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Aesthetic Culture

Kant was one of the philosophers who discussed the problem of aesthetics. His famous work is Critique of Judgment. In this work he the aesthetic process requires the person to be far from politics. It is impossible to judge the beauty if one is influenced by the politics. The judge must reproduce and reflect the object of the judgment which demands subjectivity and personal estimation. Stating this fact Kant pays much attention to the significance of subjectivity in devising the judgment of beauty. He states that the thing can not be accepted as beautiful only by one person if it is not considered so by the others. In this version one as a subjective personality and one as social being interact making the completeness of culture.

This aesthetic common feature between the society and individual means that people have to possess the subjective principle based on their feelings rather than concepts. He wanted to say that people should have their personal judgment of beauty based on their tastes but not on generally accepted principles. Such principle could not be observed as common sense. The subject while using its common sense must make the judgment of individuals about the beauty before the person tries to represent this beauty. The completeness between the individual representation and the representation of beauty by society is the end of the aesthetic process according to Kant.

Kant states that this process can not involve every aspect of life so politics and judgments should be taken separately. Tastes do not depend upon politics or cognition and person should use the cognition in order to characterize her representation of beauty. According to Kant culture influences a subjective sense of judgment from within the person not enforced by any institutions. By means of aesthetic culture a person have an opportunity to realize her own subjectivity in harmony and relation with a society.

About the writer:  Angel Ramirez is the head of customer care center at Customessay.org dissertation help. Having completed a number of Dissertation Abstracts himself Tiffany uses her knowledge to provide individualized customer support to students who order Dissertation Plan.

Adopting Teleconferencing And Collaboration Technologies To Aid The Alternative Fuels Goal

The alternative energy movement has finally reached a tipping point. The combination of oil prices leaping over 115 a barrel and coal costs doubling has been essential in awakening a new sense of consciousness about alternative fuel.

With US drivers paying close to 4.05 per gallon of petrol and California drivers paying approximately 4.20 per gallon enthusiasm is growing for a national agenda to embrace use of alternative energy. Whether these be wind liquified coal or solar US consumers are finally realizing that our nation’s energy independence and economy are inextricably linked to reducing our dependence on traditional fuels.

It would appear as if the political climate has never been better for the alternative energy community. To truly seize this moment the organizations that comprise the community would be well served to consider the benefits of technology in enhancing the cross community communication needed to generate lasting accomplishments.

Indeed most alternative energy lobbying organizations could experience benefits from the use of new technologies that enable collaboration. Examples include Rondee’s system which enables easy to deploy teleconferencing as well as online conference calling and networking tools.

Tip 1: Utilize web tools for networking

The most successful alternative fuels advocacy organizations create networks of supporters who believe in their values and mission. While the term networking frequently gets a less than ideal connotation the simple reality is these networks can provide significant help. Today in Silicon Valley the expectation is that professional folks will have at least a basic LinkedIn profile.

At the same time other networking applications such as Facebook are starting to see usage by more professional users. Such applications also provide a relatively easy way of developing your network.

Tip 2: Leverage a free conference calling application

In the last handful of years there has been escalating degrees of collaboration between geographically separate alternative fuels advocacy groups. One underlying reason for this trend has been reduced flight travel costs a trend that may now be reversing with the leaping oil costs mentioned above.

A separate reason is the availability of the sorts of these systems including those launched by Rondee operate on the same underlying principle. They offer groups a PIN and a toll number to call. If all teleconference users dial the same number and enter the same code they are put into the conference call.

Tip 3: Consider technology to enable desktop sharing

Some alternative fuels advocacy groups have distributed leadership groups and it is impractical to expect facetoface meetings. Technology is addressing this problem by way of desktop sharing. Whether it’s viewing a PowerPoint document displaying the group’s development plan or a spreadsheet showing the tracking of volunteer participation desktop sharing can be extremely useful for not a few green groups.

Tip 4: Deploy an electronic newsletter platform

It was not that long in the past that sending out an email newsletter was time consuming and tricky. That has now changed. Online systems are making it possible to create templated and scalable newsletters. These services reduce the work load by at approximately 90 and in so doing enable green organizations to concentrate on content creation rather than delivery of messages.

