The problem investigated in this study was whether a structured family enrichment program, specifically Understanding Us, would affect family cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, independence, organization, and control, as measured by the Family Environment Scale, and marital cohesion and consensus, as measured by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Understanding Us is based upon the Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Functioning. / A pretest-posttest design was used with 24 intact families in the experimental group and 26 intact families in the control group (Total N = 188). Since the family enrichment program was designed to ideally accommodate 12 to 16 families per group, the experimental and control groups were each divided in half with the resulting four subgroups attending on either Monday evenings or Saturday mornings. / Each volunteer family participated in a separate screening/orientation interview. Only those families scoring in the functional range of the Family Environment Scale were allowed to participate. In general, participating families were Caucasian, middle class, religious, and high educated. / Analysis of covariance, using the 10 Family Environment Scale and four Dyadic Adjustment Scale subscale scores as covariates, and employing both individual and total family analyses, revealed no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups, or among any of the four subgroups, except for the athletic-recreational subscale. / There was a trend in the Pearson Correlation Coefficients, calculated between the various subscales, to support the view that at posttest the experimental group families possessed greater balancing of togetherness and separateness, greater comfortableness with relational conflict, increased expressiveness, more independent behavior, and reduced emphasis upon organization and control in familial and marital relationships. / The program received uniformly high subjective ratings in achieving its goals of (1) being enjoyable, (2) facilitating understanding of marital and family systemic functioning, (3) creating a sense of family identity, and (4) instilling a heightened sense of agency or ability to resolve problems. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: B, page: 2501. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74566 |
| Contributors | DAVID, JAMES ROBERT., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 209 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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