There were two major purposes of this study. The first purpose was to obtain information from all principals in Tennessee's First District concerning their beliefs about the use of corporal punishment in public schools in Tennessee. Generalizations could be made in areas of similar geographic and cultural makeup. The second purpose of this study was to generate reflective thought in Tennessee's First District to clarify administrators' beliefs as to the use of corporal punishment as a deterrent. Demographic findings of the study revealed a predominately male population of principals. The majority of the population surveyed was male Caucasian. There was a normal distribution among education levels for principals in the First District, ranging from Bachelor degrees to Doctoral degrees. Subgroups that were tested using the Mann-Whitney U test for significance were: principals with 0-10 years experience and those with more than 10 years experience, principals who used corporal punishment in their schools and those who did not, and principals who experienced corporal punishment as children and those who did not. The review of literature in regard to corporal punishment revealed four constructs that proponents used when explaining why it was used: religious beliefs, legal perspectives, cultural beliefs, and effectual beliefs as a disciplinary measure. Principals in the First District of Tennessee had similar religious beliefs regarding the use of corporal punishment. In comparison, principals who used corporal punishment had significantly different belief scores relative to legal perspectives, culture, and effectiveness than those who did not use corporal punishment. Principals who experienced corporal punishment as children scored significantly higher in beliefs of its effectiveness than those who had never experienced it.

Few studies have been conducted on the transition to parenthood in the context of Korean society, where rapid modernization has brought about abrupt changes in family structure for young couples. The purpose of the present study is to describe the experiences of 52 urban Korean primiparous mothers during their transition to parenthood, by comparing maternal adaptation in nuclear and traditional family settings. All mothers were interviewed at the hospital after delivery and one week later, at each mother's home. The degree to which the pregnancies were planned, marital satisfaction, mothers' observation of traditional customs, such as Taegyo, levels of maternal depression and self esteem, and maternal adaptation were measured. The data show that mothers who lived in traditional family settings received more support from their families and were more likely to use their mothers as sources of information on childcare, to observe the traditional customs related to childbirth, and to breast-feed, than the nuclear family mothers. Although living in nuclear family settings, the nuclear family mothers maintained close contact with their families of origin. Their husbands were more involved in childcare, and the mothers were more likely to use books and peers as sources of knowledge about childcare. They were more self-reliant and less depressed than the traditional family mothers. The findings suggest that the transition to parenthood is influenced by mothers' lack of information about pregnancy and child care, by the lack of previous experience in childcare, and by the quality of the support mothers receive. These results provide support for preventive educational programs, designed to provide information and modeling of childrearing practices for new mothers. These principles should be based on the integration of the findings of modern psychology and medicine and traditional beliefs and practices of related to parenthood.

The purpose of this study was to find out more about the college choice process of minority high school seniors. The research questions were (1) Do minority high school seniors consider important the same college attributes that the literature of college choice suggests? (2) Do minority students consider important other aspects of colleges, such as those attributes suggested in the college climate and retention literature as influential in the college success of minority students? The population of the study included 1155 Southeastern Massachusetts high school seniors segmented into five sub-groups: Asian, black, Cape Verdean, Hispanic, and white. Data were obtained from two questionnaires administered in January and May, 1993 in all high school English classes. The results were compared with the college choice literature. In addition, the results were analyzed in relation to the college climate attributes of social opportunities, curriculum, campus diversity, and academic support. The conclusions included the following: (1) Not all sub-groups are the same. There were significant differences between black and Cape Verdean sub-groups and among all sub-groups. (2) Geographical proximity is a factor. (3) Financial aid and academic support supersede academic reputation. (4) Models of college choice need to be modified to include student location and deferred application. (5) Mother is a primary influence on college as identified by all sub-groups. Recommendations for institutional responses are based on these conclusions.

This dissertation presents the results of a study designed to explore the personal experience of being children of Holocaust survivors or children of parents who served the Third Reich. The clinical literature reveals some of the psychological problems reported by children of Holocaust survivors, but there is no information about the difficulties experienced by the children of perpetrators or by-standers of the Third Reich. Little is known about the strengths and resources used by this second generation to manage and make meaning out of this painful and difficult legacy. This study included a review of the literature on the historical, sociological, and psychological context of Nazi atrocities as well as a glimpse into current thinking in Holocaust studies. Qualitative research was conducted with eight participants, four children of Holocaust survivors, and four children of parents who served the Third Reich. Data from in-depth interviews were grouped into four themes that were common to all the participants; when and how the participants learned about the Holocaust, the effect of this legacy on their personal development during childhood, the impact of the legacy on the participants' chosen professions or work in the world, and the participants' current values and thoughts on spiritual and social issues. Thematic analysis of each category further defined the experience of the participants and offered a data base for emerging implications. The implications include: the need for further study of the effects of war and genocide on the second generation, the need for greater education, and the inclusion of the second generation in treatment of psychological trauma, the need to provide opportunities for the descendants of both sides to speak and have their stories heard in a safe and non-judgmental environment, and the greater concern about the long-term psychological damage of wars, genocide, and group violence on future generations.