Tip 5: Leverage data based decisionmaking

One of the key trends recently affecting nonprofit organizations in the alternative fuels community has been the increasing reliance on evidence driven decisionmaking. Managers can apply the same techniques with simple to use Excel or Lotus spreadsheeting applications to determine what works and what does not work. Increasingly the hurdle for quality decisionmaking is rising and thus reliance on conjecture and theory is being systematically replaced by empirical data to support decisions.

About the writer:  Bob Letterman helped launching the Rondee that enables robust teleconferencing.

Adolescent Psychology And The Media

Parenting has often been referred to as lifes most difficult job and it seems as though in recent years this job has become increasingly more rigorous. Technological developments in recent years have given rise to novel methods for children and adults to access information. Many of these advancements are aimed specifically at the youth culture though are responsible for a gradual transformation of the entire culture at large. Adults however often seem a step slow in recognizing the magnitude that these new innovations will have upon all of our lives and the lives of todays children.

In the United States in general but especially here in Los Angeles the media is extremely influential in our lives. Today given the meteoric rise in the accessibility of new technology more information is currently available for public consumption than at any other time in history. Children and adolescents are especially impressionable and often crave what Heinz Kohut termed selfobjects in order to help cope with the psychological rigors of youth. This hunger for connection to someone or something that feels bigger than ones self is a normal psychological process however in todays media dominated culture in Los Angeles preteens and adolescents seem especially vulnerable to potentially destructive influences…

A 1995 study at the University of Maryland studied the phenomenon of the idealization of celebrities amongst several cohorts of teen and preteen groups including kids 1011 1213 1415 and 1617. The study produced results indicating that each group evidenced some degree of idolization and modeling behavior related to the media created celebrities that were included in the study. The highest degree of idolization and modeling behavior however was noted in the age group of 1011 year olds. The study suggests that idolization is a developmentally appropriate response to being a child and certainly this is as true today as it has ever been. This psychological phenomenon was termed narcissistic idealism by Kohut who believed that adolescents engaged in this process in order to compensate for the narcissistic injury of the inevitable failure of ones parents to live up to their childs lofty needs and desires. According to Kohut this compensatory process of idealization thus becomes necessary to fill the void left by our parents failures to be superhuman. An adolescents focus for new compensatory selfobjects quite naturally turns to the bigger than life personas of celebrities who are often anointed by society especially here in Los Angeles as godlike in nature.
This process of idolizing celebrities is certainly not specific to todays culture. Television played a large role in Americas obsession with the Beatles in the 1960s creating an unprecedented wave of teenage idol worship at the time. Arguably there has since been no indication that a teenagers hero worship of the Beatles in the 1960s produced any negative psychological consequences but the climate in todays celebrity obsessed Los Angeles seems to present greater dangers. The ability of the internet to promulgate information that reaches millions instantly has created a scenario where adults and adolescents are inundated with the seductive pull of salacious celebrity gossip. One can now access this type of information without even intending to. A trip to seemingly any grocery or convenience store is culminated by the familiar sight of big glossy magazines advertising the misbehavior of the newest young star or starlet. This information has always been accessible though in the past it was often relegated to appear in the same publications that detailed the latest alien abduction or Elvis sighting. It seems that in todays media driven culture celebrity news is desired by the masses to such an extent that at least five different magazines two entire cable channels and several more primetime television shows on major public networks are all devoted to the goal of feeding the collective insatiable hunger for news on celebrities. More often than not this news focuses on celebrities who have fallen from grace.

