Karen Frewin

Constructing adolescent fatherhood: responsibilities and intergenerational repair

The parenthood literature has, until recently, paid scant attention to adolescent fathers. Negative stereotypes portray these young men as delinquents, unwilling to participate in the lives of their children. Recent research has challenged negative views by examining the impact of fatherhood on these young men and concluding that they are far from uninvolved and disinterested in their children. The current study extends this line of research by charting the ways young fathers talk about their responsibilities and hopes for their childrens futures. Young fathers were interviewed and the data analysed discursively in order to further explore the meaning of fatherhood. The analysis focuses on the ways paternal responsibilities were constructed and the notion of intergenerational repair is introduced as one of the features of this talk. The implications for practitioners are discussed in the context of a more critical approach whereby taken-for-granted assumptions are questioned in this highly politicised area.

Police Status, Conformity and Internal Pressure: A Discursive Analysis of Police Culture:

This paper provides a discursive analysis of interviews with eight police officers about a range of contemporary issues concerning the police force. Officers drew on three common linguistic resources (police status, conformity, and internal pressure) which are identified, illustrated and discussed in terms of their social consequences and rhetorical effectiveness. We suggest that these discourses operate collectively to maintain the reputation of the police. This is achieved through the imperative of rigidly conforming to standards. Diversity is discriminated against at the point of recruitment and also via a series of internal pressures for existing officers who fail to conform. We have tried to demonstrate the discursive resources producing such social practices. We argue that a climate of conformity pervades the wider police culture and discuss the implications of this.

Re-arranging Fear: Police Officers’ Discursive Constructions of Emotion

This article concentrates on relationships between police officers, critical incident events and psychological support services. It challenges the traditional psychological theory of emotion, looking instead at the construction of emotion discourses in social interactions, in particular the rhetoric that police officers use to preserve their political and social environment. It examines the emotion talk of this particular cultural context through a reading of interviews with 11 police officers in New Zealand. A social constructionist perspective illustrates that officers use both emotion and non-emotion rhetoric for interpreting somatic and affective experiences of critical incident events, and they avoid interpreting their experience as “fear”. It is argued that the rhetoric employed is appropriate and functional in a police work context. Findings are discussed in relation to the construction of emotion and the provision of support services such as trauma policy debriefing for personnel following traumatic experiences.

Housemate Desirability and Understanding the Social Dynamics of Shared Living.

Shared living among young adults is an increasingly widespread way of life in the Western world, yet surprisingly little is known about this lifestyle. The rationale for this research was to increase understanding of the social dynamics of these non-kin households. Data was obtained from interviews with experienced New Zealand house sharers aged 20 to 35. Detailed discourse analysis is presented of housemate desirability with three key discourses involved. First, ideal coresidents are acutely aware of the necessity for a fine balance between being sufficiently sociable with each other, while simultaneously respecting the necessity of individual privacy and independence. Second, those with similar lifestyles, life stages, values, and expectations of each other are more conducive to compatibility. Third, mutual trust and feeling comfortable with housemates is imperative. The current research provides a window into contemporary lives of young adults and contributes to a broader knowledge of how nonfamilial relationships can work successfully or fail in the intimate confines of domesticity.

Shared housing among young adults: avoiding complications in domestic relationships

ABSTRACT One pathway by which young adults in the Western world are navigating housing difficulties is to pragmatically share costs by living or flatting with peers. The current study sought to add to the limited literature on this lifestyle through the application of discursive psychology to understanding the social dynamics of relationships in the intimacy of these households. Data was drawn from interviews with experienced New Zealand house sharers aged 20–35. Analysis is presented of two spontaneous discourses, which emerged, both dealing with competing tensions on the merits of living with couples or single people and friends or strangers. Whereas couples are not averse to sharing with other couples, single people tend to elect to share with unattached individuals. Favouring friends as housemates was the norm among town dwellers, while city folk were more open to flatting with strangers. Talk was driven by the unquestioned value associated with having a working living arrangement, demonstrating the acute awareness young adults have of potential problems that can destabilise or sustain domestic harmony. Valuable insight is provided into the complexity of shared housing relationships as well as contemporary young adulthood.

Psycho-spiritual transformation after an exceptional human experience

ABSTRACT Increasingly reported in contemporary times, exceptional human experiences (EHEs) are unusual spontaneous occurrences deviating from common perceptions about the nature of reality. Previous literature attests to the transformative influence EHEs exert on those who have them, which can include feeling a greater sense of spirituality. Our study investigated the relationship between EHEs and psycho-spiritual transformation, in a sample of 72 participants who self-identified as having experienced an EHE. Mystical/unitive EHEs were most commonly reported by the sample, and significantly positive associations were evident between EHEs and the psycho-spiritual indicators of spiritual growth and presence of meaning in life.