Investigated whether television domestic comedies' depictions of gender roles within the family have changed in the past 40 years. Findings from 10 comedy series reveal gender fluctuations throughout the period with peaks in satisfaction and stability ratings in the 1950s and mid-1980s. Recent comedies show less positive depictions, specifically…

Discusses changing perceptions of the family as an institution. Asserts that changing definitions reflect a shift in the perceived purpose of the family from an extended membership identified by kinship and service within a larger social system to a smaller, self-serving group. Discusses shifting priorities, changing attitudes and their…

Describes a family life/sexuality education program for young people with moderate and severe mental retardation. Emphasis is on program effectiveness (demonstrated through field testing), program development strategies, development of a guidebook for training the trainers, curriculum content, parent involvement, instructional variety, and program…

Reviews research examining the relationship between family functioning and child behavior problems. Focuses on parenting styles, intergenerational relationships, family structure, and family interaction patterns. Finds that child behavior problems are related to a lack of parental support, an imbalanced parent- child relationship, a lack of…

Introduces a new concept, "We-statements," that is similar but slightly different from the "I-statement" concept widely used in family life education. Discusses basic assumptions made with these two concepts, and theorizes about the effects they have in family systems. Suggests several guidelines for using these concepts.…

Investigates the development of the concept of family in young children. An equivalent number of males, females, Whites, Blacks, kindergarten and first graders participated in the experiment. The concept of family was assessed by using a family configuration task. Results confirmed a positive relationship between number of different ly…

A case study is presented of a family in which the parents disagreed about the role their young daughters should play in caring for their baby son, who was born with severe physical disabilities. Through counseling, the parents learned to improve their communication, deal with stress, and accept outside help. (JDD)

Examined data from two waves of National Survey of Children to investigate impact of family transitions on changes in children's emotional and behavioral problems as reported by mothers. Results revealed gender differences in changes in emotional well-being attributable to transitions. Found that increase in emotional and behavioral problems could…

Discusses the Maya people who fled Guatemala due to a civil war and illegally entered the U.S. and settled in Florida. Presents a picture of their living conditions, employment opportunities, cultural traditions, community development, and family organization. Discusses a Kanjobal Association and the CORN-MAYA program, and explains immigration…

Using 1972-1986 General Social Surveys data, investigated effect of family structure during adolescence on adult gender-role attitudes. Found family structure to selectively affect gender-role attitudes. Adults who grew up in single-parent household with divorced mother favored greater political power for women. Adults from intact and nonintact…

Reports a study comparing academically at-risk elementary students with typical students to determine differences in family functioning. Researchers collected data on the families and students and determined that at-risk families were different in demographics and family functioning and were less cohesive and adaptable than families not at risk.…

Explores the specific family practice of determining which family members share a bed or sleeping space. Discusses ways of extracting the moral principles implicit in the practice of arranging where family members sleep at night. Examines similarities and differences in the preferred moral goods of two culture regions--rural Hindu India and urban…

The Growing Up FAST program involves working with adolescents and their parents and includes rites of passage, multicultural issues, and a solution-focused perspective. Discusses the program's development and theoretical background, as well as its specific goals, current valuative efforts, and implementation strategies. (RJM)

Discusses responses of undergraduate students in an American literature course to inclusion of ethnic reading selections. Finds that two themes--family and social justice--were touchstones to choose reading selections that older adolescents find personally meaningful. (RS)

Outlines and analyzes the speech that mothers, fathers, and children spontaneously quote at dinnertime. Shows differences in the use of reported speech between mothers, fathers, and children. Describes the correlation between use of reported speech by mothers and children. (HB)