International students who experience difficulties in a new culture are often considered to have suffered a breakdown in their normal healthy psychological functioning, and therefore need therapy and counselling (Pedersen et al, 1976). This study views failure and problems experienced by the sojourner as a result of lack of the necessary new social skills and knowledge. Social networks, particularly friendships, are thus extremely important in that such networks are not only source of social support, but also major channels through which such skills and knowledge are acquired. Guided by social support theories and social skills theories, this study examines the following research questions through the survey and the interview with a sample of Chinese students at Northwest University I and five other universities across the United States. How is adjustment of Chinese students related to their friendship patterns? What are the friendship patterns of Chinese students? What are the primary functions of the friendship patterns of Chinese students? How is the degree of difficulty felt by Chinese students in different social situations related to their friendship patterns? How is social adjustment related to the degree of difficulty felt by Chinese students in different social situations? Some additional questions related to the five research questions were also addressed in this study. The study showed there were different functions for different friendship patterns among Chinese students. Despite different functions, friendships are very important for Chinese in their adjustment to the United States. However, students belonging to the bi-cultural friendship pattern were more satisfied with social as well as academic aspects of their life in this country than those who belong to the mono-cultural friendship pattern. Among different factors contributing to social adjustment, social skills account most for the variance of social adjustment among Chinese students. This study concluded with suggestions for forming institutional policies toward international students in American higher education, training of international students both at the home country and the host country, and advice to prospective international students, particularly Chinese students.

Coping plays an important role in human adaptation and well-being. However, surprisingly little is currently known about the normative development of coping. The ‘coping families’ framework, outlined by Skinner and colleagues (2003), provides a promising approach to the study of coping in developmental samples. The current examination tested the coping families approach in emerging adults. A total of 425 individuals (63.5% female), aged 18-31 years (M age 25.04 years), were recruited online through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to complete questionnaires on demographic information, personality, childhood adversity, stress, coping behaviors in response to an interpersonal problem, mental health, emerging adult identity, substance use behaviors, and competence. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) examined the structure of coping behaviors. Bivariate correlations were used to examine associations between age and coping behaviors, and regression analyses examined associations between coping behaviors and various adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. EFA results yielded partial support for the coping families approach. Correlations between age and coping were not significant, suggesting that there were no meaningful age shifts in coping in the present sample. Lastly, regression analyses suggested that coping behaviors significantly predicted some adaptive and maladaptive outcomes, after statistically accounting for potential confounding variables, such as personality and childhood adversity. Findings are integrated within existing research and implications for applied work are discussed.

Hispanic immigrant parents are a growing yet understudied population. Few studies have addressed the relationship between Hispanic immigrant parents and the acculturation process. The purpose of this study was to determine how acculturative stress, racism, language proficiency, poor coping style, and low levels of social support affect the psychological adjustment of Hispanic immigrant parents. Using the framework of acculturation theory, this quantitative study examined 92 immigrant Hispanic parents from an urban northeast school in the United States. Several established instruments that measured racism, coping style, language proficiency, social support, and psychological distress were used. The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that as Spanish competencies pressure increased, depressive symptoms increased. In addition, as interpersonal support increased, depressive symptoms decreased. Contrary to recent literature, racism, coping style, and language proficiency were not predictive of psychological distress. This study contributes to positive social change by understanding how Spanish competencies pressure can cause psychological distress, thereby giving therapists the sapience to better treat this population with effective therapies such as social support, and thus improving the quality of life of this population.

Numeric estimates are influenced by a variety of factors including a person's knowledge and the presence of numeric anchors. In general, greater knowledge leads to more accurate estimates and the presence of anchors decreases accuracy. This dissertation is focused on the relationship between these two factors. At an intuitive level, it seems that increased knowledge should lead to a decrease in anchoring effects. Unfortunately, the research on knowledge and anchoring is quite mixed. This dissertation describes four studies--the first three were experimental and the last was correlational--that addressed two primary questions: 1) Does knowledge level moderate anchoring effects such that greater knowledge in a domain is associated with smaller anchoring effects? 2) Does this relationship depend on the type of knowledge one has? Studies 1 and 2 provided an answer to the first question. In Study 1, participants who studied a list of country populations--i.e., high knowledge participants--were less influenced by anchors than participants who learned irrelevant information. In Study 2, those participants who studied a list of new car prices were less influenced by anchors than participants who learned irrelevant information. In Study 3, participants learned information designed to influence different types of knowledge. The results of Study 3 supported the prediction that only those participants in conditions that increased metric knowledge--and not mapping knowledge--would exhibit reduced anchoring effects. Finally, in Study 4, participants' knowledge was measured and compared to their anchoring effects. Contrary to expectations, none of the knowledge measures were related to the participants' anchoring effects. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as reasons why the last study was not consistent with the first three, are discussed. Taken together, these studies indicate that both the amount and type of knowledge one has are important in determining one's susceptibility to anchoring effects.

