In the United States, African American fathers are incarcerated at a disproportionate rate and have a poor prognosis of success. Although researchers have considered how crime, paternal abuse, poverty, and social disparities have affected African Americans, they have not adequately studied how formerly incarcerated African American fathers experience parenting. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to bridge this gap in knowledge by exploring the parenting experiences of formerly incarcerated African American fathers on parole. The research question focused on the parenting experiences of African American fathers obligated to mandatory supervision following an incarceration. A criterion-based sample of 9 African American fathers from the Midwestern region of the United States completed 2 in-depth interviews. Interviews were analyzed using phenomenological techniques, resulting in 9 central themes focused on social objectification, survival, change, the agency of fatherhood, and parent-child relations. Despite difficulties and challenges, the quality of the fathers' lives hinged on the quality of their relationship with their children. The findings and recommendations from this study may advance positive social change by stimulating and guiding the efforts of human service practitioners working to develop culturally relevant interventions, and raising the awareness of advocates working to influence legislators toward comprehensive policy reform. The application of this study's findings may provoke community members to strengthen their support for African American fathers returning to the community following incarceration.

Self-evaluation in home management and its relationship to achievement motivation was investigated . The discrepancy between student self-evaluation and adviser evaluation was correlated with achievement motivation. The sample consisted of 33 female students, residents of -the Home Management House during Spring Quarter of the 1968-69 school year and Fall and Winter Quarters of the 1969-70 school year. The instruments used were: (1) a background questionnaire; (2) Management Resource Scale, and (3) Litwin Decision-Making Test. The statistical test used was the Pearson r (correlation coefficient). No significant relationship was found between absolute discrepancy between student self-evaluation in home management, and adviser evaluation and achievement motivation. However, when directionality of evaluation-deviation scores was considered, a significant relationship was found at the .05 level. Subjects who received positive evaluation-deviation scores were lower in achievement motivation than were subjects who received negative evaluation-deviation scores.

Older adults who provide care for an adult child with a disability have rarely been considered in the planning and preparation literature. As they grow older, these adults face the challenge of arranging care for their dependent children and for themselves. This study investigated influences on planning for one's own future care. Results indicated that parents who prepared for their adult child's future care were more likely to prepare for their own care. When compared to adults without a dependent child, parents caring for an adult child with a disability were equally likely to plan for their own future care.

This study examined mothers', fathers ', preschool teachers', and kindergarten teachers' opinions regarding children's requisite kindergarten entry skills. Participants were 101 preschool teachers from eight counties in northern Utah, as well as 113 kindergarten teachers and 286 parents of kindergartners from five school districts in northern Utah. Questionnaires were administered to assess opinions regarding (a) the preschool teachers' role in preparing children for kindergarten, (b) the parental role in preparing children for kindergarten, (c) priorities for requisite kindergarten entry skills, (d) the importance of specific skills emphasized in preschool, and (e) the importance of specific skills emphasized in kindergarten. Findings indicated that teachers agreed significantly more so than parents that preschool teachers could do more to prepare children for kindergarten. When asked what their child's preschool/day care teacher has done, parents' responses were similar to preschool teachers' when asked what they had done, suggesting consistency in what is taught in preschools, and strong communication with parents. All groups similarly agreed that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten. While reading to children and reading/writing skills were the most popular responses listed by all four groups, some significant differences emerged regarding what parents could do. Kindergarten teachers mentioned reading to children and language/communication skills more frequently than did the other groups. Moreover, fathers mentioned responsibility/self-help skills less frequently than all other groups. All four groups ranked how to listen, how to follow directions, and how to feel confident as the three most important requisite kindergarten entry skills. The four least important skills for parents, and preschool and kindergarten teachers were how to count, how to raise one's hand, how to write, and how to read. Significant differences existed between all groups' ratings of the importance of specified skills to be emphasized in preschools/day care centers, as well as for skills to be emphasized in kindergarten, although the mean ratings for each skill were moderately high. Mothers, preschool teachers, and kindergarten teachers rated most skills higher than did fathers. Preschool and kindergarten teachers rated most skills very similarly. Implications of these findings for parents, and preschool and kindergarten teachers are discussed. Suggestions for future research are then offered.

