Showing papers in "The Family Coordinator in 1979"
TL;DR: In this article, the theories and issues of child development, and hereditary and environmental influences on development, prenatal development and the birth process are discussed, and physical health, cognitive, personality and social development from infancy through adolescence.
Abstract: This work covers the theories and issues of child development, and hereditary and environmental influences on development, prenatal development, and the birth process. It also examines physical health, cognitive, personality and social development from infancy through adolescence.
307Â citations
151Â citations
TL;DR: From a review of the relevant writings of the major workers in the field, eight dimensions of healthy family functioning are isolated and discussed and can be integrated as a mutually casual system, the family health cycle.
Abstract: The goal of this paper is to review and integrate concepts of the healthy family system as developed in the theoretical literature on family therapy. From a review of the relevant writings of the major workers in the field, eight dimensions of healthy family functioning are isolated and discussed. These dimensions can be integrated as a mutually casual system, the "family health cycle." The different styles of leading family therapists can be seen as espousing different points of entry into the "family health cycle. " The need for studying healthy families in family therapy training programs is discussed.
148Â citations
TL;DR: Interview data on 54 black letter carrier fathers were used for an analysis of the provider role among middle-income black fathers and suggest that these respondents are moving towards more developmental patterns of fathering with increases in their ability to provide.
Abstract: Interview data on 54 black letter carrier fathers were used for an analysis of the provider role among middle-income black fathers. While the provider role is found to be a very salient role identity for these respondents, the conceptualization of the provider role common in the popular sex-role literature as a one-dimensional, nonexpressive and restrictive escape from more involved patterns of fathering does not apply. Instead, cross-generational data suggest that these respondents are moving towards more developmental patterns of fathering with increases in their ability to provide. The provider role is viewed as an "interface phenomenon" which makes the execution of other male familial roles possible. Proficiency in economic provision is seen as essential to all paternal modalities and styles.
144Â citations
TL;DR: The authors conducted depth interviews with 40 gay fathers and 14 of their children to examine the nature and quality of the fathering as experienced by both the men and their offspring. But they found that notions about gay fathers' compensatory behavior, molestation of children, negative influence on child development, and instigation of harassment are largely unfounded.
Abstract: Depth interviews were conducted with a snowball sample of 40 gay fathers and 14 of their children. Questions addressed the nature and quality of the fathering as experienced by both the men and their offspring. Four issues often raised in gay parent custody cases are examined. Data indicate that notions about gay fathers' compensatory behavior, molestation of children, negative influence on child development, and instigation of harassment are largely unfounded. The father's "coming out" to his children tends to relieve family tension and strengthen the father-child bond.
133Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, a total of 40 parents from child abuse and matched control families were examined for variation on life change scores, perceptions of physical and emotional health and punitiveness of their own parents.
Abstract: A total of 40 parents from child abuse and matched control families were examined for variation on life change scores, perceptions of physical and emotional health and punitiveness of their own parents. Abusive parents had higher life change scores, more numerous perceptions of emotional physical ill health and a more punitive childhood than their matched controls. Particularly significant from a theoretical standpoint is the statistical interaction between life change and childhood punishment. Abusive parents were far more likely than controls to experience both rapid life change and a history of punitive childrearing. While not conclusive, the data are shown to be consistent with a social learning explanation of child abuse. Some implications for clinical practice are discussed.
71Â citations
TL;DR: This paper found that men perceive paid employment as their primary contribution to the family, and are reluctant to acknowledge either that they need help in performing this function or have a responsibility to participate in the homemaking function.
Abstract: There is growing pressure on men to increase their participation in home life. As more and more women, particularly the mothers of young children, enter the labor force, there appears to be greater need for men to contribute to housework and childcare. This paper draws on intensive interview material with 25 Boston-area families to describe and explain the ambivalence of male response to this pressure. Because of men's different social support networks, they can obtain little moral support and logistical help in performing tasks around the house. Because men perceive paid employment as their primary contribution to the family, they are reluctant to acknowledge either that they need help in performing this function or have a responsibility to participate in the homemaking function.
65Â citations
TL;DR: In the late 1960's and early 1970's illegitimacy among adolescents became recognized as a serious national, medical and social problem and the need to effect strategies to deal with the multifaceted problems of adolescence is even more acute.
