Family therapists have proposed that specific types of family interactions are dysfunctional for the family system and can produce long-term negative effects for the child. They further propose that, for healthy family functioning to be maintained, parental alliances must be sustained and excessive cross-generational coalitions (parent-child alliances) must be blocked. This fundamental assumption, proposed by family therapists, has rarely been empirically tested. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between family interactional patterns and the misconduct of adolescent males. Misconduct by the adolescent was defined by the youth having contact with the police due to delinquent behavior. Specifically, this study was concerned with determining if cross-generational coalitions, witnessed in parent-child interactions, were predictive of later antisocial behavior on the part of the adolescent while controlling for family structure, family problem solving, marital satisfaction, parental conflict, and child externality. Subjects were 68 families consisting of mother, father or stepfather, and son. The first family interaction assessment took place in 1984-1985 when the child was 9.7 years old. The second assessment of family interaction occurred two years later. Follow-up data on the adolescent's delinquent behavior, assessed through county court records, was last collected in 1991 when subjects were 15 to 16 years old. Families were paid for their participation as part of their involvement in a larger study (Capaldi & Patterson, 1987). The results of logistic and multiple regression analyses indicated no association between parent-child coalitions and occurrence or the severity of delinquent behavior. Both analyses did, however, find that family problem-solving skills and a non-intact family structure were significant predictors of later delinquency and of the severity of the delinquency by the adolescent. / Graduation date: 1993

There is emerging evidence of the significance of paternal mental health problems as well as its influence on spouses and children. However, current research attention mainly focuses on paternal postpartum depression. The present study aims at determining the prevalence of paternal mental health problems, identifying risk factors and the relationship among various risk factors across different stages of pregnancy and the postpartum period. In particular, it attempts to examine the significance of gender role and traditionalism-modernity as personality traits for paternal mental health problems in the perinatal period as well as fill the current gap in knowledge on the impact of paternal mental health problems on paternal-fetal attachment. Given the relative lack of data in the existing literature, the present study involved two phases of investigation combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to provide a more systematic understanding on the nature of paternal mental health problems. In phase 1, a qualitative study was conducted on 31 expectant fathers as the hypothesis-generating ground work. Subsequently, a total of 622 expectant couples were recruited and followed up in a large-scale survey in Phase 2. Expectant couples were recruited from regional antenatal clinics in Tsan Yuk Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital. In the quantitative component, the expectant couples were assessed using standardized and validated psychological instruments on 3 time points including early pregnancy, late pregnancy and six week postpartum. The results showed that a significant proportion of expectant fathers manifested anxiety, and depressive symptoms, high level of perceived stress, psychosomatic symptoms, fatigue and tobacco consumption during the perinatal period. Different demographic risk factors for the outcome variables varied across different time points. Psychosocial risk factors were consistently associated with outcome variables in different time points. Maternal depression and anxiety were not only predictors of paternal psychological distress but also the predictor of higher level of paternal psychosomatic symptoms and fatigue severity. Gender role and Traditionalism-modernity were found to be significant moderators for paternal mental health problems. Undifferentiated, masculine fathers and fathers who adhere to traditional values were at higher risk of mental health problems during the transition of fatherhood. A mixed effect model analysis showed that paternal anxiety, depression and psychosomatic symptoms changes over time and was higher during the antenatal period. The relationships between paternal and maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms were significant across different time points even after controlling for confounding factors and the correlations were found to be strongest at six weeks postpartum. Findings also showed that paternal mental health problems had a detrimental effect on paternal-fetal bonding from antenatal to postpartum period. The present study points to the need for greater research and clinical attention to paternal mental health problems given that paternal mental health problems is a highly prevalent problem with changing course and is related to maternal well-being and paternal-fetal attachment. The present findings contributes to theoretical basis of the relationships of personality traits, risk factors and mental health problems and have implications for the design of effective identification, prevention, and interventions of these clinical problems. / published_or_final_version / Psychiatry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [75]-82).

