This study investigates the transactional relationship between father involvement and adolescent self-disclosure from early to midadolescence. Four hundred and ninety-six adolescents reported on their general self-disclosure to fathers, and mothers reported on father involvement behaviors and maternal involvement behaviors at ages 11, 13, and 15. Results from a longitudinal cross-lagged model indicated a unidirectional relationship from father involvement to child self-disclosure in both early and midadolescence, and a transactional relationship from adolescent self-disclosure to father involvement in early adolescence. A multiple group analysis by gender revealed that both unidirectional and transactional relationships were significant for boys only. Future research efforts should be sensitive to developmental changes and gender differences within father-child communication processes across adolescence.

This was a descriptive study of 140 volunteer therapists in the Richmond, Virginia metropolitan area who identified themselves as either "brief" or "time-unlimited" in their practice of marital therapy. The sample, predominantly female and highly educated, had a mean age of 46.9 years.;For the purpose of this study, brief marital therapy was defined as eight or fewer therapeutic sessions within a 3-month period, and time-unlimited marital therapy was designated as therapy lasting longer than eight sessions or over 3 months. There were 60 self-identified brief marital therapists (BMTs) and 73 self-identified time-unlimited marital therapists (TUMTs). Subjects completed four instruments, including the "style" questionnaire, the active-directiveness subscale, and two instruments developed by the researcher. The specific variables under consideration were active-directiveness of the therapist, therapeutic goals, and duration of treatment.;Results revealed a high degree of similarity between BMTs and TUMTs regarding theoretical orientation, style, interventions, aim of therapy, and length and scheduling of sessions. Despite their similarities, therapists endorsed items consistent with their identification as either a BMT or TUMT. Thus BMTs, compared to TUMTs, were more active-directive, employed more limited, modest goals, and utilized fewer sessions. Therefore, it was concluded from the present findings that there was a significant difference between BMTs and TUMTs on the variables under scrutiny.

The purpose of this study was to validate a model of Structural Family Therapy promulgated by M. S. Sale and Thomas Hendren and in use by many public agencies in the Commonwealths of Virginia and North Carolina since 1981.;The Newport News Department of Social Services was chosen as the main site for the investigation as this author had learned the model while working there; and at the time the research began, all social workers at the agency were being trained in the model. Many middle to lower class SES clients were receiving SFT at the time for a variety of referral reasons--child abuse/neglect, marital or family issues, divorce mediation, etc.;Since the model's authors believed that changes in the control/nurture dimension was the most important for clients to demonstrate success in therapy, measuring changes in that dimension was chosen as a way to validate the model. It was hypothesized that after 10 therapy sessions (1) pretest and posttest measures of control and nurture using the Firo-B and FES would not agree with the therapist's predictions of where the clients were functioning along that dimension and (2) pretest and posttest measures of control and nurture by each instrument would not show any significant differences.;It was concluded that there was no significant agreement between the test predictions and the therapist predictions. Also concluded was that there were no significant differences between the pretest and posttest measures of control and nurture for either test.;Further study is needed to pre-validate the instruments, to increase the sample size and to test the effect of increasing the number of sessions that clients receive between pretest and posttest.

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, impact families have on the academic achievement of African American gifted learners from low income environments. This grounded theory study was designed to explore family and student perceptions of a complex set of variables related to families and home environments. The variables explored were based on a conceptual framework developed from previous research related to social capital and its uses within families with limited economic resources. Study participants were junior and senior level high school students and their parents.;Instruments included a demographic questionnaire with open-ended questions, a researcher-developed interview protocol and the Moos Family Environment Scale. Based on the findings, certain 'social capital' resources were revealed: family cohesion; strong relationships with mothers; family to student discussions related to education and positive achievement; the role of the extended family (particularly aunts and cousins); emphasis on religious identity development; and the role of fathers are noted as having impact on school achievement. Another notable source of capital revealed was the intrinsic motivation and resilience of each of the students based on parent and student responses to interview questions.;The most pronounced findings were the role of the mother as nurturer and encourager; the flexible role of extended family members who provide additional support; the emphasis within the households on positive achievement orientation, and certain family traditions which taken together form a cohesive, supportive family environment, even in the midst of challenging life circumstances. In addition to the social capital provided by families, this study also revealed other sources of positive impact including special school-based programs and internal traits. Implications for future research include the design of a controlled study of African American families of gifted students utilizing the Moos & Moos Family Environment Scale (FES), a study of the support structure provided by mothers of gifted learners across a variety of cultural contexts, and study of the intrinsic motivation and resilience of at-risk African American gifted learners. Implications for educational practice include improving professional development for educators, family and parent education programs, and enhancing guidance and counseling programs for African American and other culturally diverse gifted learners.

This study builds on previous research regarding parent-child religious conversations to explore the elements and bidirectional processes of parent-adolescent religious conversations. It employs qualitative analyses of interviews with highly religious parents and adolescents representing the major Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) from New England and Northern California. Variations in content, structure, conversational processes, and bidirectional influence are summarized in a conceptual model. Findings suggest that the quality of conversations is greater for parents and adolescents when they are youth-centered than when they are parent-centered.

