohesive system. This paper fills that gap by proposing an integrated framework positioning financial well-being as shaped by strain and perceived inequality, with financial behaviour as a mediator and household size as a moderator. It draws on the Family Economic Stress Model, Relative Deprivation Theory, and the Life Cycle Hypothesis to explain how economic pressure, social comparison, and life-stage disruptions interact. By synthesising these three theoretical lenses the framework repositions financial well-being, rather than income or poverty status alone, as the central outcome of interest for Malaysia’s structurally underserved urban middle class, and offers a theoretically grounded and testable basis for future empirical validation and policy design. Full article

Background/Objectives: While there is an existing body of quantitative data on the psychological and mental burden of suicide-bereaved parents, further qualitative research is needed to explore suicide-bereaved mothers’ living experiences in specific sociocultural contexts, especially in Southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. Given the persistent stigma surrounding suicide in these societies, and the fact that previous research has often overlooked mothers’ perspectives in favor of broader samples of bereaved parents, we explored the psychosocial needs of Greek-speaking suicide-bereaved mothers in the Republic of Cyprus, and their experiences in accessing formal mental healthcare support. Methods: An inductive, secondary content analysis of qualitative data collected through personal semi-structured interviews with ten suicide-bereaved mothers was employed. Results: Participants’ psychosocial needs centered around a “persistent orientation towards protection,” encompassing three interconnected domains: (1) self-protection and the need for acceptance by shielding themselves from stigma, social judgment, and emotional disintegration, (2) ensuring a safe and protective environment for the surviving family by safeguarding the psychological well-being and cohesion of surviving family members, and (3) protecting the posthumous dignity and memory of the deceased child. Rather than seeking formal support, participants overwhelmingly avoided mental health services, citing a lack of empathy, cultural misunderstanding, and fear of further stigmatization. Mental health professionals were often perceived as inadequate or even harmful, undermining participants’ need for protective attitudes, self-reliance and self-respect during bereavement. These responses reflected how stigma and gendered social expectations surrounding suicide shaped participating bereaved mothers’ disengagement from the healthcare system, despite their intense psychological needs. Conclusions: These findings underscored how gendered social expectations, combined with the stigma surrounding suicide, created significant psychosocial barriers to mental health care for women navigating traumatic grief, particularly in sociocultural contexts where suicide remains highly stigmatized. Full article

Background/Objectives: Substance use disorders remain a significant public health concern, particularly when vulnerability emerges during adolescence and young adulthood. Although much of the literature has focused on treatment and recovery, prevention-oriented scholarship increasingly points to the value of strengths-based approaches that reduce risk by cultivating protective processes. This narrative review examines resilience as a protective factor in substance use prevention across adolescence and young adulthood, with particular attention to health promotion, developmental context, and multilevel prevention systems. Methods: A narrative review approach was used to synthesize interdisciplinary literature from psychology, public health, education, addiction studies, and prevention science. The review focused on peer-reviewed scholarship addressing resilience, protective factors, and prevention-related processes relevant to adolescent and young adult substance use. Literature was analyzed thematically across major domains including conceptualizations of resilience, developmental relevance, protective factors, prevention strategies, diverse and at-risk populations, and conceptual and methodological challenges. Results: The literature suggests that resilience is most useful for substance use prevention when conceptualized as a dynamic and ecological process rather than a fixed individual trait. Protective processes associated with lower substance use risk include emotional regulation, adaptive coping, family support, peer connectedness, school engagement, community cohesion, and culturally meaningful sources of identity and belonging. Prevention strategies appear most promising when they are multilevel, relational, developmentally responsive, and integrated with broader mental health and health promotion efforts. At the same time, the literature remains limited by definitional inconsistency, measurement variability, heterogeneous outcome indicators, a predominance of cross-sectional evidence, inconsistent or null protective effects for some factors and outcomes, and insufficiently contextualized uses of resilience. Conclusions: Resilience offers a valuable framework for substance use prevention across adolescence and young adulthood when it is grounded in developmental, ecological, and equity-aware perspectives. Prevention may be strengthened by moving beyond deficit-focused models and intentionally cultivating the supportive conditions under which young people can adapt, connect, and thrive without turning to substances as a means of coping. Full article