The widespread infectious nature of this public desire for celebrity seems all too acceptable here in Los Angeles where celebrities paparazzi and civilians breathe the same air and walk the same streets. Entertainment is a major aspect of the fabric of our culture which was built on the desire to be rich and famous and the need to be entertained. As a culture we devour and consume information in order to feed this need for constant entertainment which seems to be both supplied and created by the media. This hunger for entertainment seems to be most pronounced amongst adolescents who are driven toward the egocentric filling of selfobject needs. Those who engage in the compensatory narcissistic idealism that Kohut described seem most likely to be impacted by our media crazed culture in which one can easily discover what parties their favorite young celebrity attended last night what they drank ingested inhaled or injected and who they spent the night with. The celebrity party lifestyle is of course nothing new to the average persons awareness but the video photos and detailed blogs of each celebritys own egocentric gratification of his or her own needs through sex drugs and alcohol are novel. A potential danger of the normalization of this behavior is that celebrities today essentially live in a consequencefree environment protected from real life consequences by their own aura mystique and wealth. The average adolescent may feel invincible but of course is not immune to the very real ramifications of the potential emulation of their favorite heros behavior. Children may not try everything they see on television but 1995s study at the University of Maryland indicates that late latency aged children and early adolescents are most prone to engage in the behaviors normalized by their idols.

The potential impact of the idealization of todays celebrities by todays youth will only be identified years down the road but one can now at least speculate that the burden in aiding adolescents in Los Angeles today to deal with these issues will fall upon both parents and therapists to face the massive potentially negative influence of the media in our culture today.

About the writer:  Jared Maloff Psy.D is a therapist who practices in Beverly Hills and specializes in psychodynamic therapy. Jared can be contacted through her profile here: Good Therapy and Therapist McKinney

Adolescent Childbearing Factors As Determinant Of Safe Motherhood In Abeokuta Metropolis Of Ogun State Nigeria

Introduction

Adolescent parenthood often places the teen mother and her child at high risk for a variety of negative personal and social outcomes one of which is an increased risk for abusive parenting Schellenbach Whitman and Borkowski 1992. Adolescent mothers and their children are at a greater risk than children of adult mothers Bolton 2000.

Women under 20 years of age are more likely to experience maternal complication than women ages 20 and above Eure Lindsay and Graves 2002; Zabin and Kiragu 1998. Among 50 developing countries surveyed an average of 23 of adolescent women including both married and unmarried women have given birth or are pregnant. Adolescent childbearing is most common in subSaharan Africa at 25 of women ages 15 to 19. In the Central African Republic Chad Guinea Madagascar Mali and Niger over onethird of adolescent women are pregnant or have had a child Eure Lindsay and Graves 2002.

On average among 16 surveys in Latin America and the Caribbean 19 of all adolescent women have begun childbearing. The levels are highest in ElSalvador and Nicaragua at 25. In nine countries surveyed in Eastern Europe and Central Asia about 8 of adolescent women are mothers.

Most adolescents who are married or in a union have begun childbearing. In Latin America and the Caribbean on average 80 of married adolescents have begun childbearing and in subSaharan Africa 73. Among all developing countries surveyed South Africa has the lowest proportion of married adolescents who have begun bearing children at 50. Elsewhere the highest level of childbearing among unmarried women ages 15 to 19 is in Nicaragua at 10 Nigeria at 30 and Ghana at 29 Eure Lindsay and Graves 2002.

Predictors of higher incidence of adolescent childbearing among adolescent mothers have been examined in a variety of studies. Connelly and Strauss 1992 found that the mothers age when her first child was born was a significant predictor of the occurrence of adolescent mothers. This relationship held even when other variables such as income race education number of children and childs age were controlled. Bolton 2000 has pointed out that there are numerous contextual similarities between adolescent parents and adolescent mothers such as poverty social isolation and a poor understanding of child development which may collectively provide the foundations for the development of parenthood.

Both Belsky 1980 1993 and Azar 2001 agree that adolescent childbearing is almost always multiply determined with numerous factors interacting to contribute to the onset of abusive behaviour. Therefore a risk assessment that measures different areas of risk simultaneously may provide a more comprehensive picture of the characteristics associated with adolescent childbearing among adolescent mothers than do assessments that do not combine multiple components. In the present study four contextual risk factors social support maternal psychological adjustment maternal preparation for parenting and child temperament were examined in combination as predictors of adolescent childbearing in adolescent mothers.

