Twenty females and twenty-three males from the Utah State University Children's House participated in this study which compared traditional preschool play with computer play. The Parten/Smilansky nested social/cognitive play hierarchy was used. Sociometric and cognitive assessments were incorporated in order to more clearly define behaviors. Five types of play were observed: computer, art, locks, manipulative toys, and the dramatic area. No gender differences were found in terms of the amount of time or type of play at the computer. However, sociometric status did influence computer play. Children who engaged in more positive social interactions used the computer constructively, while those who engaged in more negative interactions used the computer in a more dramatic fashion. Duration of play at the computer was similar to duration of play with blocks and art activities, but different from duration of play with manipulative toys and in the dramatic area. Group play was the most common level of social play observed at all types of play centers, including the computer center, suggesting that computers do foster socialization in young children. Summing across all centers, including the computer center, constructive play was the most prevalent type of cognitive play observed. When each center was analyzed individually, games with rules, the highest level of cognitive play, was observed significantly more often at the computer center. Thus, computers may be fostering higher cognitive levels of play.

The phenomenon of youthful sexual offending has received increased attention in recent years in the state of Utah. As a result. programs have been developed to treat the sexual offender within residential treatment centers. However. the efficacy of these programs had not been examined prior to the initiation of this project. The success of the programs has been assessed by examining recidivistic activity as measured by post-treatment criminal histories. The results of this study indicate that the sample of clients departing from treatment in Utah in the year 1995 has a recidivism rate of93.2% for sexual criminal behavior, as of December 1996. Additionally, the recidivism rate of nonsexual criminal activity demonstrated by the sample was 63.6% at the same follow-up. This study demonstrates that those subjects who are able to successfully complete treatment before their departure from the programs have lower recidivism rates. Additionally, the participation by the family both during the treatment process. specifically their involvement in collateral therapy, and after treatment. by having the youth return to the family, correlated with subjects not relapsing into recidivistic activity. This information is important for treatment planning. for legislative planning. and for the continued study or the phenomenon of youthful sexual offending.

The views held by children about the ere at ion and birth of babies are of importance in child development and developmental psychology. However, most of the research done in this area has been of a theoretical nature rather than empirical. The research shows controversy in the child's concept of human conception and birth, and because of this controversy a study was deemed necessary to find out more of what the young child's concept is of human conception and birth. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to attempt to determine the extent of children's awareness of the nature of human conception and birth. The objectives of this study were to investigate the nature of the child's understanding and awareness of human conception and birth, as well as to investigate the influence of such factors as the child's sex and age, and the social class of the family. The hypotheses were that young children would have a realistic awareness and understanding of human conception and birth and that there would be differences between children of different social class backgrounds, children of different sex groups, and children of different age groups in their understanding and awareness of human conception and birth. In order to test these hypotheses, a questionnaire consisting of eleven questions was devised to explore what concepts these young children have i n their awareness and understanding of human conception and birth. The children studied were selected according to age and social class and consisted of sixty children: 20 kindergarten children, 20 nursery school children, and 20 Head Start children. Each of these groups was fairly equal in the number of boys and girls questioned. The questions were administered in the same order. A few of the quest ions were eliminated if the child could not answer a preceding one. The responses to questions were t hen recorded by the frequency of the response. Because of the nature of this study, no statistical data could be applied; rather, the three groups were compared according to their responses and the number given to each response. The results of this study show that young children are realistically aware of human conception and birth but they do not have a full understanding of the total process. This study also reveals a great difference in the children's responses among the social classes studied, with the Head Start children being deviant from the other two groups in that they're much less well informed. Among the different age groups, the older group was better informed than were the younger children. A frequency test was done on the two sex groups, in relation to their response s, but no differences were found.

