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The present study sought to examine the relationship between "Early Infantile Autism" and certain parental personality characteristics and family relationships reported in the literature as being associated with childhood schizophrenia. The three factors investigated were the *lack of empathy" and "emotional detachment", "the avoidance of Interpersonal interactions" and the dominance of the wife and submissiveness of the husband, each of which had been reported as characterizing the parents of schizophrenic children. Each of these characteristics was operationally defined and measured within the framework of the Interpersonal System of Personality Diagnosis. Using this method, it was possible to obtain measurements from four hypothesized levels of interpersonal functioning, consisting of how a person presents himself to or is described by others (Level I), his descriptions of himself and significant others (Level II), his fantasy or "projective" perceptions of people (Level III), and his ego ideal (Level V). The data of interpersonal behavior from each of these levels were scored in terms of a circular classificatory system made up of eight Interpersonal variables or ways of interacting (e.g. competitive - exploitive, skeptical - distrustful, cooperative - overconventional, etc). Trigonometric and arithmetic methods were then used to summarize interpersonal behavior at any level into a single point on a diagnostic grid incorporating the eight interpersonal variables. This was made possible by locating this single summary point In terms of a vertical (dominance - submission) and horizontal (hostility - affiliation) axis. As the summary points from each of the four levels were scored in terms of the same eight variables, it was possible to obtain objective measures of the discrepancies evident within or between the different hypothesized levels of functioning. Five hypotheses were formulated in the present study. Hypothesis 1 postulated that as viewed by others (Level I), the mothers would be the dominant members more often in the patient families than in the control families. Hypothesis 2 postulated that the patient parents would show greater disparity than the control parents between their self descriptions (Level II) and their descriptions by others (Level I). The third hypothesis postulated that the patient parents would misperceive the characteristics of their spouses to a greater degree than the control parents at Level II. The fourth hypothesis postulated that the patient parents would show greater disagreement in their descriptions of their child at Level II than the control parents. Hypothesis 5 postulated that the patient parents would, to a greater degree than the control parents, view people In Interpersonal interactions as being hostile and unaffiliative at the level of fantasy. Two groups of parents were utilized. The patient group consisted of six married couples, each having a child who had been accepted into a treatment program for schizophrenic children. Of the six children, five were diagnosed as autistic. The control group consisted of six married couples who had no children who had suffered from prolonged physical or emotional disturbances. Each couple was individually matched against one of the patient couples. Both groups were administered the MMPI, the Interpersonal Check List and the TAT. The results were then transformed into single summary point scores for the various levels of interpersonal functioning and the hypothesized relationships within and between levels tested. Of the five hypotheses formulated, only hypothesis 5 was found to differentiate the two groups at a .05 level of significance or better. The results showed that the patient parents tended to view people in interpersonal situations as being hostile and generally unloving. It was hypothesized that such attitudes might interfere with family functioning and have an adverse effect on relationships with the child. In conclusion, the current Investigation failed to find any widespread differences between a group of parents of autistic children and a group of parents of adequately functioning children. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

In increasing numbers, Canadian women with young children are engaging in work outside their homes. What are the effects upon their children when these mothers seek gainful employment? Will the emotional, intellectual or moral development of the children suffer in any way? Controversial writing, much of it mere opinion or prejudice, can be found dealing with every phase of the problem; however, little is known concerning the precise situations which are favourable or unfavourable to a combination of maternity and gainful employment. Few studies have been made of the relationship between the mother working outside the home and the child's all-round growth. Such studies as were found in the literature dealt with quite small samples and were of the enumerative type rather than of a scientific nature. Essig and Morgan found girls less well-adjusted when their mothers worked. In Rouman's study, the children of the working mothers differed somewhat from the children of non-working mothers. The former were younger and proportionately more were referred for clinical treatment because of withdrawal tendencies, but fewer because of academic failure. In other studies, Beals, Carter, Hand, and Nye did not find significant differences in personality development with their measuring instruments. This study attempted to compare, at the grade-six level, the school achievement and adjustment of the children whose mothers worked outside the home with those whose mothers did not. The writer hypothesized that the factor of the mother's employment would not significantly affect the school achievement and adjustment of her children. The "working mother" was defined as one who was employed full-time and had been so for at least twelve months previous to the collection of the data. Data were collected in two Saskatchewan cities, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon. The children finally selected came from homes where both real parents were living and living together. In the grade-six sample in Moose Jaw, there were 58 children of working mothers and 211 of non-working mothers. In Saskatoon, the numbers were 96 and 500 respectively. The writer studied attendance for the school-year as recorded on the registers, year's average mark given by the classroom teacher, attitude of the pupil to his school work as judged by his teacher, reading grade as measured by the Gates Reading Survey, and manifest anxieties as measured by the children's form of Taylor's Scale of Manifest Anxiety. Means and standard, deviations were calculated for boys and girls taken separately and together in the control and experimental groups. Because two of the Moose Jaw groups differed at the .05 level of confidence in chronological age and intelligence quotient, a second statistical analysis was made in which the cases of the experimental groups were matched in age and intelligence with cases in the control groups. From the t-values of the mean differences between the experimental and control groups, the writer accepted the null hypothesis. At the .01 level of confidence, there were not significant differences in school attendance, year’s average mark, reading grade, attitude to school work, or manifest anxieties between grade-six children with employed mothers and those with non-employed mothers in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon. It may be that the effects, if any, of the single factor, "employed mother," are quite small and hence amenable only to the most refined measuring instruments. Then, too, the variable, maternal employment, is not a simple one. It subsumes many components, such as motivation to work, hours of employment, child-care arrangements, age and number of children. In order to find the working mother's effects upon her school child's overall growth in knowledge, mental health, and social adjustment, subsequent studies need to make provision for greater control of these related sub-variables. Because so little has yet been investigated, this field invites long-term scientific study in all aspects of the problem. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

