Past research has found support for Equity Theory and Attachment Theory in predicting relationship satisfaction. According to Equity Theory, individuals feel satisfied when they are engaged in equitable relationships, where the ratio of benefits to costs is the same across partners. On the other hand, Attachment Theory postulates that a secure attachment style predicts high relationship satisfaction. Although an extensive number of studies have supported these predictions, the present study was the first to compare or integrate Equity Theory and Attachment Theory in predicting relationship satisfaction. A total of 384 introductory psychology students completed questionnaires. Simultaneous multiple regression indicated that partner’s input and the avoidance dimension of attachment were the two largest predictors of relationship satisfaction among overall sample. Hypotheses regarding the relation between equity level and attachment styles were only partially supported. In addition, three proposed models for predicting satisfaction were tested. The first model, based on Equity Theory, showed that underbenefiting exchange orientation, communal orientation, and closeness predicted the level of equity, which in turn led to relationship satisfaction. The second model, based on Attachment Theory, indicated that attachment styles affected the level of self-disclosure leading to intimacy and closeness, which predicted satisfaction. The third model integrated the two theories and showed that attachment styles predicted equity, which influenced the level of self-disclosure. Self-disclosure influenced intimacy and closeness, which led to relationship satisfaction. The integrated model best predicted relationship satisfaction among the three proposed models. Finally, sex differences and differences between friendships and dating relationships were also discussed. / October 2005

Aim; The aim of this study is to increase our knowledge of stress resilience children coming from backgrounds of substance abuse and to look at what consequences they may encounter, for not being able to express their emotions and deal with happenings experienced in their upbringing. Method; A qualitative approach has been used with e-mail interviews to collect our material, with young adults whom see themselves as having a history of alcoholism in the nearest family when growing up and despite this managed well in life. Result: We have concluded that resiliency is a way of coping with stressful situations. It is a way of repressing emotions when the emotions become too unbearable. When repressing the emotions you are denying the self the right to development, the right to exist as a person. And this leads to co-dependency.

Vad är det som gör att människor i dagens samhälle pressar sig så hårt att de tillslut försätter sig i stress och utmattningssituationer? Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad det är som gör att vissa människor inte kan identifiera och/eller lyssna på egna varningssignaler, samt deras tankar om utmattningsdepressionens orsaker. Frågeställningarna är: Hur beskriver de människor som själva fått diagnosen utmattningsdepression sina egna tankar om orsakerna till stress och/eller utmattningssymptomen? Har de blivit hjälpta genom psykoterapi och i så fall vad har de uppfattat som det terapeutiskt verksamma? Studiens metod baseras på kvalitativa djupintervjuer med fem personer som själva fått diagnosen utmattningsdepression och som har gått eller fortfarande går i terapi. Resultatet visar att intervjupersonernas egna tankar om orsaker främst handlar om olika livskriser som de har varit med om. Upprepande påfrestande kriser har bidragit till extra sårbarhet för att senare utveckla stress och/eller utmattningssyndrom. Otrygg anknytning och dålig självkänsla framkom som bakomliggande orsaker till dessa kriser. Slutsatserna blir att otrygg anknytning i kombination med individuella kriser senare i livet kan vara en viktig orsak till stress- och/eller utmattningssyndrom. Brist på emotionell omsorg kan finnas i socialt välfungerade familjer. Individens utveckling av mentalisering och affektreglering påverkas av hög emotionell påfrestning under längre tid i barndomen.

