<p> Young people from foster care face numerous challenges and barriers in their transition to adulthood and engagement with higher education. Foster alumni are one of the most disadvantaged student populations, compelling educators and policy makers to create pathways leading to student success. This qualitative life history explores the journey of one foster alumnus from high school drop out to four-year college scholarship recipient. Narrative intimate inquiry frames this study. A critical lens is used to view the identity capital of one raised by surrogate parents&mdash;the state. Jean serves as the heart of this study; I serve as a co-constructor in bringing her story to life. I explore how the life of one speaks to the plight of many and how we can smooth out the transition processes for this underserved, historically marginalized group of young people seeking stability. In addition, this study explores intimateness in inquiry. Intimate inquiry bringing to the forefront a critical conversation of how love and relationship with participants adds dimension to both scholarly contribution of findings and the rich nuances of researcher-participant engagement.</p>

<p> The purpose of the study was to determine whether family and peer risk and protective factors predicted alcohol, marijuana and cigarette use as well as alcohol-related problems among 6^th, 8^th, and 10^th grade students. This study also determined whether age moderated the relation between family and peer influences and substance use outcomes. Results demonstrated that peer alcohol use, peer positive alcohol use attitudes, and family history of drug and alcohol problems were associated with higher alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, as well as alcohol-related problems. Conversely, parental monitoring and peer negative alcohol use attitudes were associated with lower alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, as well as alcohol dependence. Moderation analyses demonstrated that among older adolescents&rsquo; social risk and protective factors were associated with higher or lower substance use, respectively. However, younger adolescents&rsquo; reported lower substance use, regardless of the level of the social influence. Implications regarding prevention programs are discussed.</p>

<p> Today&rsquo;s young gay men are experiencing life choice options in manners greater than any prior generation of gay men, particularly when considering family building. These men are coming out at earlier ages and facing a socio-political world of increased legal rights and opportunities, among which is the opportunity to parent outside of a heterosexual past. Informed by interviews with 51 gay men, aged 18-35, this research explores the personal views of today&rsquo;s young gay men about parenting. While past research has primarily focused upon the views of gay men who were already parenting, thus recalling past aspirations, this project focuses on the current views of gay men who have yet to pursue parenthood. Central discussions have explored the views of gay men who desire or are yet undecided about wanting children, as well as those men who actively speak to a preference to remain childfree. Among these three groups, how they are personally constructing their parental desires, what they perceive the pros and cons of parenting to be, and the manner in which their aspiration influences intimate and family relationships are examined. These views are additionally contextualized to the men&rsquo;s cultural observations of media and political climate. Despite social and historic assumptions that a gay identity implies a childfree path, these men particularly speak to the emergent and active consideration of parenthood by many. One may no longer presume a gay identity is incompatible with a fathering identity&mdash;it is a choice to be made at the individual level.</p>

<p> Research shows that approximately 12,500 new spinal cord injuries occur each year, which poses a drastic life change for the person who sustained the injury and their closest family members and friends who often times become the ones who care for them in the community. Due to this new, unexpected caregiving role, research shows that many are often unprepared to care for the spinal cord injured person once they are discharged from one of the inpatient settings. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to explore and examine the lived experiences of caregivers of spinal cord injury individuals. The results of this inquiry may benefit clinicians, patients, and caregivers with shared experiences and may help educate and guide future caregiver relationships. This study was guided utilizing van Manen&rsquo;s six research activities of qualitative inquiry. Participants were recruited for this study through purposeful sampling until data saturation occurred. A total of six participants were recruited for this study; five completed the study. Face-to-face, audio-recorded interviews were conducted. Colaizzi&rsquo;s 7-step approach was used for data analysis. Six main themes and two subthemes were identified during the interviews, which provided the overall essence to this qualitative study.</p>

<p> The process of becoming holy within marriage generates psychological deaths and rebirths, much like the transformational process of individuation conceptualized by Carl G. Jung. This hermeneutic study explores how a distinctively Jungian approach to clinical practice with couples can assist in developing a marital bond that can become a strong container for the spouses&rsquo; individuation. A depth psychological perspective in premarital and marital counseling offers spouses the possibility of containing the opposing forces that emerge in their relationship without destroying the union. The connection between becoming holy through the sacramental marital relationship and Jung&rsquo;s concept of becoming whole through individuation has received little attention in research. This study adds a dynamic aspect to Jungian studies by arguing for a new understanding of the sacrament of Matrimony as a container for psychological rebirth and transformation through individuation. In this effort, four factors that impact marriage are explored: vocation, theology of the sacrament of Matrimony, society and culture, and the body. Current clinical applications of an integrated approach are discussed demonstrating how the findings might be implemented in existing premarital and marital education and counseling programs for Catholic couples. </p><p> Keywords: marriage, premarital, Catholic, sacrament, individuation, container, couples counseling</p>

<p>This quantitative study explored the role of family acceptance as a protective factor for LGBT youth and young adults. The survey was given to 43 participants, between 20 to 29 years old, with 17 self-identified as bisexual, 14 lesbian, 10 gay, and 2 transgendered. The findings show that higher levels of family acceptance are a significant predictor for higher reports in general health. Lower levels of family acceptance was found to be a significant predictor for higher reports of depressive symptoms, lower self-esteem, and higher reports of negative experiences with substance use. Furthermore, data collected from this study reveals the level of family religiosity to be a significant predictor of family acceptance. LGBT adolescents have a variety of needs that can be met by educating parents and health care professionals about the importance of adopting supportive behaviors and promoting acceptance of LGBT identity.