A questionnaire called the Mothers' Questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of measuring mothers' attitudes towards their nursery school aged children. To establish whether there is any relationship between mothers' answers to this questionnaire and the adjustment of their children, a second questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of the measurement of children's adjustment. This questionnaire was to be answered by the nursery school supervisors of the children. The questionnaires were first administered to a group of twenty mothers and to the nursery school supervisors of their children, and then to a group of 124 mothers and the nursery school supervisors of these mothers' children. On the basis of these two administrations three revisions were made of the mothers' questionnaire and one was made of the nursery school supervisors' questionnaire. Each new form was developed through the elimination of those items from the previous form that did not differentiate between high and low scoring subjects. The correlation obtained between mothers' attitude and children's adjustment scores was significant but not high enough to permit prediction from one to the other. During further investigations of the relationship between mothers' attitudes and children's adjustment it was found that mothers of only children have on the average less desirable attitudes than those who have several children. Mothers have generally the best attitudes towards their nursery school aged children when there are older children in the family. This study also indicates that whereas mothers with desirable attitudes towards their children rarely have children who are poorly adjusted in nursery schools, mothers with undesirable attitudes frequently have well adjusted children. There does not seem to be a simple straightforward relationship between mothers' attitudes and children's adjustment. Good mothers have a stronger influence on the adjustment of their children than have mothers with undesirable attitudes. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

[no abstract submitted] / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The focus of this thesis is to assess the existing "machinery" of the Medical, Social Work and Legal professions in the Vancouver area, as they combine their services to cope with the recently identified problem of the Battered and Abused Child Syndrome. Knowledge of this social problem is of paramount importance in the field of child protection as the greater proportion of victims are babies of three months and younger. The swiftness and destructiveness of this syndrome, which sometimes results in death to the victim, makes early detection and immediate protection of the child imperative. Therefore the three affected professions in each community must devise a definite and cooperative pattern of response to the syndrome. Each profession must shoulder a share of the responsibility as the services of all three are necessary for the ultimate goal of protection for a helpless child. A three-pronged approach involving each discipline was selected. Piles of victims were provided for examination by a local hospital and child protection agency. Information was transferred to a predesigned schedule, and tables constructed depicting injuries and other characteristics of the victims and also common parental traits within the battering families. Due to the time element and difficulty in locating actual cases that had been before the courts, examination as to legal involvement was restricted to case studies. Results of the study indicate that present machinery is adequate and that each discipline has become more adept and thorough at, handling such situations within the last few years. Definite recognition must be given to the planned establishment of a Battered Child Registry in Victoria. The Protection of Children Act is, as it stands, a proper vehicle for bringing cases of battered children before the court. Individual professionals must be aware of any subjective emotional reaction that could prevent their objective handling of such cases. This is one social problem in which rehabilitation and treatment of the family must take a subordinate position to the absolute protection of a single family member. Medical evidence in court should be focused on establishing persistence of abuse, and social work evidence should portray the existence of an unsafe environment. More follow up work must be done with the families even after permanent removal of a child, in hopes of rendering the family safe for the care of future children. The emotional impact felt by the family on the removal of such a child is yet to be documented and resultant behavior noted. Care must be taken by Child Welfare authorities to follow the emotional development of the victims, documenting the resultant adult personality type and any treatment found necessary during the formative years and its degree of success. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Clark, Mary Nora; Lukas, Marjorie-Gay; Wickett, Garry Steeves Wright / Graduate

This study explores the nature of the communication between parent and child as the context changes to place them into the roles of coach and member of the team. Previous studies of parents coaching their own children are limited, suggesting the need for further examination in this area. The parent/coach is becoming far more common in competitive contexts due to the growing number of programs available for children without a corresponding growth in the number of adults able and interested in coaching (Turman & Schrodt, 2004). The study examines and extends role theory, conflict theory, and communication privacy management (CPM) theory.

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No description available.

No description available.