The study topic of public participation is recently transferred from politics issue to living topic. The level of participation will depend on several factors: regional emotion, participation level and the social background. This study investigates the influences of the university campus place attachment and public participation relations of local user by studying the open and regional properties of the National Cheng Kung University. Four research purposes are investigated: (1) the place attachment of different local user; (2) the difference of public participation between different local users; (3) the relationships between place attachment and public participation and (4) providing some specific suggestions to the government for future space design. This study is carried out by collecting the well designed questionnaire and the campus users are chosen as the test subject. A questionnaire retrieved rate of 373/400 is achieved by the period of 2011 March 19th through 2011 April 10th and the data is further analyzed by using Windows SPSS 17 statistic analysis software, and consequently the assumptions can be verified clearly. The factor analysis indicates that place attachment includes four aspects: (1) user function satisfied; (2) lifestyle conformation; (3) emotion growing and (4) safe environment. And another four aspects are defined in public participation: (1) non-participation; (2) spirit participation; (3) Action participation and (4) leading participation. Further conclusions are specified as: (1) users with different social background lead significant difference in place attachment; (2) users with different social background cause significant difference in public participation; (3) significant difference in relationships between place attachment and public participation. Non participation shows negative correlation between the four aspects of place attachment. However, tokenism participation and citizen power participation indicate positive and significant correlation relation with place attachment and (4) regression analysis shows significant relation between the aspects of user function satisfied and leading participation in place attachment. However, not only the aspects of user function satisfied and leading participation but also safe environment are indicated to be significant relation in denizen place attachment. In this way, this study suggests the government regional participation planer should not only strengthen the user dependence and identification to local place but also encourage the democracy, planer and the government to work together for constructing the safe environment and hence increasing the people participation volition. Furthermore, we can find the key regional civilization by professional field investigation to have good realization about the need of the regional user and consequently increasing the people participation. Finally, we may be able to further link the place attachment and public participation by professional participation design to distinguish different local users and hence produce different plan for different regional users.

A telephone questionnaire was developed to collect information on pet owners, cat ownership patterns, and people's opinions about homeless pets. A 7-day observation log was also developed to gather information about free-roaming cats in Caldwell, TX. The objectives of this research were: (1) to evaluate the reliability of the telephone questionnaire, (2) to assess general cat ownership patterns, (3) to evaluate attachment level of pet owners to their pets, (4) to determine general opinions about free-roaming cats, (5) to determine if demographics were associated with opinions about free-roaming cat and dog problems and (6) to investigate free-roaming cat activity in a community. Telephone questionnaire information collected from 100 subjects was tested for reliability. Reliability was fair to good for cat level questions (sex, age, breed, length of time owned, indoor/outdoor status, litter, number of vet visits, vaccinated). Reliability was good for questions concerning subjects' knowledge of cat and dog behavior and levels of attachment to their pets. Reliability was excellent for all household level (demographic) variables. Reliability was moderate for questions regarding subjects' opinions about homeless animals. Telephone questionnaire responses collected from 441 subjects were checked for associations using exploratory logistic and linear regression models. A cat's role as a pet, vaccination status, and the length of time owned were associated with a cat's sterilization status. A cat's role as a pet was associated with the cat's indoor/outdoor status. Household size, education level and ethnicity of the owner were associated with cat ownership. Having children was associated with a negative opinion about homeless cats. Education level was associated with subjects' knowledge about dog and cat behavior. Gender, household size, and knowledge score were associated with subjects' attachment to their pets. Descriptive information on free-roaming cat activity was collected from 21 subjects using the 7-day observation log. Subjects made 382 cat sightings during the study period. Slightly more cat sightings were made during the morning than in the evening and afternoon. Most cats were spotted in neighborhoods and were resting or eating. Most of these cats that were eating were seen during the morning or evening hours.

