A comparative study of the nature and extent of spouse abuse (as reflected by several measures) among black and white couples was conducted in order to compare the nature and extent of spousal violence between black and white couples across different social classes. The sample included 312 women, approximately equal in terms of racial and social class backgrounds, who were residing with their partners during this investigation. / The results showed significant differences between the proportion of black and white women who reported problems with physical and nonphysical abuse (ISA-P and ISA-NP) but there were no significant differences between the proportion of black and white women who reported husband to wife violence (HWV), short-ranged abuse (LSAS), long-ranged abuse (LLAS) and marital discord (IMS). A significantly larger proportion of lower class women than upper and middle class women reported spousal violence (as reflected by each measure), but the abused upper and middle class women reported more incidents of spousal violence. No significant differences were found in the proportion of spouse abuse and marital discord reported between the racial groups across social class levels. / The effects of race, social class and violence in the family of origin, over and above the effects of other variables, were examined for each measure of spouse abuse and marital satisfaction through Analysis of Covariance. After adjusting for the effects of the background variables, race had a significant effect on the ISA-P and ISA-NP scores, whereas social class did not have a significant effect on any of the measures after adjusting for race and the background variables. Violence in the family of origin had a significant effect on the IMS, HWV, ISA-P and ISA-NP scores after adjusting for the effects of the other variables in the analysis. The interaction between race, social class and violence in the family of origin had a significant effect on the HWV scores, after adjusting for the effects of the other variables in the analyses. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-07, Section: A, page: 2280. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The first purpose of the present study was to investigate differences between Asian-American and Caucasian mothers' psychological adaptation to having a child with developmental disabilities. A number of variables (initial stress, social support, coping strategies, value orientation, time since diagnosis of the child's disability, and socioeconomic status) thought to contribute to the adaptation were taken into account. The second purpose was to assess the relative contribution of each of the variables to maternal adaptation in each ethnic group. Finally, the unique effect of value orientation as a predictor of maternal adaptation was examined. / The subjects consisted of 37 Asian-American and 51 Caucasian mothers of children with developmental disabilities. They completed several self-report measures that were used to assess the variables of interests. / The results indicated that the Asian-American mothers of children with developmental disabilities were less well-adapted; experienced higher initial stress; received less support from persons outside the family; were more likely to accept the problem of having a child with developmental disabilities as a fact of life; and were less likely to express their emotions as a way of coping with the problem. The results further indicated that different variables were predictive of adaptation in the two ethnic groups. For the Asian-American mothers, value orientation, initial stress, and acceptance coping were the three predictors of maternal adaptation; for the Caucasian mothers, social support, value orientation, socioeconomic status, and distraction coping were the four predictors of adaptation. Finally, value orientation, a neglected element in the prevailing adaptation paradigm, turned out to contribute substantially to maternal adaptation even after several other variables that had previously been found to be more important in determining adaptation were statistically controlled. Implications of the findings for future research and social work interventions are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-11, Section: A, page: 4261. / Major Professor: Stanley Witkin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

In spite of growth of feminist family therapy literature in the last five years, the practice of feminist family therapy is unclear due to the diversity of therapeutic theories. The research question that guided this study was "What are feminist family therapists writing about the practice of feminist family therapy?" A panel of experts was asked to nominate representative literature about the practice of feminist family therapy. / Content analysis and grounded theory techniques were used to analyze the data. These techniques permitted descriptive depth so that the diversity of approach could be included but also provided a way to seek organizational clarity amid the diversity. A core or organizing category and considerable theoretical coherence across the fifty-six authors were discerned. However, weaknesses in feminist family therapy theory were revealed by the practice literature: (1) the role of men in egalitarian relationships is not clear; (2) power is only considered in terms of men's abuse of power, ignoring women's abuse of power and power abuses due to race or class; (3) while familial and societal causality is addressed, there often is vagueness regarding individual causality and responsibility; and (4) a deficit model approach to nontraditional family styles predominates in spite of efforts to the contrary. Suggestions are made for future research and ways to address these weaknesses. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-12, Section: A, page: 4599. / Major Professor: Thomas Edward Smith. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

