Adolescents (N=424) in Barbados completed Family Functioning in Adolescence Questionnaire. Findings revealed that most adolescents, like Australian peers, reported fairly favorable perceptions of their families. Adolescents not living with their fathers seemed to have somewhat lower sense of personal security; in other respects did not report…

Sixty-four families with four kinds of family structure were interviewed in an effort to examine differences and similarities among and within Black families. Results suggest that different Black family structures are associated with different family climates. (PCB)

Summarizes results of a study of parents and young adolescents and argues that economic recessions affect children by conditioning their aspirations, straining their relations with their parents, and limiting the quality of the education they receive. (PCB)

Describes the effects of growing up in shelters and welfare hotels. Discusses coping strategies that children have developed to adapt to the stresses of homelessness. (PCB)

This article, written from the perspective of a special educator who has a daughter with mental retardation, describes the marital stress that having a child with a disability brings about. The article also notes the importance of parents getting away by themselves and offers suggestions for accomplishing this. (JDD)

Discusses a sibling support group for 7-13-year-old siblings of developmentally delayed children. Describes group sessions and family responses to the program. (RJC)

Presents Virginia Satir's Family Reconstruction, a group therapy experience that blends and extends her 1982 process therapy and 1983 conjoint family therapy approaches. Describes the family reconstruction process, the review of family reconstruction data in the pregroup interview, the family reconstruction process in the counseling group, and the…

Finds that, among 45 Mexican-American families, level of acculturation was significantly related to most external family systems variables: independence, achievement orientation, intellectual and cultural orientation, and active recreational orientation. Acculturation was not related to moral and religious emphasis or any measure of internal…

Suggests that concerns regarding the nuclear threat are prevalent among family members; parents and children feel powerless in response to the nuclear threat; response to the nuclear threat is a family issue; responding to the nuclear threat requires empowering families and changing the social context; and nuclear concerns need to be addressed in…

The relationship between adolescent autonomy and parental stress (PS) for 139 parent-adolescent dyads in a family-oriented educational program was studied via questionnaires. Stress levels were significant for parents of younger adolescents and parents of first-borns. Adolescents' adherence to parental advice and desire for autonomy strongly…

This article discusses a variety of programing and operational challenges facing one area of home economics extension, family life extension, as it makes the transition into the 21st century. (JOW)

The author presents social demographic forecasts for the future. She examines social, economic, and political transitions in U.S. society separately and argues that the transitions that society makes depend ultimately on the values upon which individuals choose to act. (CH)

Presents the family resolution adopted by the Canadian Home Economics Association and describes family principles to provide direction for policy in terms of well-being, diversity, roles, equality, networks, partnership, finances, and other areas. (SK)

A survey of 754 Illinois superintendents found that regardless of district size, a superintendent's personal actions and those of his/her family may be reflected in future professional evaluations. Fully two-thirds of superintendents believed their spouses and children suffered negative consequences from residing within the school district. (MLH)

Considers several aspects of grandparent/grandchild relationships, and discusses 43 children's books that teachers can use to nurture understanding of those relationships. (SR)