This research is a study of residential preferences and moving tendency of teachers in public schools in Kaohsiung who applied for retirement in 2003. It is intended to find out if there is any influence of personal backgrounds or needs of the subjects on their residential preferences and moving tendency, if their preferences are personal or environmental and if they find the current residences ideal¡Xif they do, what are the characteristics of their ideal residences and if not, what are the reasons for them to move? Moreover, if they decided to stay where they are now living even when not satisfied with the residences, what are the reasons that stop them from moving? In the study, questionnaires were mailed to public high school teachers in Kaohsiung who were registered to retire in 2003. 378 of the questionnaires were answered and returned, accounting for 30% of the total amount. Among the residences of the subjects, the Daliao, Renwu, Linyuan and Qiaotou townships in Kaohsiung County were categorized as the suburban areas, the Gushan, Zhuoying, Nanzi, Qianzhen, Qijin and Xiaogang districts in Kaohsiung City were the urban areas while the Yanchen, Sanmin, Qianjin, Xinxing and Lingya districts were the downtown areas. The statistic analysis of the returned questionnaires indicated significant connections among the subjects¡¦ ideal residences, their birth places, the places they have lived the longest and the places where they grew up. For subjects now living in downtown and urban areas, their preferable residences were the suburban area and then the downtown area, the countryside, small town and middle-size city in the order of preference. For subjects living in the suburban areas, their ideal residences were, from the most preferred to the least, the suburban area, the countryside, middle-size city, small town and the downtown area. As for the ideal county or city for residence, many of the subjects found the county or city where they are currently living satisfactory and most of these subjects are now living in the suburban areas. In terms of moving tendency, among the subjects who found their current residences ideal, the number of those who would not move was significantly larger than the others, while among the subjects who did not find their residences ideal, those who would not move was only slightly larger than those who would. Generally speaking, among all the subjects in this study, the number of those who would not move was significantly larger than those who would. Apparently, there is a significant connection between the subjects¡¦ opinions about the current residences and their moving tendency. For those subject who wanted to move even if they found their current residences ideal, the reasons could be divided into four aspects: the buildings, the natural environments, human factors and financial factors. The major reasons which stop the subjects from moving in this study were the financial factors, jobs of the families members, schooling of the family members and lack of spouse support. Among all the subjects, 70% thought they had found their ideal residences or believed they would in the future. The subjects¡¦ personal requirements of an ideal residence included employment opportunities, cultural activities, quality of nearby schools and religious beliefs while their environmental requirements were scenic view, interactions with friends, relatives and family members, living space and related facilities. For those subjects who found their current residences in the urban and downtown areas satisfactory, the environmental and personal requirements were almost equally importance while for the rest of the subjects, the environmental requirements were more important than the personal ones. According to the findings of this research, it is suggested that the social care and welfare policies should be accordingly adjusted as the elder population increases while many retired elders will move to apartments or care houses which offer special care instead of living with their children. Secondly, this study also finds that more and more people are moving to the suburban areas, forming a consuming force that might be as equally worthy of attention as that in the urban areas. Thirdly, among the subjects who found ideal residences in the urban areas and middle-size cities, their personal requirements and environmental requirements of an ideal residence are almost equally important. However, among those subjects who preferred suburban areas, the countryside and small towns, the environmental requirements are more important than the personal requirements. Therefore, it is suggested that there should be more natural landscapes for residents in the urban areas while more efforts should be invested in preserving the natural environments in the suburban areas. Fourthly, as the elder population expands, the government should establish more institutions or facilities of medical care, social service, finance and transportation in the suburban areas where more and more retired elder will reside in the future. Fifthly, the government should provide policies which encourage citizens to have financial plans for their life after retirement while the enterprises should provide the employees with well-designed pension policies so that people can be economically carefree and move to their ideal residences if possible after retirement. Finally,the care of elders in each community is a very important issue in Taiwan.

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No description available.