The purpose of this research was to determine parents and teenagers slang awareness and when this awareness begins to appear in the vocabulary of the younger generation. Two studies were construed to measure the intended purpose of t his research. Study A was conducted to determine if semantic influence and concept attainment of slang definitions would be greater for teenagers than that for adults. The instrument was an open ended word list consisting of 25 slang terms. Criterion for the selection of words was assessed by determining if each word used could be found in three of the five sources. They not only need to be present, but also have the same or related definition. It was thought that these words would be the ones generally accepted as having a universal meaning. These words were also characterized by having: Dictionary definition--The definition found in any abridged dictionary. Traditional slang definition--The general slang usage as indicated by the dictionary. Drug slang definition--The definition used in the drug culture. Study B was conducted to evaluate the terms used to determine at v1hat grade level these terms appear in the vocabulary of the younger generation. The sane word list used in Study A was used in Study B, only instead of writing a definition, subjects were asked to write next to each word, the first drug word that came to their mind in association to the stimulus word, and if they couldn't think of a drug word, then any word. The findings of Study A indicate that an interaction barrier of slang understanding does exist between parents and teenagers. A t-test was computed on the dictionary definitions of parents and teenagers, as was on each of the traditional slang and drug slang definitions. There was no significant differences in the understanding of dictionary meanings; however, both the traditional and drug slang were significant at beyond the .01 level. From the results of Study B, one can with some certainty depict the period that one begins understanding slang terminology , Though some Elementary subjects have a slang knowledge, the results suggest that from the Junior High on through College there is a steady increase of one's understanding of slang terms.

The purpose was to discover whether the preschool child who has toileted with boys and girls in an open situation for at least four weeks would recognize the genital differences between a male and a female doll and use this knowledge to select the type of clothes appropriate for these dolls. Hypotheses were: (1) The preschool child who has toileted in an open situation with both sexes for at least four weeks can identify male and female dolls on the basis of genital structure. (2) The preschool child can select appropriate clothes for male and female dolls on the basis of genital structure as the dominant cue as to sexuality . Twenty children ages three to five were selected because they had toileted in an open situation for at least four weeks with boys and girls, because they attended the same classroom, and were familiar with the experimenter . Preceding the actual collection of data a pilot study was conducted on a similar but separate classroom of children to test the proposed research design. The subjects were informed, as a group, of the general content and procedure of the experimental situation to follow. The subjects went first behind the screen with the experimenter to arrange six blocks in any design they wished. They went again behind the screen in the doll house where they sat facing the genitals of a male and a female doll. After powdering the dolls' genitals, they selected clothes for them from two sets of male slacks and two dresses. The subject was then asked the reason for his choice. Four of the 20 subjects, two boys and two girls, were able to identify the sex of the dolls on the basis of genital structure. All four were from homes with opposite-sex siblings. Three of the four expressing a recognition were four years old . Conclusions: (l) Preschool children appear generally to be unable to identify sexuality on the basis of genital structure . (2) Age is a significant factor influencing the child's discrimination of sexual differences. (3) The opportunity for observation and discovery of differences between the sexes through the presence of opposite-sex siblings in the home appears to be influential on the child's development of sexual awareness.