This study compared Adult Children of Alcoholics and Adult Children of Non Alcoholics at two family life cycle stages; these included the Families with School Age Children Stage and the Families with Teenagers Stage. Respondents were compared in relation to family of origin health/pathology and family of procreation stress, functioning and quality of life. The theoretical framework included Systems and Family Development Theory. / The sample for the Families with School Age Children Stage included 90 Adult Children of Alcoholics and Adult Children of Non Alcoholics while the sample for the Families with Teenagers Stage also included 90 Adult Children of Alcoholics and Adult Children of Non Alcoholics. Subjects responded to a survey containing five instruments and a demographic section. The instruments utilized were the Family of Origin Scale, Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, Index of Family Relations, Family Assessment Device, and Quality of Life: Parent Form. / The study found significant differences between Adult Children of Alcoholics and Adult Children of Non Alcoholics in family of origin health/pathology and family of procreation stress, family functioning, and quality of life. The differences were found at both the Families with School Age Children Stage and the Families with Teenagers Stage of the Family Life Cycle. The integration of family of origin, family of procreation stress, and family of procreation functioning predicted quality of life for both Adult Children of Alcoholics and Adult Children of Non Alcoholics in the equations utilized. In addition, it was found that the differences in age when Adult Children of Alcoholics were exposed to alcoholism in the family of origin was significant for family of procreation stress for them. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-10, Section: A, page: 3689. / Major Professor: Carol Anderson Darling. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of AAME, a marital enrichment program for African American couples, on martial satisfaction. The major thesis was that racism, sexism, and incongruent gender role attitudes were the most salient factors in marital dissatisfaction among African American married couples. / The research design combined both single case and traditional group methodologies. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. The dependent variables were marital satisfaction and gender role attitudes. The independent variable was a cognitive-behavioral, psycho-educational, seven week course, culminating with a recommitment ceremony. The sample included eight middle class couples, married from 1-20 years. Each treatment condition included four couples. / Results indicated no statistically significant differences between groups. Qualitative interview data suggested congruence in gender role attitudes was an important factor in marital satisfaction. Furthermore, knowledge of the effects of racism and sexism on African American marriages seemed important in decreasing resentment and unresolved conflict between spouses. Single case data indicated symptoms of psychological distress decreased among experimental group subjects. / Future practice research should replicate the study with larger samples, and include greater heterogeneity of subjects' demographic characteristics. Future social policy and practice efforts should focus on marriage enrichment as a preventive health technology. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-08, Section: A, page: 2983. / Major Professor: Dianne H. Montgomery. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This study is intended to test two major hypotheses linking socioeconomic variables, intervening variables, and fertility. The first hypothesis states that under a higher level of socioeconomic development, the socioeconomic-fertility association is expected to be negative. The second hypothesis asserts that this association is mediated by several intervening variables (child loss, marital stability, age at marriage, and contraception). The 1987 Indonesian Demographic Health Survey data are analyzed, using regression analysis to test these hypotheses. / The study found that the socioeconomic variables included in this study, except for female labor force participation, did not behave as expected by the first hypothesis. Education has a curvilinear association with fertility, where fertility is low at zero years of education, then moves up at the incomplete primary level, declines a bit at the complete primary level, and finally declines again beyond the primary school level. This result is different from that found from the 1976 WFS data, which showed a positive education-fertility association. With respect to urban-rural residence, a positive relationship of urban residence to fertility was observed; the relationship is similar to that found in 1976 from the WFS data. The last socioeconomic variable, female labor force participation, was found to be negatively related to fertility; however, the differential effect of this variable has decreased. / Turning to the second hypothesis, the study found that three intervening variables incorporated into the final regression equation behaved as expected by the hypothesis. They showed a significant direct effect on fertility. In terms of the order of significance of these intervening variables, child loss experience ranks first, followed by marital stability and age at marriage in that order. The findings with regard to contraception are indeterminate. / The results suggest that social changes in Java are transforming the pattern of Javanese differential fertility to some extent. However, neither a modernization perspective or a family planning perspective can fully account for the transformations. It is necessary to explore other theoretical approaches in order to achieve a greater level of explanation of trends in differential fertility in Java. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-09, Section: A, page: 3602. / Major Professor: Charles B. Nam. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

A theoretical study has been conducted on the impact of mortality information on the number and quality of children that are produced by a household. The other decision making parameters included changes in the household's preferences, and changes in the efficiency of the household's decision making process. / The analysis indicates that it is neither reasonable nor meaningful to separate the procedural and calculated aspects of the decision making process that determines household fertility behavior. It is shown how changes in preferences, information, and processing ability will interact to determine a household's completed family size. / A recursive model of household fertility behavior is used to test the theory. Household fertility variables are the number of children ever born or the number of pregnancies. The child mortality variable is the number of fetal wastages. The hypotheses are that experienced child mortality would affect the household's fertility behavior in a systematic fashion; that the information imparted by a fetal wastage was non-specific; that fetal wastages would have a minimal impact on the household choice of completed family size; and that fetal wastage would have an appreciable impact on the total fertility level of the household. The associated null hypotheses are consistently rejected across the range of ordinary least squares regression that were performed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-02, Section: A, page: 0515. / Major Professor: Irvin Sobel. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role differences between rural and urban pastors, pastors' wives, clerks, and clerks' wives on indicators of burnout and marital adjustment. In addition, the purpose of this research was to develop a pool of information relevant to the future understanding and research of the differences between clergy families in rural and urban communities. Variables analyzed included burnout and marital adjustment. Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981) and marital adjustment was measured by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976). Role theory was employed as the primary conceptual framework. The sample consisted of 248 individuals composed of pastors, pastors' wives, clerks of sessions, and clerks' wives in urban and rural communities from the Presbyterian Church in America across the southeastern United States. / Data were obtained by means of mailed surveys to pastors and elders and were followed up by mailed postcards and telephone reminders. Data analysis supported findings of some previous research that pastors and their wives have a lower quality of life than clerk dyads. It was revealed, however, that distinctions need to be made according to type of community since the stresses surrounding them differ. Two way analysis of variance on husbands indicated significant main effects on both location and ecclesiastical role for Frequency of Personal Accomplishment. Results from t-tests revealed that rural pastors had a significantly higher mean on Frequency of Personal Accomplishment than rural clerks. However, there was no difference between urban pastors and urban clerks. Two way analysis of variance on wives indicated a significant interaction effect on the subscale Frequency of Personal Accomplishment. Results from t-tests revealed that urban clerks' wives had s significantly higher mean than urban pastors' wives, but that rural pastors' wives had a significantly higher mean than rural clerks' wives. Higher scores on personal accomplishment indicate a greater sense of accomplishment about one's role. Raw regression coefficients on age for husbands indicated that as age increases levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization decrease while marital adjustment and personal accomplishment levels increase. Results on age for wives revealed that as age increases emotional exhaustion and depersonalization decrease. It was observed, however, that marital adjustment and personal accomplishment decrease with age noting that wives experience a lower quality of life than husbands with the increase of age. Means on the MBI subscale Emotional Exhaustion Frequency indicated that rural pastor's wives were more emotionally exhausted than both rural and urban pastors. / Additional demographic comparisons and hypothesis testing led to conclusions that rural pastoral couples have a lower quality of life than urban pastoral couples. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: A, page: 2669. / Major Professor: Calvin E. Zongker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

This study explored a clinical population on the issue of forced-marital sex to determine its incidence, its relationship to husband-to-wife physical violence and the effect gender socialization of the wife had on how she labeled the abuse or discussed it with a therapist. Clinical members of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy in Florida (N = 95) presented questionnaires to their female therapy clients (N = 541) who anonymously returned them to the researcher. The scales used in the instrument were the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979) to measure the variable of violence, the Sexual Experience Survey (Koss & Oros, 1982) to measure sexual abuse, and the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Spence, Helmreich & Stapp, 1973) to measure sex-role attitudes. The therapists were white (99%) with a mean age of 48 and primarily worked in private practice settings (75%). The client sample reported a mean age of 40, a mean education of 14.9 years and a mean income level between $30,--40,000 (combined husband and wife). Results showed 33\% reported husband-to-wife violence and 26\% reported rape experiences, with more being raped in marriage (15\%) than outside that relationship (11\%). Of those raped by someone other than their husband, 60\% were by someone known to the victim. Of the subjects who had experienced marital rape, 64% occurred in physically violent marriages, while 37% were reported in otherwise non-violent relationships. Traditional sex role attitudes of the woman made it more likely she would experience forced-marital sex (p $<$.05) but did not significantly influence whether or not she labeled the experience rape nor whether she discussed it with a therapist. The strongest indicators of forced marital sex were couple conflict and husband violence (p $<$.001). How the clients discussed their abuse with a therapist was explored. Implications for researchers and family therapists are presented. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 4115. / Major Professor: Calvin E. Zongker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationships between the marital satisfaction and self esteem of bereaved parents and the following four factors related to the child's death: (a) the amount of forewarning the parents had of the child's death, (b) the time since the child's death, (c) the degree to which parents perceived their spouse to be responsible for the child's death, and (d) the degree to which the parents perceived themselves to be responsible for the child's death. The pile up of family life stress was included in this study as a control variable. / One hundred and eleven bereaved parents participated in this study. The parents were recruited from local chapters of Compassionate Friends in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. The data were gathered through self administered questionnaires. The findings were analyzed in the aggregate with the aid of multivariate analyses of covariance and multivariate correlations. / The results from this study revealed several relationships that shed light on the experiences of these bereaved parents. First, it was noted that a decline in marital satisfaction following the death of a child was related to an increase in the amount of time since the child's death. Second, there was evidence of a relationship between high self esteem and a high degree of perceived self responsibility for the child's death. Third, a relationship was revealed between the pile up of family life stress and the marital satisfaction and self esteem of these parents. The more stress the parents reported, the lower their marital satisfaction and self esteem. There was no support from these data for a relationship between the amount of forewarning of the child's death and the parents' marital satisfaction or self esteem. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-10, Section: A, page: 3171. / Major Professor: Mary Hicks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.