Previous research has found that religiosity is associated with psychological well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and life satisfaction), and this study sought to improve our understanding of this relation by examining two mediators: gratitude and social support. Additionally, this study sought to examine the effect of having been a custodial grandparent on social support and psychological well-being. These issues were examined using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and two subsets of participants from national samples (i.e., participants from the MIDUS II and MIDUS Refresher who completed outcome questionnaires with the Biomarker follow-up). Consistent with previous research, religiosity was associated with psychological well-being. Gratitude and social support, which themselves covaried, mediated that relation. Former or current status as a custodial grandparent was not associated with poor psychological well-being or less social support. These findings served as a replication and extension of previous research that showed gratitude may mediate the relation between religiosity and psychological well-being. Implications and limitations to this study are discussed.

There are currently 2.7 million grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States. As grandparenting has become more prevalent, concerns have surfaced regarding the effect of additional caregiving responsibilities placed on an aging population. The following study uses an existing dataset that interviewed individuals who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. The present study examined the impact of grandparenting on measures of cognitive ability, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, which had yet to be examined. Findings from the cross-sectional analysis show that custodial grandparents outperformed their non-custodial grandparent counterparts on the cognitive tests of word recall, category fluency, letter fluency, and cognitive similarities. Findings from the longitudinal analysis show that though custodial grandparents had initially performed worse on the digit ordering task, their scores declined at a much slower rate over-time when compared to non-custodial grandparents. This study provides a unique opportunity to examine the impact of custodial grandparenting on cognition.

Eighty-seven single custodial fathers were surveyed to test the validity of previously developed typologies and/or construct a more empirically valid framework with implications for adjustment to the role. Mendes1 (1975) aggressive seekers, conciliatory seekers, conciliatory assenters, and aggressive assenters were compared to O'Brien's (1980) hostile seekers, conciliatory negotiators, and passive acceptors. In addition to demographic variables, relationship to ex-wife and child, and reasons for becoming single and obtaining custody, several personality variables were included along with measures of adjustment. One year follow-up measures of adjustment were collected to evaluate implications of typologies in adjustment. Two nearly equal groups were established in a Q type factor analysis of continuous data. Factor loadings of individual cases suggest a continuum of the two types of single fathers, rather than two distinct groups. Group differences were evaluated in a series of MANOVA and Chisquare analyses. Analysis included six factor scores from a supplemental R factor analysis of selected variables. Type I fathers are characterized as older, more passive, selfreflective, and aloof in interpersonal relationships. They are somewhat less oriented toward a relationship with their children and had felt satisfied with their wives* care of them. Alternatively, Type II fathers are younger, active, assured (not self-reflective), and person-oriented. They are more oriented toward relationship with their children and had felt dissatisfied with how their wives had cared for their children. Several overlapping characteristics of the Type I/II typology with Mendes1 seeker/assenter continuum are discussed. Limitations of the longitudinal adjustment data restrict the conclusions that can be drawn about differential adjustment of Types I and II. Comparisons with adjustment of other typologies suggest that extremes on the typology continuum are most at risk for problems in adjustment to the single custodial role. Implications for helping professions and future research are discussed.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to determine sound principles for custodial service in the small school.

Child support is a means to financially support children, yet fewer than half of children eligible for child support receive full payment, with many receiving none. Child support nonpayment is a national concern that has led to negative repercussions for non-intact families, the community, and economic system. In some cases, noncustodial parents have an inability to pay. The purpose of this descriptive, phenomenological study was to understand custodial parental perceptions and experiences of noncustodial parent's inability to pay their child support. Social learning theory served as the conceptual framework for the study. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 10 custodial parents ranging in age from 18 to 45 who had an active child support case enforced by a Domestic Relations Office in the northeastern United States but were not receiving payments due to the noncustodial parent's inability to pay. Audiotaped interviews were manually transcribed and coded for themes using a typology organization structure. Coding was based on key terms, word repetitions, and metaphors. Member checking and audit trails were used to establish the trustworthiness of the data. The findings revealed that many custodial parents did not trust that the noncustodial parent was being truthful in their claims of having a true inability to pay. Other custodial parents believed that the noncustodial parent could make more attempts to try to assist the custodial parent in the absence of financial support. The findings of this study may contribute to social change by advancing knowledge and policies within the child support system. Likewise, findings may assist caseworkers and clinicians in better understanding their client's experiences and challenges resulting in a better client service experience.

At the dawn of the Large Hadron Collider era, the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism remains the most appealing theoretical explanation of the electroweak symmetry breaking, despite the fact that the associated fundamental scalar boson has escaped any direct detection attempt. In this thesis, we consider a particular extension of the minimal Brout-Englert-Higgs scalar sector implemented in the Standard Model of strong and electroweak interactions. This extension, which is a specific, "twisted", realisation of the generic two-Higgs-doublet model, is motivated by a relative phase in the definition of the phenomenologically successful CP and custodial symmetries. Considering extensively various theoretical, indirect and direct constraints, this model appears as a viable alternative to more conventional scenarios like supersymmetric models, and gives grounds to largely unexplored possibilities of exotic scalar signatures at present and future collider experiments.

At the dawn of the Large Hadron Collider era, the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism remains the most appealing theoretical explanation of the electroweak symmetry breaking, despite the fact that the associated fundamental scalar boson has escaped any direct detection attempt. In this thesis, we consider a particular extension of the minimal Brout-Englert-Higgs scalar sector implemented in the Standard Model of strong and electroweak interactions. This extension, which is a specific, "twisted", realisation of the generic two-Higgs-doublet model, is motivated by a relative phase in the definition of the phenomenologically successful CP and custodial symmetries. Considering extensively various theoretical, indirect and direct constraints, this model appears as a viable alternative to more conventional scenarios like supersymmetric models, and gives grounds to largely unexplored possibilities of exotic scalar signatures at present and future collider experiments.

Uppsatsens syfte var att undersöka socialsekreterares erfarenheter av hur placeringar på låst institution inverkar på ungdomar. Våra frågeställningar var 1. Vilka faktorer har betydelse för placerade ungdomars sociala utveckling? 2. På vilket sätt kan tvång motivera till positiv social utveckling? Studien har en hermeneutisk vetenskapsfilosofisk position med kvalitativ ansats och vår empiri bygger på intervjuer med fyra socialsekreterare. Resultatet analyserades utifrån livsmodellen, en ekologisk systemteori. Vad som framkommit är att ungdomen påverkas av den struktur som råder på låst institution samt av de relationer den omger sig med, vilka i sin tur också påverkar den sociala utvecklingen. För att den sociala utvecklingen skall utmynna i ett positivt resultat krävs det dock att den unge är motiverad till förändring, vilket kan uppkomma genom goda relationer och tydlig struktur. Motivation till förändring är överordnat rådande struktur och goda relationer, dock är dessa ett stöd för att nå den inre viljan till förändring. / The purpose of this thesis was to review social workers experiences of the effects on adolescents in compulsory care. We formulated the following questions to answer to the purpose: 1. What factors are important for the adolescents in custodial care and their social development? 2. In what way can coercion motivate a positive social development? The study was based on the theory of hermeneutics with a qualitative approach and our empirics were based on interviews with four social workers. The result was analyzed using the Life Model, an ecological systemic theory. It has been shown that the adolescent is affected by the structure that is present in custodial care as well as the relationships formed during the placement which in turn can affect the social development. The adolescent needs to feel motivated to achieve a positive social development and this motivation may arise from healthy relationships and a distinct structure. It is necessary for a person to be motivated to change in order for that change to occur. Healthy relationships and the right institutional structures can assist a person in this regard.

Custodial grandmothers and grandchild (aged 4 to 12) dyads (N = 170) completed self-report, other-report, and an observational task that captured child HI, expressive social support, and custodial grandmother-grandchild compliance variables. A multivariate analysis of covariance tested differences between high and low hyperactivity-inattention on observed parenting variables while controlling for child age. While overall results were not significant, there were significant differences between child age and observed parenting variables. A hierarchical regression model revealed that, when controlling for age, child hyperactivity-inattention does not moderate the relationship between commands given by a custodial grandmother and child compliance, but revealed that direct commands from the grandmother predicted compliance. A second hierarchical regression model suggested that encouragement and praise (versus criticism and discouragement) from a grandmother moderated the relationship between grandmother commands and child compliance, when controlling for child age. It appeared that when grandmothers gave indirect commands more frequently, encouragement and praise instead of criticism was associated with greater compliance. In dyads with frequent direct commands given, compliance was high, however dyads who scored high in direct commands with criticism and discouragement were most likely to comply. This study adds to the literature by providing insight into the challenges and strengths for this unique, growing population.