Surveys family members of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals regarding the role of religion in acceptance of their family member and how they reconciled any conflicts between religious beliefs and family member's sexual orientation. The most commonly identified theme was believing that the unconditional love associated with God extended…

Examines the role of the family counselor in working with cancer patients and their families. Suggests ways in which the family counselor can work proactively with families in the area of cancer prevention and helping them cope more effectively with its impact on their lives. Uses a clinical case example to illustrate intervention with cancer…

This article provides tools to help clients understand anger and responses to it individually and as a family unit. Clients are then encouraged to apply anger management principles to their own situation. (GCP)

Assesses family development and life course approaches for studying family change. Discusses selected studies which illustrate the central research concerns that emerge within the two frameworks. Explores a range of current issues that may be examined effectively from family development and life course perspectives. (Author/ABL)

Examined stepgrandchild-stepgrandparent relationship through exploratory study of college student stepgrandchildren (N=54). Studied the quantity of interaction, satisfaction with this interaction, stepgrandchildren's perception of the stepgrandparent role, the appropriate behaviors stepgrandchildren expect of stepgrandparents, and relationship…

Tested hypothesis that families of adolescent substance abusers are more enmeshed and rigid than non-problem families and that degree of enmeshment and rigidity will affect form of drug abuse. Administered five family-oriented assessments to juvenile drug offenders (N=148) aged 12-22 and concluded that families of adolescent substance abusers were…

Introduces Family Behavior Loop Mapping as diagraming method for wet and dry repetitive behavior cycles of substance abusers. Explains family wet/dry behavior cycles as changes in family function corresponding to abuser shifts from active use (wet) to abstinence (dry). (Author/CM)

Surveyed married women obtaining abortions to examine assumptions concerning spousal notification held by federal courts. Results suggest that the assumption that notification and discussion promote marital harmony is plausible for only circumscribed subset of women whose marriages are already harmonious. (Author/NB)

Examined causal dynamics of stress contagion across work and home domains in married couples. Results revealed that husbands were more likely than wives to bring home stresses into workplace. Stress contagion from work to home was evident for both husbands and wives. Contagion of work stress into home appeared to set into motion process of dyadic…

Interviewed 105 midwestern stepfamilies, 39 of whom had reproduced together. Found no significant differences between families with mutual children and those without in terms of marital adjustment, stepparent- and parent-child relationships, and stepfamily affect. It was not possible to predict which families were most likely to reproduce together…

Examines the portrayal of family relationships in television domestic comedy. States that subjects were randomly selected to evaluate samples of nine programs. Finds that on television both parent-child and sibling relationships have developed in relational frameworks defined by the changing levels of conflict, cohesiveness, and socializing, with…

Assessed role played by Soviet Jewish emigre family in exacerbating dual disjunctures of immigration and adolescents. Results, based on life history interviews with five women who came from United Soviet Socialist Republic to United States as teenagers in 1970s, challenge bipolar model of adolescent immigrants and raise questions about previous…

Tested proposition that high levels of stress in daughters-in-law in two-generation farm families are correlated with daughters-in-law's lack of integration into extended family and family business systems among 54 daughters-in-law. Quality of relationship with in-laws and perceived lack of decision-making responsibility were significantly…

Five educational programs to strengthen marriage and family skills were delivered in 2 states to 244 participants. Two to 5 months later, 50-88% made positive behavioral changes; 73-100% approved of tax-dollar support for the programs. The communication program significantly increased self-esteem and family functioning. (SK)

Describes investigation examining individual, relative, and interactive influences of parental divorce and interparental conflict on adolescent functioning. Results demonstrate that multiple areas of functioning in multiple years were predicted by parental divorce, current interparental conflict, and interaction of both variables. (CRR)