Relational aggression is an indirect type of aggression used to damage relationships with others. Adolescent girls frequently encounter this issue, and the ubiquity of technology has expanded the ways in which girls can attack one another, i.e. cyber-bullying. The causes of relational aggression are unknown and could involve a combination of factors, including victim and/or bully psycho-social adjustment, social expectations, or the implicit structure of female friendships in adolescence. The effects range from social anxiety to impacted school performance to depression and suicidality. Groups of friends act much like a family for adolescents in terms of support and intimacy. Using Murray Bowen’s family systems theory as a template, an intervention is proposed where girls are taught techniques that will strengthen relationships with others and themselves. / text

Drawing on structural family systems theory, this study investigates the relations among family boundary diffusion experienced during adolescence, psychological individuation, and adjustment, from the perspective of older adolescents and young adults. Previous research suggests that boundary diffusion, such as triangulation and parentification, are linked to a variety of negative outcomes for adolescents and young adults (e.g., Buchanan et al., 1991; Hetherington, 1999; Jacobvitz & Bush, 1996), although not uniformly so (e.g., Arditti, 1999; Rosenberg & Guttmann, 2001). Theorists have argued that diffuse family boundaries may hinder the psychological individuation process (Jurkovic, 1997; Lopez, Campbell, & Watkins, 1989), which in turn may be related to low psychological well-being among young adults (Lapsley, Rice, & Shadid, 1989; Mattanah et al., 2004). However, the consequences of some types of boundary diffusion, in particular parentification, may vary depending on the contextual fabric in which they occur (Jurkovic, 1997). Hence, this study explores the extent to which family structure (young adults with married parents versus young adults with divorced, single parents) and gender may impact the relationships among boundary diffusion, individuation, and adjustment. Four-hundred-and-four older adolescents and young adults drawn from the community and a university setting participated in the study. Roughly equal numbers of men and women from both married and divorced family backgrounds were recruited. Participants were asked to reflect back to their adolescence (ages 14 to 17) and completed questionnaires assessing triangulation and parentification experienced by mothers and fathers during this time period. Current psychological individuation from mothers and fathers as well as current general and relationship-specific adjustment were also assessed via self-report measures. As expected, results indicated that participants with divorced parents experienced more boundary diffusion than participants with married parents. Overall, boundary diffusion was reliably associated with poorer adjustment and less psychological individuation irrespective of gender and family structure. Within this general pattern of findings, one notable exception existed: parentification by the same-sex parent among participants with divorced parents appeared not to be related to adjustment, which stood in contrast to findings for participants with married parents. Triangulation, on the other hand, emerged as a consistent and reliable predictor of psychological individuation and adjustment irrespective of family structure and gender. Lastly, as hypothesized, psychological individuation fully mediated the relationship between boundary diffusion and adjustment for the overall sample. This model was also fully supported for women and partially supported for men. Intervention implications arising from this research, including the importance of addressing triangulation dynamics in families and the potential fruitfulness of attending to individuation themes for young adults with histories of boundary diffusion, are highlighted.

