Interviewed parents (N=55) to investigate the interrelationship of family television viewing and family interaction, and to explore the different approaches families take towards television. Found parental attitudes about children's viewing were moderately related to family interaction. Results suggest that educators need to attend to families'…

Examined the process of exit from farm businesses of a group of older farmers (N=315) and determined the relationship between goals of family succession and behaviors in the exit phase. Found a sequence of exit from work, management, and ownership with farmers who valued continuity being most likely to involve sons in management of the operation.…

The Adult Life Roles Instrument, completed by 449 adults, used an ordinal scale to assess six hierarchical life role phases: relationships with self, work, friends, community, partner, and family. Respondents perceived significant developmental diversity across different roles, with few gender variations, lending support to a multifaceted approach…

Reviews some major research issues about ethnic minority families, focusing on conceptual, theoretical, and methodological concerns in study of ethnic minority families. Discusses concerns in relation to their influence on developing and implementing interventions for ethnic minority families. (Author/NB)

Used family systems perspective to explore familial transactional patterns related to anorexia nervosa among 22 families with an anorexic child and 22 matched control families. Identified 7 family groups with unique family dynamics differentiating one from another. With no single family pattern characterizing families of anorexics, results…

Discusses effects of women's employment on formation and dissolution of marriages, marital quality, and spouse health and well-being. Examines research on division of housework and relation to power and equity, and issues related to interaction of husbands' and wives' jobs. Also looks at effects on fertility, outcomes for children, and relations…

Examined how divorce and remarriage affect persons' relationships with their former relatives by marriage. Results revealed that nearly all surviving ex-affinal relationships involved adults with children, especially custodial parents. Women were more likely than men to maintain ties with ex-affines. Custodial status, however, appeared to be a…

Compared effects of neutral and defensive mood induction in 70 students reporting conflicted versus nonconflicted families for presence of hostility, aggression, fear, anxiety, and sadness. Found that defensive students from high-conflict families reported stronger negative emotions than did neutral high-conflict and defensive low-conflict…

Children's feelings of loneliness related to family and peer relationships have only recently been documented by researchers. These feelings are now being recognized, researched, and assessed in children as young as five years of age. Helping professionals need to understand short- and long-term consequences of children's loneliness as it relates…

Examined how courtship patterns for remarriage influence developing child and child's relationship in stepfamily (n=57 stepfather families). Longer time spent in divorced, mother-custody household was associated with continuing difficulty in stepfather-stepchild relationships and lower levels of child's social competence. Children whose mother…

Examined relationship between family-of-origin functioning and eating-disordered behavior among female college students. Findings from 372 undergraduate sorority members revealed statistically significant inverse relationship between several family-of-origin characteristics and several eating-disordered attitudes and behaviors. Women who perceived…

College students (n=142) indicated their relationship perceptions of each available biological grandparent. Grandparents were not viewed as major targets of intimacy nor were they reported to provide instrumental aid. However, grandparents were still rated as important attachment figures to adolescents. In general, granddaughters reported better…

Conducted qualitative analysis of important change event in family therapy: sustaining engagement (SE). Examined videotapes of 33 sessions to develop and refine operational definitions of "disengagement" and "sustained engagement." Conducted qualitative comparison of interpersonal dynamics in four successful versus four…

Used data from National Survey of Families and Households to explore black-white differences in kin contact and exchange among unmarried young adults. Unmarried black men and women were more likely than whites to be living with relatives, especially nonnuclear relatives. Black women contacted mothers and siblings and socialized with relatives more…

Examined changes over time in household extension and its determinants, using data for 9 years from 240 households in 6 villages in south India. Found that household extension was associated with variables representing life cycle stage, insurance and support needs, and production system requirements. (Author/NB)