Pretest data from a two-year project entitled "An Early Intervention Program for Parents of Young Children at-Risk" were collected and analyzed, in a sample of 2,191 low-income parents, for Head Start participation and baseline information. Respondents participating in the sample were from the states of California, Delaware, Nevada, South Carolina, and Utah. For their participation in the study, respondents received a free subscription to age-paced newsletters, which contained information about appropriate growth expectancies, nutrition, and guidance for their child of 36 months or younger. Newsletters were mailed monthly to parents who had children 12 months and younger and every other month to parents with children older than 12 months. Knowledge of infant/toddler development among Head Start and non-Head Start parents was measured by i-test comparisons. Univariate analysis of demographic influences on developmental knowledge was computed by a oneway ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficients. Demographic variables measured were state of residence, race, educational level, marital status, employment status, attitude, income level, number of children, supplemental programs, and age of parent. Findings revealed that Head start parents did not have a significantly greater knowledge of infant/toddler development than non-Head start parents who had more than one child. Developmental knowledge scores were higher for Head start parents than non-Head start first-time parents. All participating Head start parents had at least two children, one in the Head start program and one other child 25 months or younger. There were differences in developmental knowledge scores by state of residence, race, educational level, marital status, and employment status. Demographic variables found to have a positive correlation with developmental knowledge scores were attitude, income level, number of children, and age of parents. There was a negative correlation with the effect of supplemental programs. Programs tested for this effect were AFDC, Food stamps, Medicaid, WIC, Social Security, and Head Start. A greater proportion of Head Start parents participated in these income-assistance programs, which may have influenced their scores for child development knowledge .

A university sample of238 undergraduate and graduate students between the ages of 19 and 58 completed the Student Stress Measure. Specifically, upper-division undergraduate students and clinical/nonclinical graduate students in social science programs (FHD, Social Work, Sociology, Psychology) were measured for stress level differences due to their particular academic requirements. Results indicate that, overall, graduate students are more stressed than undergraduate students. Of the graduate students, Sociology students were most stressed in terms of Lifestyle stress scores. The comparison of clinical and non-clinical graduate students shows that there is no difference in stress levels. The Psychology and MFT graduate student comparison indicates that Psychology students are more stressed than MFT students on the Lifestyle Scale only. Fourteen program requirements are related positively to stress levels. The Academic Stressors Scale was the only stress measure that yielded statistical significance for gender, employment status, and marital status. Age correlated negatively with the Events Scale. Confounding factors, such as sample size, are addressed. Suggestions for future research are provided.

McCarthy's Draw-A- Child test was administered to 20 lower class and 20 middle class four-year-old children matched for age and sex. The purpose of the test was to find if socioeconomic class and sex differences effected the child's ability to draw a same sex figure. Analysis of results supported the theory that girls do better than boys. Analysis of socioeconomic differences suggests that lower-class children do not have the ability to draw as well as middle class children but the difference is not significant at the .O5 level. It was concluded that the McCarthy Draw-A-Child test measures the general drawing abilities which are influenced by life experiences.

Previous studies have indicated the importance of teacher attitudes on the development of creativity in children. There were several purposes for this investigation. The major purpose was to develop an instrument to measure teacher attitudes toward creativity in children. The second step was the utilization of the instrument to determine if teachers trained in child development are more positive in their attitudes toward creativity than teachers with little or no background in child development. The third purpose of this investigation was to determine the relations hip between the teachers' attitudes toward creativity and religion, age, and social class . The creative attitude mstrument was developed by the investigator using the method employed by Shoben in devising the University of Southern California Parent Attitude Survey. The instrument, composed of 83 items, was then administered by mail to day care owners and operators, who were licensed by the state of Utah during the summer of 1967, and to all college nursery school teachers employed during the school year of 1967-68 in the state of Utah. The teachers were asked torespond to each item, indicating whether they Strongly Agreed, Agreed, Disagreed, or Strongly Disagreed with the statement. The answers we re rated one to four, with four being the most positive of the responses. The results indicated that there was no significant relationship between a teacher's attitude toward creativity and her age or social class. The results also ind1cated there was no significant difference between the attitudes toward creativity of day care and co llege nursery school teachers. Although there was not a statistically significant difference between the attitudes of the college nursery school teachers and the day care teachers toward creativity on this instrument, the nursery school teachers gave more favorable responses to 13 of the 16 discriminating items found on the instrument.