Despite negative media images and social dynamics insensitive to the lives of many dual-career couples, research shows that these families are largely healthy and thriving. In this study, we investigated the adaptive strategies of middle-class, dual-earner couples (N = 47) with children that are successfully managing family and work. Guided by grounded-theory methodology, analysis of interview data revealed that these successful couples structured their lives around 10 major strategies: Valuing family, striving for partnership, deriving meaning from work, maintaining work boundaries, focusing and producing at work, taking pride in dual earning, prioritizing family fun, living simply, making decisions proactively, and valuing time. Each adaptive strategy is defined and illustrated through the participants' own words. Clinical applications for therapists working with dual-earner couples are offered.
Service learning is increasingly being used as a pedagogical strategy for promoting the development of civic-mindedness among university students. Despite the use of this strategy, little is known about the benefits derived from specific types of service-learning experiences. Additionally, few notable studies have examined the unique outcomes experienced by mentors of at-risk youth. Therefore, this study examines the civic-related benefits that college students derive from mentoring at-risk youth within a structured, service-learning course. A series of linear regression models were estimated to determine if there were significant post-intervention differences between the treatment and comparison condition for the variables of interest, after adjusting for key background factors and pre-intervention levels of all variables. The results indicated that, in comparison to college students who did not participate in the course (n = 258), college student in Campus Corps, a youth mentoring program, (n = 390) had significantly higher scores at post-intervention regarding mentors' civic attitudes, community service self-efficacy, self-esteem, interpersonal and problem solving skills, political awareness, and civic action. Findings hold important implications for youth mentoring programs and future research.
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