This study compared the impact of normative and nonnormative types of death on the surviving family member's quality of life. Bereavement, family typology, level of stress, and level of coping were examined for their ability to explain the surviving family member's quality of life. The theoretical framework included Family Stress Theory, Family Development Theory, and General Systems Theory. / The sample for the study included 149 normative and nonnormative death surviving family members. Subjects responded to a survey containing six instruments and a demographic section. The instruments were the Grief Experience Questionnaire, Family Bonding Index, Family Flexibility Index, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale, Impact of Events Scale, and General Contentment Scale. / The study found that the normative group had less intense bereavement experiences, less stress, and better quality of life than family members who survived nonnormative deaths. This investigation also found that males had less intense bereavement experiences, less stress, and better quality of life than did females in the sample. The integration of bereavement, family bonding, family flexibility, level of stress, and level of coping was found to be explanative of the surviving family member's quality of life who had survived a normative or nonnormative type of death. Having combined bereavement, family bonding, family flexibility, level of stress, and level of coping, a path analysis was conducted utilizing both restricted and saturated causal models. These models explained the impact of normative and nonnormative types of death on the surviving family member's quality of life. In a comparison of the models, the nonnormative restricted and saturated causal models were better predictors of the impact of death on surviving family member's quality of life. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-06, Section: A, page: 2121. / Major Professor: Carol Anderson Darling. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This study provided a synthesis of the theoretical, clinical, and empirical foundations for the "use of self" in marriage and family therapy. Consideration is given to the therapist's family of origin, psychotherapy for psychotherapists, and the use of self disclosure in therapy. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the "use of self" skills delineated in the Person-in-Practice Model developed by Aponte and Winter (1987a) with the goal of understanding the person and systems the therapist brings to therapeutic interaction. The dependent variable, therapist effectiveness, was measured utilizing the Counselor Rating Form (Barak & LaCrosse, 1975). Therapist skills were quantified using the Family Therapist Rating Scale (Piercy, Laird, & Mohammed, 1983). Family cohesion was established from the Family Environment Scale (Moos, 1986). This exploratory study was based on principles of model development with the goal of testing the model to identify those skills thought to be predictors of therapeutic effectiveness. / The population studied consisted of 11 doctoral students in the Interdivisional Program in Marriage and Family at The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. The 11 therapists provided 25 videotaped therapy sessions to be rated. Six advanced doctoral students served as raters and were trained to rate their perceptions of therapist effectiveness in videotapes. / The statistical analysis was conducted using a canonical correlation to determine the multivariate effect. Stepwise regression was used to determine the significance of predictor variables, with family cohesion entered initially. / The results indicated no significant relationships between the rater's perception of the use of structuring, relationship, historical, structural/process, or experiential skills by the therapist and the client's perception of therapeutic effectiveness. Further, stepwise regression revealed no significant relationship among the predictor variables and therapist effectiveness. / Although the hypotheses tested did not prove to be statistically significant, the study has implications for further research. This study is an initial step toward advancing family therapy to an arena where the therapist is considered an integral part of the family system. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-05, Section: A, page: 1898. / Major Professor: Nicholas Mazza. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Ethnic differentials in birth outcome are significant. Currently, a black infant is at twice the risk of dying before age one than either a non-Hispanic white or an Hispanic infant. The role of culture has received little attention as a determinant of infant mortality. / Culture is defined as an "evaluative conversation constructed by actors out of the raw materials afforded by tradition and ongoing experience" (Hammel, 1990). This definition is consistent with that of race and ethnicity as socially constructed concepts (Bean and Tienda, 1987; Hummer, 1993a). Thus, it is argued that some observed differences related to infant mortality among ethnic groups result from different cultural backgrounds. / Family structure, arguably a cultural characteristic, is expected to have an impact on birth outcome. The linkages between family structure and birth outcome are availability of financial resources and role models for observational learning (Bandura, 1977). Ethnic differences in the likelihood of births to unwed mothers is also viewed as culturally based. Leslie (1995) suggests that African and African American culture views out-of-wedlock births as "mistakes", not as "sins". Thus, unwed motherhood represents a "normative" state when viewed from an Afrocentric perspective. The final cultural variable, financial aid from relatives, is included to partially compensate for the fact that our primary family composition measure is household-based. / Cultural, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status are seen as prior determinants of birth outcome. Intermediate factors include socio-demographic characteristics, maternal behaviors and attitudes, and maternal health. Proximate determinants are health care and infant birth weight. The outcome variable is infant mortality which is grouped into three categories: (1) lived, (2) died from endogenous causes, and (3) died from exogenous causes. / The model is tested using the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey. Logistic regression is used to fit the data to the model. / This dissertation contributes to the study of infant mortality by conceptually linking cultural practices and behaviors to birth outcomes. It develops a multidimensional set of household-based family structure variables and conceptually links them to birth outcome. It tests the existence of these linkages on samples of non-Hispanic whites, blacks, and Mexican Americans, the three largest ethnic groups in the U.S. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3326. / Major Professor: Isaac W. Eberstein. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

