The aim of the present research was to experimentally test Blood and Wolfe's resource theory of family power according to which it is the comparative socioeconomic resources rather than tradition that form the bases of conjugal power. The technique used in two studies comprised presenting decision-making situations, in the form of scenarios contained in booklets, to male and female students at Florida State University and examine their perceptions of these situations. The scenarios depicted husbands and wives with comparatively greater, equal, and lesser resources (in terms of their occupational status) engaged in family decision-making. / Six decision tasks, including renting an apartment/buying a house, relocation because of a lucrative job offer, purchase of furniture, place of vacation, color preferences for the car to be bought, and TV program to be watched, were used to write the scenarios used in the two studies. / Study I addressed the question "what decision-making outcomes would be expected when decision-making situations were presented to subjects in scenarios with no outcomes. The question asked in Study II was what reasons subjects would assign to outcomes in scenarios when they were provided with their outcomes. In addition to writing their responses to scenarios with respect to their outcomes (Study I) and reasons (Study II), subjects also rated the importance of decisions to the couples. / The subjects often perceived a spouse with no obvious resources or with comparatively less economic resources as having his/her way on decision-making scenarios presented without their outcomes. They also perceived decision-making process often resulting into compromise and conciliation. Another finding of this research was that subjects perceived the scenarios to vary in importance. In short, the findings of this research lend minimal support to resource theory. According to the subjects' perceptions, such factors as whose domain of interest (husband's or wife's) a decision falls in, consideration for peace in the home, nature of entity involved, and personal qualities and sex roles appeared to be playing a more significant role than socioeconomic resources in patterning marital decision-making. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: B, page: 2598. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4561. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the personality characteristics of dominance and submissiveness on the communication patterns of women in mixed-sex dyads. / A criterion group design was used, with the criterion of dominance determined by the Dominance (Do) and Dependency (Dy) scales on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Forty female college students were randomly assigned (within the classification of dominant or submissive) to mixed-sex dyads with either dominant or submissive male confederates. Four groups were thus formed which included: Group 1, dominant female subjects with dominant male confederates; Group 2, dominant female subjects with submissive male confederates; Group 3, submissive female subjects with dominant male confederates; and Group 4, submissive female subjects with submissive male confederates. A 2 x 2 factorial design was employed in the analysis of the data. The dyads were given an exercise on reducing campus crime to generate data on their communication patterns and attitudes toward the process, the outcome, and their partners in the exercise. Audiotapes of the discussions were analyzed using the Allred Interaction Analysis (AIA). / The results indicated that submissive women with submissive partners used a smaller percentage (p < .05) of vertical statements (18%) than did dominant women interacting with dominant partners (34%) or with submissive partners (35%). There was also a significant difference (p <. 001) in whose choices were used first the joint ranking of the best ideas for reducing campus crime. In those dyads containing a dominant man, almost all (19 of 20) chose the man's ideas first. In dyads containing a submissive man, however, both partners' choices were selected (13 of 20 used the woman's choices first). There was a significant subject by confederate interaction effect (p < .01) regarding the subjects' expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the discussion. Groups 2, 3, and 4 (dominant-submissive, submissive-dominant, submissive-submissive) expressed greater satisfaction with the outcome than did those subjects in Group 1 (dominant-dominant). The results of Factor III (Activity) and Factor IV (Dynamism) of the semantic differential form substantiated that the experimental conditions were met by the confederates. / Implications for both future research and practice with individuals, couples, and families were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, Section: B, page: 1236. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-06, Section: B, page: 2893. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-08, Section: B, page: 4233. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-08, Section: B, page: 4237. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-07, Section: B, page: 3680. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-07, Section: B, page: 3682. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 38-05, Section: B, page: 2428. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1977.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 35-08, Section: B, page: 4251. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1974.