This study examined the relationship between rituals and marital adjustment among a sample of newlyweds. Rituals and marital adjustment were defined and their importance in family life outlined. Five research questions guided the study: (1) Is ritual activity associated with marital adjustment and length of courtship for newlyweds?; (2) Is ritual activity associated with marital satisfaction and length of courtship for newlyweds?; (3) Is ritual activity associated with cohesion and length of courtship for newlyweds?; (4) Is ritual activity associated with consensus and length of courtship for newlyweds?; and (5) Is there a difference between husbands and wives on the number and types of rituals (family celebrations, family traditions, and family interactions) that couples report are most related to their overall marital quality? Ritual activity was measured by a new instrument created for the present study: the Ritual Inventory (RI). Marital adjustment and its components (satisfaction, cohesion, and consensus) were measured using the Revised Dyadi c Adjustment Scale (RDAS). Length of courtship was used as a control variable. The analysis revealed no relationship between rituals and marital adjustment for newlyweds. Length of courtship was a significant factor with marital adjustment and marital satisfaction . Implications and suggestions for future research are presented.

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The focus of this thesis is the evaluation of three forms of an empirically-based cognitive-behavioural parenting program for separated families with adolescent children. However, to initially determine the existence of lasting affects of parental separation (occurring during childhood and adolescence), an exploratory study used a sample of 272 young adults (aged between 18 and 30 years) from intact families and 78 young adults from separated families. This study investigated the impact of parental marital status on young adult psychological adjustment, interpersonal relationships, attitudes toward divorce, and interpersonal behaviour problems. Results indicated that the effects of parental separation on father-child relationships persist into adulthood for men and women. Further, young women from separated families also reported more accepting attitudes toward divorce, and earlier age at entering into de facto or marital relationships. Young men reported more di fficulties in their relationships with mothers, moving out of the family home at a younger age, and higher levels of verbal attack behaviours in romantic relationships compared to their peers from intact families. Importantly, results suggested that both young children and adolescents experience adverse consequences of parental separation, albeit in different adjustment domains. Given these results, the need for intervention was established. While considerable efforts have gone into the development of intervention programs for young children from separated families, few efforts have focused on adolescents whose parents have separated. To redress this situation, this thesis describes the development and evaluation of three forms of delivery of a parenting program for separated families with adolescent children - group, individual, and telephone-assisted. Study 2 investigated the efficacy and acceptability of the Youth Adjustment to Parental Separation (YAPS) program - an empirically-based group cognitive-beha vioural parenting program for separated families with adolescent children. Overall, the results from this initial trial with four mothers suggested that the program was implemented as planned and that the program was acceptable to mothers. Further, the program lead to improvements in mothers' perceptions of adolescent symptomatology and their own symptomatology. However, there was limited or inconsistent change in mothers' perceptions of family relationships, the coparenting relationship, and their parenting practises, and in adolescents' perceptions of interparental conflict, coping, negative separation-related events, and problematic beliefs. Furthermore, adolescents reported deterioration in family communication and their own symptomatology. Based on the results of Study 2 and the limitations identified, recommendations were made regarding improvements to the YAPS program and to the procedures used to evaluate program effectiveness. According to the recommendations made in Study 2, the efficacy and acceptability of the YAPS program delivered as a therapist-administered individual program was evaluated with six families in Study 3. Results indicated that the program is acceptable to mothers, and that it leads to improvements in adolescent adjustment, parent adjustment, mother-adolescent relationships, father-contact, adolescent exposure to interparental conflict and other negative-separation-related events, and mothers' perceptions of family relationships. Less consistent changes were observed for adolescent ratings of family relationships, and the father-adolescent relationship, however improvements in the father-adolescent relationship were associated with increased levels of f ather-contact. Consistent improvements in adolescents' coping and their appraisal of parental separation were not observed. However, there appeared to be a relationship between parental utilisation of coping strategies and adolescent coping, suggesting that promoting adolescent coping indirectly through parental modelling and parental encouragement is an appropriate intervention strategy. Study 4 evaluated the efficacy and acceptability of the YAPS program delivered as a telephone-assisted program. Results indicated that the program is acceptable to mothers, and that it improves adolescent perceptions of family communication, their own coping, and their relationship with their father. However, mothers' ratings of their own and their child's adjustment, and adolescent ratings of their own adjustment did not change. Further, expected improvements in mothers' parenting practises, the mother-adolescent relationship, separation-related negative-events, separation-related beliefs, and the coparenting relationship were not observed. Overall, improvements observed in the evaluation of the minimal-contact, telephone-assisted YAPS program (Study 4) were considerably less than those observed in the evaluation of the individual therapist-assisted, face-to-face program (Study 3). Future evaluations of the YAPS program need to address the limitations of the current series of studies, particularly, comparison to a wait-list control group is required so that threats to internal validity can be minimised.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the Internet.