Children of alcoholics/addicts (COAs) are at a greater risk to develop alcohol and drug dependency, eating disorders, attention deficit disorders, stress-related illness, and suicidal behavior. Children become part of a conspiracy of silence by being told not to talk about the drug problem. The family members assume different roles which…

Thirty-seven Caucasian hearing adolescents with deaf parents (HADP) were administered the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and a social cognition interview, and were compared to a control group of 32 hearing adolescents with hearing parents. Despite wide variances in the social cognition and self-concept scores of adolescents in both groups, data did…

Grandparents play a vital role in the lives of their grandchildren. A midwest sample of 100 matched pairs of grandfathers and grandmothers and 70 individual grandmothers provided information specific to each of their 770 middle generation children and 1,254 grandchildren. The results revealed no significant correlation between emotional closeness…

This paper illuminates how concepts of rationality developed by Diesing in l962 are reflected in parents' childrearing decisions. After examining technical (TR), economic (ER), social (SR), legal (LR), and political (PR) rationalities or decision-making styles, consideration is given to integrative effects and the influence of parents' friends and…

A central problem in the area of research on the family is that of the relative inability of researchers to empirically test current theoretical models. Any theory regarding the influence of family characteristics and interaction patterns on developmental processes ought to provide for the confirmability of constructs and the replicability of…

In Adler's Theory of Individual Psychology the significance of birth order position in the family constellation depends on the interpretation given to it by the child, which in turn influences his character. This study surveyed the perceptions of middle children in large families. Subjects (N=13) were middle children in families of more than five…

This report on a study of family violence in the homes of serious juvenile offenders in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts contains a brief introduction and seven substantive sections. Sections 2, 3 and 4 review the literature with regard to the extent of family violence, the consequences of childhood victimization, and societal reaction to the…

Most American families consist of three or more generations. This study analyzes intergenerational relationships over time. In the past these relationships have been characterized in terms of a generation gap. In regard to this gap, this study seeks to compare and contrast perceptions of generational relations among grandparents, parents, and…

This booklet was written for children who have a parent or sibling with cancer. It is intended to help readers understand more about cancer, how it is treated, and changes that may be happening in the family's life because of cancer. In addition, it is intended to help readers understand and deal with their feelings about cancer and about the…

This document is the final report of a study of Black, unmarried adolescent fathers designed to identify and describe quantitatively the difficulties they faced and their problem solving methods. The data were secured through a nonprobability sample of 20 Black, unwed fathers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 27 fathers in Chicago, Illinois, and 48 fathers and…

This document is the final report of a study of Black, unmarried adolescent fathers and matched counterparts designed to identify and describe quantitatively the difficulties they faced and their methods for solving the problems. The data were secured through a nonprobability sample of 38 fathers and 35 non-fathers in Washington, D.C. Data were…

This document was originally prepared for participants at a "Helping Families of the Aging" workshop which was held prior to the Professional Symposium of the National Association of Social Workers in November of 1985. This revised and expanded edition contains annotated lists of advice books, personal accounts, group manuals, and…

Over the past few decades, the complex nature of transitions into stepfamilies has been the focus of considerable attention. Previous scholars have established developmental tasks for remarriage, stepfamilies, and stepsibling relations. A parallel, but unique, set of developmental stages and tasks for the adjustment to stepgrandparenting occur.…

The general impression conveyed by the literature in the social psychology of aging is that various dimensions of the self, including self-esteem, are relatively fixed and stable by the later stages of the life cycle. Existing research implies that the self-esteem of older persons is higher than that of younger persons, and also more stable or…

This study was conducted to examine the influence of medical, psychological, and familial factors on the coping of pediatric cancer patients. Participants were 36 pediatric cancer patients and their families under active treatment at Roswell Park Memorial Institute, a comprehensive cancer research and treatment center in Buffalo, New York. The…