Hurricane Katrina has profoundly altered the lives of New Orleans residents as they continue three years following the storm to attempt to rebuild their community and their lives. Natural disaster literature has historically focused on the impacts on individuals and correlating variables. Significant literature gaps exist regarding family systems and disaster and analysis of the relationship of social class to recovery. This qualitative investigation situated in an emancipatory paradigm investigated the relationship between social class and family changes for seven Katrina families self-identified as members of marginalized social classes. Study conclusions reveal significant shifts in family identities and a strong relationship between social class perceptions and family recovery experiences. Additionally, data indicates participation was an emancipatory experience for study families.

This study described spousal reactions to loss following a cancer related death. Anticipatory grieving behaviors and variables unique to cancer were examined using Lazarus' cognitive appraisal paradigm. An interview which focused on self-reported changes in thoughts and feelings from time of diagnosis to the time of the death was administered by the researcher to thirty men and/or women whose spouses had died from cancer over the past two and a half years.;Individual responses to the interview questions were categorized according to type of response. The findings suggest that the majority of men and/or women whose spouses have died from a cancer related death over the past two and a half years experienced changes in thoughts and feelings about the death from the time of diagnosis to the time of death as a result of the nature of the disease. The changes in thoughts and feelings followed a variety of patterns, most commonly, a change from being realistic about the outcome to wishing that the spouse would die. Forty percent of the subjects indicated that their thoughts and feeling remained unchanged throughout the illness.;The findings also suggest that most men and/or women whose spouses have died from a cancer related death discuss death and dying with their spouse, were preoccupied with thoughts of their spouse's death, and experienced changes in their personal roles. Almost half of the sample utilized do not appear to experience changes in their thoughts and feelings regarding spousal death as a result of anticipatory grieving behaviors.;The findings also suggest that men and/or women whose spouses have died from a cancer related death experience feelings of sadness, disbelief, guilt, confusion, longing, anxiety, and relief at the time of spousal death. They do not appear to experience a loss of faith at the time of spousal death. Some of the men and/or women interviewed expressed feelings of happiness, peace, and intense relief at the time of spousal death resulting from cancer.

This study examined the relationship between parenting, adolescent personality, and adolescent optimism. Four hundred and eighty families with at least one adolescent child in the Seattle, Washington area completed a series of questionnaires assessing parenting style, personality, and optimism. Results from hierarchical regression analyses indicated that there is a small, yet significant, portion of the variance in optimism explained by parenting and personality individually, but that the relationship between optimism, parenting, and personality dynamics is far more complex than originally anticipated. Further research is needed to examine the nature of these relationships and to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the predictors of optimism.

The purpose of this study was to determine the implementation status of Response to Intervention (RtI) in the elementary schools (N = 35) in one urban school district in Virginia. The relationship between the implementation of the academic components of RtI, collective efficacy, parents' trust in schools, the number of referrals for special education, and student achievement was also investigated. The factor analysis revealed that RtI for Academics included Universal Screening, Effective Instruction/Tiered Interventions, and Progress Monitoring. Family Involvement was determined to be a separate construct made up of two factors, Family Engagement and Physical Presence. The implementation status of this district indicated that the schools were between early and full implementation of RtI for Academics. RtI for Academics was found to be significantly correlated with teachers' perceptions of the impact of RtI on the reduction of the number of referrals for special education (r = .41, p < .05) when controlling for the socio-economic status of the students. The district mean score for Family Engagement indicated that parents are engaged in their children's education. Parents' responses regarding their Physical Presence in the schools ranged from neutral to agree. In this study, Family Engagement was found to be significantly correlated with Physical Presence, collective efficacy, and parents' trust in schools. Parents' Trust was found to be made up of four factors: (1) Trust in the Teacher, (2) Trust in Administration, (3) Trust in High Standards, and (4) Trust in School Safety. Finally, the Multiple Regression revealed that these variables when found collectively in schools explain 27% of the variance in student achievement.

An extensive review of the literature on foster parent effectiveness yielded only one study (Horner and Ray, 1990) specifically focusing on "treatment" foster parents. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between moral and ego development and treatment foster parent effectiveness and attitudes. The Defining Issues Test, Washington University Sentence Completion Test, and Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory were administered to 103 treatment foster parents and the Treatment Foster Parent Effectiveness Scale was completed for each of the foster parents by their primary caseworker. The design was descriptive utilizing correlational comparisons between each of the variables. Additionally, the variables were considered in combination with demographic variables: gender, age, race, marital status, education, and foster parenting experience.;Treatment foster parents who exhibited higher levels of moral reasoning were more likely to display more appropriate and nurturing parenting attitudes. The ability to empathize was found to be positively related to treatment foster parents' overall effectiveness as well as their level of ego and moral development. The results also suggest that treatment foster parents may have more nurturing and appropriate attitudes than "regular" foster parents. Treatment foster mothers also displayed more appropriate and nurturing attitudes than treatment foster fathers. The findings from this study coupled with previous research linking higher cognitive developmental stage with more effective teaching, parenting, and counseling skills substantiate a rationale for applying a cognitive developmental framework for screening, training, supervising, and developing treatment foster parents.