Patterns, characteristics and styles of interpersonal communication in 316 adult men and women were investigated by use of an Interpersonal Communication Inventoy. Development of the Inventory was based upon previous research in related areas of marital communication, parent-child communication, group therapy and intragroup communication. Item analysis yielded 50 items which discriminated between good and poor communicators. Factors of good and poor communication are identified and discussed. Uses of the Inteversonul Communication Inventory in counseling, teaching and research are proposed.

An Interpersonal Communication Inventory

The father-son dyad is important both because the father significantly influences his son's social development, adjustment and identification throughout childhood and adolescence, and because the quality of the communication and the relationship appears most crucial for the outcome of the father's influence (Andry, 1960; Bronfenbrenner, 1961; Dubbe, 1965; Earle, 1967; Gray, 1959; Grinker, 1962; Hoffman, 1961; Loeffler, Berdie & Roth, 1969; Mussen, 1961; Mussen & Distler, 1959; Offer, 1969; Payne & Mussen, 1956; Sears, 1961; Van Manen, 1968). In adolescence, father and son experience mutual developmental needs. The son's developmental tasks are to attain independence and to form his identity (Erikson, 1968). The father's developmental tasks are to successfully launch his son and to become more of a peer with his son. The son's identity formation is based upon his identification (Erikson, 1968), and thus it is important for the son to perceive his father as caring, warm and understanding because these qualities are related to strong identification with the father (Mussen, 1961; Mussen & Distler,

Communication in the Father-son Relationship: The Parent-Adolescent Relationship Development Program.

N o institution is more pivotal and potent in human development than the family unit, yet little attention has been given to equipping young people to establish effective family relationships and to produce healthy, vigorous, future families41 ) Very little effort and money have been spent o n the prevention of social problems through the education of the young for responsible and effective parenthood. Currently, the nature and quality of family life are matters of increasing concern to health workers and educators throughout the world. Programs of family life education, human relations, sex education, population dynamics, and other family-oriented programs are being advocated and introduced into school curricula, youth agencies, adult and parent education activities, and professional education programs of various types at many levels. (2, 3) Perhaps there is no form of education that demands more from leaders and teachers than education focussed on better family living. “The biggest problem for those working in these programs is to find the experience at each age and grade level that will build on what has gone before and add something at each stage that will help family members to make increasingly wise decisions about their own family behavior and its consequences.”(4) There is widespread disparity throughout the literature on basic terminology and definitions as well as on suggested program content. In the majority of articles, family life education is construed to be an umbrella term that logically includes sex education451 Grout views family life education as an integral part of general education, including health education, and confirms the impression that there is no clear-cut and widely accepted point of view as to the nature and scope of family life education.(2) A recent Working Group of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (I.P.P.F.) addressed itself to the problems of developing programs related to responsible parenthood and sex education46) They stated that there is “great uncertainty as to what is to be taught, by whom, how it should be taught and when.” They were convinced that the way in which this form of education is introduced and implemented will (and should) vary from one society to another. “Each country will make its own decisions as to the most appropriate ways of giving this

John Roth

Papers

Content and Process of Inter-Generation Communication