Teachers' decisions about staying in a position are influenced by three classes of variables: employment, personal, and external. In a North Dakota study of the relationship between these variables and job retention in rural areas, 42 special education teachers and related service personnel who had left their positions in the past year (leavers)…

This paper first considers the importance of housing as a component of rural quality of life. Rural-urban housing differences are then evaluated, with both advantages and disadvantages cited for rural areas relative to urban areas. A strategy to improve rural housing by increasing the number of housing choices is presented, with human service…

Several institutions, including churches, community groups, and political organizations, lay claim to the task of bolstering existing values and restructuring the ethical set of the nation. The higher education community has an equally legitimate claim for the responsibility of inculcating values. The role of education in values transference is…

It is the dimension of power or control, either in the workplace or in the family, that determines the degree to which social relations are alienating. The consequences of social inequality for the quality of personal life were examined in 314 married couples, of whom 70 were dual-earning non-parents, 123 were dual-earning parents, and 41 were…

It is expected that by 1990 the majority of clerical and managerial workers in North America will use computers in their daily work. An integrative model was developed which views quality of work life as an ever changing dimension influenced by computerization and by perception of career success and non-work factors. To test this model, a study…

Emergence of a dual agricultural system, need for sophisticated knowledge and equipment, declining importance of labor, and geographic and organizational concentration of the production and processing of certain commodities are creating changes in rural communities. While some changes will have negative social/economic impacts, the importance of…

In this paper, by an educator who is also the parent of a son with mental retardation, the urgent needs of families whose children have chronic medical needs in addition to disabilities are discussed. One family's efforts to maintain their severely retarded and disabled son at home are described as an illustration not only of the unsurpassed…

College graduates face the contradictory and inconsistent beliefs of a society that seems to be struggling between a desire to either degrade or enhance the dignity of man. Amid all the current mechanical marvels there exists social ills of nightmare proportions. In the turmoil to find solutions to the many problems many have lost sight of the…

In order to identify important clinical questions in long-term care settings for older adults, it may be helpful to examine the psychological consultant's role in these settings. A consultant is often faced with some staff members who think he has all the answers and by others who think he has none. The consultant may also encounter a strong…

The relationship between locus of control and value orientation was studied in adult teacher education majors. The Rotter Internal External Locus of Control Scale and Rokeach Value Survey were administered to 413 undergraduate and graduate students ranging in age from 18 years to over 50. Demographic data were also collected. The results showed…

The utility of a theoretical model of quality of life for graduate students was investigated. Variables that relate to the person-environment fit of graduate students were also examined. The data were collected via a biographical data form and seven psychometric instruments. The 142 subjects from two graduate departments at Peabody College were a…

This paper explores the developmental changes in meaning and purpose across the life course. Thirty males and females at the developmental stages of young adulthood (16-29 years), early middle-age (30-49 years), late middle-age (50-64 years), young-old (65-74 years) and old-old (75+ years) completed the Reker and Peacock (1981) Life Attitude…

Sport and physical education provide unique opportunities to contribute to the quality of life. Historically, they were enthusiastically used to develop high standards of ethical and moral behavior. Currently, however, cheating and violence have become standard, especially in North America, and are apparently accepted with mild criticism and only…

This paper presents a discussion of the importance of voluntary childlessness as a contemporary social phenomenon. The negative attitudes associated with voluntary childlessness are discussed in a brief summary of recent literature. An exploration of the methodological limitations of existing research is included which emphasizes its usefulness…

The extent to which Stokols' model of alienation could be applied to the relocation of elderly into age-homogeneous communal residences was investigated by interviewing 50 residents of two homes for the aged and one senior citizen apartment complex. Three types of regression analyses were performed to test the hypothesis that simultaneously…