Nineteen older women gave their perceptions of great-grandmotherhood. They modeled their behavior on their earlier role of grandmother, but age and lack of geographic proximity restricted their ability to carry it out in the same way. Great-grandmotherhood was significant for symbolic and emotional rather than social and instrumental reasons.…

The article describes the efforts of a woman in securing, through court litigation, clean intermittent catheterization as a related service for her child with spina bifida. Effects of the decision process on the mother, family, and child are noted. (CL)

A communication program for four families with a hearing-impaired child integrated positive communicative dimensions with issues related to this population. Findings indicate that the program had beneficial effects including improved awareness skills, the ability to label feelings and skills, increased perceptions of family cohesiveness, and…

Analysis of the allocation of responsibilities within 50 families with moderately to severely handicapped preschoolers and 83 families with normal preschoolers indicated almost identical agreement on allocation expressed by wives and husbands of both groups. There was agreement on role responsibilities, degree of satisfaction with roles, and ideal…

The case study presents the perspectives of the mother and father of an adolescent with spina bifida and school behavior problems. The parents and the student were helped to resolve conflicts and the student had a fairly successful year in school. (CL)

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages and the problems and joys of having several generations living together. Indicates that there is little value conflict between generations, only differences in methods. (JOW)

Mothers (N=67) of moderately mentally retarded children perceived their family climate as not encouraging such intense relationships in expressiveness or as much personal growth in independence and recreation orientation as six mothers of nondisabled children. (Author/CL)

This report examines associations between three dimensions of family religious involvement (number of days per week the family does something religious, parental worship service attendance, and parental prayer) and the quality of family relationships for early adolescents. Out of the 27 family relationship variables examined, all significantly…

For eight years, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) has been engaged in surveying the attitudes of teens and those who most influence them--parents, teachers and school principals. While other surveys seek to measure the extent of substance abuse in the population, the CASA survey probes substance-abuse risk and identifies…

This brief documents the numbers of children living in different types of kinship environments, characteristics of those environments, and services these children receive. Data come from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families, a nationally representative survey of households with people under age 65 that measures economic, health, and…

A study of 65 male schizophrenic patients at the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation Unit, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio revealed that family type (conjugal settings, parental settings, living alone) is found to to be a valuable prognosticator of rehabilitation outcome among post-hospitalized schizophrenics. (EA)

Suggests need for mothers to practice what they preach to children concerning need to be independent, creative, aggressive and achievement oriented. (CJ)

Describes two economic patterns that stepfamilies adopt: "Common Pot" (families pool all their resources), and "Two Pot" (couples safeguard individual resources for personal use or for their biological children). Suggests that "Common Pot" acts to unify the stepfamily while the "Two Pot" encourages biological loyalities and personal autonomy.…

Parents of adolescents are urged to listen with attentiveness, reflect and restate their child's feelings, set appropriate limits for their children and themselves, and set aside time for family fun and communication. (CL)

Five paraprofessionals (students of special education and psychology) worked with families of learning disabled (LD) children to promote better communication, help family members deal with each other, help the LD child express himself or herself, and act as mediator between the schools and parents. (CL)