title: "Never say never?": Heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women's accounts of being childfree.

authors: Hayfield, Nikki

subjects: gender roles

abstract: Feminist scholars have identified a “motherhood imperative” in Western cultures, when heterosexual women are understood to both want and to have children. However, social shifts have resulted in a decrease in pronatalism as well as an increase in social recognition of the parenting desires of same-sex parents. Despite a resurgence of interest in childfree identities, research to date has predominantly focused on heterosexual women’s explanations for being childfree and their experiences of marginalization. Our aim in the current study was to explore how childfree heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and queer women negotiate their childfree lives and identities in the context of their personal and social relationships within changing cultural contexts. Data from 23 interviews with women in the United Kingdom, who responded to a call for childfree participants, were thematically analyzed. We constructed two themes: (1) Never say never? Negotiating being childfree as ever precarious, which shows how women constructed being childfree as requiring constant revisiting and renegotiating to maintain and (2) An ordinary life: Constructing being childfree as rational and reasonable, in which we identify the rhetorical efforts of participants to establish their being childfree as an ordinary, reasonable, and rational position. We conclude that for these women, childfreedom was constantly in flux and that maintaining a positive childfree identity required considerable identity work in order to manage intimate personal relationships and wider friendships.

text: "Never say never?": Heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women's accounts of being childfree. Feminist scholars have identified a “motherhood imperative” in Western cultures, when heterosexual women are understood to both want and to have children. However, social shifts have resulted in a decrease in pronatalism as well as an increase in social recognition of the parenting desires of same-sex parents. Despite a resurgence of interest in childfree identities, research to date has predominantly focused on heterosexual women’s explanations for being childfree and their experiences of marginalization. Our aim in the current study was to explore how childfree heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and queer women negotiate their childfree lives and identities in the context of their personal and social relationships within changing cultural contexts. Data from 23 interviews with women in the United Kingdom, who responded to a call for childfree participants, were thematically analyzed. We constructed two themes: (1) Never say never? Negotiating being childfree as ever precarious, which shows how women constructed being childfree as requiring constant revisiting and renegotiating to maintain and (2) An ordinary life: Constructing being childfree as rational and reasonable, in which we identify the rhetorical efforts of participants to establish their being childfree as an ordinary, reasonable, and rational position. We conclude that for these women, childfreedom was constantly in flux and that maintaining a positive childfree identity required considerable identity work in order to manage intimate personal relationships and wider friendships.

year: 2019

title: Gender differences in depression and anxiety symptoms eight years after mild traumatic brain injury

authors: Leidig, Rebecca Dawn

abstract: The majority of all treated cases of traumatic brain injury are classified as being in the mild severity range (MTBI) but many symptoms are far from mild and can result in difficulties that persist for years after the initial injury, severely affecting quality of life.  Chronic depression and anxiety symptoms can be masked by acute post-concussion symptoms and can affect males and females differently in the long-term but little research has been undertaken in this area.  The aims of this study were to investigate the gender differences in depression and anxiety over 1-month, 12-months and 8-years following a mild traumatic brain injury and to investigate gender differences in depression and anxiety between a group of MTBI subjects (8-years post-injury), and a group of participants who were TBI-free, by comparing Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores and self-reported symptoms.  A MTBI cohort consisting of a population-based sample of 151 adults who sustained a mild TBI between 2010 and 2011 was identified from an earlier longitudinal study: Brain Injury Incidence and Outcomes New Zealand In the Community Study (BIONIC).  Additionally, 213 participants with no history of head injury were recruited for comparison.  Both groups answered questions about current anxiety and depression symptoms using the HADS.
Overall, results suggest that males and females with MTBI have the same overall course of recovery in relation to depression and anxiety symptoms over the 8-years following injury but that females consistently report significantly increased symptoms than males over time, as reflected in the general population.  Depression and anxiety scores fluctuate over the 8-years post-MTBI but, overall, depression increases, anxiety decreases and symptom levels are below clinical severity.  Females with MTBI are significantly more likely than males to experience anxiety in the clinical range at 12-months post-injury.  
There were no significant gender differences in depression or anxiety levels between the MTBI and comparison groups, and average HADS scores were not significantly different between groups.  However,  individual symptom analysis showed that females who were 8-years post-MTBI experienced increased panic symptoms than females with no TBI and that both males and females with MTBI reported increased anhedonia and “restlessness’ symptoms than those without MTBI.   Overall, females reported significantly higher severity symptoms related to nervousness and feeling slowed down than males.
The clinical implications of this study suggest a focus on the longer-term impacts of MTBI  as patients may experience later onset depression or anxiety that may not be present in the acute phase.  Evaluating individual symptoms as well as overall scores on measures can identify important clinical effects at symptom level that are masked by total score analysis.    
Practitioners should consider gender differences in how patients respond to self-report symptom measures to ensure accurate clinical assessment of both males and females, particularly in relation to MTBI which has a higher male prevalence.  Future research into MTBI outcomes that includes a broader range of measures, in addition to self-report, will ensure comprehensive clinical data is obtained about individual symptoms and risk factors. 
This study uniquely contributes to current research into gender outcomes post-MTBI and may guide clinical practice to develop effective, timely and targeted assessment and treatment interventions for depression and anxiety symptoms experienced by both males and females after mild traumatic brain injury.

