This study examined the relationship between the level of involvement in decision-making, as perceived by staff, and the performance of those staff members in a human service organization as well as the effect on that relationship of the extent to which staff want to be involved. / The data were gathered by means of a questionnaire administered to 235 direct service and unit supervisory staff within two geographical districts of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. The data collection instrument included scales developed and used by other researchers to measure the variables of participation in decision-making, job discretion, and congruence. The instrument also included a seven-dimension scale developed by the author to measure a staff person's perception of quality of work being performed. Demographic data were also gathered from the respondents. / A positive relationship was hypothesized to exist between the level of a staff person's participation in organizational and job specific decision-making and the perceived quality of staff performance. It was also predicted, however, that not all staff wanted a great deal of involvement in such decision-making and that whether or not one was satisfied with one's level of involvement, regardless of what that level was, would affect the quality of staff performance. It was expected that the staff who either want more or less involvement than they have would perceive a lower quality of work being performed than would staff who are satisfied with their level of involvement. / The findings largely supported the hypotheses but only for direct service staff. The possession of job discretion appears to be more important to an assessment of high quality work performance than does participation in organizational decision-making. Additionally, the findings suggest that staff who are either satisfied with the level of job discretion or want less of it evaluate staff performance higher than staff who want more. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0549. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

A retrospective survey of childhood sexual experiences were conducted in order to determine the long-range consequences for adult funtioning. The sample included 501 women, primarily middle-class. No clinical or offender populations were sampled. Half of the women were undergraduate (34 percent) and graduate (16 percent) students, the mean age was 28 years, 63 percent of the sample was white and 35 percent was black. / There were 55 percent of the sample who reported having sexual experiences before they were 15 years of age. The sexual behaviors reported most often were kissing and hugging in a sexual way and exhibition. There were 24 percent who reported sexual experiences with relatives. However, only 0.6 percent had "incestuous" experiences when Webster's Dictionary (1978) definition of incest is used. Findings challenge beliefs that blacks are more sexually active than whites, and that the prevalence of sexual experiences is increasing and beginning at an earlier age. Most women reported the experience as pleasant, and participation was 67 percent voluntary. Abusive experiences were reported by 10 percent of the sample, and harmful experiences by 16 percent. Experiences with older partners (at least five years) were reported by 13 percent of the sample. Also, 24 percent of the variance in voluntary participation, and 21 percent of the variance in abusive, harmful and forced experiences were explained by older partners. / Five standardized scales were used as dependent variables to measure the consequences of childhood sexual experiences for present adult functioning in the areas of self-esteem, depression, marital satisfaction, sexual satisfaction and family relations. In analyses of variance, the scores of women with childhood sexual experiences were not significantly different from those of women with no sexual experiences. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that sexual experiences that were abusive, forced, guilt-producing, harmful or pressured interacting with the type partner (parents, other relatives, or non-relatives) had more consequences for adult functioning than the type partner, conditions of and reactions to the experience had alone, and were statistically significant for all five measures of adult functioning. However, when the effects of background variables were held constant, the amounts of variance explained by any of the sets of variables were less than 12.5 percent. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-06, Section: A, page: 2104. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The two purposes of this study were to provide descriptive data concerning the marital relationships of parents of children with congenital developmental disabilities, the family hardships they face, and the coping methods they use, and to examine the relationships between marital functioning, family hardships, and parental coping methods. Subjects were 32 married couples, each with a developmentally disabled child. Data were collected using a telephone interview, mailed questionnaire package, and personal interviews. Instruments included the Index of Marital Satisfaction, Marital Status Inventory, Problem Checklist, and the Coping Health Inventory for Parents. / Over 90% of the marriages had a high degree of stability. Approximately one-third of both husbands and wives reported serious marital dissatisfaction. At least one spouse in over 43% of the couples reported serious marital dissatisfaction. Therefore, most of the marriages were relatively stable and of adequate quality. However, a substantial proportion of the marriages were stable, but of low quality. / The most frequently mentioned marital strengths by spouses were (1) companionship, love, and friendship, and (2) commitment to marriage and family orientation. The most common areas of conflict reported were finances and childcare. Approximately one-third of both husbands and wives reported sexual dissatisfaction. Parents indicated that the two areas of marriage most affected by their child's disability were their social life together and the amount of time they were able to be together as a couple. The most common hardships reported by parents were (1) concern about the disabled child's future (2) finances and (3) time with spouse. / Multiple regression analysis revealed significant and substantial negative relationships between marital quality and stability and the number of family hardships reported by parents. No significant relationships were found between marital stability and quality and parental use of coping methods. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-07, Section: A, page: 2454. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The purpose of the study was to identify reported critical factors that differentiated the runaway adolescent from the non-runaway and to determine if there were reported personal characteristics that differentiated those who had run away once or more than once from those who had never run away. Variables to be analyzed were categorized under the three major headings of Family, Personal, and School. / Data for the current study were collected as part of a larger study entitled "Profile of Today's Youth Project" (PTYP) conducted through the Department of Home Economics Education, The Florida State University. The sample for the current study was obtained from the larger PTYP student sample of 2626 adolescents and was restricted to those 1296 adolescents who had completed the following instruments: The Index of Family Relations Scale; The Child's Attitude Toward Mother Scale; The Child's Attitude Toward Father Scale; A behavior checklist; and a demographic questionnaire. / Results of the present study indicated: (1) more adolescents from reconstituted families are likely to be involved in runaway behavior than adolecents from natural, two-parent families. (2) Adolescents' attitudes toward mother, father, and family life appeared to be more negative for those who had run away at least once as compared to those who had never run away. (3) Adolecents who had run away once or more than once were involved in more school deviant activities such as truancy, skipping classes, and fighting with other students than those adolescents who had never run away. (4) Adolescents who had run away more than once were involved in more non-school deviant activites such as vandalism, use of alcohol or use of marijuana than those who had never run away. Although these findings cannot be used to identify causes of runaway behavior, they can be useful as indicators in identifying those adolescents who are potential runaways. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-09, Section: A, page: 2993. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

