Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 1993. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-262).

No description available.

Fung Tat Yeung. / Thesis (M.Div.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-72). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- The Theme of Levirate Marriage in the Old and New Testaments --- p.1 / The disagreement between the Sadducees and Paul the former Pharisee --- p.2 / A comparison between Paul's illustration of marriage in Romans 7:1-6 and the levirate law in Deuteronomy 25:5-10 --- p.8 / The transformation in the levirate practice from the era of the Old Testament to that of the New --- p.14 / Chapter 2 --- The Duty of a Levir to His Brother´ةs Widow in the Story of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) --- p.17 / Judah s command on Onan: a levirate marriage? --- p.17 / Lexical study of or --- p.19 / Onan's refusal to perform his duty as a brother-in-law --- p.21 / Judah's command on Tamar: prolonged widowhood --- p.23 / Tamar's endeavour in finding the right levir --- p.27 / Evaluation of the levirate practice in Genesis 38 --- p.29 / Chapter 3 --- The Widow´ةs Marriage to Her Husband´ةs Kinsman in the Book of Ruth --- p.32 / Ruth seeking to follow Naomi --- p.32 / "The introduction of Boaz, the kinsman of Naomi´ةs husband's" --- p.35 / Lexical study of 7xi --- p.37 / Boaz's device in securing the redemption of Ruth by himself --- p.41 / Evaluation of the marriage between Boaz and Ruth in the Book of Ruth --- p.44 / Chapter 4 --- The Widow´ةs Marriage to Her Kinsman in the Book of Tobit and Voluntary Widowhood in the Book of Judith --- p.47 / The marriage of a widow by a kinsman in Book of Tobit --- p.48 / Evaluation of the marriage between Tobias and Sarah in the Book of Tobit --- p.53 / The choice of a widow to remain unmarried in the Book of Judith --- p.54 / Evaluation of the voluntary widowhood in the Book of Judith --- p.58 / Conclusion --- p.61 / An overall evaluation of the levirate practice in the Old Testament --- p.61 / The application of the levirate in the New Testament era --- p.63 / The message of the levirate for today --- p.66 / Bibliography --- p.68

One of the important issues in research on social support has been the relationship between received support and perceptions of support. While most research has been unable to discover a strong link between these two constructs, three theories have emerged in the literature to explain how such a link might be discovered. One theory states that it is important to study support in the context of a stressful life event. Another suggests that when studying social support it is important to make distinctions between positive and negative interactions. A third approach focuses on specificity issues, predicting that it is important to specify the source, type and timing of support. This study is concerned with widowhood and satisfaction with support. It addresses the questions present in the social support literature by focusing on five hypotheses. The first hypothesis predicts that while there will be more reported support than problems, the effects of the problems will be greater than the effects of the support. The second hypothesis anticipates a stronger link between received and perceived support than other studies have indicated. This is because this study is focusing on a widowhood as a stressful life event and is also differentiating between positive and negative interactions. The third, fourth and fifth hypotheses focus on issues of specificity. The third hypothesis predicts that there will be a difference in satisfaction with family and non-family support. The fourth hypothesis looks at types of support and suggests that different forms of support and problems will affect satisfaction with family differently than satisfaction with non-family. The fifth hypothesis adds the temporal component, anticipating that satisfaction with different types of support and problems from family and non-family will vary over time. Data for this study comes from the first year of a three year longitudinal research project conducted by the Institute on Aging at Portland State University. The sample consists of widows who live in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon. Potential respondents were contacted if their names appeared as the surviving spouse on a sample of death certificates. Widows were first contacted by mail, and if they indicated interest they were contacted later by phone. Women who were interested and eligible to participate were divided into three groups depending on length of time widowed. All the data used in this study is the result of one and a half hour long face-to-face interviews with each of the respondents. Received support was measured by asking respondents detailed questions about the kinds of help and problems they received from different network members. Perceived support was measured on a seven point scale which rated how satisfied widows were with their family and their non-family networks. Other important variables have to do with length of time widowed, size of networks, and frequency of contact with family and non-family network members. Despite the overall prediction, that the amounts of support received will affect a person's satisfaction with support, the data only partially supported the five hypotheses. All the links between support, problems and satisfaction were in the non-family network. The only time that received support seemed to be significant was when examining non-family instrumental support among the most recent widows. Problematic interactions had increasingly stronger effects on satisfaction as the amount of time widowed increased.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [245]-257).

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.

Are widows, in the time of bereavement, able to learn coping skills through a model for group interaction? Sixty-two widows from 4 United Methodist congregations were randomly assigned to experimental and comparison conditions at each location, with experimental and comparison groups being formed of 10, 5, 9, and 7 each. Fifty-five completed the program, 10, 5, 7, and 7 in experimental, 9, 4, 9, and 4 in comparison. They were studied to determine change brought about by 16 hours of treatment over 4 weeks, 2 hours offered twice weekly. Treatment had 3 foci: separation from the deceased, resolution of personal loss, and renewed social interest and relationship. Group exercises were offered to encourage interaction. A handbook for the 16 hour program is found in the Appendix. Change was measured by two questionnaires, the author's Personal Assessment Questionnaire designed to measure adjustment of widows, and the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing Depression Scale, Personal Assessment Inventory, a measure of depression. Both instruments were administered as pretests and post-tests. A mixed analysis of variance with hierarchical design using a three-factor approach was conducted. The P. A. I. failed to register significant change in level of depression. The Personal Assessment Questionnaire registered change at the .0088 probability level, indicating the overall significance of the group treatment approach. The second independent variable, the subgroups generated at different locations, was found to be of insignificant effect upon the treatment variable. Informal comments by group members and observers suggest that this program of treatment for widows was of value to participants and could be helpful in other groups within church or similar settings. The program developed by Ray, a United Methodist minister, is being employed in churches of the Pacific and Southwest Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

No description available.

The difficulty of decision - making by women who are widows compared to when they were wives was studied. The areas of decision-making that were rated as to difficult concerned family finance, child care, homemaking (family foods, clothing, home furnishings, and housing), social activities, and yard and car care. The sample consisted of 33 widows living in Logan, Utah during Spring Quarter, 1971. The subjects had at least one child living at home and had been widowed at least one year. The instruments used were: ( l) a background questionnaire, and (2) a decision-making questionnaire. The statistical test used for analysis was the sign (binomial) test. Decisions concerning family finance, child care, cleaning and upkeep of the home, and yard care were more difficult for the women as widows than such decisions had been for them as wives. Decisions concerning food, clothing, and home furnishings were not more difficult for the women as widows. Decisions concerning washing the car were not more difficult, while decisions about maintenance, servicing, and repairs for the car were more difficult for the women as widows. Decisions concerning social activities that are often done as individuals, not couples, were not more difficult for the women as widows. Decisions concerning those social activities that couples often participate in were more difficult for the women as widows than such decisions had been for them as wives.