The data for this study were obtained in October 1989 through the use of a 128-item questionnaire given to students attending an alternative high school in Ogden, Utah. The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was included as part of the questionnaire. A total of 166 usable questionnaires were received from the students. The objectives of this research were to determine if relationships between self-esteem, race, gender, and religion and time use could be detected in at-risk adolescents. The data collected indicate that self-esteem, religion, gender, and race have only slight significance upon the self-reported time use of the alternative high school student. The alternative high school students came from multiple economic and social backgrounds but were quite homogeneous in their perceptions about Sunday and in their activities on Sunday. Statistical significance was noted in the comparisons of self-esteem and gender to self-reported time use. Those students with high self-esteem viewed Sunday more as a day of little or no accomplishment than those with low self-esteem. Gender appears to influence how time is spent, as significant differences were found in the amount of TV watched by boys ad girls as well as in time spent goofing off and in preparing and eating meals. Comparisons between members of the two dominant religions, Catholicism and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, produced no statistical significance regarding religion and Sunday self-reported time use. Comparisons between students of the two dominant races, Caucasian and Hispanic, produced no statistical significance regarding race and Sunday self-reported time use.

Three hundred seventy-six college students responded to a measure designed to examine retrospective accounts of the physical affection received during early childhood. The study looked exclusively from the perspective of the adolescent. Assessing the importance of touch in human development, and the role it plays in adult attachment and the ability to form and maintain close and intimate relations with others was the purpose of the study. Six separate measures were used to assess the role of touch in adolescent development: three items from Gupta and Schork to assess physical affection (touch); Simpson's attachment style measure; Gerlsma, Arrindell, Van der Veen, and Emmelkamp's parental warmth measure; and Rosenthal, Gurney, and Moore's Erikson Psychosocial Inventory Scale to assess intimacy. Also, one-item measures to assess trust and parents' marital satisfaction were all utilized in this study. Results confirmed statistically significant relationships between parental warmth and touch, warmth and attachment, and intimacy and attachment. Related literature supported the findings of the study and point to the importance of parental warmth and touch in early childhood for competent social and emotional development during adolescence. Implications of the results and possible areas of future research are discussed.

A longitudinal research design was used to determine if parents' personal well-being or marital relations changed after the launching of the youngest child and what variales might affect these potential changes. Eighty-nine parents whose youngest child was a senior at Logan High School or Sky View High School responded to mail-out questionnaires, assessing parents general well-being, marital relations, marital companionship, personal stress, quality of parenting experiences and degree of parent-child conflict. Approximately one year later, a second questionnaire was sent and twenty-three of the parents who responded had launched their youngest child. One of the most striking aspects of the results of this study was the general lack of statistically significant findings. For most individuals, launching of the youngest child had little positive or negative affect on parents personal well-being or marital relations. Significant relationships were found for parents who had low quality parenting experiences or whose relationships with their youngest child tended to be conflictful . These findings suggest that low quality parenting experiences or high amounts of parent-child conflict negatively impact personal well-being and marital relations and that the launching of the youngest child lessens the negative impact of these two variables. The exception to this finding was that low quality parenting experiences was significantly r elated to parents' marital satisfaction regardless of whether or not the youngest child left home.

Twenty females and twenty-three males from the Utah State University Children's House participated in this study which compared traditional preschool play with computer play. The Parten/Smilansky nested social/cognitive play hierarchy was used. Sociometric and cognitive assessments were incorporated in order to more clearly define behaviors. Five types of play were observed: computer, art, locks, manipulative toys, and the dramatic area. No gender differences were found in terms of the amount of time or type of play at the computer. However, sociometric status did influence computer play. Children who engaged in more positive social interactions used the computer constructively, while those who engaged in more negative interactions used the computer in a more dramatic fashion. Duration of play at the computer was similar to duration of play with blocks and art activities, but different from duration of play with manipulative toys and in the dramatic area. Group play was the most common level of social play observed at all types of play centers, including the computer center, suggesting that computers do foster socialization in young children. Summing across all centers, including the computer center, constructive play was the most prevalent type of cognitive play observed. When each center was analyzed individually, games with rules, the highest level of cognitive play, was observed significantly more often at the computer center. Thus, computers may be fostering higher cognitive levels of play.

The phenomenon of youthful sexual offending has received increased attention in recent years in the state of Utah. As a result. programs have been developed to treat the sexual offender within residential treatment centers. However. the efficacy of these programs had not been examined prior to the initiation of this project. The success of the programs has been assessed by examining recidivistic activity as measured by post-treatment criminal histories. The results of this study indicate that the sample of clients departing from treatment in Utah in the year 1995 has a recidivism rate of93.2% for sexual criminal behavior, as of December 1996. Additionally, the recidivism rate of nonsexual criminal activity demonstrated by the sample was 63.6% at the same follow-up. This study demonstrates that those subjects who are able to successfully complete treatment before their departure from the programs have lower recidivism rates. Additionally, the participation by the family both during the treatment process. specifically their involvement in collateral therapy, and after treatment. by having the youth return to the family, correlated with subjects not relapsing into recidivistic activity. This information is important for treatment planning. for legislative planning. and for the continued study or the phenomenon of youthful sexual offending.