本研究的目的係為了解單親隔代教養家庭樣貌，以及家庭中祖父母職的角色，並且探討單親隔代教養家庭之家庭系統。研究以質性研究方式進行，深度訪談10位單親隔代教養祖母，其中離婚之單親子女男女性別各半。研究發現，祖父母投入單親隔代教養家庭的原因包括：對於子女及孫子女情感的牽絆與不捨、由代間交換所獲得的愛與關懷、以及祖父母重視家庭的文化觀。單親隔代教養祖父母職的角色包括：社會性及象徵性的角色、工具性的角色、教育性角色以及情感性的角色。單親隔代教養之家庭系統議題包括「家庭週期」、「家庭角色」、「次系統及界線」，以及「權力及聯盟」。「家庭週期」的部分包括：祖父母從極力避免子女離婚至與子女一起度過離婚後的各種變動，如家庭重組、祖父母支持子女與其重新適應新生活的歷程；「家庭角色」的部分則包括：從子女離婚後的缺位替補、以及祖父母與其單親子女在家庭生活中共同建構新的家庭角色；「次系統及界線」的部分則包括：單親子女與孫子女重建親子次系統、祖父母協助避免親子系統形成僵化和疏離的界線，以及祖父母與其成年子女建立相互支持和緊密的成人的次系統；「權力及聯盟」部分包括：單親隔代教養家庭中存在單親家長「身為家長的權力」、祖父母「當家作主的權力」，以及不在家中的非監護權家長，也似乎影響著家庭的權力關係。此外，單親隔代教養中亦存在性別議題，包括離婚子女返家的經歷，女性返家須透過與父母商量，回家也可能只是過渡；家庭角色對男性的期待只需賺錢養家，但女性卻較被認為是照顧者的角色；另，祖父母對內、外孫的態度亦有所差異，有些祖父母認為自己對待孫子女無分內、外孫，但仍然有些祖父母出現內孫優先的想法。研究最後針對實務工作者、服務體系及社會政策三方面提出相關建議，以增進單親隔代教養家庭的福祉。 / The purpose of this study was to better understand the single-parent families that live with grandparents and the roles of grandparents in family systems theory. Qualitative method is employed in the study. Data were drawn from in-depth interviews with ten grandparent caregivers of divorced single-parent families.The findings indicated that the reasons why grandparents devoted to single-parent families’ caregiving tasks include: grandparents having deep feeling and love for their children and grandchildren, love and caring received from intergenerational exchange, and the cultural heritage of the family value.The roles of grandparents include:social and symbolic role, instrumental role, educational role and emotional role.The family systems of single-parent families which live with grandparents include: family life cycle, family roles, family subsystems and boundaries, and family power and coalitions. The family life cycle include : reorganization of family and supporting children to re-adapt to new life. The family roles include: substituting the absence of ‘family roles’, rebuilding new family roles; The family subsystems and boundaries include: rebuilding parental subsystem and preventing their parental subsystem from being rigid and isolated , rebuilding a supported and intimate subsystem between grandparents and the single parent；The family power and coalitions include: the parent as the power center , grandparents as being the power of decision makers and the unavoidable role of the non-custody parent relating to the power of the family. The gender issues also existed between divorced son and daughter in situations like the way they returning home, the family roles expected, and the grandchildren treated. Finally, implications were made from the aspects of practitioners, the service system, and social policy to enhance the well-being of the single-parent families that live with grandparents.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-171).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-171).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:21:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Christina Takatsu.pdf: 949085 bytes, checksum: 87fc7668b8ae5c0dd65ccad2238d8db6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The objective of this research is to observe inter-religious marriages. The encounter between two religious cultures can be, and generally is, a source of conflict. The emerging conflicts often occur not because of a different world vision, but basically because the other, by being different, threatens the identity of the individual. Facing this threat, it is necessary to strengthen their own identity. Based on interviews with six couples in inter-religious marriages, and specifically between Christians and Jews, and with children between birth and five years of ages and between thirteen and twenty four years of age, residents of the city of São Paulo, the intention of this research is to analyze how the couples deal with the challenges that arrives when one o the members of the couples belongs to a different religious tradition than the other. One of the principal challenges is how to deal with the religious education and spiritual formation of their children. The primary theoretical reference is Family Systems theory, principally the works of Murray Bowen regarding human behavior within family systems, but the research includes other secondary authorities that deal with the question of inter-cultural marriage. The intention is to discuss the implications of this reality for religious praxis and offer contributions for clinical psychology and the field of religious studies. Psychology needs to rethink its practice, leaving behind its prejudices in relation to religion and including this experience in its studies in order to inform both theory and therapy. This is fundamental in the process of understanding religious values and understanding the religiosity and spirituality of the client. On the other hand, religious institutions need to reflect on their praxis in terms of reaching families that are on the fringes of traditional religion, but still, being inter-religious, need to be recognized and respected as they are. As such, churches need to open themselves, reduce their tendency to look only at themselves and their context, and serve the world around them; even if parts of this world will never be formal members of their community.(AU) / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo observar o casamento inter-religioso. O encontro de duas culturas religiosas pode e, provavelmente, constituirá fonte de conflito. Os conflitos emergentes podem ocorrer, não por uma visão diferente de mundo, mas essencialmente porque o outro, por ser diferente, ameaça a identidade do indivíduo. Frente à ameaça, é necessário fortalecer a própria identidade. A partir de entrevistas com seis casais em casamentos inter-religiosos, mais especificamente, entre cristãos e judeus, e com filhos com idade entre zero e cinco anos e entre quatorze e vinte e quatro anos de idade, residentes em São Paulo, Capital, pretendi analisar como os casais lidam com os desafios que surgem quando um cônjuge pertence a uma tradição religiosa diferente da do outro. Dentre os desafios, está o de lidar com a educação religiosa ou a formação espiritual de seus filhos. Utilizando-se como referencial a Terapia Sistêmica Familiar, principalmente o trabalho de Paul Watzlawick sobre a comunicação e o de Murray Bowen sobre o funcionamento humano dentro dos sistemas familiares, além de outros referenciais auxiliares para trabalhar a questão intercultural no casamento, pretendi discutir as implicações para a práxis religiosa e oferecer contribuições à clínica psicológica e às ciências da religião. A psicologia necessita repensar sua prática, deixando o preconceito em relação à religião de lado e incluindo essa em seus estudos, de modo a aproximar o discurso e a prática do terapeuta, uma vez que pode tomar consciência de seus próprios valores religiosos quando buscar compreender a religião e a espiritualidade de sua clientela. Por sua vez, as instituições religiosas necessitam refletir sobre sua práxis, de modo a alcançar as famílias que se encontram na periferia das religiões. Famílias que solicitam uma orientação, uma formação religiosa, mas que, sendo inter-religiosas, necessitam ser reconhecidas e respeitadas como tal. Portanto, as igrejas precisam abrir-se, deixar de olhar para dentro de si mesmas e servir ao mundo, mesmo que parte desse mundo nunca venha a se tornar formalmente membro da comunidade.(AU)