Abstract: In the late 1960's and early 1970's illegitimacy among adolescents became recognized as a serious national, medical and social problem (Osofsky, 1968). It was discovered that the incidence of adolescent out-of-wedlock pregnancies was increasing rapidly. The illegitimacy rate of unmarried girls aged 15-19 years of age was 8 per 1,000 in 1940; 16 per 1,000 in 1960; and 24 per 1,000 in 1971. There was concern that this increase represented a trend toward sexual permisiveness and the abandonment of a sexual code of ethics, thereby threatening the institutions of marriage and the family (Plionis, 1975). At the same time, the morbidity and mortality rates among adolescent females and their offspring began to run high enough that adolescents were classified as a high risk group. The apparent lack of medical, social, and educational services for this group resulted in investigations of the psychosocial causes and consequences of adolescent pregnancy with a view toward treatment and prevention (Plionis, 1975). Today, the need to effect strategies to deal with the multifaceted problems of adolescence is even more acute. Premarital intercourse is beginning at younger ages, and the actual incidence of premarital intercourse is increasing for adolescents (Vener & Stewart, 1974; Zelnik & Kantner, 1977). U.S. adolescent
64Â citations
63Â citations
TL;DR: This article examined the utility of a deficit family model approach by questioning whether family form or familial process is more likely to contribute to children's positive personal and social development, concluding that it is more fruitful to consider the social interactional dynamics that lead to a given outcome than to focus on the form of the family as the critical independent variable.
Abstract: This paper examines the utility of a deficit family model approach by questioning whether family form or familial process is more likely to contribute to children's positive personal and social development. A literature review of the recent work on the effects of alternative family forms (divorced families, father or mother absent families, remarriages, employed mother families) on children's personality, social behavior and school achievement suggests that it is more fruitful to consider the social interactional dynamics that lead to a given outcome than to focus on the form of the family as the critical independent variable.
50Â citations
TL;DR: This paper examined a "normal" sample of college students whose parents had divorced before the subjects were 16 and found that 80% of the subjects reported feeling stress during at least one phase of the divorce, i.e., predivorce, transition, or post-divorce.
Abstract: Whereas most research on children of divorce has focused on clinical samples, the present exploratory study examined a "normal" sample of college students whose parents had divorced before the subjects were 16. Eighty-three percent of the subjects reported feeling stress during at least one phase of the divorce, i.e., predivorce, transition, or post-divorce. Half of the sample experienced most stress during the marital conflict, i.e., pre-divorce. Twenty-five percent were most stressed by post-divorce problems; 8% by "transition" problems; and 16% reported that the divorce was not a major stressor for them at all. Specific problems subjects faced, as well as coping strategies they employed, are described.
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of women working outside the home on marital adjustment was examined. But the majority of studies of the effects of wives' employment were concerned with wives' adjustment and not with husbands' reactions.
Abstract: The proportion of married women who work outside the home has increased to a remarkable level, and female participation in the labor force promises to remain high. Numerous studies have focused on the consequence of female employment for dependent children (Nye & Hoffman, 1963), and a lesser number have centered on the costs and benefits of employment for the woman herself (Welch & Booth, 1977). However, much less is known about husbands' reactions than wives'. The vast majority of studies of the effects of wives' employment on marital adjustment are concerned with wives' adjustment (Hoffman & Nye, 1974; Nye & Hoffman, 1963). On the one hand, employment could contribute to marital discord or stress experienced by the husband. The wife's job may: reduce the amount of personal care the husband receives; increase his responsibilities for child care and other activities he defines
TL;DR: For an apparently increasing number of parents, the answer is, in effect, "We both shall rear the children!" From birth on, these androgynous parents have set out to share "the joys and sorrows of parenthood".
Abstract: "Who shall rear the children?" This may be the crucial question young parents today are asking. In the past the question rarely came up; now, however, the subject is open and cause for legitimate debate. For an apparently increasing number of parents, the answer is, in effect, "We both shall rear the children!" From birth on, these androgynous parents have set out to share "the joys and sorrows of parenthood." In this paper, I would like to give the reader some idea of who these parents are, and to outline their needs as they have reported them in our survey of their family patterns. The parents have described the educational and counseling services, and social and political reforms which would be helpful to them in their quest for a viable alternative family form.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of effective elements in counseling and psychotherapy, focusing on: Responding Empathtically to the client's expressions: Reciprocal Responses. Expanding the Client's Meaning: Additive Responses and relating to Clients with Genuineness.
Abstract: Effective Elements in Counseling and Psychotherapy. Processes and Phases in Counseling and Psychotherapy. Barrirers to Effective Communication. Developing Perceptiveness to Feelings. Responding Empathtically to the Client's Expressions: Reciprocal Responses. Expanding the Client's Meaning: Additive Responses. Relating to Clients with Respect. Relating to Clients with Genuineness. Examining Here-and-Now Feelings and Interactions Within the Counseling Relationship. Using Confrontation to Remove Barriers to Communication and Change. Communication Processes in Effective Therapy: Summary.