Psychopathology or personality disturbances in one or both parents has frequently been implicated in the development of adolescent child bearing Azar 1991; Wupe 1987. Most importantly adolescent parents tend to have more psychological problems than adult mothers WurtzPassino et al 1993. Therefore reconceptualizing parental psychological risk for adolescent mothers in terms of psychological adjustment and obtaining a more general assessment of psychological functioning may be more useful than trying to predict behaviour based on the diagnosis of specific clinical disorders.

The importance of social support in the etiology of adolescent childbearing has also been identified Azar 2001; Belsky 1980 1993; Wolfe 1985 1987. Two common correlates of adolescent childbearing that reflect Belskys 1980 social support construct are the financial and emotional support available to the family. The socioeconomic status SES of adolescent mothers and adult mothers frequently differs Bolton 2000. Lower SES of adolescent families are more highly represented in poor parenting. This overrepresentation may be due in part to the increased financial stress within families and the decreased availability of familybased financial resources to deal with unexpected expenses related to child care. The emotional support provided by the parents peers family or spouse is also important in distinguishing adolescent mothers and adult mothers Bolton 2000; McKenny et al 1991; Wolfe 1987. Thus both SES and emotional support are important aspects of social support reflecting the instrumental and interpersonal components important to a broadbased assessment of this construct.

The third risk construct emphasizes the dysfunctional interaction patterns in adolescent childbearing. That is a lack of knowledge of child development unrealistic expectations and a limited repertoire of skills for interacting with the child are predictive of adolescent childbearing Belsky 1980; Bolton 2000; de Lissovoy 1973; McKenny et al 1991; Schellenbach et al 1992; Wolfe 1985. In this way a mothers understanding and general expectations about her role as a parent as well as her beliefs about how she is going to interact with her own child may be early indicators of insufficient preparation for parenting thus setting the stage for dysfunctional interaction with their children. This mental preparation for parenting termed cognitive readiness to parent by Borkowski and Colleagues 1992 was found to be lower for teen than for adult mothers. Therefore it is important to assess mothers preparation for parenting as a reflection of early predispositions towards dysfunctional parenting.

Using the ideas from Wolfes 1987 theory the two components of the psychological predisposition for aggression coping may mediate the relationship between the first four risk factors derived from Bolskys 1993 model that is social supports maternal psychological adjustment child temperament and preparation for parenting and the potential for adolescent childbearing. This mediational relationship may provide some understanding of the process through which maternal and early child factors increase the adolescent mothers susceptibility to childbearing behaviours.

Most research work on adolescent childbearing focused on the nature causes and prevalence. It is therefore not to the knowledge of the researcher that studies linking adolescent childbearing and safe motherhood may have been conducted in Nigeria. It is against this background that this study becomes relevant in filling such missing gaps in our knowledge in the issue of adolescent childbearing and motherhood in Nigeria.

Purpose of this Study

The purpose of this research is to examine the predictive relationships between the contextual risk factors as social supports maternal psychological adjustment maternal preparation for parenting and child temperament serve to justify safe motherhood.

In order to achieve the purpose of this research the following research questions were answered at 0.05 alpha level.

1. To what extent would adolescent childbearing attitudes as social support maternal psychological adjustment maternal preparation for parenting and child temperament when combined predict safe motherhood among adolescents of reproductive age in Abeokuta Metropolis of Ogun State Nigeria?

2. What is the relative contribution of each of the factors to the prediction of safe motherhood among the adolescents?

Methodology

Research Design

This study focused on adolescent childbearing factors as determinants of safe motherhood among adolescents of reproductive age in Abeokuta Metropolis of Ogun State Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was adopted in which questionnaire was employed in collecting data from the respondents on the variables involved in the study.

Participants

The target participants for the study is made up all the Predegree female students of University of Agriculture Abeokuta. A total of one thousand and two hundred 1200 female Predegree students were randomly drawn from the university Predegree female students to take part in the study. The range of participants age was between 16 years and 23 years with a mean age of 18.4 years and the standard deviation of 3.67.