This study investigates how personal and family names function as systems of heritage transmission in communities of South West Region, Cameroon and Cross River State, Nigeria. While African onomastics has documented naming traditions, cross-border comparative research on naming as a linguistic–anthropological system remains limited. Using qualitative methods—interviews, participant observation, and ritual documentation—the study analyses the semantic, morphological, and socio-cultural dimensions of indigenous names. The findings show that naming practices operate as structured cultural mechanisms that encode lineage affiliation, birth circumstances, moral expectations, spirituality, and social belonging. The study develops a motivational classification framework demonstrating how names sustain intergenerational knowledge and social cohesion while adapting to religious change, migration, and modernization. By linking linguistic form to social function, the article contributes a comparative perspective to African onomastics and highlights naming as a key resource for cultural continuity in borderland societies. Full article

This study examined how two key dimensions of family functioning—cohesion and adaptability—relate to young adults’ definitions of family. A questionnaire measuring family cohesion, adaptability, and criteria for including someone as family was administered to 309 young adults. Higher cohesion and adaptability were significantly associated with defining family based on emotional bonds rather than biological or legal ties. These findings highlight the pivotal role of family functioning in shaping inclusive family boundaries and suggest that strengthening cohesion and adaptability may foster acceptance of diverse family forms. Full article

This article examines developmental communication as one of the key factors influencing health and the overall functioning of the family. The aim of the study is to highlight the importance of interpersonal communication and religious values in fostering family bonds, shaping health-promoting attitudes, and enhancing the psychological, social, and spiritual well-being of family members. The article is theoretical and analytical in nature and is based on a literature review spanning family studies, pedagogy, sociology, psychology, and the psychology of religion. The findings indicate that open, dialogue-oriented communication supports the development of strong emotional bonds, a sense of security, and family resilience in the face of crisis situations. The importance of marital relationships, parent–child communication, and intergenerational relations for the psychosocial health of family members is emphasized. The study also highlights the role of religion and spiritual values as factors that strengthen family cohesion, foster a sense of meaning in life, and enhance coping with adversity. The conclusions suggest that developmental communication, supported by moral and spiritual values, is a key element in building a healthy and sustainable family system. Full article

Background/Objectives: Social isolation is a significant risk factor for child maltreatment. However, few studies have examined this relationship across multiple ecological levels, including neighborhood, family, and individual factors. This cross-sectional study operationalized social isolation using social cohesion, social support, and loneliness, and aimed to examine how their inter-relationships influence child maltreatment among Japanese mothers. Methods: Data were collected through an anonymous online survey of 330 Japanese mothers of children aged under six years, conducted April–May 2025. Structural equation modeling was employed in a two-step analytic approach. First, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to establish construct validity. Second, the hypothesized structural model was tested to examine the proposed pathways among social cohesion, social support, loneliness, parenting stress, and child maltreatment. Analyses were conducted using weighted least squares with mean and variance adjustment estimation. Results: Higher social cohesion was indirectly associated with reduced child maltreatment via two pathways. First, higher social cohesion was associated with lower loneliness, reduced parenting stress, and decreased child maltreatment (β = −0.063, p < 0.001). Second, higher social cohesion was associated with greater social support, reduced loneliness, lower parenting stress, and decreased child maltreatment (β = −0.043, p < 0.001). Conclusions: These findings highlight that enhancing neighborhood connectedness and alleviating maternal loneliness are key changes that may help to prevent child maltreatment. Full article

Background/objectives: To describe and compare Korean AYAs’ and parental perspectives on the family environment in terms of agreement and significant differences and examine which variables were associated with AYAs’ symptom distress. Sample and setting: Self-report data were collected from a total sample of 113 AYAs, recruited from a pediatric-oncology outpatient clinic at a university-affiliated hospital and community group in South Korea. Because each study aim required different data sources, different analytic samples were used. Specifically, 54 AYA–parent dyads were included for Aim 1, whereas self-report data from 111 AYAs with complete data were used for Aim 2. Methods and variables: This subgroup analysis used a quantitative–descriptive, cross-sectional design. AYAs’ and parent perceptions of the family environment (family cohesion and adaptability, family strength, and social support from family) and AYAs’ symptom distress were collected using reliable and validated self-report questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: AYAs and their parents showed low (family support) to moderate agreement (family strength, family cohesion, and adaptability) on perceptions of family environment (ICC = 0.374–0.612). AYAs reported significantly lower perceptions of family support than their parents, with a small to moderate effect (p < 0.001, d = 0.48). All family environment variables were correlated with AYAs’ symptom distress (p < 0.05). Among these variables, AYAs’ perceived family strength emerged as the only family environment variable significantly associated with their symptom distress (F = 14.309, p < 0.001, R² = 0.359, R²adj = 0.334), which was stronger during treatment. Conclusions: AYAs’ perceived family strength should be routinely assessed, especially during cancer treatment. Additional nursing interventions focusing on enhancing AYAs’ families as a support group are needed. Full article

(1) Background: Student burnout, widely regarded as a form of “hidden dropout” among adolescents, is associated with lower educational quality and mental health. Grounded in the Study Demands–Resources (SD–R) and Conservation of Resources (COR) theories, this study investigates the relationship between school-based resources, family dynamics, and personal resources by examining how teacher emotional support is associated with burnout through family cohesion and meaning in life; (2) Methods: a moderated mediation model was tested using a sample of 1224 adolescents (Mage = 14.27, SD = 1.72; 48% female); (3) Results: Analysis revealed that: 1. Teacher emotional support significantly and negatively predicted student burnout (β = −0.28, p < 0.001). 2. Family cohesion partially mediated this relationship, accounting for 36% of the total effect. 3. Meaning in life significantly moderated both the direct path and the second half of the mediation pathway (family cohesion → burnout). Notably, meaning in life was associated with a stronger negative association between teacher emotional support and student burnout, but a weaker negative association between family cohesion and student burnout, a pattern consistent with differential resource utilization; (4) Conclusions: These findings suggest a differentiated pattern of resource interplay: school-based emotional resources may connect to family-based relational resources, and the protective role of each external resource may be further moderated by adolescents’ internal meaning systems. These findings highlight the agentic role of adolescents in resource management and point to the value of multi-system interventions. Full article

Weld-bonded joints combine localized metallic welding with structural adhesives and are increasingly used in lightweight multi-material structures. Although numerous studies have examined individual weld-bonding processes, the available literature remains fragmented with respect to process classification, adhesive–weld interaction and mechanical performance. This paper presents a critical review of hybrid weld-bonded joints published between 2000 and 2026, with emphasis on welding-based joining processes and their influence on joint behavior. The main weld-bonding techniques, including resistance spot weld-bonding (RSWB), friction stir weld-bonding (FSWB), friction stir spot weld-bonding (FSSWB) and laser weld-bonding (LWB), are systematically compared in terms of heat input, adhesive stability, load transfer mechanisms and mechanical performance. The analysis indicates that processes with lower heat input, such as FSWB and FSSWB, provide improved adhesive preservation and fatigue performance, whereas RSWB remains the most industrially established solution. The influence of different adhesive families (epoxy, polyurethane, acrylic and thermoplastic) is evaluated with respect to thermal resistance, rheological behavior during welding and long-term durability. Mechanical performance under static, fatigue and impact loading is critically assessed, highlighting typical strength improvements compared with purely welded joints and identifying dominant failure modes. In addition, numerical modeling approaches, including finite element and cohesive zone methods, are reviewed in terms of their ability to capture coupled thermomechanical and damage phenomena. The review further outlines key industrial applications, current technological limitations and future research directions, including advanced adhesive systems, low-heat-input processes, non-destructive testing and digital-twin-based optimization. Full article

