Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-178).

published_or_final_version / abstract / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

Young adults from a divorced home background (N = 125) were compared with a control group matched by sex and age (N = 125) on the scores obtained from the IPAT Anxiety Scale and the Mosher Incomplete Sentences Test.

Research in the field of divorce has primarily focused on women and children, and there is a definite lack of literature that addresses divorce from a male perspective. This lack of knowledge has influenced the clinical treatment and general social support available to men who get divorced. This study aims to explore which, if any, of the personality factors in the 16PF are correlated with adjustment to divorce using the Fisher Divorce Adjustment scale in South African men. The divorce-stressadjustment perspective was used to conceptualise adjustment to divorce and the factors that influence adjustment to divorce (Amato, 2000). The sample consisted of South African men who were divorced. A sample size of 40 participants was obtained using convenient sampling. The results of the study indicated that the personality factors ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Emotional Sensitivity’ are significantly and negatively correlated to adjustment to divorce. This indicates that aspects of personality that relate to a robustness of ego, low anxiety and a self-confident individual who is emotionally mature, is more likely to adjust significantly better to divorce and thus contribute significantly to the well-being of an individual post divorce.

by Poon Wun San, Jecqueline. / Includes questionnaire in Chinese. / Thesis (M.S.W.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-141). / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.ii / ABSTRACT --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.vi / LIST OF TABLES --- p.ix / CHAPTER / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Concept of Marital Dissolution --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2 --- Concept of Sex-role Attitudes --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3 --- Concept of Psychological Well-being --- p.24 / Chapter 2.4 --- Psychological Well-being of People Experiencing Marital Dissolution --- p.28 / Chapter 2.5 --- Relationship between Sex-role Attitudes and Psychological Well-being of Women Experiencing Marital Dissolution --- p.31 / Chapter 2.6 --- Other Factors that Affect the Psychological Well-being of Women Experiencing Marital Dissolution --- p.34 / Chapter 2.7 --- Summary --- p.35 / Chapter 3. --- Conceptual Framework --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Conceptual Definition of Major Variables --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2 --- Specification of Related Terms --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3 --- Interrelationships between Various Variables of the Research --- p.40 / Chapter 3.4 --- Hypotheses --- p.43 / Chapter 4. --- Research Methodology --- p.45 / Chapter 4.1 --- Research Design --- p.45 / Chapter 4.2 --- Sample --- p.45 / Chapter 4.3 --- Procedure of Data Collection --- p.46 / Chapter 4.4 --- Measuring Instruments --- p.47 / Chapter 4.5 --- Plan for Data Analysis --- p.50 / Chapter 4.6 --- Validity and Reliability of the Measuring Instruments --- p.51 / Chapter 4.7 --- Limitation of the Study --- p.54 / Chapter 5. --- Reports of Findings : Part I --- p.56 / Chapter 5.1 --- Personal Characteristics of Respondents --- p.56 / Chapter 5.2 --- Marriage and Family Background of Respondents --- p.68 / Chapter 5.3 --- Summary --- p.85 / Chapter 6. --- Reports of Findings : Part II --- p.88 / Chapter 6.1 --- Description of Respondents in Regard to Major Study Variables --- p.88 / Chapter 6.2 --- Test of Hypotheses --- p.99 / Chapter 6.3 --- Summary --- p.108 / Chapter 7. --- Summary and Conclusion --- p.111 / Chapter 7.1 --- Summary of Findings --- p.112 / Chapter 7.2 --- Implications of Findings --- p.116 / Chapter 7.3 --- Implications for Future Research --- p.126 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.128 / APPENDIX / Chapter A. --- Questionnaire (English Version) --- p.142 / Chapter B. --- Questionnaire (Chinese Version) --- p.154 / Chapter C. --- Item-total Statistics of Sex-role Attitudes --- p.165 / Chapter D. --- Item-total Statistics of Psychological Well-being --- p.167

This study sought to determine the contributions of college students' perceptions of family of origin health and self-esteem to their perceptions of the divorced single mother. It was hypothesized that individuals who hold more positive views of their family of origin health will also view themselves and, consequently, the divorced single mother more positively. Participants were 170 college students, 113 of whom lived only with their biological parents, and 57 of whom lived at sometime in their lives with a divorced single mother. Four instruments were used to collect the data, including the Family of Origin Health Scale (Hovestadt et al., 1985), the Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), the Perception of Divorced Mother Scale (Ganong & Coleman, 1983), and a demographic questionnaire. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were used in data analyses. Generally, results indicated that family type made no major impact on participants' perceptions of the divorced single mother. Among participants in the biological parent group and the divorced single mother group, family of origin health significantly predicted more positive perceptions of the divorced single mother. In this analysis, the regression model for the biological parent group was significant, while for the divorced single mother group it was not. Self-esteem was not found to contribute significantly to participants' perceptions of the divorced single mother, and thus did not mediate the relationship between family of origin health and perceptions of the divorced single mother. Finally, among the biological parent group, amount of interaction with single parent families headed by a divorced single mother significantly predicted more positive perceptions of the divorced single mother. Among the divorced single mother group, however, amount of time lived in a single parent family headed by a divorced mother did not significantly predict their perceptions of the divorced single mother. / Graduation date: 1995