The purpose of this study was focused in two specific objectives: (1) to determine attitudes of professionals, namely pediatricians, general practitioners, and orthodontists toward the use of the oral pacifier; and (2) to determine the attitudes of primiparous mothers toward the use of the pacifier. The mothers were chosen from the r1cKay-Dee Hospital in Oqden, Utah. They were divided into three groups: (1) 17 mothers with three-month- old babies, (2) 15 mothers with six-month-old babies, and (3 ) 15 mothers with nine-month-old babies, for a total of 47 mothers. The professionals were divided into three groups: pediatricians, 10 general practitioners, and 9 orthodontists, for a total of 26 professionals. An instrument was developed to measure the attitudes toward the use of the oral pacifier, thumbsucking, and the consequences of their use. The instrument was called the Infant Oral Behavior Scale. The hypotheses for the study were tested and sustained as follows: 1. The pacifier is interpreted as a positive non-nutritive device in child rearing. 2. The pacifier is preferred by physicians and orthodontists to prevent any malocclusion and other oral problems caused by thumbsucking. 3. The pacifier is preferred by mothers in soothing fretful and colicky babies. The Infant Oral Behavior Scale proved to be a useful instrument as indicated by item analysis of the scale . All but 5 of the 30 items discriminated between the high and low scores. Thirty-six of the 47 mothers breast fed their infants an average of 11 to 13 weeks. Thirty-two of the 47 mothers bottle fed their infants . Many of the mothers favored both the breast and the bottle in nourishing their infants . Thirty- four of the 47 mothers gave their infants an oral pacifier for an average length of 11 to 28 weeks . Physicians had recommended the use of the oral pacifier to 8 of the 34 mothers who used the pacifier. Of the 34 infants using a pacifier, 10 sucked their thumbs. Twenty-four of the infants did not suck their thumbs after using an oral pacifier. Eleven infants sucked their thumbs who had not been given an oral pacifier. The average length of thumbsucking of these infants was 6 to 32 weeks. Twenty-one of the 26 professionals personally preferred infants to be breast fed. Two professionals personally preferred the infant to be bottle fed and three professionals believed it was the mother's choice, depending on her personality, age, and other factors. Professionally, 18 professionals preferred breast feeding while 4 preferred infants to be bottle fed . Four believed this was an individual choice of the mothers.

The purpose of this paper was to determine the effect, if any, of religiosity on marriage role expectations. During the past years , the young person's marriage role expectations have been undergoing a gradual change from traditional type roles to more equalitarian-partnership type roles, Religiosity has been found to have a differing effect on the values of people. It was hypothesized that the more religious a person was, the more traditional he would be in his marriage role expectations. Religiosity was determined using a questionnaire developed by Faulkner and De Jong, Marriage role expectations were determined by using an instrument developed by Marie Dunn. An analysis of variance was computed to determine the effect on marriage role expectations of three variables: sex of subject, religiosity of subject, and religious affiliation of subject. It was found that the inactive female was more equalitarian than any other group, The religious affiliation of the subject didn't make a significant difference. It would seem from the results of this study that religiosity did make a difference, particularly with female respondents.

The Sex-Offender Characteristic Inventory-Male Version (SOCI-M) was filled out by a national sample of 78 clinicians experienced in the treatment of youthful sex offenders. Using factor analysis, clinician perceptions of the biopsychosocial characteristics related to normal, conduct-disordered, and sex-offending youth were determined. All of the variables in the categories considered in this study factored into at least three distinct normal, conduct-disordered, and sex-offender youthful factors, with sex-offender variables loading onto more than one sex-offender factor in some categories. The normal youth factors accounted for the greatest variability in the Learning Disabled, Tourette's Syndrome, Borderline Traits, Histrionic Traits, DSM III-R Diagnosis, Problematic Relationships, Physical Illness/Injury, General Affect/Mood, and General Cognitive categories. The conduct-disordered youth factors accounted for the greatest variability in the Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Reactive Attachment Traits, and Antisocial Trait categories. Overall, the three groups tended to be more similar than different. Although the sex-offender variables accounted for the least amount of variability, they loaded onto specific sex-offender-related factors in some categories and were distinct from the normal factors, conduct-disordered factors, and other sex-offender factors. This included the Antisocial Trait variables, which loaded onto four types of sex-offender factors; the Physical Illness/Injury variables, which loaded onto two sex-offender factors; and the General Affect/Mood and General Cognitive variables, which both loaded onto two sex-offender factors. The distinct sex-offending factors may be indicative of different types of sex offenders. Discriminant analysis was unsuccessful in classifying pedophilic and mixed-offender groups based on the resulting biopsychosocial factors.