A review of David Olson's Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems and accompanying scales used to measure his model, Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES) and Clinical Rating Scale (CRS), reveal evidence of multiple construct confounding. Therefore, the primary purpose of this dissertation was to create a refined, linear measure of cohesion or interpersonal warmth. The FACES II, Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PAC), McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), and thermometer subscales were used to test the construct validity of the new instrument. The new instrument was then used to test the hypotheses that (a) adaptability is better conceptualized as a subscale of the refined cohesion construct and that (b) the curvilinear construct of enmeshment is better conceptualized as a combination of multiple linear constructs that correlate in both a positive and negative fashion creating pseudocurvilinear results. / The new instrument was constructed using data from 1649 male and female participants from 8 states ages 13 to 71. The psychometric properties of the new measure and hypotheses of the dissertation were tested using 475 female and male undergraduate students. / Results indicate that the new instrument has high test retest and internal consistency reliability. There was also strong evidence for content and construct validity. Adaptability was found to be highly correlated with cohesion and the new instrument. Ideal and dysfunctional measures of the new instrument subscales support the conclusion that enmeshment is better conceptualized as consisting of multiple linear constructs. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: B, page: 0518. / Major Professor: Charles H. Madsen, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purposes of the study were: (1) to examine the perceptions of students across a number of socio-economic and demographic categories; (2) to gauge their satisfaction with home responsibilities and attitude toward family; and (3) to identify perception of teachers' expectations as they related to student's expectation to graduate. Of particular interest was the pattern of interrelationship on selected variables for Hispanic female students as an ethnic-gender group, when compared to Hispanic males, non-Hispanic females, non-Hispanic males and all others. The variables included in this study were: satisfaction with home responsibilities; attitude toward family; student's perception of teachers' expectations; and student's expectation to graduate. / The study sample consisted of 406 eighth grade students enrolled in an urban public school. The six schools were chosen by stratified random sampling. All of the eighth graders were surveyed including the limited-English-proficient, bilingual (Spanish) and students with learning disabilities. A questionnaire was developed and administered, which provided the basis on which to measure the four variables of interest in this study. / Five multiple regression models developed and analysed. The significance of the regression co-efficient were assessed the Alpha value of.05. / Results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that for the entire population, all three independent variables were found to be significant. For Hispanic Females, the variables Student's Satisfaction with Home Responsibilities and Student's Expectation to Graduate were found to be significant. For Hispanic Males, only Student's Expectation to Graduate was found to be significant. Other Females the variables, Student's Attitude toward family and Student's Expectation to Graduate were found to be significant. Like the Hispanic Males, Other males also found Student's Perception of Teacher's Expectation to be significant. For All Other Groups (combination of Hispanic Males, Other Females, and Other Males) the variable Student's Perception of Teachers' Expectations was found to be significant. / The results of this study seem to indicate that there is an interrelationship between home and school values as they related to the expectations of Hispanic females to graduate from high school. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1541. / Major Professor: Byron Massialas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The purpose of this study was to expand on the understanding of those college students involved with sexual aggression and victimization. This study determined groups of aggressors, non-aggressors, victims and non-victims for the purpose of establishing contrasts according to certain variables. The independent variables were levels of sexual aggression and victimization. The primary dependent variables were rape supportive beliefs and beliefs in traditional sex roles. The study also examined the factors of age, gender, year in college, religious background, race, and previous consensual sexual activity to determine contrasts between aggressors, non-aggressors, victims and non-victims. / The sample was a random cluster sample consisting of 669 college students (353 males, 316 females) surveyed in their classes. The Sex Role Stereotyping Scale (Burt, 1980) was used to measure belief in traditional sex roles. The Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Burt, 