Reviews research and outlines patterns of support among in-laws. Examines parental aid to married children and indirectly to their spouses, help directed specifically toward children-in-law, in-law support in later life, and effects of marital dissolution on in-law support. Includes discussion of how various demographic factors may affect nature…

Literature review on relationship between adolescent chemical dependency and family factors yielded two broad categories: family drug usage patterns and family atmosphere. Found strong relationship between adolescent substance abuse and family drug usage, family composition, family interaction patterns, and discrepancies in family perceptions.…

Reviews selected literature on childhood hyperactivity and suggestions for management of this behavior syndrome. Argues that little consideration has been given to the consequences for parents and siblings of having a hyperactive child present in the family setting. Little attention has been focused on the implementation of management techniques.…

Explores mothers' and fathers' differential treatment (PDT) of their adolescent offspring and examines how siblings' personal qualities were associated with PDT. Sex was associated with parents' differential temporal involvement. Sex-typed personal qualities were related to parents' differential discipline. Both sex and sex-typed personal…

Research on family interaction patterns suggests that delinquent behaviors of children and adolescents may be related to, if not a direct function of, disordered interpersonal interaction within the family unit. Family interaction can be seen as a sequence of interlocking events occurring over time and consisting of the three basic characteristics…

Behavior modification has been used in classrooms, industry, and marriage counseling. In behavioral family therapy, the therapist examines how family members learn undesirable behaviors, how they can unlearn these behaviors, and how they can learn more desirable behaviors. This type of therapy is a method of direct treatment in which goals are…

Violence in the family, particularly assault by husbands upon wives (often referred to as wife beating), is a social crisis to which much attention has been drawn by the women's movement. Results of numerous studies indicate that spouse assault rarely occurs as an isolated violent episode, but more often follows a pattern in which attacks by the…

Explores the dynamics of rescuing behavior in families, how it is replicated by therapist's attempts to rescue, and how the impetus for these attempts are derived from the therapist's own family of origin. The value of exploring the need to rescue is demonstrated by a case example. (Author/JAC)

Takes a constructivist/interpretivist view of grief within the interactive, meaning-making system of the family. Views grief as a multidimensional process of reconceptualization of reality, focusing on regaining stability after a loss, with family members using relationships with each other to engage in that process. Families are seen as arenas of…

Characteristics such as prematurity, illegitimacy, handicaps, or behavior deviations have been found with high frequency in abused children. Aggressive/coercive behavior may be typical of child rearing techniques in abusing families who tend to be socially isolated and experience environmental stress. Investigators must interpret such factors with…

Reflects on the Lakota myth of the winds from a psychological-sociological point of view with the purpose of destroying several false myths relating to children and family dynamics. Recounts the myth and relates it to Alfred Adler's views of the family constellation and birth order as a basis for personality determination. (RAH)

Family stress theory as a framework for family policy and family impact analysis is compatible with, and a logical development within, a broader ecological context of immediate and wider social environments. The central assumption of the family stress framework is that families have the capacity to organize a variety of supports--economic, social,…

Values are discussed in terms of development, nature, and implications for family therapy. Clinical examples are used to demonstrate concepts and a model is presented which depicts how the various leverages utilized in family therapy related to family values. (Author)