Instrumentation

Two instruments were used in the study.

i Selfreporting Questionnaire on Adolescent Childbearing SQAC measures the social supports maternal psychological adjustment maternal preparation for parenting and child temperament. It has 25 items rated on a 4 point likert type scale. The respondents are to indicate their degree of agreement with each item by ticking Strongly Agreed 4; Agreed 3; Disagreed 2 and Strongly Disagreed 1. It has 0.64 and 0.69 as the internal consistency and revalidation reliability respectively.

ii Motherhood Inventory MI measures the characteristics and values attached to the institution of motherhood. It has 20 items response format anchored on Partly True to very Untrue. The testretest reliability of the inventory was found to be 0.66 and 0.71 respectively.

All the two instruments were authorconstructed and were considered valid through the favourable comments of experts in psychometrics on the suitability of the items.

Procedure for Data Collection

The participants for the study were administered two questionnaires with the assistance of two research assistants and the University Guidance Counsellor. The collected questionnaires were scored and the data obtained from them were analysed to answer the research questions. On the whole 1200 copies of the questionnaires were distributed and returned fully filled giving a return rate of 100.

Data Analysis

The data collected were analysed using multiple regression and chisquare X2 statistics to establish the relationship between adolescent childbearing and safe motherhood.

Results

Results got from the data analysis are presented in Tables 1 2 and 3.

Research Question 1:

To what extent would adolescent childbearing factors when combined predict safe motherhood?

Table 1: Regression Analysis on Sample Data using A Combination of Independent Variables to Predict Safe Motherhood.

Multiple R: 0.351

Multiple RSquare: 0.301

Standard Error: 3.37

Analysis of Variance

Sources of Variation

Df

SS

MS

FRatio

PValue

Regression

3

5278.832

1759

5.10

lt;0.05

Residual

1196

517249.688

432.483

Total

1199

522528.512

Table 1 shows that the combination of the independent variables social support maternal psychological adjustment maternal preparation for parenting and child temperament in predicting safe motherhood among the adolescents yielded a coefficient of multiple regression R of 0.351 multiple correlation square R2 of 0.301. The result shows that 30.1 of the variance in the prediction of safe motherhood is accounted for by the independent variables. The table also indicates that the analysis of variance of the multiple regression data gave an Fratio of 5.10 significant at 0.05 alpha level.

Research Question 2:

What is the relative contribution of each of the factors to the prediction of safe motherhood among the adolescents?

Table 2: Testing the Significance on Relative Contribution to the Prediction of Regression Weight of Independent Variables

S/N

Variables Description

Unstandardized Coefficients

Coefficients

Standardized

tvalue

Sig.

B

Std Error

Beta

1

Social support

0.110

0.033

0.205

3.3

lt;0.05

2

Maternal psychological adjustment

0.124

0.037

0.288

3.3

lt;0.05

3

Maternal preparation for parenting

2.330

0.469

0.075

4.959

lt;0.05

4

Child temperament

0.144

0.044

0.022

1.2

NS

5

Constant

35.121

3.915

000

Table 2 shows for each independent variable the standardized regression weight B the Standard Error Estimate SEB the Beta the Tratio and the level at which the Tratio and the level at which the Tratio is significant. As indicated in the table the Tratio associated with the four variables social support maternal psychological adjustment and maternal preparation for parenting were significant at 0.05 alpha level. The contribution of child temperament can escalate threat and violence to the prediction of safe motherhood among adolescents of reproductive age. The degree of contribution of each of the variables in order of merit are: maternal preparation for parenting B=2.330; t=4.959; plt;0.05; social supports B = 0.110; t = 3.3; Plt;0.05; maternal psychological adjustment B = 0.124; t = 3.3; plt;0.05; and child temperament B = 0.144; t = 1.2; pgt;0.05.

Table 3: X2 Summary on Adolescent Childbearing Factors and Safe Motherhood.