An exploratory case study of one organization--Anti-Nuclear Alliance (ANA)--was carried out during the 3 1/2 year life span of the organization. The study was designed to identify and analyze the organizational concepts related to life span stages of development. The organization was conceptualized as having passed through three identifiable stages during its life span: Growth, Institutionalization, and Decline. The three organizational concepts found to be related to these life span stages were: (a) composition of the group of participants in regard to adherence to the alternative paradigm and levels of involvement with the organization, (b) the linkages formed by participants of ANA with other organizations, and (c) the form of decision-making adopted by the group during its business meetings. / Data were collected through participant observation of ANA's business meetings and through the study of meeting minutes kept by the organization. A data analysis process based on "grounded theory" as developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and Glaser (1978) was utilized to arrive at a conceptual scheme delineating the variations and interactions of the organizational concepts within each life span stage. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-10, Section: A, page: 3418. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The meaning of their participation to citizen volunteers who were members of mental health district boards in Florida was examined. Focus of the inquiry was to assess whether these board members perceived themselves as autonomous in making decisions about three basic dimensions: setting up rules with respect to funding and to minimum standards of mental health services delivery; and with regard to creating or discontinuing mental health programs. / Data were gathered through: (1) self-administered mail questionnaires sent to all two hundred twenty-five members serving as members of the fifteen boards during the spring of 1978, (2) non-participant observation of all public meetings of one mental health district board for the period June 1977 - March 1978. Eleven meetings were attended. The semantic differential technique was utilized in construction of the questionnaire, for which a 50% return rate was achieved. The measure Gamana was utilized to study the association between perceived autonomy and the three basic dimensions. Principal-components analysis was utilized in evaluation of the semantic differential results. / Most often represented among board member respondents to the mail questionnaire were businessmen (33%) M.D.'s, clinical psychologists and R.N.'s (15%) clergymen (14%) and retired persons (13%). Each board member had been appointed by county commissioners of the counties they represented, and probably represented the traditional elite of their home counties. They did not see themselves as having autonomy with respect to making decisions about setting up rules with respect to funding and to minimum standards of mental health services delivery. Nor did they see themselves as autonomous with regard to creating new mental health programs and/or discontinuing existing mental health programs. Board members who had served one year or more, and those with previous voluntary membership, were less likely to perceive board members as influential in decision-making than were those who had served less than one year, or who had limited voluntary experiences. Mental health district board staff were seen as more influential in decision-making by those board members who were more experienced. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 2248. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

This study explores the emerging social problem of child-snatching, a phenomenon about which a paucity of prior research exists. Three dimensions of the initial incident of child-snatching are investigated: (1) individual characteristics of parents and children; (2) family characteristics; and (3) circumstances of the child-snatching event. An 84 item questionnaire was developed to study these dimensions and other aspects of child-snatching. Respondents were selected from the mailing list of a national child advocacy organization, Children's Rights, Incorporated. Questionnaires were sent to 400 parents (members and non-members) who had been victims of at least one child-snatching. The one-shot mail out resulted in a return rate of 63.1 percent of usable questionnaires. / The findings suggested that child-snatching is much more varied than previously thought. Although the children tended to be young, their ages ranged from less than two weeks to 15 years. A major discovery was that one or more children who were part of the family were not abducted. Similarly, parents (victims and perpetrators) displayed a wide range of demographic and socio-economic characteristics. At the time of the abduction, parents were in nearly every conceivable marital status and living arrangement. Custody and visitation statuses also were found to vary broadly. Female and male perpetrators tended to exhibit different patterns of abductions depending upon marital and custody conditions. For example, females tended to snatch soon after divorce and permanent cutody decrees whereas males snatched either while informally separated and before permanent custody devisions or two or more years after permanent custody. Data suggest that some parent-victims perpetrated an abduction themselves before the first incident reported in the study. / Whereas children were usually abducted from the home of one of the parents, they were also snatched from other sites. Several perpetrator motives for the abduction were reported, although the modal one, as perceived by parent-victims, was revenge. Finally, major themes of the study are presented and social policy and research directions are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, Section: A, page: 0864. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

