Relationships between parents of children with special needs and their children are profoundly impacted by the child's special needs. Literature identifies several discrepancies in reported outcomes of these stressors and also speaks to the impact on overall marital satisfaction in these couples. In this project literature findings were reviewed,…

Covering contemporary Third World as well as Western families, this teaching text addresses topics essential for developing a multicultural perspective on the family. It is an ideal text for comparative family courses and includes exercises (as well as exercise guidelines for instructors) developed to challenge students' existing viewpoints and…

Numerous topics related to the counseling profession are discussed in these four issues. Articles in volume 22 are: (1) Using Stress to Succeed (Robert E. Mathiasen); (2) Learning from Each Other (Linnea White); (3) A Comparison of Social Skills Training Methods with Educable Mentally Handicapped Students from a Rural High School (Elizabeth Smith…

The Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) are intended to measure use of nonviolent discipline, psychological aggression, and physical assault in parent-child and other family relationships. The latter two scales provide a basis for identifying psychological and physical maltreatment. Two revisions of the CTS became available in 1996. One, the CTS2 is…

This study examined the quality and characteristics of black families in South Africa. The research focused on three areas: values and norms regarding marriage and family life, the deterioration of traditional and parental authority, and parenting skills. The fieldwork was done during the years 1988-1990 and consisted mostly of group interviews…

Many women find the modern nuclear family confining and oppressive, and seek liberation. Moving ahead to the postmodern family, as feminists advocate, is not the only path. Back-to-the-landers find fulfillment in the interdependent premodern family model. Surveys and interviews of over 2,000 back-to-the-landers over a period of 15 years are used…

This bulletin explores the social, economic, and demographic trends that have contributed to the changing structure of the American family. Sections of the document discuss: (1) definitions of household and family; (2) types of families, including married couples with and without children and single-parent families; (3) living arrangements of…

Noting that the preceding two decades have seen a dramatic growth in the proportion of families that are headed by women, this book explores the causes and implications of this development. The book bring together information on the past and present prevalence of mother-headed families in different countries. It then considers the various…

This paper explores the impact of single-parent families on adolescent females and their aspirations for the future. The study, taking data from the national longitudinal High School and Beyond (HSB) study, uses a stratified weighted national sample of 4,573 black and white high school senior females in the class of 1980. The sample includes girls…

The occurrence of breast cancer creates psychosocial stress for both the patient and her family. Because of the threat to the patient's life and frequent disfigurement that results from breast cancer, interpersonal relationships, particularly the marital/sexual relationship and the mother/daughter relationship, are adversely affected. The related…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the development of a module to attain the leadership competency of encouraging improved interpersonal communication through feedback; (2) communicating in an American Taoist…

The timing of three key family formation events--first sexual intercourse, first conception, and first marriage--was compared for different levels of urbanization. The levels of urbanization considered were central cities, suburbs, nonmetropolitan urban places, and rural area. Data were taken from the National Survey of Family Growth, for which…

This newsletter's first article is the director's report "Double Standards in Australian Family Policy" by Don Edgar. It asks for government support for families in the form of programs and funding, not just rhetoric. The next article, "IFS Research", also by Don Edgar, details the past, current and future research of the…

Data derived from the 1970 National Fertility Study (NFS II included post-married women, information on all compositional factors for each respondent, and an 18-item section on sex-role ideology) were used to test the following hypotheses: farm women are more traditional in sex-role ideology than nonfarm women; the higher the sex-role…

This report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights evaluates the treatment of adult women who are victims of domestic violence by the criminal and civil justice systems and by various service agencies. First, an overview of State domestic violence statutes and relief services is presented. The present responses and potential roles of police…