Family farming (FF) in Paraguay faces structural challenges related to institutional fragmentation, territorial inequalities, and limited coordination among stakeholders. In this context, the department of Itapúa provides a relevant case for analyzing how the relational structure of actors shapes territorial governance dynamics. This study examines how the network of actors involved in FF is configured and what this structure reveals about coordination processes, using a Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach. Based on 40 surveys conducted between April and May 2024, a directed and weighted network comprising 35 actors was constructed, including institutional, technical, productive, and market-related stakeholders. The analysis focuses on the intensity and structure of relationships shaping flows of information, resources, and territorial organization. The results reveal a relatively cohesive but functionally differentiated network. Technical actors and public institutions—particularly municipalities and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG)—occupy central and intermediary positions that facilitate coordination and information flows. In contrast, individual producers and market vendors remain in peripheral positions, limiting their influence within the network. The network structure combines elements of bonding and bridging social capital, although the limited presence of weak ties may constrain innovation and the incorporation of new actors. These findings point to a form of distributed territorial governance characterized by interdependence among actors, but also by structural asymmetries and coordination gaps between functional domains. Based on the results, the study highlights the need to strengthen coordination mechanisms, improve the integration of peripheral actors, and promote new connections between less articulated groups. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence on territorial governance in FF systems in Paraguay and demonstrates the value of SNA as a tool for analyzing coordination processes in rural contexts in Latin America. Full article

This article presents a case study of a program aimed at creating support networks among families of students with functional diversity (motor disability, ASD, DLD, intellectual disability, ADHD, CD) with the purpose of expanding their coping resources in the face of the chronic stress they experience, resilience and empowerment. The program was developed in a public school of infant and primary education in the Community of Madrid (Spain). The design of the program is based on the domains of quality of life. The development of the program followed a qualitative case study approach, framed within the critical participatory action research, and was structured in cycles of planning, action, observation and reflection. These cycles included face-to-face sessions with families, participant observation, collaborative dynamics to record what happened and what was expressed in the sessions, and the analysis of materials produced by the families themselves. In the case study, an inductive approach was used to analyze the collected content, guided by Schalock’s family-adapted quality of life model. The results show an increase in family involvement, a perceived improvement in emotional and practical support, and a greater involvement of families in decision-making and community awareness. It is concluded that placing the well-being of families at the center of educational action improves their stress coping skills, resilience and empowerment, strengths that have an impact on community cohesion and the sustainability of their children’s inclusion processes. Full article

Background/Objectives: Co-processed excipients (CPEs) are designed for direct compression through particle engineering, yet comprehensive powder rheological profiles systematically comparing advanced and traditional characterization methods remain limited. This study characterized fifteen lactose-based excipients using European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) methods and the complete Freeman FT4 Powder Rheometer measurement suite, establishing a correlation framework linking particle-level attributes to macroscopic flow behavior. Methods: Fifteen excipients were characterized for bulk and tapped density, compressibility index, flow time (Ph. Eur. 2.9.16), and angle of repose (Ph. Eur. 2.9.36). Particle size and shape were measured by dynamic image analysis. FT4 measurements comprised stability and variable flow rate testing, consolidation, aeration, compressibility, permeability, shear cell, and wall friction at three surface roughness. Pearson correlation matrices were computed across all 53 parameters. Results: Classical flow indices classified most CPE as good-to-satisfactory, failing to discriminate materials with fundamentally different dynamic flow profiles. FT4 testing revealed a fourfold range in Basic Flowability Energy (624–2107 mJ), a ninefold range in flow function coefficient (4.3–35.8), and wide aeration sensitivity differences (Aeration Ratio: 1.9–283.7). Strong correlations were identified between Specific Energy and compressibility index (r = 0.85), cohesion and Flow Rate Index (r = 0.79), and Normalized Aeration Sensitivity and pressure drop (r = 0.86). Within-family comparisons (Tablettose 70/80/100, FlowLac 90/100) revealed that particle size distribution breadth is a more critical flow determinant than median size alone. Conclusions: Combining FT4 rheometry with pharmacopoeial testing provides substantially greater discriminating power than either approach alone, enabling rational excipient selection for direct compression formulation. Full article