1980) was used to measure rape supportive beliefs. The Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss & Oros, 1982) was used to determine various degrees of sexual aggression and victimization. / No significant differences were found between non-aggressors and aggressors on the dependent variables of rape supportive beliefs, beliefs in traditional sex roles, age or year in college. Aggressors were found to have stronger rape supportive beliefs, stronger beliefs in traditional sex roles, and a higher mean year in college than the victims. Differences between aggressors and victims were explained more so by difference in sex than by difference in involvement with sexual aggression. The non-victims had stronger beliefs in traditional sex roles and were younger than the victims. All males and females involved at some level with sexual aggression or victimization were not significantly different with those not involved at all with sexual aggression or victimization on the dependent variables of religious background and race. However, proportionately more students involved in sexual aggression or victimization reported having had consensual sex experiences than did those students not involved in sexual aggression or victimization. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-06, Section: B, page: 3446. / Major Professor: Barbara A. Mann. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

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The idea that work-shy Western Europeans and work-crazed Americans differ fundamentally in their orientations to working life and private life has gained wide currency on both sides of the Atlantic within the social science community, spawning rafts of studies charting differences in aggregate time use patterns and work value orientations. Taking an experiential perspective on the behaviors and orientations constitutive of working life and private life, my dissertation approaches the question of cross-national and transatlantic difference from a novel standpoint. Drawing on over one hundred and fifty in-depth interviews with comparable elite professionals, the dissertation carries out a three-way case study of the experiential divergences and convergences between the working lives and private lives of comparable French, Norwegian, and American elite professionals working and living in Paris, Oslo, and San Francisco. / The dissertation examines the ways these three groups organize and experience their working lives and their private lives by exploring convergences and divergences relating to a number of analytical dimensions. The study contrasts their daily work routines, their temporal zoning practices, their career pathways and aspirations, their romantic partners' occupational profiles, as well as their ways of talking about work, work effort, and leisure. Capitalizing on my unique body of data, the dissertation reveals the forms which these various practices and orientations take in these three distinctive societal environments. / The dissertation's findings add a new dimension to the ongoing debates around overwork, extreme work, and work-life strain among managers and professionals. The study's comparative findings reveal important differences in the ways that comparable populations of elite French, Norwegian, and American managers and professionals working in similarly high-stakes, rewarding, and remunerative jobs constitute working life and private life. Relative to their American or French counterparts, elite Norwegian managers and professionals treat their working lives as a less greedy life realm, responding to a social and cultural environment which acts in very specific ways to inhibit the kind of extreme work habits which run rampant in these two other societal contexts. / While both the French and American elite managers and professionals engage in extreme working, this way of working assumes somewhat different forms in the two societal contexts. The extreme work of the American managers and professionals is driven by a deep-seated desire to perform well in a competition over money and personal status. By contrast, the extreme work of the French managers and professionals issues from an attachment to an occupational identity defined through membership in a recognized social and cultural elite. This identity is strengthened and reinforced by a surprisingly strong tendency for the male French elite professionals to pair up with occupationally matched women pursuing their own demanding careers. / Just as the dissertation provides a rich and nuanced picture of working life among these three groups of managers and professionals, it illuminates the complex linkages between extreme work among managers and professionals, on the one hand, and facets of societal context, on the other hand. Analyzing these connections from a variety of theoretical perspectives, the dissertation reveals the sources of these differences in stratification cultures, gender cultures, systems of elite education, and patterns of romantic and family life.

The following dissertation looks at individuals who have transitioned out of the teenage or adolescent years yet have not fully established themselves as independent adults in order to address the question of religion's role in shaping behavior. Despite previous research considering the connections between religion and alcohol consumption, theoretical insights into the mechanisms that link religion and substance use or abuse remain incomplete. This dissertation primarily examines the influence of religion and religious practice on alcohol consumption among 18 to 25 year olds. With religion as the principal factor under investigation, this work also looks at social and familial context to further understand the competing factors that affect patterns of consumption. Using data from all three waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), which is a comprehensive investigation into the religious lives of American youth, I argue that religious belief and participation contributes something unique to the lives of young adults that shapes the way they behave in positive ways.

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