Thesis (doctoral)--Malmo University, Sweden, 2005. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Malmo University, Sweden, 2005. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the applicability of a model of bereavement to the long-term adjustment to loss. Based on Allen's (1990) model, it was predicted that the variables experienced competence, perceived resources, and the impact of the loss would contribute strongly to overall long-term bereavement adjustment. It was also predicted that time and multiple losses would impact adjustment to loss.

The effect of changes in employment hours on changes in household task hours was studied. Data were used from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) waves one and two. Wave one was a probability sample of 13,017 age 19 and older in the United States who were interviewed in person in 1987-88. Wave two consisted of the original NSFH sample who were reinterviewed five years later in 1992-94. A subsample of 1233 men and women was created by selecting employed men and women who were continuously married to the same spouse, lived in the same household, and had a least one biological child under 18 living in the household at wave one and wave two. After controlling for age in years, education in years, race, wage rate, and age of youngest child, the subsample was used to determine if changes in employment hours caused changes in household task hours. Household task hours were categorized by feminine, masculine, and neutral, as well as total household task hours. Lag regression analysis without gender interaction effects found that a one hour increase in employment hours caused a sixteen minute decrease in total household tasks hours, a twelve minute decrease in feminine household task hours, and a two minute decrease in neutral household tasks among married men and women with children. Lag regression analysis with gender interaction effects found that a one hour increase in employment hours caused a sixteen minute decrease in total household tasks hours and a fourteen minute decrease for married women with children only. No statistically significant relationship between changes in employment hours and changes in any category of household tasks hours was found for married men with children when gender interactions were controlled. The results of this study supports the interaction of time availability and gender in explaining changes in household tasks hours. / Graduation date: 2001

published_or_final_version / Business / Master / Master of Philosophy

Efficacy, cohesion, and sport performance have been shown to vary longitudinally (Carron et al., 2002; Shea & Howell, 2000). Tripartite efficacy is a specific area concerning efficacy beliefs within dyads that has recently grown in popularity (Jackson et al., 2013); yet no longitudinal research of intra-dyad beliefs exists. This case study examined longitudinal variations of tripartite efficacy beliefs, cohesion, and individual performances of six basketball players on a high school team over seven data collection points during a competitive season. The results indicated similar variations between participants' tripartite efficacy components and individual performance, and different variations between self-efficacy and cohesion beliefs. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

This study was designed to investigate the sustainable academic benefits of a full time kindergarten experience beyond the kindergarten year with additional consideration of the relationship between productive learning behaviors and ongoing academic advantage. The study was conducted across four elementary schools that housed both alternating full day and daily full day kindergarten programs. The initial sample consisted of 321 students enrolled in either daily full day or alternating full day kindergarten during the 2001-2002 school year, which decreased, through attrition, to a total of 198 students enrolled in fourth grade during the 2005-2006 school year. Student academic achievement was measured using a combination of criterion referenced skill assessments, standardized test measures, and a teacher-rated social behavior scale. Hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance using chi square analyses, multivariate and univariate analyses of variance, and correlation and regression analyses.The findings indicated that by the end of the kindergarten year, full day kindergarten students outperformed their alternating day peers in both reading and mathematics. However, as measured at the beginning of the second grade year, the academic gains realized during the kindergarten year had dissipated. By the beginning of the fourth grade year, there was no difference in achievement across program types in mathematics, while a significant achievement difference was found in English/language arts, with alternating full day students outperforming their daily full day peers. Further, during the third and fourth grade years, there was a significant interaction between gender and student achievement for the cohort, with significant differences by gender and the combined effect of gender/kindergarten type on social learning behaviors. While the data established a significant, positive relationship between competent social behavior and academic achievement regardless of gender for students from both program types, boys who attended daily full day kindergarten demonstrated significantly less productive social behavior than did boys from the alternating day program and girls from the daily full day program. For those who attended daily full day kindergarten, lower social behavior ratings predicted depressed academic achievement in English/language arts well beyond the kindergarten year. / Department of Educational Leadership