A Study of Interpersonal Relationships, Self-Esteem, and Institutional Attachment Among Elderly Living in Residential Homes Abstract¡G The objective of this thesis is to examine and understand the social differentiations of interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, and institutional attachment of the elderly living in residential homes in terms of demographic variables, socioeconomic backgrounds, and health in order to enhance both theoretical and practical knowledge and ideas for the management of residential homes as well as the global implications for the national welfare policy for older people. In addition, voluntary action to serve for other residents was also included for the analysis in order to examine the impact of such actions and arrangements. It could be requested and arranged by the administrators of the residential homes. The research data are obtained by visiting and interviewing the elderly who live in either one of the two residential homes that both locate in Kaohsiung area. One residential home is supported by city government and the other is run by a private group. The author randomly interviewed more than half of the residential elderly and built 194 cases of data for this research. The analysis results of these data show that most of the elderly had their own socioeconomic backgrounds, health problems and felt strange to each other in the beginning, when they moved in the residential homes. However, with the interaction of the elderly becoming frequent and the socialization progressing, new social living style was rebuilt. The interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, and institutional attachment of the elderly living in residential homes are getting better and better. For the elderly living in residential home, interpersonal relationship, self-esteem and institutional attachment are not dependent on the ages. Well educated people may have the tendency to develop positive interpersonal relationship, especially easier to make friends in some events. Those who are with advantage of socioeconomic backgrounds may also easier enhance interpersonal relationship with others. However, education level and socioeconomic backgrounds are not the necessary conditions for positive interpersonal relationship, self-esteem and institutional attachment, since no coherent effects can be found. Sex and marriage may obviously play some roles in the interpersonal relationship and self-esteem, although their effects are different. Those who have the experience of marriage usually develop better interpersonal relationship and self-esteem than those who don¡¦t. Female elderly seem to have better interpersonal relationship and self-esteem than male elderly. Whether sex and marriage may influence interpersonal relationship, self-esteem and institutional attachment or not is not so clear and is worth studying in future. A constructive finding concluded in this research is that caring for elderly health and voluntary action to serve for other residents play important roles in improving institutional attachment. Although, the health situation of an elderly does not influence his interpersonal relationship with people from outside the residential home or other environments, it has the effect on the interpersonal relationship, self-esteem and institutional attachment inside the residential home, especially making friends in some events. Voluntary action can enhance interpersonal relationship not only inside but also outside the residential home. Hence, To improve interpersonal relationship, self-esteem and institutional attachment, good social welfare policy and efficient management of residential homes are necessary. We should not only take into account the factors such as sex, marriage and socioeconomic backgrounds, but also pay attention to the elderly health and arrangement of the voluntary services. Suggestions of the research: (1) Plan a sound economy and security system for the elderly, such that citizens can have better choice in their early ages. (2) Pay attention to the fairness and efficiency of the public residential homes to fulfill the requirements of social service. (3) The management of the residential homes needs to reform and provides different services. (4) Establish a comprehensive evaluation system for residential homes, based on humanity point of view. (5) Pay attention to sociological support and care for the elderly to help rebuild their self-esteem and self-fulfill. (6) Encourage the elderly to perform voluntary service and help each other. (7) Increase the interaction with people from outside the residential home and bring in resources form neighborhood. (8) Well organize some associations to help the elderly perform proper and interesting activities without spending much energy. (9) Design suitable leisure area and provide interactive space for the elderly.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common demyelinating disease affecting the central nervous system. Over 80% of MS patients are in the relapsing remitting stage. Symptoms range from fever, fatigue, emotional distress, tingling, numbness, optic neuritis, spasticity, muscle weakness, impaired coordination, to other abnormal neurological problems. Expression of symptoms is known as a relapse or exacerbation. The cause of relapses is unknown, but multiple factors seem to play a significant role. Possible factors that may influence MS onset and relapse consist of a genetic association, viruses, disruption of the blood-brain barrier, and stress. Stress has shown to have negative implications and may stimulate relapses. Thus, this study examined a possible stress intervention that most people already had available to them, companion animals. Companion animals have been shown to lower blood pressure, decrease heart rate, provide social support, and reduce stress. The main hypothesis was to evaluate whether or not pet ownership and/or attachment influenced the perceived stress level and number of negative life events experienced by MS patients in the relapsing remitting stage. Participants were given a questionnaire that consisted of 7 surveys. The questionnaire accessed quality of life, disease severity, number of negative life events, perceived stress level, level of depression, social support, and pet ownership and attachment level. Our sample population consisted of MS patients seen at the University of Texas Southwestern Neurology clinic from February 23rd to May 21st, 2004. One hundred and forty seven relapsing remitting MS patients were included in the study. Multiple linear regression was used to compare the relationship of stress and number of negative life events to pet ownership and attachment. Results revealed that pet ownership and attachment levels did not affect the stress level and number of negative life events of MS patients. No confounders were identified. Interaction terms with disease severity as the dependent variable, pet ownership and perceived stress level or negative life events as the independent variables were not significant. The type of pet owned did not influence the attachment level of the MS patient. In conclusion, the results of this study did not support the hypothesis.