Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: B, page: 3489. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-249).

This study examines how family socialization and religiosity are associated with young men's intention to someday become a father. Data from the National Survey of Families and Households are used to measure the influence of family connection, family regulation, family psychological autonomy and public and private religiosity on young men's fatherhood intentions. Family connection and private religiosity are associated with young men's fatherhood plans.

Substance use behaviours have been viewed as the end products of a combination of influences. Numerous theories for working with substance use behaviour utilizing a multi-systemic approach have been proposed. In this project, an effort was made to control for limitations and problems that have often beset previous studies utilizing such an approach. The overall objective of the current project was to test, using a multi-systemic approach, the ability of the family socialization framework to explain the development of substance use patterns in youth and young adults. The central hypothesis of this project was that family socialization factors (contextual factors) affect and predict the development of an offspring’s personality (individual factors) and substance use behaviour. The behavioural genetic approach (i.e., the adoption design) was utilized to examine the genetic and environmental impacts on associations between factors. This project used secondary data analyses of general population data to examine the links between aspects of the family environment, personality, and substance use patterns. The Vancouver Family Survey data set used here contained information on fathers, mothers, and offspring from 405 families (328 biological and 77 adoptive) at two points in time. The development of personality and substance use behaviours over time, and associations with family socialization factors, were examined through three studies. Study 1 focused on the associations between offspring’s perspectives of fathers’ and mothers’ parental socialization and offspring’s polysubstance use. Study 2 investigated the development of addiction-prone personality characteristics and the predictive effects of family socialization and demographic variables on these characteristics. Study 3 explored the subscales of the Addiction-Prone Personality scale: impulsivity/recklessness, sensation seeking, negative view of self, and social deviance proneness. The descriptive characteristics of each subscale and changes in subscale scores over time were investigated. Also examined were transgenerational associations on these subscales, and potential relationships between personality subscales and choice of substance. The results of this project suggest that family socialization may be linked with both substance use behaviour and personality development over time. Nurturing family socialization is negatively associated with the development of addiction-prone personality characteristics. It is also negatively associated with the development of substance use behaviours. These results are consistent with previous studies utilizing a family socialization framework. The findings supporting the family socialization framework are very encouraging for the field of child, youth, and family-related practice. Some of the limitations of the current project, implications of the findings, and future research directions are discussed. / Graduate

Thesis (D. Min.)--Abilene Christian University, 1994. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-145).

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Jared A. Durtschi and Sandra M. Stith / Early binge drinking (i.e., five or more drinks on a single occasion) is associated with a greater risk of later substance abuse or dependence, and other non-alcohol related problems in adulthood, (e.g., adult civil or criminal convictions). Identifying alcohol use trajectories has mainly been limited to within single developmental periods (i.e., adolescence or emerging adulthood) or between developmental periods up until around the legal drinking age. Using N = 1,864 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) dataset, this paper sought to identify trajectories of binge drinking beginning in adolescence and into adulthood using growth mixture modeling. Family factors (e.g., parent-child communication, shared activities, connectedness, and parental control) were used to predict the various trajectories. Two class trajectories were identified, a low initial-escalating group (87%), and a high initial-deescalating group (13%). Being male and having more close friends using alcohol were predictive of a greater likelihood of being in the high initial-deescalating group. Results can inform therapeutic interventions in an effort to affect an adolescent’s trajectory of use and reduce the risk of long-term heavy alcohol use.

L’objectif de cette recherche est d’expliciter et de comprendre les mécanismes sous-jacents à certains aspects de l’adaptation scolaire des enfants de 5-6 ans en lien avec le soutien parental scolaire en conditions de vie défavorisée. Pour y arriver, nous avons soumis, à l’épreuve des faits, notre modèle de soutien scolaire parental qui articule pauvreté, perceptions des difficultés d’adaptation scolaire, soutien socio-familial, modèles de socialisation familiale et engagement parental scolaire. La première étape a consisté à l’évaluation de l’adaptation scolaire de 146 enfants du Cours d’Initiation (CI) à l’aide d’un questionnaire rempli par les enseignants (Florin, Guimard et Nocus, 2002). La seconde étape a été consacrée au recueil d’informations par entretien directif auprès de 48 parents (24 parents d’enfants ayant une adaptation scolaire adéquate et 24 parents d’enfants présentant des difficultés d’adaptation scolaire) sur les dimensions du soutien scolaire parental. Les résultats obtenus mettent en évidence d’importants liens entre la plupart des variables de notre modèle et l’adaptation scolaire des enfants. Sur la base de ces liens, trois profils types de parents qui favorisent ou, au contraire, rendent problématique l’adaptation scolaire des enfants ont été établis :(i) Profil de parents qui favorise moyennement l’adaptation scolaire chez les enfants ;(ii) Profil de parents qui favorise fortement l’adaptation scolaire chez les enfants ;(iii) Profil de parents qui produit les difficultés d’adaptation scolaire chez les enfants.Ces profils types varient, notamment, en fonction des perceptions et représentations que les parents ont des difficultés scolaires de leurs enfants, du soutien familial et social qu’ils reçoivent ou non, du modèle de socialisation familial qu’ils promeuvent et de leur engagement scolaire. Les résultats de la présente recherche gagneraient à être vulgarisés auprès des parents et des enseignants. Mieux, leur prise en compte dans les stratégies de prévention précoce des difficultés d’adaptation scolaire des jeunes enfants à travers des actions des professionnels de l’éducation avec les familles sont autant de pistes de travail que nous poursuivrons comme suite à notre présent travail de recherche. / The main purpose of this research work is to make explicit, and understand the mechanisms underlying aspects of the relation between children of 5 to 6 years adaption to school and parental support in unprivileged life conditions. To succeed in doing this, we submitted to the facts proof our model of parental school support which deals with poverty and/or insecurity, perceptions and representations of difficulties related to adaptation to school, socio-family support, models of family socialization and parental commitment in school. The first step dealt with evaluation of how 146 children in Primary One adapt to school through a questionnaire filled by teachers (Florin, Guimard & Nocus, 2002). The second step is devoted to collection of information through directed talk with 48 parents (24 parents whose children adaptation to school is suitable and 24 parents whose children have difficulties in adaptation to school) upon dimensions of parental support in school. The results obtained give proof of important links between most of the variables of our model of parents’ support and children adaptation to school. On the basis of those links, three types of parents’ profiles who either promote or make problematic children adaptation to school are established:(i) Parents who promote on some average children adaptation to school(ii) Parents who strongly promote children adaptation to school(iii) Parents who produce difficulties to children adaptation to schoolThose type profiles vary in particular according to the perceptions and representations parents have of their life conditions, their children difficulties at school, of family and social support they have or not, of the family socialization model they promote and of their commitment in school. The result of this research work will be better off being popularized to parents and teachers. Better, their being taken into account in strategies of early prevention of children’ difficulties in adaptation to school through professionals of education’s actions with families are so much paths of work that we will carry on with as a continuation of this research work.