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Discriminant function analysis was performed on data from 87 female volunteers who were between the ages of 21 and 53 years old and who had been married at least one time. Sixty-two of the subjects had no history of premarital pregnancy; 18 subjects had been pregnant when they married; and seven subjects had an induced abortion before marriage. All groups were discriminated (p < .05) by the variables of marital adjustment, lack of emotional vulnerability, masculinity, chance locus of control, powerful others locus of control, and number of marriages. Women with a history of premarital pregnancy were less satisfied with their present or most recent marriage and tended to have had more marriages; they also were higher on belief in chance, lower on belief in powerful others, lower on instrumentality and more lacking in emotional vulnerability than were women without history of premarital pregnancy. The two groups with history of premarital pregnancy were discriminated (p < .05) by marital adjustment and lack of emotional vulnerability. Women who married when pregnant were less satisfied with their present or most recent marriage and were more emotionally vulnerable than were women who had abortions prior to marriage.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Psychological and marital adjustment are two important outcomes for patients with breast cancer. Personality traits, such as hope and optimism, may influence adjustment to adversity. It was hypothesized that patient and partner hope and optimism would differentially predict patient marital and psychological adjustment. Measured variable path analysis with 56 patient-partner dyads found that patient and partner hope equally predict patient marital adjustment, while there was a trend for patient optimism predicting patient psychological adjustment. These results suggest that hope and optimism differentially predict adjustment outcomes, and that the partner also has a role in the patients’ adjustment. Regression analyses were used to examine the hypothesis that discrepancies in patient and partner personality would result in maladjustment. No interaction effects were found predicting patient psychological adjustment. Three out of six interactions were found for patient marital adjustment. These analyses suggest that complementary personality styles among couples coping with breast cancer may result in optimal patient marital adjustment.

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No description available.

The relationship among role strain, coping, and stress was quantitatively assessed using responses from 190 dual-career husbands and wives. Cluster analysis of stress scores resulted in the adoption of a six-cluster solution. MANOVA on role strain confirmed a significant effect by Cluster, F(15,455)=8.92, p=.001. Post hoc analyses indicated that Cluster VI had significantly lower scores from all other clusters on all three role categories: marital, professional, and parental. Cluster I had significantly higher scores than Cluster v and VI on all three role strain categories. MANOVA on coping strategies confirmed a significant effect by Cluster, F(35,709)=1.95, p=.001. Although individuals in this sample reported low to moderate strain and stress, significant variation existed within the sample. Individuals experiencing the lowest strain and stress employed two coping responses most often, Delegating Responsibility and Cognitive Restructuring. The results are explained with regard to stage of career and family development and child care concerns. / Ph. D.

Dating violence is a serious social problem that impacts on substantial numbers of young people and has the potential for short and long term destructive consequences. This study had two purposes. One purpose was to develop a detailed description of the coping processes of young women who experienced violence in their dating relationships. A second purpose was to develop a theoretical understanding of this process by systematically linking the concepts that emerged. A multiple-case study qualitative research design was selected to accomplish these purposes because it allowed the researcher to capture the complexity of the coping process. A contextual stress and coping theoretical framework guided this inquiry. Participants were recruited through community and college newspaper advertisements, flyers posted on a college campus, and through informal requests for referrals from colleagues in the counseling profession. A pool of 10 eligible young women between the ages of 18 and 33 was accumulated from which a theoretical sample of 5 women was selected to study in depth. Interviews with 10 women, focusing on the 5 studied in depth, were the main data sources for this study. Selection of the theoretical sample and data analysis was based on the tenets of the grounded theory approach developed by Glaser and Strauss. This study identified a number of intrapersonal, interpersonal and contextual factors affecting how these women coped with dating violence. The major constructs that emerged were: women's vulnerabilities, couple imbalances, seductive processes, disentanglement processes and paradigmatic shifts. In essence, it was discovered that vulnerable young women who formed fused, imbalanced relationships with vulnerable men tended to use system-maintaining coping strategies to deal with the violence and were subject to powerful seductive processes until they began to disentangle themselves from their relationships. The disentanglement process was sparked by internal or external events that led women to reappraise their relationships and to take self reclaiming steps. Paradigmatic shifts, i.e., shifts from relationship commitment to self commitment, were the culmination of the disentanglement process and the impetus to women leaving their relationships. / Ed. D.

