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.

This study is concerned with the relationship between marital problems and the use of formal and informal networks. A total of 780 problems that were identified with eight different categories were reported by 305 subjects. All of the subjects were employed, married, and had same-race spouses. / The purpose of the study is to describe in an exploratory manner the use of social networks, generally, and informal and formal networks, specifically, in discussing marital problems by subject characteristics: informal network involvement, gender, race, presence of children, socioeconomic status, and the subject's rating of problem seriousness. Organizational linkage theory serves as the theoretical reference for the conceptualization and construction of the research questions that are investigated in this study. / Forty-eight percent of the reported marital problems are not discussed with anyone. However, 47 percent are discussed with members of informal social network members, and five percent are discussed with formal network members. Problems that are experienced by females and whites are discussed with network members (informal or formal) significantly more frequently than are problems experienced by males and blacks. In addition, problems that are perceived to be more serious are discussed significantly more frequently than are problems perceived to be less serious. Furthermore, there is greater differential use of networks when the problems are perceived to be more serious. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-04, Section: A, page: 1218. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

With the contemporary influx of women into the workforce and the resulting prevalence of dual-career families, relocation has become a traumatic family issue. In utilizing primarily the theoretical tenets of family stress theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of family strains, family hardiness, family coherence, and coping response upon the quality of life and marital satisfaction of dual-career couples who did and who did not utilize trailing spouse job assistance in making their most recent relocation. A survey research design was employed which utilized a nation-wide sample of recently relocated dual-career couples (n = 122). T-test statistical analyses were employed to test mean differences while restricted and saturated path analyses were utilized to examine theoretical tenets. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between relocating dual-career couples who did and did not utilize trailing spouse job assistance in their quality of life, marital satisfaction, coping response, hardiness, coherence, and level of vulnerability. Quality of life for dual-career couples who used trailing spouse job assistance in the restricted and saturated path analyses was not predicted by any variable. However, for dual-career couples who did not use trailing spouse job assistance, marital satisfaction was predictive of quality of life in both restricted and saturated causal models and level of vulnerability predicted quality of life in the saturated model. Furthermore, restricted path analyses indicated that for dual-career couples who utilized trailing spouse job assistance, coherence and coping response were predictive of marital satisfaction while for dual-career couples who did not employ trailing spouse job assistance, hardiness was predictive of marital satisfaction. Saturated path analyses for both groups replicated / the findings of the restricted path analyses and in addition, demonstrated that vulnerability was predictive of marital satisfaction. Since these findings suggest that the limited services provided by current trailing spouse job assistance programs may be inadequate, further support in relieving relocation stress and facilitating family coping strategies is recommended. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2561. / Major Professor: Carol Anderson Darling. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the effects of using a structured cognitive postseparation/postdivorce adjustment group to a contrasting structured noncognitive postseparation/postdivorce adjustment group in reducing reactive, unipolar depression and increasing adjustment. The effectiveness of both treatment groups also was compared to a no-treatment comparison group. / The sample was composed of subjects volunteering for postdivorce counseling, and separated and divorced subjects not seeking treatment who were solicited for research participation. After stratifying for sex and level of depression, 22 persons who were seeking counseling were randomly assigned to group therapy; 11 to a structured noncognitive group and 11 to a structured cognitive group. Twelve persons were selected for inclusion in the no-treatment comparison group. The group treatment sessions were conducted by two different teams of advanced doctoral level marital and family therapy students. Each team consisted of a male and a female member. The treatment groups met once each week for two hour sessions for a 10 week period. A pretest-posttest experimental design was employed with the Raschke Postdivorce Problems and Stress Scale used to measure divorce adjustment and the Beck Depression Inventory utilized to measure depression. / Paired samples t-test revealed that all three groups achieved significant amounts of change in improving adjustment and decreasing depression levels during the 10 weeks. Analysis of covariance, with the pretest scores as the covariate, revealed no significant differences among any of the groups existed. There was a trend in the data, however, suggesting that the structured cognitive group members improved more on divorce adjustment than the comparison group members. / Multiple regression analysis revealed that being the spouse who suggested the divorce led to being better adjusted. Those persons with fewer resources, i.e. less income and education, experienced more depression and had a more difficult adjustment to the divorce. The responsibility of parenting, especially having custody, increased the adjustment problems during separation/divorce. / This study provides additional support for the effectiveness of short-term structured group treatment models to facilitate divorce adjustment and relieve depression. Questions were raised, however, regarding the adequacy of group treatment alone to meet the needs of moderately and severely depressed, poorly adjusted persons who experience separation and divorce. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-07, Section: A, page: 2462. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.