<p> Tobagonian fathers are leaving their homes whether due to separation, infidelity, or divorce. As a result of fathers absent from the homes, young men on the island of Tobago are increasing in defiant behavior patterns and displaying more violence in the schools. Research indicates that the child&rsquo;s ability to thrive and excel is affected by the presence or absence of the father. Therefore, this qualitative case study included interviews and a focus group conducted with 10 Tobagonian fathers to gain their perspectives on being absent from the home and the effect of this absence on their sons specifically. Two of the most important findings were that Tobagonian fathers were well aware of their sons being affected due to their father absence and they actually wanted to make a significant difference in their sons&rsquo; lives. Recommendations for future study include initiating support groups for fathers by fathers, in which they can discuss struggles, problems, and issues as well as conducting case studies with mothers and grandmothers focusing on their perceptions as to absent fathers from the home and its effect on young Tobagonian males.</p>

<p>VADEHRA, POOJA, Ph.D. Co-resident Grandparents and Children?s Early Cognitive Development. (2015). Directed by Dr. Danielle Crosby. 112 pp. Cross-cultural research on parent?maintained multigenerational families with co-resident grandparents has shown largely positive outcomes for children, but few studies have explored the potential impact of this type of household structure on children in the American context. The goals of the current study were to investigate the association between grandparent co-residency in stable two-parent families and children?s early cognitive development (at ages 9 months and 2 years), and to examine whether grandparents? provision of child care moderated this association. A secondary set of questions asked whether the pattern of associations under study varied by children?s ethnoracial background (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Other). Data for this study were drawn from the first two waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a unique, prospective study of development for a nationally representative sample of children born in the U.S. in 2001. Analyses focused on the 6,950 children who lived in stable two-parent families during their first two years of life. Descriptive results show that 11.3% of infants living in stable two-parent families in this national sample had at least one grandparent living with them during their first two years of life. A series of multivariate logistic regressions indicated that grandparent co-residency was a more likely occurrence for children with younger mothers, children in families below the poverty threshold and those receiving federal benefits, children in families with higher incomes (once poverty was accounted for), first born children and Asian children. Interesting differences emerged in the pattern of correlates of grandparent co-residency across ethnoracial groups. Poverty and federal assistance were the strongest predictors of co-residency for White, Hispanic, and ?Other? families; whereas higher income was associated with co-residency for Black and Asian families. Hypotheses about the association between grandparent co-residency and children?s early cognitive development were not supported (for the full sample or any of the ethnoracial groups); however, supplementary analyses provided suggestive evidence of higher test scores at 9 months for children with co-resident grandmothers, and higher test scores at age 2 for children with co-resident grandfathers. I found no evidence that grandparent provision of child care moderated this association. Implications for future research and recommendations are further discussed.

<p> Holding both work and family roles can be a central experience for men and women, young or old. Yet, to date, the bulk of knowledge on holding roles in both domains is specific to young adults, a critical gap as conditions warrant longer work life. This inquiry thus focused on older working men and women (over 50 years of age) with at least one family role (spouse, parent of adult children, caregiver to an aging parent, or grandparent). With survey data from the Health and Retirement Study in 2010 and 2012, latent profile analysis, path analyses, and regressions were conducted to investigate multiple roles in later adulthood: 1) The extent older workers experience role enhancement and conflict between work and family roles because of role stressors and rewards, and patterns of role enhancement and conflict experiences, 2) The extent role enhancement and conflict (a) mediate between role rewards/stressors and psychological well-being (aging self-perceptions, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms), and (b) interact with each other when exerting their psychological impacts, 3) Gender differences in role enhancement and conflict experiences and in their psychological consequences. Holding multiple roles in later life was characterized predominantly by work and family roles mutually enhancing each other, rather than conflicting with each other, a pattern driven primarily by low role stressors and secondarily by high role rewards. Role enhancement and conflict mediated the effects of role stressors/rewards on psychological well-being, especially on self-perceptions on aging. Interactive effects were also found: Psychological well-being was fostered by work conflicting with and enhancing the family but compromised by a similar circumstance in the family. Finally, gender differences emerged. Women benefitted more than men from multiple sources of role enhancement and from their work role (even when it enhanced and conflicted with the family). Men&rsquo;s psychological well-being was neutral to multiple sources of role enhancement, enhanced by multiple sources of role conflict, and compromised by later-life family (when it enhanced and conflicted with work). In conclusion, although men and women experienced multiple roles in unique ways, they overwhelmingly benefitted from socially recognized activities from work and family roles.</p>

<p> Community mental health centers are actively pursuing evidence-based practices to help serve adolescents with serious emotional disturbances (Painter, 2012) and maintain adolescents in their homes who are at-risk for placement in residential care facilities (Copp, Bordnick, Traylor, &amp; Thyer, 2007). Family preservation programs attempt to improve family functioning and dissuade future out-of-home placement (Diamond &amp; Morris, 2011). The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between the characteristics and outcomes of at-risk adolescents through secondary data. This study used a theoretical approach of the social learning theory developed by Albert Bandura (1973). The overall research question was as follows: Is there a significant difference between age, gender, and the length of treatment among adolescents in family preservation services? The study sampled 79 completed records of adolescents, age 1117, who received family preservation services in a Southeastern state over a five-year period and discharged from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2014. The quantitative research design was intended to examine the relationship between age, gender, length of treatment, and treatment outcomes of at-risk adolescents using archived data from the Child Behavior Checklist and the Global Assessment Functioning. The results of this study were shared with the administrators of the community mental health center. Excerpts of the written report of this study were discussed in detail with the administrators. This study has demonstrated that the participants of family preservation services experience significant differences in treatment outcomes of length of treatment, but not in age and gender. Implications for service delivery, especially successful completion of services, were discussed. Recommendations for future research are suggested at the conclusion of this study.</p>