text: Gender differences in depression and anxiety symptoms eight years after mild traumatic brain injury The majority of all treated cases of traumatic brain injury are classified as being in the mild severity range (MTBI) but many symptoms are far from mild and can result in difficulties that persist for years after the initial injury, severely affecting quality of life.  Chronic depression and anxiety symptoms can be masked by acute post-concussion symptoms and can affect males and females differently in the long-term but little research has been undertaken in this area.  The aims of this study were to investigate the gender differences in depression and anxiety over 1-month, 12-months and 8-years following a mild traumatic brain injury and to investigate gender differences in depression and anxiety between a group of MTBI subjects (8-years post-injury), and a group of participants who were TBI-free, by comparing Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores and self-reported symptoms.  A MTBI cohort consisting of a population-based sample of 151 adults who sustained a mild TBI between 2010 and 2011 was identified from an earlier longitudinal study: Brain Injury Incidence and Outcomes New Zealand In the Community Study (BIONIC).  Additionally, 213 participants with no history of head injury were recruited for comparison.  Both groups answered questions about current anxiety and depression symptoms using the HADS.
Overall, results suggest that males and females with MTBI have the same overall course of recovery in relation to depression and anxiety symptoms over the 8-years following injury but that females consistently report significantly increased symptoms than males over time, as reflected in the general population.  Depression and anxiety scores fluctuate over the 8-years post-MTBI but, overall, depression increases, anxiety decreases and symptom levels are below clinical severity.  Females with MTBI are significantly more likely than males to experience anxiety in the clinical range at 12-months post-injury.  
There were no significant gender differences in depression or anxiety levels between the MTBI and comparison groups, and average HADS scores were not significantly different between groups.  However,  individual symptom analysis showed that females who were 8-years post-MTBI experienced increased panic symptoms than females with no TBI and that both males and females with MTBI reported increased anhedonia and “restlessness’ symptoms than those without MTBI.   Overall, females reported significantly higher severity symptoms related to nervousness and feeling slowed down than males.
The clinical implications of this study suggest a focus on the longer-term impacts of MTBI  as patients may experience later onset depression or anxiety that may not be present in the acute phase.  Evaluating individual symptoms as well as overall scores on measures can identify important clinical effects at symptom level that are masked by total score analysis.    
Practitioners should consider gender differences in how patients respond to self-report symptom measures to ensure accurate clinical assessment of both males and females, particularly in relation to MTBI which has a higher male prevalence.  Future research into MTBI outcomes that includes a broader range of measures, in addition to self-report, will ensure comprehensive clinical data is obtained about individual symptoms and risk factors. 
This study uniquely contributes to current research into gender outcomes post-MTBI and may guide clinical practice to develop effective, timely and targeted assessment and treatment interventions for depression and anxiety symptoms experienced by both males and females after mild traumatic brain injury.

year: 2020

title: Piahana Hou: a Ngati Rahiri rangatira

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Piahana Hou, as the half-brother of Karauna Hou, had an illustrious ancestry, but to Pakeha he was known as, briefly, the skipper of a river steamer and, for most of his life, as a labourer. His interests in several blocks of land enabled him to obtain money through selling some of his holdings, but he never became prosperous. He had minimal involvement in mining at Te Aroha.
Piahana came to prominence not as a rangatira but as a drunk, who was even involved in a bar fight at Te Aroha. Despite this weakness, his high status meant that hundreds attended his splendid tangi. Unlike some other rangatira, he did not use his status to play an important role in either Maori or Pakeha society.

text: Piahana Hou: a Ngati Rahiri rangatira Piahana Hou, as the half-brother of Karauna Hou, had an illustrious ancestry, but to Pakeha he was known as, briefly, the skipper of a river steamer and, for most of his life, as a labourer. His interests in several blocks of land enabled him to obtain money through selling some of his holdings, but he never became prosperous. He had minimal involvement in mining at Te Aroha.
Piahana came to prominence not as a rangatira but as a drunk, who was even involved in a bar fight at Te Aroha. Despite this weakness, his high status meant that hundreds attended his splendid tangi. Unlike some other rangatira, he did not use his status to play an important role in either Maori or Pakeha society.

year: 2016