This study reports on a research project that examines teenage young women's themes of power. The themes emerged within a community education program that was conducted in a small, low-income, semi-rural town in Western Massachusetts. The teenagers engaged in theater games and improvisations that were eventually performed live on public-access television. The research also looks at power relations imbedded within the project itself. The program was designed to create an educational experience that provided teenagers with a public voice about their own concerns and issues, and to do so in a way that addressed feminist and postmodern critiques of "liberatory" pedagogy. The study seeks to understand what teenage young women express about self-efficacy and power in relation to themselves, their schools, families, and communities; and an analysis of how the project encouraged or discouraged this expression, particularly in regard to my attempts at utilizing a postmodern feminist perspective in its design. It is framed within a feminist approach to research and incorporates several methodologies to explore these questions. Three definitions of power are indicated by the teen women: Power as control over oneself, others, and events; power as speaking for oneself, being heard, and being understood; and power as intuitive, creative and spiritual experience. The study provides an examination of these themes and a deconstructive analysis of the pedagogy. A primary finding of the study suggests that a special time and place is needed by teen women as a means of finding empowered voices. This "ritual space", is a safe place for honest expression, outside of the space and time norms of an adult secular world.

This study focuses on understanding the impact of the Cultural Identity Group (CIG) program on the racial/ethnic identity development of students who were involved in a sixteen-week program in an ethnically diverse middle school in New England. The program began in October 1996 and ended in May 1997. The cultural identity groups met once a week except during school holidays and vacation. This study was part of a larger project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Cultural Identity Group model on which this study is based was jointly developed and piloted in a Western Massachusetts Elementary School by Phyllis C. Brown, MMHS, Ernest Washington, Ed.D., Allen Ivey, Ed. D. and Mary Bradford-Ivey, Ed.D. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used to gather information about the impact of the Cultural Identity Group on the racial/ethnic identity development of the students as well as on their attitudes toward people from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure developed by Jean Phinney (1989) was used to assess students' ethnic awareness. Interviews conducted with a racially/ethnically diverse sample from the Cultural Identity Group provided evidence of the impact of CIG on the racial/ethnic identity of participants. The findings in this study demonstrated that students who participated in CIG gained a heightened sense of their racial/ethnic self as well as an increase in interethnic awareness. There was an emerging awareness of the pervasiveness of racism among participants in this study. Participants also gained skills to help them deal with and interrupt injustice. These skills included recognizing ethnic jokes and developing constructive, practical solutions for confronting racist behavior directed toward adolescents. The implications of this study concern students, and educators, as well as theories of adolescent development and racial identity development. Providing students structured environments in which to talk and learn about their own ethnic background, race and racism may have a positive impact on their racial/ethnic development which may promote better interethnic relationships in school. Any study of adolescent development must consider differences as well as similarities in adolescent development based on racial/ethnic factors. Future and current educators need to learn about theories of racial/ethnic identity and understand how it plays out in adolescents' lives and in school, in order to create school culture that affirms all students.

Research conducted over the last twenty years has found that parent involvement in the education of their children has a direct and positive relationship with higher levels of student motivation and achievement. Some of that research has also found that evidence of parent involvement diminishes rapidly as students move through the grades, particularly in the transition from middle school to high school. It was the purpose of this study to examine student perception of parent involvement as it related to student attitudes, motivation, and achievement at this point of transition for middle school students. The study was designed as a blend of quantitative and qualitative research and involved a sample of fifty students from a total grade population of 175 students from one of three middle schools in a small southeastern Massachusetts city. The data were gathered over a period of time during which these students were in grades seven and eight as they remained on the same teaching teams with the same classmates. Utilizing grade point averages in four core academic subjects as the achievement measure, a sample was drawn from the total population of the highest achieving twenty-five students and the lowest achieving twenty-five students. Perception scores derived from a four item response scale were compared with actual and expected GPA scores to determine the relationship between student perception of parent involvement and student achievement. Data were also drawn from purposefully selected student and parent interviews and interviews of all involved teachers, using a standardized open-ended format. These interviews and two open-ended questions were designed to gather additional information regarding perceptions of parent involvement and expectations for student achievement. Student records were also examined to review data involving ethnicity, special populations characteristics, and family composition. While the analysis of the quantitative data indicated that there appeared to be no significant relationship between the level of students' perception of parent involvement and student achievement, the qualitative data revealed that parent involvement was very important to and highly valued by the students, parents, and teachers in this study. In their view, it was directly and positively related to student attitude, motivation, and achievement.

As a discipline virtually unknown thirty years ago, family therapy has expanded in a rapid manner. However, surprisingly little scientific attention has been given to the process of supervision and training. Supervision remains mainly a matter of intuition and individual experience. This dissertation attempts to understand the supervisory process by examining how experienced supervisors make intervention decisions during live supervision. The subjects of study are three experienced family therapy supervisors who train students in agency settings. Theoretical and empirical literature pertaining to live supervision is reviewed. Included is literature that describes the context of family therapy supervision, literature which defines the cognitive maps used by supervisors, and descriptive accounts of training programs for supervisors. Two conceptual models are reviewed, Schon's (1983) theory of "reflection-in-action." and Gorman's (1988) model of the context of family therapy supervision, which was developed to guide the present inquiry. The moment-of-intervention, defined as the point during live supervision when the supervisor communicates with the trainee in order to affect the session's activity, is the unit of analysis providing a window into the supervisory process. A total of 24 moments-of-intervention (8 per supervisor) were observed. Video tapes of these interventions were transcribed and rated based on a typology consisting of eight different dimensions. All three supervisors tended to make interventions that were direct, specific, supervisor-initiated, and immediate. A subsample of 12 moments-of-intervention (4 per supervisor) was chosen for further study. Interviews with each of the supervisors revealed important influences in decision-making were the expectations of the employing agency and the pervasive influence of the supervisor's training-of-origin. Next in importance was the supervisor's family-of-origin and immediate collegial group. Least influential was awareness of the expectations of the larger profession. The results are valuable because they offer a description of the supervisory process grounded in systematic observation of actual interventions. The results confirm a number of theoretical expectations, highlight some elements of the supervisory process that were not incorporated in either theoretical model, and suggest directions for future research.

The purpose of this study was to examine how a select group of adults of African-American/Euro-American heritage came to choose or develop a sense of racial identity. The seven participants were women and men who ranged in age from twenty-one to fifty-nine, and who had chosen Black, White, or Mixed racial identities. Utilizing in-depth phenomenological interviewing, participants were asked how their life experiences had led them to choose a particular racial identity, how they experienced the world in light of their chosen identity, and the meaning which they made of their choice of identity given their actual biological racial heritage. The data was presented as in-depth profiles taken from transcripts of the interviews for each participant. In addition, themes which emerged when participants were compared within and across chosen racial identity groups, gender groups, and age groups were highlighted. The factors which were seen as having the most influence on choice of racial identity were past and current cultural affiliations, early experiences and socialization, and physical appearance. Additional factors which played a lesser role in racial identity development included the nature and extent of individual political experiences or orientation, the nature of social values within a given historical period, the biological racial heritage of the individual, and a participant's sense of spirituality and connection to other social identities such as gender, religion, age, and ethnic identity. An individual's awareness of him or herself in relation to race and racism as outlined in existing racial identity development literature was described as another factor which could be utilized to understand choice of racial identity. Each of these individual factors was defined and arranged into a conceptual framework. The interconnections between some of the factors, such as culture and early socialization, were also explored. The experiences of participants were compared with the processes of identity development outlined in select works on Black, White, and Bi-racial populations. The dissertation also presented a number of recommendations for individuals who worked with bi-racial people.

The purpose of this study was to develop a preventive intervention useful in helping first-time expectant fathers deal with the exigencies of pregnancy and prepare for parenthood, thereby diminishing the anxieties, stresses, and marital-family problems commonly associated with the birth of a first child. A pretest-posttest design with control was used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Tests were administered at the start and end of the intervention (four weeks apart for controls) and at six weeks post-partum. Subjects were a self-selected sample of 21 first-time expectant fathers, nine of whom participated in the intervention and 12 of whom functioned as no-treatment controls. It was hypothesized that, after participation in the intervention, first-time expectant fathers would: (1) exhibit less state anxiety; (2) have higher paternal self-esteem; (3) feel more positively about their infants; (4) exhibit greater expected role flexibility; and (5) predict a higher level of involvement with their newborns. It was also hypothesized that psychologically androgynous subjects, as indicated by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, would show less change as a result of the intervention than less androgynous first-time expectant fathers. State anxiety was measured by Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y). Paternal self-esteem was measured by the Paternal Self-Report Inventory, a modification of Shea's Maternal Self-Report Inventory. Attitude toward forthcoming infants was measured by the Expectations of Newborns Inventory, a modification of Broussard's Neonatal Perception Inventory. Two new instruments were developed for this study: the Survey of Expected Role Flexibility and the Father's Behavior Inventory, which measures direct paternal involvement with the newborn. The data did not support any of the hypotheses. The small sample size,exploratory nature of some of the instruments, and selectivity of the sample are factors which contributed to the paucity of significant results. The results and problems inherent in this kind of research are discussed in a frank manner and implications for future research are noted.