TL;DR: General principles of parent guidance are discussed and strategies for helping parents cope with their own problems as well as specific problems of children are offered.
Abstract: Professionals from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work, education, pediatrics, law, and religion discuss general principles of parent guidance and offer strategies for helping parents cope with their own problems as well as specific problems of children.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Men's roles in the family and society have been undergoing radical reconsideration and change since the early 1960's, following the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique in 1963 as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Several recent developments make the study of men's roles in the family a timely undertaking. Women's roles in the family and society have been undergoing radical reconsideration and change since the early 1960's, following the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique in 1963. One decade later, professionals and the American public began thinking about male roles in new ways as well. The first milestone in this new examination of male roles was the publication of five major books on men's liberation in late 1974 and early 1975 (David & Brannon, 1975; Farrell, 1974; Fasteau, 1974; Nichols, 1975; Pleck & Sawyer, 1974). A spate of later popular books followed, as did several publications aimed at more professional audiences. Particularly noteworthy among the latter were the special topical issues on male roles of the Journal of Social Issues (Pleck & Brannon, 1978) and The Counseling Psychologist (Skovholt, Gormally, Schauble, & Davis 1978). The research bibliographies on male sex roles published by the Men's Studies Collection of the M.I.T. Humanities Library (Ferriero, Note 1) and by the National Institute of Mental Health (Grady, Brannon, & Pleck, 1979) are
TL;DR: A review of recent research studies suggests that the dominant pattern of decision-making and action-taking in the Chicano family is not male-dominated and authoritarian but egalitarian as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Male dominance in the Chicano family is re-examined and a new conceptualization of the male role is suggested. The traditional view of the Chicano family as patriarchal and authoritarian is erroneous and based on unsupported myths and stereotypes held by both social scientists and the public at large. A review of recent research studies suggests that the dominant pattern of decision-making and actiontaking in the Chicano family is not male-dominated and authoritarian but egalitarian. Husband and wife share not only in decision making but in the performance of household tasks and child care; sharp sex role segregation appears to be the exception rather than the rule among Chicano couples.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report that the fathers who had the most to lose through the departure of the last child suffered the most, being older, having fewer children, scoring higher in personal nurturance, and having marriages with lower quality.
Abstract: Little is known about the contemporary impact of children's leaving home upon fathers. This dearth of information is unfortunate since more fathers appear to be investing time and concern into child-care. This article reports the findings from a random sample of 118 fathers, 22% of whom reported feeling unhappy over their last child's having left home. This unhappiness was associated particularly with fathers' having fewer children, being older, scoring higher in personal nurturance, and with marriages which evidenced lower quality. In summary, it appears that the fathers who had the most to lose through the departure of the last child suffered the most.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the literature concerning marital adjustment among couples with a physical disability present in the marriage and explored the stress induced by the physical handicap and the variables associated with such marital stress.
Abstract: The literature concerning marital adjustment among couples with a physical disability present in the marriage is reviewed. The stress induced by the physical handicap and the variables associated with such marital stress are explored. Role flexibility was found to be of major importance, though the outcomes were different for men and women. The non-handicapped spouses of seriously handicapped individuals were found to become encased by the disability, altering appreciably the content of these marriages.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the impact of men's work schedules on their families and found that working an afternoon shift has unanticipated negative effects on his family relationships, while, for the other shift, the same shift has an equally unintended positive effect.
Abstract: The impact of work scheduling on men's family lives is often difficult to predict. Written from the dual perspectives of clinical psychology and sociology, this paper uses two case studies to trace the consequences of work scheduling through two men's family situations. In the first case, attempts to beat time by working from noon to midnight result in unintended negative consequences for the family. In the second case, the creation of a split-shift family when a wife returns to work has the equally unintended positive effect of bringing a father closer to his children which in turn results in his efforts to make time to be with both his children and his wife. Men's work schedules are the revolving doors through which men leave and enter family relationships. Which and how many hours a man works help to determine not only the length and frequency of family interactions, but also their quality. This paper closely examines the impact of two men's work schedules on their family lives. The men were the same age, worked similar hours, and each had young children and earned similar incomes when interviewed. However, one had a working wife and the other did not. Further, their occupations, social class, and orientations to work and family differ. As we trace the effect of each man's work hours through the complex maze of his family situation, we find that for one, working an afternoon shift has unanticipated negative effects on his family relationships, while, for the other, the same shift has an equally unintended positive effect. However, in the latter case, as the man becomes more involved in his family, work scheduling again becomes an issue.