Describes Family Connections, a family skills building program, as an effective tool in preventing adolescent substance abuse. Discusses importance of basing family life education prevention programs on empowerment and family strengths therapeutic approach. (Author/CM)

Compared 59 abused and 49 non-abused elders to identify factors contributing to elder abuse and neglect by caregivers in domestic setting. Found that members of abusive families often had emotional problems. Abused elders and caregivers had become increasingly interdependent because of loss of other family members, social isolation, and financial…

Describes the Host Homes and Youth Center run by the Community Advocacy Council in Carrollton, Texas. The homes serve as places where troubled youth can go when there is trouble in their homes. The center provides counseling to both young people and their families. Families volunteer to serve as hosts. (SKC)

Describes a study of the effects of the Good Start program, which provides home-based intervention to families at risk of child maltreatment. Finds that families appear to improve over the course of treatment. Notes signs that indicate which families are most likely to improve. (SAK)

Examines key "chaos" elements--operation of systems far from equilibrium, nonlinear causation and discontinuous change, patterns in apparent chaos, and self-organization--in relation to family systems theory. Although there are several parallels, chaos theory is better able to address change, inequity, and the occurrence of order and…

Explores the self of individuals involved, family business system, and societal context as three interacting, mutually impactful levels of unit to be addressed in family business consultation by family psychologists/therapists. Articulates some major premises about family businesses and presents case vignette to illustrate dynamics and functioning…

Data on 3,015 cohabitation relationships indicates that, although the presence of children has a strong and positive impact on stabilizing cohabitation relationships, characteristics of children such as number, sex, and age appear to have no significant effect. (JPS)

Assessed differential predictive utility of home-leaving status, family functioning, separation-individuation issues, cognitive constructions of home-leaving process, and personality variables for adjustment during first year of college. Findings from 286 first-year students revealed that separation-individuation, family relations, and personality…

In-depth interviews with 19 adult female college students showed that reentry women and their families are fashioning rites of passage that facilitate the transition and mark their progress through college. Spontaneous development of ceremonies and rituals suggests there are some needs of women who are students, wives, and mothers that are not met…

Notes that conventional statistical models are not suited for analysis of nonindependent observations produced by family systems. Demonstrates how structural equation modeling enables the study of family processes in a way that is consistent with a systems perspective. Uses analysis of perceived coerciveness in two-parent, two-child families to…

Summarizes most widely supported findings concerning grandparents' transactions with their children and grandchildren, spotlighting areas for which there is little information (general demographic information, political behavior, and asset transfer from well-off elders to their descendants). Includes assessment of theoretical and methodological…

When children in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12 were administered the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire, data suggested that sibling relationships become more egalitarian and less asymmetrical with age; become less intense with age; and encompass experiences that are partially determined by the child's standing in the family constellation. (RH)

Describes feed-forward technique of family therapy, which is based on the family's consideration of the patterns that the family's relationships will take in the future. Discussions of the role of family premises concerning developmental stages, and the use of the technique with families whose members suffer from chronic illnesses, use examples…

Investigated relationship dimensions of 70 Australian couples from stepfamilies. Findings indicated major strengths for stepfamilies were areas of sexual relationship and equalitarian roles, whereas major stressors were children and parenting, former attachments, and adjustments. Simple stepfamily couples (children from one parent) were in more…

Administered Inventory of Social Contacts to 46 adolescent mothers to assess perceptions of both support and interference derived from family and peers. Results indicated that, although subjects derived considerable support from their networks they also experienced interference from those same individuals. Most significant interference was from…