Most mental health professional organizations are establishing core competencies standards, which are the basic skills that practitioners are expected to possess. The core competency movement originated from concerns about the abilities of clinicians to provide competent service to clients. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) recently established the core competencies that each marriage and family therapist 's skill s should be measured by and that may lead to changes in education and training. This research examined the perspectives of AAMFT-approved supervisors to determine how they see their trainees' performances compared to the core competency standards. Comparisons were made between the desired levels of performance reported by supervisors and the estimated performance level of the trainees. Results were tabulated and reported as mean scores and frequencies The result is a better understanding of what approved supervisors hope that trainees will be able to do upon graduation

This study described adoptees' knowledge of and contact with birth parents in adolescence and young adulthood, and analyzed the relationship between adoptees' knowledge of and contact with birth parents and the adoptees' adjustment in young adulthood. Data for the current study came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). In total, 487 adoptees were identified for this study in Wave I (1995) and Wave Ill (2 002). Descriptive and multivariate analyses using logistic regression were conducted. Adoptees were more likely to be aware of their birth mothers than of their birth fathers and the percentage differences between their knowledge about birth mothers and about birth fathers were reduced over time. Adoptees were more likely to know about their birth parents during young adulthood than adolescence. Being female, being placed at an older age, never placed in a foster home, and being in young adulthood were statistically significant factors to increase the probability of knowing about birth mothers; being placed at older age and being in young adulthood statistically significantly affected the probability of having knowledge about birth fathers. Adoptees were more likely to contact their birth mothers than birth fathers and the differences in percentage concerning contacting birth mothers and birth fathers were increased seven years later. Being adopted at older age, never placed in a foster home, and being in young adulthood were statistically significantly associated with the probability of contacting birth mothers. Being adopted at an older age was associated with the probability of contacting birth fathers. The more adoptees knew about or contacted their birth parents, the less they attended college and the more they formed couple relationships in young adulthood. However, this negative effect of knowing about or contacting birth parents almost disappeared when other variables were controlled. This study provides new information in adoption studies, but the results remain inconclusive until the dynamics of pre-adoption history and post-adoption relationships are better understood.

This study researched the possibility of an egalitarian relationship coexisting with a traditional role-structured marriage. Qualitative methods were used to gather data from a national sample using a 3 1-page questionnaire. Out of the larger Great Marriage Research Study of 130 respondents (65 couples), 14 couples fit the criteria for this study in that they had a traditional structure to their marriage and both felt their was a balance of power between them. Their stories were analyzed to discover what their marriages were like and how they talked about and operationalized an egalitarian relationship. Findings from this research indicated that it is possible to have an egalitarian marriage relationship paired with a traditional role-structure. The findings can contribute to marriage education for couples who choose to live with a traditional structure, but want an egalitarian relationship.

This research study consisted of eighty-six pairs (young adult and his or her parent) of participants recruited from freshman and sophomore classes in two Northern Utah Universities. The parents ages ranged from 36-80 and the young adult children's ages ranged from 16-25. This research project examined the participants' demographics, marital satisfaction (of the parents), attitudes toward marriage, attitudes toward divorce, and attitudes toward marital counseling. Three paired t tests were used to determine whether attitudes toward marriage, divorce, and marital counseling were the same for young adult children and their parents. Multiple regression equations were used to determine what effects multiple variables (parental divorce rate and attitudes toward marriage, divorce, and marital counseling, young adult children's age, gender, and willingness to attend marital counseling in the future) have on young adult children's attitudes toward marriage, divorce, and marital counseling.