This study examined the impact of being an adult child of an alcoholic family (COA) on one's personal and interpersonal adjustment. First, it was predicted that because of difficulties with interpersonal trust, COAs would express less of a need for social approval compared with non-COAs. A related prediction was that COAs would report being…

This study gathered information on the extent to which children participate in the mature routines of their community, and the extent to which elders participate in child-centered activities. Subjects were children ranging in age from 30 to 45 months from the four societies of: (1) Mayan Indians living in a rural Guatemalan town; (2) the Efe…

There has been little empirical research on the gender role socialization of Jewish men. This paper explores Jewish male gender role socialization and provides a model by which gender and ethnicity may be studied. A description of the gender role socialization of Jewish men, with an emphasis on advantages and disadvantages of such socialization…

This study compared the concept of print knowledge in kindergarten children with and without preschool education. Subjects were 12 kindergarten students: 6 had received preschool education, and 6 had not. Subjects completed a series of tasks on Maria Clay's Concepts of Print test, and parents completed a questionnaire examining the frequency with…

The use and abuse of dangerous and illicit drugs, particularly among young people, continues to rise despite recent efforts to develop and implement drug education programs in schools. This study investigated substance use by rural Kansas fifth and sixth graders. Independent variables were gender, family structure, perceived relationship with…

A study was undertaken to determine the effects of tobacco smoke in the home on children's cognitive development. The study focused on 280 children, representing equal numbers of boys and girls and of Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. When the participating children were 2 years old, their mothers were surveyed, interviewed, and tested to gather…

This study examined the relation between family variables and the mental health outcomes of adolescents. Family members' feelings about one another were assessed when the children were in grades 6 and 8. Family members' closeness to one another was assessed when children were in grades 8 and 12, and in a 4-year follow-up study. Adolescents' mental…

Over the past decade, there has been a worldwide search for caretaking factors which protect children from poverty, poor health, and neglect. This search has shifted in focus from unchangeable risk factors to conditions and behaviors that can be taught to caregivers. These conditions seem to be: (1) based in species-wide needs; (2) specific to…

Previous research has not correlated parent-child interaction patterns with different forms of child psychopathology. This study examined whether parent-child interaction corresponded with childhood depression/anxiety and childhood aggression. Forty-two clinically-referred children and adolescents, 8 to 16 years old, were classified into four…

The study examined the claims that social support from family and friends are not the same in their effects on young adolescents; and that the relationship between social support from family and friends is not the same for African-American and Latino students. A sample of 792 students from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of 18 Chicago…

A national stratified random sample of superintendents (N=432) responded to a 42-item questionnaire listing probable causes of students dropping out. They were asked to identify causes that they believe should be given high priority as well as those that had the necessary research foundation from which to develop significant intervention programs.…

The exact nature of the events which may predispose a person to substance abuse is not known. This paper provides a theoretical discussion and review which emphasizes three contexts which have been shown to predispose on individual to drug abuse: (1) prenatal exposure to a given substance; (2) environmental conditions present upon first exposure…

Botswana has nearly attained universal primary school attendance, but the additional quantitative intake has weakened the original qualitative base. Employing data collected by the National Commission on Education in Botswana, this study looked for ways to derive benchmark measures of the effects of school quality on learning. One method uses a…

The role of family life in the production or prevention of emotional problems in offspring is a contoversial topic. To determine in what ways family competence in childhood might be associated prospectively with freedom from psychiatric symptoms in young adulthood for children at risk, three groups of families from the St. Louis Risk Research…

A longitudinal study of the economic self-sufficiency and academic achievement of Indochinese refugees, commonly known as "Boat People," concludes that cultural background and family influence play key roles in achievement in American society. Statistical data were drawn from two surveys of 6,775 individuals in 1,384 Chinese, Laotian, and…