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of peer modeling of self-disclosure on elementary aged girls whose parents are divorced. A treatment dismantling strategy was utilized to study the effects of modeling with combinations of specific instruction and rehearsal. The primary research question was: What are the effects of peer video-tape modeling on the self-disclosure of children of divorce? Additionally, will modeling effects be significantly greater with the inclusion of specific instruction and/or rehearsal? It was hypothesized that each of the treatment groups would display significantly greater self-disclosure than would the no-treatment group. Further, it was hypothesized that modeling with specific instruction and rehearsal would yield greater disclosure than any of the other treatment groups or the no-treatment group.Twenty-two girls from grades three, four, and five received one of four treatments or no treatment. After treatment, each girl was asked to talk about her parents' divorce. The ensuing monologue became the data with which the hypotheses were evaluated.Results of the study were mixed. Modeling alone significantly influenced the length of the monologue in seconds while the three-component treatment significantly increased rate and ratio of use of personal pronouns. There was no significant difference between groups on dimension variables (i.e., type, target discloser, level of intimacy). Conclusions were drawn concerning the implications for school counselors, child psychologists, and community agencies. Modeling was viewed as a viable facilitator for increasing talk time which might lead to more "I-messages" and aid a health care giver in establishing rapport thus increasing depth of disclosure. Ramifications were considered for future research to clarify the possibilities of modeling to facilitate self-disclosure of children of divorce.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Concerns about the increasing high rate of divorce and marital disputes in the Hong Kong community and of children living in these families have been raised by educators, social workers and mental health professionals. It is held that parental divorce and interparental conflicts have strong and enduring detrimental effects on the development of children. This project examined the risk and resilience in terms of cognitive processing styles in adolescents under interparental conflict divorced family environment. The total number of adolescents participating in this study was 1,384. They came from 4 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Seven hundred and twenty of them (52.0%) were males, and 656 (47.4%) were females. Their age ranged from 11 to 18 years old, mean age was 13.59 years (SD = 1.06). Among them, 170 (12.3%) came from divorced families, 1,174 (84.8%) came from two-parent intact homes, and 40 (2.9%) participants did not answer this question. All participants filled in the same packet of questionnaires. These questionnaires assessed their attentional styles, symptoms of emotional disorders, happiness and interparental conflict. The participants completed the questionnaire under the supervision of the author, or a research assistant, or a teacher in class. Participants who reported that their parents had separated or divorced were required to answer additional questionnaires that measured self-blame and self-perceived positive change. Data obtained from the large pool of samples (n = 1,384) was used for validation of the Chinese version of the Attention to Positive and Negative Information Revised scale (CAPNIR). Data from participants who came from divorced families (n = 170) was used for validating the Chinese Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI-C). Data from adolescents who reported to have witnessed interparental conflict (n = 767) was used for evaluating the psychometric property of the Interparental Conflict Scale (IPCS). Results showed that these three inventories had good internal consistency reliabilities as well as convergent validities. Results of the principle component analysis (PCA) also showed that the factor structures of both the APNIR and the CPTGI-C were comparable to the English version questionnaires. The main findings of this project consisted of two parts. The first part explored the adjustment of adolescents from divorced families. It also investigated whether divorced and intact families with presence and absence of interparental conflict would have different adjustment outcomes, and whether there was an interaction between family status and interparental conflict on the outcomes. Statistical methods that included correlation analysis, independent sample t-test comparisons, 2-way multivariate analysis and factoral analysis of variance were used. In consistent with existing findings, the following results were obtained. First, adolescents from divorced families in general demonstrated more symptoms of emotional disorders than those from two-parent intact families. Second, adolescents from divorced families had witnessed a significantly higher level of interparental conflict than those from two-parent intact families. Third, parental divorce and interparental conflict significantly predicted adolescents’ maladjustment. Fourth, adolescents from two-parent intact families were happier than adolescents who came from divorced families. The second part of the main study focused on examining the relationship between cognitive processing styles (attentional styles and internal attribution) and adjustment by using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Several significant findings were presented. First, a greater level of negative attentional style was predictive of more symptoms of psychopathology and less happiness. Second, a higher level of positive attentional style was related to more positive emotion and self-perceived personal growth, and less symptoms of psychopathology. Third, while interparental conflict was found to associate with anxiety and aggression, its effects were partially mediated by self-blame; and the effects of parental disputes on depression and happiness were fully mediated by self-blame. The current findings extend existing empirical knowledge by demonstrating that negative attentional style and internal attribution not only linked to more symptoms of emotional disorders but also to less positive emotion. At the same time, positive attentional style predicted positive affect and self-perceived positive change, which to the best of the author’s knowledge, had not been explored in previous studies. Implications, limitations and future directions of these findings were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences