Superintendents are critical to the functioning of America's public schools. The stress of the public scrutiny and the multiple roles of this position contribute to a high turnover rate for all superintendents. The position is more stressful and the turnover rate is greater in rural districts. This phenomenological study of 14 long serving rural…

This study grew out of interest in how occupational role stress, moderated by personality, affects health--particularly in the area of coronary heart disease. People in organizations are now asking how occupational role demands and technological developments affect employee health. This study examined the effects of an impending shutdown of the…

This study examined factors that may place adolescents at risk for psychological dysfunction and school failure. Subjects were 70 adolescents who were admitted to a psychiatric hospital from September 1986 to March 1988. Demographic, academic performance, familial, and psychological data were retroactively gathered from patient files, tabulated…

The various relationships of stress arousal and stress-prone personality traits to menstrual distress were investigated in order to quantify psychophysiological arousal differences between high and low menstrual distress symptom reporters and examine differences in stress-prone personality traits between high and low menstrual distress symptom…

A conceptual model of the childbirth experience is developed which emphasizes: (1) maternal coping during labor and delivery; (2) postpartum evaluation of the experience; (3) stress and coping; (4) health and illness behavior; (5) interactions between individual physiological and psychological characteristics; and (6) physical and social…

Sixteen adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 years and their parents participated in a preliminary study on the impact of family and individual factors on diabetes control for the adolescent. It was hypothesized that there was a relationship between the adolescent's perception of adolescent development, social support, depression, family…

Attempts to assess maternal and neonatal behavior and subsequent mother-infant interactions as potential determinants of the quality of attachment between mothers and their infants provide the focus of this paper. Several instruments and procedures that focused on (1) maternal and infant characteristics, (2) mother-infant interaction, and (3) life…

Finger temperature was recorded bilaterally from 29 right handed test anxious females while they listened to a tape describing test taking situations. Subjects also completed the A-State and A-Trait anxiety inventories, the Test Anxiety Inventory, the Irrational Beliefs Test, and the Differential Personality Questionnaire. A significant…

Outcome data on smoking cessation has emphasized that most people have difficulty not in quitting smoking, but in maintaining cessation. An attempt was made to develop a more meaningful typology of relapse-promoting situations using a sample of 183 exsmokers who called a telephone hotline seeking help to stay away from cigarettes. Two higher order…

The notion that life stresses and personality have an interactive role in illness is part of the wisdom of the ages. Most past research has studied either life stresses or personality. A model for understanding health/illness status is presented that includes stressful life events and the resistance resources of personality, social supports,…

This paper reviews recent empirical and conceptual studies pertaining to stress in childhood and offers an integrative, cognitive-developmental theory for understanding childhood stress and coping. The theory builds upon Hunt's (1979) view of the epigenesis of intrinsic motivation and Block's (1982) formulation of assimilation and accommodation…

This paper focuses on burnout in the helping professions and outlines steps that can be taken during counselor training to eliminate or reduce burnout. A discussion of the way in which the internal system of the counselor trainee can provoke burnout concentrates on issues of needs, expectations, and professional philosophy. Three burnout…

Clusters of faculty stressors were investigated with attention to how clustered stressors are associated with the professional characteristics of intellectual discipline, rank, and tenure. The relationship of the stressors to the key personal characteristics of age, gender, and marital status was also examined. A total of 80 universities, 40…

Much research data are available on work and retirement which discounts the image of retirement as an affliction imposed on older workers. These findings indicate that increasing numbers of workers choose to retire before any mandatory age, few wish to return to work, and most are content with their retirement lives; however, negative views about…

Discussed are family and child characteristics related to mild adjustment problems following separation and divorce. Data were obtained in a longitudinal study of 120 families with children 6 through 12 years of age. While children in the sample were not very disturbed, data indicate that the "well-being" of children and mothers was better after…