The purpose of this study was to better understand the nature of relationships between young adults and their parents. Two issues in the kin and intergenerational literature provided direction for the investigation. First, major changes appear to be occurring in the nature of intergenerational bonds in American families. Second, the subjective aspects of intergenerational relationships have received considerably less attention and explanation than the more quantifiable ones. / The study was conducted in an exploratory manner, utilizing demographic data and a depth interview. The interview was partially structured with topics and probes related to relationship dimensions and actual contact patterns. The interview was sufficiently flexible to pursue ideas and topics that emerged as the interview progressed. A purposive sample of twenty multi-generation families was recruited through nine large churches in a medium size Southern city. A total of forty-seven persons were interviewed. In each family a married son or daughter and one or both parents served as respondents. / Data were analyzed with a flexible filing system designed to identify and conceptually understand significant qualitative aspects of intergenerational relationships. The analysis generated a major conceptual theme and four related concepts that appear useful in understanding change in parent-offspring relationships as offspring progress through adolescence and into adulthood. The conceptual theme is identified as the redefinition of parent-offspring relationships and the four concepts are affectional bonds, parent-offspring involvement, communication openness, and communication directiveness. The data suggest that the redefinition process is accentuated during two vital life-cycle transitions: the offspring's leaving the parental home and the offspring's assumption of parenthood. The offspring's leaving home involved major decisions in regard to occupation, education, and marriage. Of the twenty families, about 35 percent experienced significant stress and differences of opinion around the time of the offspring's leaving. The data suggested that a fit between the parent's "letting go" and the offspring's assumption of responsibility for decisions is related to the manner in which the transition is dealt with. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0557. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The problem of this study was to determine whether there were differences between married couples with different degrees of role sharing in their sex role preferences, their marital conflict and satisfaction, and their family cohesion and adaptability. The sample consisted of 76 married couples randomly drawn from the population of non-retired married couples listed in the City Directory of Tallahassee, Florida. Respondent's mean age was 44, average length of time married was 19 years, mean income was $37,500, and mean number of years of education was 15 years. / The conceptual framework used for the study was conflict theory. Based upon the premises of conflict theory, it was hypothesized that greater role sharing would be associated with greater marital conflict and with evidence of the existence of collective family goals like children, higher income, and balanced cohesion and adaptability. / Questionnaires were mailed to both husbands and wives, and they were asked to complete independently a one-week time budget study, the Sex Role Preference Scale, the Index of Marital Satisfaction, the Conflict Tactics Scale, and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale. From the data supplied in the time budget study, husband/wife ratios were calculated on the family work tasks of housework, child care, and providing the income. / Results indicated that role sharing was associated with modern role preferences but not with marital conflict or the existence of collective goals. It was concluded that Conflict Theory is not adequately refined for deducing coherent substantive hypotheses at this time. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4606. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

This study involved an assessment of outcomes for women who had received help at a shelter for battered women in Jacksonville, Florida. The information was obtained through structured, face-to-face interviews utilizing a questionnaire. A random sample of 195 battered women was obtained through a systematic selection process, but only 25 women were located who would agree to participate in the project. / Specifically four outcome dimensions were examined: (1) whether or not the frequency of violence had decreased; (2) whether or not the severity of violence had decreased; (3) whether or not violence had been eliminated; and (4) whether or not the violent relationship had been terminated. An attempt was made to determine if the majority of women who received help reduced or eliminated the levels of violence in their lives, if the majority of women who eliminated violence did so by terminating the violent relationships, and if some types of women experienced more positive outcomes than others. / The research revealed that the majority of women had reduced both severity and frequency of marital violence. The majority who had eliminated violence had done so by terminating the violent relationships. Positive outcomes were related to employment, education, and the presence of younger children in the home. Women with lower total family incomes had more positive outcomes than higher income women. Race was not related to violence reduction, but whites were more likely than blacks to terminate violent relationships. There were no significant differences in outcomes related to age or length of time since receiving intervention services. All of these findings should be viewed with caution due to the low number of interviews completed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4612. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) the extent to which families form coalitions in decision-making, and (2) the effects which resources have on coalition formation in family decision-making. The strategy employed was to compare family groups with ad hoc groups with no role or power structure, and no bonds of attachment. First, it was hypothesized that families would be more accommodative in coalition formation than ad hoc groups. Accommodation was defined as the tendency towards conflict avoidance, group consensus, and inclusion of all members. Second, it was hypothesized that coalition formation in ad hoc groups would be more consistent with minimum resource strategy than coalition formation in family groups. Minimum resource strategy is the tendency for participants to form the coalition which mobilizes the fewest resources necessary to control a decision. / The method employed in the study was the coalition bargaining game, a board game similar to Pachisi, which was adapted from previous coalition studies. Twenty-one family groups--composed of father, mother, and adolescent son--and twenty-one ad hoc groups of college students played the game under controlled conditions and the data were compared. / Four indicators of accommodative style were isolated for analysis: triple alliances, no coalition, dictatorial coalitions, and equal division of the payoff. Of the four indicators, three indicated that families played more accommodatively under all conditions, while the fourth indicated more accommodative family play under one condition. / The study found that minimum resource strategy correctly predicted which coalition would form in both ad hoc and family groups, however, the theory consistently overestimated the payoff to high-resource players and underestimated the payoff to low-resource players. / The study discusses the implications of these findings for family power theory and offers suggestions for further research on coalition processes in family interaction. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-03, Section: A, page: 0940. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which custodial and noncustodial stepmothers felt satisfied in their parental role as determined by examining two indicators of role satisfaction: confidence and contentment in parental role. The objectives were: to compare confidence and degree of contentment of custodial and noncustodial stepmothers and to explore the moderating or predictor variables that may have an effect on confidence and contentment of parental role of stepmothers as a group. / A sample of 269 stepmothers was located and useable data were collected in September of 1981 from 146 stepmothers through a mailed-out and self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using general linear models, correlations, and multiple regression analyses. / No significant differences between custodial and noncustodial stepmothers on the dependent variables, confidence and contentment, were found. But it was interesting, albeit not significant, that one-third of custodial stepmothers reported a greater severity of parent-child relationship problems (or dissatisfaction in role) while only one-fourth of noncustodial stepmothers reported same. / Secondly, sixteen predictor variables were examined: combined income, stepmother education, husband education, stepmother age, whether the stepmother had had a stepmother herself, length of time as a stepmother, whether the stepmother had a child of her own, whether the stepmother had a child in common with the husband, number of stepchildren, sex of stepchildren, marital happiness, custodial arrangement, stepmother's and husband's relationship with the ex-wife, and whether the ex-wife (biological mother) was still alive or not. A stepwise regression technique was employed to ascertain which grouping of the independent variables would best account for variance in the dependent variables: confidence and contentment. Neither of the seven-variable models developed accounted for more than 19% of the variance in the dependent variables. / Additionally, one of the variables--having all female stepchildren--had a significant relationship with contentment. This indicates that having all female stepchildren was the best variable found to predict whether stepmothers would be content and satisfied in their stepmother role. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0556. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The purpose of the study was to investigate widow satisfaction/dissatisfaction with key organizational linkages following the death of a spouse, to identify problems widows encounter in dealing with organizations, and to identify those persons to whom widows turn when they experience unsatisfactory organizational linkages. / The sample consisted of seventy women, widowed between twelve and twenty-four months. Subjects were selected randomly from obituary notices and were first contacted by letter and then by telephone. Information was collected during telephone interviews using the Information Inventory and Linkage Satisfaction Schedule, two instruments designed by the investigator. / Widows indicated greatest satisfaction in their dealings with banks and mortuaries. Widows experienced greatest dissatisfaction in their dealings with physicians and hospital personnel. Widows often complained about the cost of services. However, the majority paid their bills in full without stating their dissatisfactions with the cost of services. / Three hypotheses, related to variables which may have accounted for differential ratings of satisfaction, were tested. Significantly higher global linkage satisfaction scores were observed among widows who jointly managed household finances during their marriages, widows who worked in occupations outside of the home, and widows who had relatives living in close proximity to their residences. A tendency among all widows to provide high global ratings was observed. This was consistent even in those cases in which widows expressed specific dissatisfactions and problems with service-providers. / Widows experienced the greatest number of problems in their dealings with hospitals and insurance companies. It was speculated that the larger bureaucracies may have overwhelmed the widow, thus impeding the problem-solving process. / Though widows experienced a large number of problems with service-providers, in over half of the cases, they did not discuss linkage problems with anyone. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0557. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The number of single-parent families is increasing rapidly each year. The objective of this study was, first to examine if, from the perspective of adolescents residing within them, intact and single-parent families differed in family quality, socioeconomic status, and the extent of a social support network of relatives and friends, and second, to determine if these variables impact on adolescent development. / From the symbolic interactionist theoretical framework, four theoretical hypotheses were suggested, from which 18 operationalized hypotheses were generated and tested from the data collected. / The data were collected utilizing a questionnaire administered to high school students in a medium sized city in eastern Canada. A subsample of 586 students who resided either in an intact family (both natural parents) or a single-parent family (one natural parent presently residing alone) was used for the study. The data were analyzed utilizing Student's t, analysis of variance, and simple, multiple, and partial regression analysis. The major findings were; (1) Adolescents living in single-parent families reported, on the average, a lower socioeconomic status and a lower quality of family life than adolescents from intact families. (2) Both single-parent and intact families, as reported by the adolescents residing in them, have frequent contact with a network of relatives and friends, although intact family adolescents reported more close family friends. (3) Family quality emerged as the most significant variable influencing adolescent development of those examined in this study. Family structure was related to adolescent development only through the intervening variable of family quality. (4) The length of time the adolescent resided in a particular family structure was unrelated to the personal or social development of the adolescent. / In summary, the type of family structure had little influence on adolescent development except through the intervening variable of family quality. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-06, Section: A, page: 2118. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The purpose of this study was to test whether sexual experience of adolescent daughters had an effect on their ability to problem solve effectively with their mothers on both sex related problems and non-sex related problems. A repeated measure, dependent sample design was employed using the measurements of communication proposed by Klein and Hill (1979) to evaluate dyad problem solving effectiveness. These measurements were amount of interaction, distribution of interaction, sequencing of interaction, normativity of interaction, solution quality, solution acceptance and problem solving effectiveness. Treatment included 21 dyads divided into three groups based on the daughters' sexual experience. Group 1 included kissing and light petting only. Group 2 included heavy petting but no intercourse. Group 3 included intercourse. The dayds were shown on a video monitor two open-ended problems, one sexually related and one financially related, and asked to discuss the situations and develop solutions. Their discussion was then audio taped for later evaluation and analysis. Multivariate and univariate anaysis revealed few significant differences in groups or video problem main effects. However, there was a trend in the data toward Group 3 having lower scores on problem solving effectiveness than Group 1 or 2. There was an interaction effect at the .003 level of significance for groups by problem on the dependent variable sequencing of interaction. The group where the daughters sexual experience was heavy petting but no intercourse was particularly noteworthy in that they scored higher than Group 1 or 3 on sequencing for the sexual video. This reveals some sensitivity for these girls in developing solutions to sexual issues with their mothers which the kissing and light petting group nor the sexual intercourse group expressed. Further research is needed with this group of adolescent girls in communication studies to understand the interaction sufficiently. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-01, Section: A, page: 0313. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

Marital timing (early, on time, and late) literature generally compares social status, education, or future plans to age at marriage. In the present study, a new dimension of marital timing was explored. A wider eco-systems view which focused on the influence of families in the marital timing of their offspring was considered. Specifically, a hypothesized family life balance was considered to be disrupted by certain family events. Friedman, drawing heavily on Bowen Family System Theory, suggested six major balance disrupting events in families of origin: birth, death, marriage, divorce, retirement, and geographical move. It was further suggested that the resultant disruption of balance then triggers marriage of family offspring during the following 12 months. Using chi square and contingency coefficient analyses with a sample of 313 college students, the hypothesis of balance disrupting events in families of origin leading to marriage of offspring was supported. Family cohesion, birth order, gender, and race were also empirically related to the marital timing of subjects following one of the six balance disrupting events in families of origin. Implications of this family influence on the marriage of offspring are discussed for family research, family therapy, and family life education. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-02, Section: A, page: 0657. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between family problem solving and the adolescent's individual problem solving ability. Thirty volunteer families and their adolescents played a problem solving game and completed an instrument to identify family type. Parents also completed a measure of attitudes toward child rearing practices and their adolescents completed three Piagetian problem solving tasks as well as measures of self-esteem and locus of control. Effective and ineffective problem solving families were identified based upon scores of a laboratory problem solving situation. Results of the data analysis indicated no significant differences in family type, adolescent problem solving ability, or adolescent self-esteem between the two family groups. However, adolescents from effective problem solving families were significantly more internally directed than were those from ineffective problem solving families. Authoritarian child rearing practices showed a significant negative correlation with the adolescents' problem solving scores. / Adolescents from effective problem solving families showed significant positive association between internal locus of control and problem solving ability; this correlation was positive, but not significant for adolescents from the ineffective group. There was a trend toward higher scores on the self-esteem measure and family problem solving ability for adolescents in the effective group, but an opposite trend was evident for adolescents from ineffective problem solving families, as these adolescents tended to score lower on self-esteem as family problem solving scores increased. Self-esteem and individual problem solving ability were positively correlated for the adolescents in the effective group, but this relationship was negative and nonsignificant for adolescents in the ineffective group. Trends also indicate that adolescents from effective problem solving families solve concrete, practical problems which are most often learned within the family context more effectively than those adolescents from ineffective problem solving families. Both groups did less well on tasks involving more abstract, science-related content. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-08, Section: A, page: 2664. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.