Across deployment cycles, individuals negotiate family roles to accommodate the absence then re-entry of service members. There is scant empirical evidence about the processes through which roles are reorganized. Guided by the family resilience framework (Walsh, 2016) and the model of military marriage (Karney & Crown, 2007), I hypothesized that communication would be a mechanism through which couples negotiated roles during reintegration. Couple communication was conceptualized as occurring over two distinct but related temporal rhythms: established communication patterns and daily communication strategies. I expected that couples’ Time 1 (T1) established communication patterns (problem solving and withdrawal) would predict role negotiations at Time 3 (T3), and that these associations would be mediated by daily communication strategies at Time 2 (T2). 54 heterosexual National Guard couples were interviewed at three times across eight months after service members’ return from deployment. T1 and T3 were in-person interviews and measured participants’ established patterns of family life, including established communication patterns and ease in role negotiations. T2 was a four-day data “burst” and captured couples’ daily behaviors such as competence with daily communication strategies. Path analyses indicated that T1 problem solving (an established pattern) predicted service members’ more competent T2 daily communication and easier T3 role negotiations. While no indirect associations emerged for either partner, significant others’ T2 more competent daily communication strategies predicted easier T3 role negotiations for both partners. Results suggest that problem solving and competent daily communication strategies contribute to resilient family functioning during reintegration. This study highlights the viability and importance of adopting multiple temporal rhythms to examine processes across couple transitions.

No description available.

Previous studies indicated that parents raising children with autism (CWA) experience higher rates of stress; however, no qualitative studies have addressed low-income parents' lived experiences of raising CWA. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the challenges that low-income parents of CWA face daily within the framework of family systems theory and biopsychosocial theory. Research questions focused on the impact of income and the core symptoms of autism (social deficits, communication deficits, and repetitive behaviors) on marital and interpersonal relationships. Semistructured interviews with 13 parents were conducted, and transcripts were analyzed for themes using a 4-step process. Results indicated some negative impacts on parents' marital, social, and professional relationships. Themes included higher levels of stress and depression, decreased social interaction, less personal and professional satisfaction, and lower levels of marital satisfaction. Findings may be used to increase empathy and understanding of parents' challenges and improve access to resources and services required for CWA and their parents to enhance their quality of life.

Death is a sensitive topic, and discussing death with children may be difficult for parents, especially parents who are uncomfortable with emotional expression. Many factors are associated with parents' decision to discuss death; however, a dearth of recent literature existed examining the role of parental emotional expressiveness and discussing death with children. Using Jackson's communications theory within the broader family systems theory, this exploratory non-experimental quantitative study examined if one or more of the selected variables of parents' emotional expressiveness, parents' gender, and any previous discussions about death with a child adequately predicted the age of a child when parents felt it was appropriate to discuss death with a child. Prospective participants were parents recruited from a national online university (n = 175). Multiple linear regression analysis using enter selection was conducted on the data from the instruments that included the Attitudes towards Emotional Expression Measure and the demographics questionnaire. Results indicated no significance between the predictor and criterion variables. Despite the non-significant results, this study has the opportunity to impact positive social change by encouraging further research to understand the association, if any, between emotional expressiveness and death conversations, de-stigmatizing discussions of death and bereavement, and informing parents and professionals regarding discussing death with children to help children cope with their emotions in bereavement.