This study explores gender differences in the ways teachers interact with high school students from disrupted families. Four language arts teachers and five mathematics teachers from an urban high school in Montreal, Quebec were interviewed and observed in their classroom interactions with students. The findings revealed that gender differences were related to the teachers' perceptions of professional roles, and were reinforced by the segmentation of teaching and guidance responsibilities in urban schools. Female teachers were inclined to consider teaching as related to the upbringing of youths, and perceived themselves as responsible for the academic and social-emotional development of their students. Male teachers, in contrast, viewed their role as subject-specialists to disseminate knowledge. These role perceptions strongly influenced teachers' classroom interactions with students from disrupted families.

This study investigates the influence of family configuration and environment on children's adjustment. Half of the seventy-six elementary school age participants were from families where separation and divorce had occurred, and the remaining children were from intact families. Children's self-efficacy was assessed using the Harter Self Perception Profile (Harter, 1985). Parental perceptions of children's behavior and specific family environmental characteristics were obtained by employing the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983), Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1986) and Overt-Hostility Scale (O'Leary & Porter, 1980). Children from homes where parental divorce had previously occurred were compared to children from intact families in terms of self-efficacy and behavior. Children from divorced homes demonstrated lower levels of perceived self-efficacy in cognitive and behavioral domains. No differences in parental perceptions of children's total behavior problems between groups were found. Comparative differences in family social climate characteristics of cohesion, control, and active-recreational orientation were found in divorced versus intact families.

This thesis attempts to integrate the divorce outcome data concerning children within the stress and coping mechanisms paradigm. The effects of divorce on children are reviewed, as are the major constructs of stress-coping theory. A study is conducted to demonstrate the empirical utility of the theoretical integration of the two domains. The coping resources, styles and efforts of 71 elementary school children from divorced and intact homes were investigated. Data analyses demonstrated that children from divorced homes had lower levels of psychological coping resources, and less effective coping styles and efforts, thus sustaining the theoretical integration. Other significant results revealed developmental trends for some aspects of coping resources and coping styles, and correlations between coping resources and efforts, thereby supporting important conceptualizations in stress-coping theory. Speculations concerning the long-term effects of divorce, differential effects of divorce on boys and girls and recommendations for future investigations are made.

The purpose of this study was to design, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a Coping Skills Training Programme in raising divorced women's self esteem and coping behaviour. This study incorporated feminist self esteem training and coping skills training which made use of social learning theory and. cognitive behavioural techniques, including rational emotive therapy. The Coping Skills Programme had an educational and personal growth focus and was presented in a written manual form consisting of educational notes, group exercises and homework assignments and was designed to be conducted on a small group basis for twelve sessions of two hours each. Evaluation of the programme included a qualitative, descriptive and quantitative research method which incorporated a 'between group' design (i .e. allocation of participants to an experimental and a control group at random and withheld treatment from the control group) and a 'single case' design which involved participants completing self report measurement data. In addition a 'replication phase' was added in which the control group served as the experimental group. Measurement tool s included the Index of Self Esteem (Hudson, 1982 : 9) and the Generalized Contentment Scale (Hudson, 1982 : 8) and various self measurement scales. Collection of the measurement data took place before, during and after the intervention.Results are statistically and graphically presented and on the basis of previous research, it was accurately predicted that the Coping Skills Training Programme would significantly raise the self esteem of divorced women. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal,Durban, 1991.

Graduate

The purpose of this study was to empirically measure the effectiveness of a school-based intervention program for elementary children whose parents had been recently separated. Forty-nine third through sixth grade students in a northwestern Indiana county participated in the study. The sample consisted of twenty-six treatment and 23 control subjects; 30 females and 19 males participated.The hypothesis addressed was: Male and female elementary children who receive treatment will demonstrate a statistically significant different attitude toward their' parents' separation or divorce, school behaviors, and self concept when compared to children who receive no treatment.The independent variable was a subject's participation in a ten-week, school-based intervention program. The intervention program was based on a model proposed by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. The dependent variables were attitudes toward parental separation/divorce (Children's Attitude Toward Parental Separation Inventory), self concept (Piers-Harris Self Concept Scale), and school-related behaviors (Devereux ElementarySchool Behavior Rating Scale). Sex of the children was a moderator variable.The study employed a nonequivalent control group design using a pretest-posttest format. A 2 x 2 nonorthogonal factorial design was used. Multivariate and urivariate analyses of variance procedures were used to test initial (pretest) differences and the hypothesis of no difference between treatment and control groups.The multivariate analysis of variance of the pretest scores found no significant difference between the control and treatment groups pretest scores. In the univariate analysis of the pretest data, a significant sex difference was noted on one Devereux variable measuring inattentive-withdrawn behavior.In the multivariate and univariate analysis of the posttest data, no significant treatment or interaction of sex and treatment effects were recorded. In this study treatment did not significantly effect a child's self concept, attitudes toward separation/divorce, or school behaviors.

This study investigated the effects of family structure on Italian grandmothers' perceptions of their level of involvement, role conceptualizations and their positions on common familial issues. The sample consisted of Italian grandmothers from two groups of families: intact families (N = 30) in which grandmothers' adult children were in first marriages; and divorced families (N = 23) in which grandmothers' adult children were permanently separated or divorced. Level of involvement was operationalized in terms of contact, specifically frequency of visitation and telephone calls, between a grandparent and a grandchild. Variables that have been found to influence contact (a grandparent's custodial and kinship relationships, geographic distance, age of both grandparent and grandchild, and grandparent-parent accord) were also assessed. A grandparent's role within the family was operationalized in terms of their level of agreement to statements made by grandparents about their roles as involved family members, special protectors of grandchildren, available family members, conveyers of cultural traditions, and family "watchdogs". A grandparent's view with respect to contemporary family issues was assessed through their responses to statements about contemporary family life. The results indicate that contact was significantly greater between grandmothers and grandchildren in the intact as opposed to the divorced group. Grandmothers' roles within the family as well as their attitudes towards various family issues were not found to differ across family type. The findings were discussed in light of cultural and ethnic perspectives on divorce.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-258).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Western Theological Seminary, 1988. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-174).

Dissertation (Ph.D.) -- The Institute for Clinical Social Work, 1997. / A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Institute of Clinical Social Work in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.