Variable Description

X2 Cal

Df

X2 tab

Sig 2 tailed

1

Social support

16.986

3

7.81

0.001

2

Maternal psychological adjustment

29.762

3

7.01

0.000

3

Maternal preparation for parenting

33.956

3

7.81

0.000

4

Child temperament

5.969

3

7.81

0.113

* Significant at 0.05 alpha level

The result on table 3 shows that each of the independent variables made significant contribution to the prediction on safe motherhood at 0.05 alpha level. This implies that there is a strong relationship between those factors and safe motherhood. The contributions of each of the variables shows that maternal preparation for parenting X2 = 33. 956 has the most potent variable followed by maternal psychological adjustment X2 = 29.762; social supports X2 = 16.986; and child temperament X2 = 5.969 in that order.

Discussion of Findings

The major goal of this study was to find out the influence of adolescent childbearing factors as determinants of safe motherhood.

It is on the above premise that the findings of the present investigation is reported. The result on Table 1 showed that adolescent childbearing factors either collectively or relatively predict safe motherhood. The joint combination of the four variables when taken together and regressed against safe motherhood account for 30.1 of the variance Rsquare = 0.201. This is statistically significant as corroborated by the analysis of variance result of 5.10. This result agree with the findings reported by Bolton 2000; Eure Lindsay and Graves 2002; Belsky 1980 1993 and Azar 2001. This agreement was also supported by Wolfe 1987 and Belksky 1980.

Maternal preparation for parenting was shown to significantly relate to safe motherhood. This result agrees with Borkowski and colleagues 1992. The result obtained in the study also showed that social support was a significant contributor to the prediction of safe motherhood. This finding supports the report of Bolton 2000; Azar 2001; Belsky 1980 1993 and Wolfe 1985 1987. Maternal psychological adjustment was considered significant in this study. This finding supports the work of Wolfe 1987 and Belsky 1980. Child temperament was not found to significantly predict safe motherhood. This result was however at variance from the work of Belsky 1980 and Wolfe 1987.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Adolescent childbearing in any society of the world has been viewed as a social and health problem that requires urgent attention of wellmeaning citizens. It is on this premise that the following recommendations are provided:

i The government of Nigeria should as a matter of urgency adopt a National Adolescent Reproductive Health Policy.

ii Youth centres be opened to provide information on family planning reproductive and sexual health and STIs and their treatment.

References

Azar S.T. 1991. Models of child abuse: A metatheoretical analysis. Criminal Justice and Behaviour 18 3046.

Azar S.T. 2001. Child abuse and unrealistic expectations: Further validation of the parent opinion questionnaire. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 54 867868.

Belsky J. 1980. Child maltreatment: An ecological approach. American Psychology 35 320335.

Belsky J. 1993. Etiology of child maltreatment: A developmental ecological analysis. Psychological Bulletin 114 413434.

Bolton F.G. 2000. Normal violence in the adult child relationship: A diathesisstress approach to child maltreatment within the family. Family Abuse and Its Consequences pp. 6175. London: England Sage Publications.

Connelly C.O. and Strauss M.A. 1992. Mothers age and risk for physical abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect 16 709718.

de Lissovey V. 1973. Child care by adolescent parents. Children Today 2 2225.

Eure C.N. Lindsay M.K. and Graves W.L. 2002. Risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in young adolescent in an inner city hospital. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 1865: 918920.

McKenny P.C. Kotch J.B. and Broune D.H. 1991. Correlates of dysfunctional parenting attitudes among low income adolescent mothers. Journal of Adolescent Research 6 212234.

Schellenbach C.J. Whitman T.L. and Borkowski J.G. 1992. Towards an integrative model of adolescent parenting. Human Development 35 8199.

Wolfe D.A. 1985. Childabuse parents: An empirical review and analysis. Psychological Review 97 463482.

Wolfe D.A. 1987. Child abuse: Implication for child development and psychopathology Vol. 10. Newbury Park C.A.: Sage Publication.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;OLADEJI DAVID Ph.D.
DEPARTMENT OF HOME AND HOTEL MANAGEMENT
CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY STUDIES UNIT
OLABISI ONABANJO UNIVERSITY
AGOIWOYE.
dijidejiyahoo.co.uk