The relationships between working models of attachment and adjustment to college among first-year college students was examined in a longitudinal study. The results of this study indicated that when college students were classified as secure, dismissing, or preoccupied by the Adult Attachment Interview, significant differences emerged in their experience of separation anxiety, self-perceived competence, perceptions of relationships, and attachment-related behaviors. Over half of the secure group reported clinical levels of separation anxiety at the beginning of the academic year, however, they showed a significant decline in symptomatolgy over time indicating adaptive resolution of the distress associated with the developmental task of emancipating from home. All but one member of the preoccupied group had clinical levels of separation anxiety at the beginning of the year, and although they reported some decline in symptomatology over time l decrease in the number of symptoms did not reach statistical significance. The preoccupied group reported having the most people upon whom they could rely for support, and they went home more often than the other two groups. However, they were the least satisfied with the support they received. As predicted, separation anxiety was not prevalent in the dismissing group at any point in time. This group also reported the least number of people upon whom they could rely for support, but they perceived themselves as more socially competent than the secure or preoccupied groups. Finally, the dismissing group showed a significant increase in utilization of university health services across time. These findings lend support to the idea that working models of attachment are associated with differing approaches to affect regulation in situational and developmental contexts that elicit distress. Overall, the results of the present study provide evidence that attachment is associated with social-emotional adjustment during the course of the adolescent's emancipation from home and entry into college. / Ph. D.

Do people become more optimistic about future adjustment to negative life events after rumination? Past research using a "top of the head" paradigm indicates that people estimate they would adjust more poorly for severe events and better for mild negative events than their peers. Selective focus (i.e., differential accessibility of information about assets and liabilities for coping) has been provided as an explanation for this effect, which is counter to research on "optimistic bias". Martin and Tesser's (1989) rumination model was applied to beliefs about one's comparative adjustment to negative life events. One hundred twenty undergraduate subjects were asked to imagine experiencing a Severe (HIV+) or Mild (Herpes) negative event at some future time, then to designate items on a reaction time task as either an Asset or Liability in coping with the event. The reaction time task and subsequent comparative adjustment ratings were made either immediately, after a delay that allowed for rumination, or after a delay without an opportunity for rumination. A thought-listing analysis of the audiotaped ruminations revealed that, as predicted, subjects became more optimistic over time. They initially discussed liabilities in coping with the Severe event but gradually considered assets. Comparative adjustment ratings for the Severe event were not significantly different than for the Mild event, even in the Rumination Absent condition. It was suggested that temporarily making assets for coping accessible through the reaction time task had the same effect on comparative adjustment ratings as did problem-solving through rumination. The reaction time data provided convergent evidence regarding selective focus and complimented a thought-listing paradigm used in previous studies. / Master of Science

Intermittent business travel has become an essential part of professional life for many. This exploratory study focused on two types of business-related travel. Short-term travel included frequent trips which lasted a week or less. Long-term travel included trips which lasted a minimum of three weeks at a time. Twenty couples, in which the husband was the business traveler, completed questionnaires and were interviewed individually. The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales-FACES III (Olson, Portner, & Lavee, 1985) was used to measure couple functioning. No significant differences on either adaptability or cohesion were found between the two groups of business travel couples. The couples in this study reported a significantly higher level of adaptability when the mean score on the adaptability scale of each of these two groups was compared with the mean score of the sample upon which FACES III was normed (p <.0001). Significant group differences were reported on the ways the couples dealt with the eminent departure of the husband, the couples’ adjustment when the husbands returned, the stress resulting from travel reported by the husbands, and the amount of contact the couples had while the husbands were away. Methods of coping used by husbands and wives and support systems used by the wives were also explored. Implications of the findings and suggestions for further research are included. / Master of Science