This study examined different aspects of the relationship between family adaptability, family cohesion and family discord. It specifically tested a quadratic model to explain the relationship between family cohesion or family adaptability as measured by the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES II) and family discord as measured by the Index of Family Relations (IFR). As the quadratic term (C('2) or A('2)) added only minimal explained variance (5% and 6%, respectively), a linear model best represents the relationship of either family cohesion or family adaptability and family discord. However, when both terms are included in a model, family adaptability contributes less than 2% of the variance of IFR scores beyond family cohesion. Other analyses of this study produced the following findings. A 28-item FACES IIIa was created which provided less overlap of the three constructs (family cohesion, family adaptability, family discord) than either FACES II or FACES III but, using FACES IIIa, family adaptability still only contributed 7% of the variance of IFR scores beyond what was explained by family cohesion. Though the family cohesion scales of FACES II and FACES III were found to be parallel tests (correlation of .96), the adaptability scales of FACES II and FACES III were not confirmed as parallel tests (correlation of .84). A correlation of .44 between family adaptability and family cohesion on FACES III was reported. A correlation of -.51 between family satisfaction (as measured by the actual-ideal discrepancy scores (FACES II)) and family discord indicated that the approach of actual-ideal discrepancy scores was an unreliable way to measure family satisfaction. Social desirability bias as measured by the 13-item short form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale had little effect (accounted for less than 2% of the variance in / IFR scores) on FACES III or IFR. No background variable had any practical impact on the major findings of this study. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-07, Section: A, page: 2738. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

This is a study of women, their social roles and their alcohol dependence. Using biographical interviewing, the lives of 50 female alcoholics are traced through the process of their alcohol dependency. Two groups of women are studied; those who have been alcohol free for at least one year and those who continue active drinking. The qualitative research approach is rooted in phenomenology and the human sciences. / The examination of social roles contributes to understanding the interaction of the women with their social environment and suggests that their alcohol dependence is attributable to their social situation. Two aspects of role enactment, role alteration/loss and role dissatisfaction were themes throughout the lives of these women. As children, the women frequently experienced an alteration in demands placed on them for role performance. The most startling finding in this report was the prevalence of child abuse, particularly sexual abuse, in this sample of women. During their childhood years the women reported much disruption within their homes and generally remembered a traumatic childhood. Parental conflict and alcoholism were common occurrences. As children, the women felt lonely, unloved and alienated within their families and the community. / Similar issues of role alteration, loss and dissatisfaction followed into adult life. The women most often cited a disruption in a partner relationship as precipitation to their problem drinking. Limited economic opportunities contributed to low education, high unemployment and the absence of meaningful work. The oppressive conditions faced by the women influence not only the onset and progression of their alcoholism but their opportunities for recovery as well. Most of the sober women entered the recovery process with little family support. Membership in the self help group, Alcoholics Anonymous was a distinctive feature of the women who had achieved sobriety in this study. / The findings pertaining to the social condition of the women indicate a response from a feminist perspective. These are not women who have innate psychological deficiencies that need fixing but women who are disadvantaged by society. They display incredible strength and resilience. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-10, Section: A, page: 3158. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

This study examined the extent to which four groups of social workers empirically evaluated their practice and also identified client, agency and practitioner factors that affect practice evaluation activities. A total of 317 social workers from four different groups were surveyed. / Data were collected by a self-administered mail questionnaire. The instrument was designed to obtain information regarding the respondents' training in and knowledge of single-case methodology, as well as the respondents' current use of the technology. In addition, questions were asked about the respondents' agency context regarding support for practice evaluation activities as well as the characteristics of both the social work practitioner and the clients served. / The findings revealed significant differences between the four groups of social workers regarding the extent to which they empirically evaluated their practice. The most common single-subject designs used by the respondents were the single-subject pretest-posttest design and the AB design. / Four significant predictors of practice evaluation were also identified in this investigation. These predictors were: (1) the practitioners' level of agreement with integrating research procedures into clinical practice; (2) the amount of formal coursework taken while in graduate school; (3) the effectiveness of training in empirical clinical practice; and (4) the level of supportive contingencies within the agency for the empirical evaluation of practice. / Recommendations for future training and research are offered, including the need to integrate efforts of Schools of Social Work and their respective field training placements in the area of empirical clinical practice. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-03, Section: A, page: 1056. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.