Eating, weight, and shape concerns (EWS) are prevalent among college women, and women with EWS concerns tend to experience difficulties in the domain of interpersonal functioning. For a young woman, romantic relationships represent one of the most important aspects of her interpersonal world; thus, an exploration of the romantic relationships of women with EWS concerns may potentially impact the risk assessment, prevention, and treatment of these women. This study used a longitudinal design to examine the relations between EWS concerns and romantic relationships in 88 college women and their heterosexual partners. Participants completed questionnaires at two time points spaced approximately two months apart. Results revealed that women’s relationship outcomes did not predict changes in their EWS concerns over the subsequent two months, but relationship negative events for men predicted a worsening of women’s EWS concerns. This finding contradicts the common hypothesis that the influence between women’s EWS concerns and romantic relationship outcomes is bi-directional. Men’s desired change in their partners’ bodies predicted women’s EWS concerns cross-sectionally and longitudinally; however, once controlling for Body Mass Index, most results were no longer significant. Thus, it seems that a woman’s actual body weight may be driving both her partner’s satisfaction with her body and her own EWS concerns. Results for analyses determining whether women’s EWS concerns predicted subsequent changes in relationship outcomes indicated that women’s body image during physical intimacy was the only EWS variable that significantly or marginally predicted a worsening of all relationship outcomes for both men and women. This finding provides further support for previous research suggesting that women’s body image problems may lead to avoidance or uneasiness with physical intimacy, which in turn may impact relationship functioning. Finally, men’s desired change in their partner’s bodies predicted only men’s own relationship outcomes cross-sectionally, and only women’s relationship outcomes longitudinally. Overall, this study highlights the importance of longitudinal research and of assessing both partners when exploring the relations between women’s EWS concerns and romantic relationship outcomes.

The current study examined whether pre-birth risk factors mediate the relation between family of origin risk factors and couples’ relationship functioning after birth. Participants in the present study were 132 heterosexual couples who had their first child during the course of a larger, longitudinal study (Laurenceau et al., 2004). Results showed several significant mediation effects for both mothers and fathers. Additionally, for fathers, family-of-origin factors did not appear to directly influence their transition to parenthood, but were related to functioning before birth. For mothers, family-of-origin risk factors appeared to both directly and indirectly influence their relationship functioning after the birth of a child. Information on how pre-birth functioning risk factors mediate family of origin risk factors to the transition to parenthood is useful to psychologists who wish to intervene and assist at risk couples through the transition. This study contributes to the literature by illustrating a more complete picture of which individuals may be at risk during the transition to parenthood, which will allow psychologists to tailor their interventions to those it will help most.

First of all, the study is aimed at individual career plans being affected by various factors. Among which, we would like to research the relations and interactions between environment factors, such as organization conditions, and individual career development. Owing to keen market competition, a large number of businesses have to dispatch some employees abroad to achieve global stronghold strategy and economic arrangement. Also in Taiwan within ten years, there are more and more business employees being sent to Mainland China on a mission. They are in the main charge of operating the overseas subsidiary; therefore, they need to get used to the local customs and lifestyle as soon as possible. In the meantime, the support of the organization plays quite an important role. According to employee relations, organization and individual factors combining different cultural backgrounds, cross-cultural adaptation and self-anticipation, we design a questionnaire classified by ages and positions and even exercise actual case studies to come to the conclusion of the study. We find that the more the employees recognize their company¡¦s development and arrangement, the more successful and smoother interaction between them and their organization would exist. As well, the high-level employees could better realize what parts they must play and do their utmost to accomplish any challenge even though they might be not well-prepared in advance. To sum up, those international staff not only take such opportunity as a kind of ability training and international outlook extension, but also believe that the favorable conditions offered by the parent company will greatly lower their insecurity on the career development and promote the positive employee relations.

My thesis aims to explore how Anna successfully makes her breakthrough from her schizophrenia by emancipating herself from sado-masochistic interpersonal relationships in Doris Lessing¡¦s The Golden Notebook. R. D. Laing redefines schizophrenia as a process for individuals to cope with the modern world whose increasing division has caused the divorce between body and mind. Laing points out that individuals are confined in such social phantasy systems as political parties, family, and marriage. Schizoid individuals suffer from the alienation between body and mind in striving to extricate themselves from this confinement. Moving a step further than Laing, Lessing highlights that for schizoid individuals, sado-masochistic interpersonal relationships are, in fact, responsible for schizoid individuals¡¦ breakdown. In The Golden Notebook, Lessing demonstrates how Anna endeavors to get rid of the entanglement from sado-masochistic interpersonal relationships as well as the confinement of the Communist Party, family, and marriage. In Chapter One, I delineate the background for the emergence of a new interpretation of schizophrenia under the influence of anti-psychiatry movement and the association between Lessing and one major proponent of the movement, Laing. Both Lessing and Laing emphasize using the perspective of existential psychoanalysis to analyze the relation between schizophrenia and interpersonal relationships. In Chapter Two, I focus on depicting how different victims, including Anna, are trapped in different social phantasy systems and in sado-masochistic interpersonal relationships. Anna¡¦s schizoid process starts with her recognition of phantasies fabricated by different social systems, which leads to her attempt to extricate herself from such confinement as the Communist Party and marriage. In Chapter Three, I apply Laing¡¦s theory of false self system to explore how conflicting social demands result in Anna¡¦s multiple false selves. These false selves lead to Anna¡¦s disintegrated life, which is the main cause of Anna¡¦s writer¡¦s block. Therefore, in Chapter Four, I depict Anna¡¦s effort to reintegrate her life by experimenting with different representations of her self in novels and journals. However, Anna realizes that the difficulty in overcoming her writer¡¦s block lies in the lack of an integrated Anna. In Chapter Five, I discuss how Anna recognizes her schizoid condition from observing Saul Green¡¦s in her love affairs with him. She also realizes that her total breakdown is inevitable unless she can extricate herself from their sado-masochistic relationship. In addition, the revelation from her dreams also helps her to realize that the principle of joy-in-destruction plays an important role in subverting wrong divisions in society. In conclusion, I stress Anna¡¦s emancipation from schizophrenia and Lessing¡¦s new interpretation of representation in The Golden Notebook. For Anna, she successfully achieves her emancipation from total breakdown by elevating herself from sado-masochistic interpersonal relationships. With the revelation from Camus¡¦s Sisyphus myth, she redefines herself as a boulder-pusher, discarding her role as a victim. For Lessing, she offers a new interpretation of the gaps between reality and art through the collage of different representations of Anna¡¦s life.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Lehigh University, 2000. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-137).

Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains 136 p.

Thesis (M.S.S.W.)--University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-65). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-93). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-182). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.