The Sex-Offender Characteristic Inventory-Male Version (SOCI-M) was filled out by a national sample of 78 clinicians experienced in the treatment of youthful sex offenders. Using factor analysis, clinician perceptions of the biopsychosocial characteristics related to normal, conduct-disordered, and sex-offending youth were determined. All of the variables in the categories considered in this study factored into at least three distinct normal, conduct-disordered, and sex-offender youthful factors, with sex-offender variables loading onto more than one sex-offender factor in some categories. The normal youth factors accounted for the greatest variability in the Learning Disabled, Tourette's Syndrome, Borderline Traits, Histrionic Traits, DSM III-R Diagnosis, Problematic Relationships, Physical Illness/Injury, General Affect/Mood, and General Cognitive categories. The conduct-disordered youth factors accounted for the greatest variability in the Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Reactive Attachment Traits, and Antisocial Trait categories. Overall, the three groups tended to be more similar than different. Although the sex-offender variables accounted for the least amount of variability, they loaded onto specific sex-offender-related factors in some categories and were distinct from the normal factors, conduct-disordered factors, and other sex-offender factors. This included the Antisocial Trait variables, which loaded onto four types of sex-offender factors; the Physical Illness/Injury variables, which loaded onto two sex-offender factors; and the General Affect/Mood and General Cognitive variables, which both loaded onto two sex-offender factors. The distinct sex-offending factors may be indicative of different types of sex offenders. Discriminant analysis was unsuccessful in classifying pedophilic and mixed-offender groups based on the resulting biopsychosocial factors.

Most mental health professional organizations are establishing core competencies standards, which are the basic skills that practitioners are expected to possess. The core competency movement originated from concerns about the abilities of clinicians to provide competent service to clients. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) recently established the core competencies that each marriage and family therapist 's skill s should be measured by and that may lead to changes in education and training. This research examined the perspectives of AAMFT-approved supervisors to determine how they see their trainees' performances compared to the core competency standards. Comparisons were made between the desired levels of performance reported by supervisors and the estimated performance level of the trainees. Results were tabulated and reported as mean scores and frequencies The result is a better understanding of what approved supervisors hope that trainees will be able to do upon graduation

This study described adoptees' knowledge of and contact with birth parents in adolescence and young adulthood, and analyzed the relationship between adoptees' knowledge of and contact with birth parents and the adoptees' adjustment in young adulthood. Data for the current study came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). In total, 487 adoptees were identified for this study in Wave I (1995) and Wave Ill (2 002). Descriptive and multivariate analyses using logistic regression were conducted. Adoptees were more likely to be aware of their birth mothers than of their birth fathers and the percentage differences between their knowledge about birth mothers and about birth fathers were reduced over time. Adoptees were more likely to know about their birth parents during young adulthood than adolescence. Being female, being placed at an older age, never placed in a foster home, and being in young adulthood were statistically significant factors to increase the probability of knowing about birth mothers; being placed at older age and being in young adulthood statistically significantly affected the probability of having knowledge about birth fathers. Adoptees were more likely to contact their birth mothers than birth fathers and the differences in percentage concerning contacting birth mothers and birth fathers were increased seven years later. Being adopted at older age, never placed in a foster home, and being in young adulthood were statistically significantly associated with the probability of contacting birth mothers. Being adopted at an older age was associated with the probability of contacting birth fathers. The more adoptees knew about or contacted their birth parents, the less they attended college and the more they formed couple relationships in young adulthood. However, this negative effect of knowing about or contacting birth parents almost disappeared when other variables were controlled. This study provides new information in adoption studies, but the results remain inconclusive until the dynamics of pre-adoption history and post-adoption relationships are better understood.

This study researched the possibility of an egalitarian relationship coexisting with a traditional role-structured marriage. Qualitative methods were used to gather data from a national sample using a 3 1-page questionnaire. Out of the larger Great Marriage Research Study of 130 respondents (65 couples), 14 couples fit the criteria for this study in that they had a traditional structure to their marriage and both felt their was a balance of power between them. Their stories were analyzed to discover what their marriages were like and how they talked about and operationalized an egalitarian relationship. Findings from this research indicated that it is possible to have an egalitarian marriage relationship paired with a traditional role-structure. The findings can contribute to marriage education for couples who choose to live with a traditional structure, but want an egalitarian relationship.

This research study consisted of eighty-six pairs (young adult and his or her parent) of participants recruited from freshman and sophomore classes in two Northern Utah Universities. The parents ages ranged from 36-80 and the young adult children's ages ranged from 16-25. This research project examined the participants' demographics, marital satisfaction (of the parents), attitudes toward marriage, attitudes toward divorce, and attitudes toward marital counseling. Three paired t tests were used to determine whether attitudes toward marriage, divorce, and marital counseling were the same for young adult children and their parents. Multiple regression equations were used to determine what effects multiple variables (parental divorce rate and attitudes toward marriage, divorce, and marital counseling, young adult children's age, gender, and willingness to attend marital counseling in the future) have on young adult children's attitudes toward marriage, divorce, and marital counseling.