The impact sex and marital status have upon circumscribing the social relationships of the elderly is explored. Data reveal that the widowed, as a group, are no more isolated from their kin and friends or from associations in religious organizations than married individuals. (Author)

This study is an initial report in a research program to examine the nature and influence of one set of structural variables--participation patterns--on patterns of interaction in sensitivity training groups. (Author)

Data on marital careers of 176 lower-class individuals from Trinidad are analyzed in terms of the frequency and sequencing of three types of marital unions--friending, living, and marriage. Sequencing of marital unions shows movement toward more stable relationships within partnerships and throughout the individual's marital career. (Author)

This paper reports the satisfaction between several independent variables and marital satisfaction. Adequacy of role performance of both self and spouse and spouse's conformity to expectations emerged as the strongest predictors of satisfaction derived from playing family roles. (Author)

Colorado State University students responded to a 19-item questionnaire concerning their use of alcoholic beverages. Results indicated a large majority of the students used alcoholic beverages, most students felt that drinking never interfered with their academic work, and alcoholic beverages played an important role in the social aspects of…

This paper reports on a four-year longitudinal study of 60 elderly women. Data about their happiness and social activities were collected using the Affect Balance Scale and nine measures of socially relevant activities. Direct relationships between happiness and social activity among elderly people were found. (Author)

A total of 440 adult couples were observed in eight different kinds of public places. Couples with children were observed to touch, talk, and smile less at one another. But children are disruptive of adult touching and talking, which means that couples with children experience reduced reward levels and less adequate communication. (Author)

This study investigates seating distance and angles of location and orientation in a conversational situation as a function of several variables: attitudinal agreement or disagreement by a stranger, agreeing or disagreeing normative information, and personality variables. Subjects were 52 randomly selected introductory psychology students from the…

Two observational systems were employed to measure the behavior patterns of two elementary-age autistic children and their classroom peers during a free-play period. The results obtained were discussed in terms of their significance for the clinical treatment of autistic behavior, and the evaluation of such treatment. (Author)

The decisions and attitudes of sex-stereotyped and androgynous individuals (as defined by the Bem Sex Role Inventory) were compared in a social conformity paradigm. On each of 160 trials subjects predicted one of two possible stimuli after hearing predictions of two other "subjects." No effects of physical sex were observed. On trials when the…

This paper discusses a study undertaken to examine the reaction of others to the behavior of depressed persons. The general hypotheses of the study are that (1) normal subjects respond differentially to the behavior of depressed patients; (2) this differential response is due to the fact that the target individuals are depressed, and not that they…

The utilization of personal space as a function of race and sex was the subject of this investigation. The specific focus of the study was to discover if blacks within American society learn and enact different personal space definitions from those of the majority culture. A 2 x 2 factorial analysis of variance with repeated measures on two…

Reactions of observers, classified as either high or low in self-disclosure flexibility, to high and low behavioral samples of self-disclosure to a stranger were examined. Results suggest self-disclosure flexibility reflects perceptual awareness of social-situational norms governing the appropriateness of self-disclosing behavior. (Author)

Examines some of the conditions associated with dissolution of the friendship tie. Subjects were 232 boys and girls between the ages of eight and 15 at a summer camp. The hypothesis that reduction in social interaction would be associated with increased probability of dissolution was not conclusively supported. (Author/HMV)

The study of kinship models permits a useful alternative to techniques relying on sociometric measures or kinship terminology for the understanding of modern kinship. Presented at the annual National Council on Family Relations Convention, New York, 21 October 1976. (Author)