Stories are a way that children under 3 years of age learn to share meaning with others. Most research with this age group has focused on 1:1 parent-child story relationships at home, largely book reading. These studies have positioned children in the role of story listeners rather than story tellers. Here, I explore new possibilities about the…

The prevalence and social acceptance of childlessness have increased in recent decades. Still, little is known about how this social acceptance is shaped, the extent to which approval of childlessness differs across Europe, and what factors cause potential cross-national variation. The authors used data from the European Social Survey 2006 (N =…

Noting the absence of sound theoretical underpinnings for family quality of life (FQoL) research and work, the authors note that, to guide FQoL practice, research findings must be schematically organized so as to enable practitioners to implement empirical findings effectively. One way to meet this goal is to introduce a theoretical model that…

Considerable research has focused on the reliability and validity of informant reports of family behavior, especially maternal reports of adolescent problem behavior. None of these studies, however, has based their orientation on a theoretical model of interpersonal perception. In this study we used the social relations model (SRM) to examine…

This study examined relationships between home-based communal activities and beliefs and student reports of various achievement correlates with 290 black and white undergraduates. MANOVA procedures examined differences in self-esteem, self-efficacy, identified motivation, motivation to know, and amotivation and scores on Home Communalism Measure…

Objectives: This study seeks to examine the relationship between foster care and outcomes using multiple comparison methods to account for factors that put foster youth at risk independent of care. Methods: Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, matching, propensity scoring, and comparisons to the general population are used to…

One strategy for addressing the persistent challenge of advancing empirically based social work practice is to engage practitioners in the formulation of empirically developed practice guidelines. Although this approach is promising, there has been relatively little work to guide practitioners, and perhaps consequently, few examples of…

This article presents an emergent conceptual model of childhood adultification and economic disadvantage derived from 5 longitudinal ethnographies of children and adolescents growing up in low-income families. Childhood adultification involves contextual, social, and developmental processes in which youth are prematurely, and often…

This paper illuminates how concepts of rationality developed by Diesing in l962 are reflected in parents' childrearing decisions. After examining technical (TR), economic (ER), social (SR), legal (LR), and political (PR) rationalities or decision-making styles, consideration is given to integrative effects and the influence of parents' friends and…

This report offers a theoretical approach to the study of family adaptation to stress. Major works pertaining to family theory, research, and stress, published since 1979, are explored as a theoretical framework, and three conclusions are drawn from these sources: (1) Hill's ABCX model of family stress still influences family stress research; (2)…

Examines the portrayal of family relationships in domestic comedy television programs. Selects eight popular programs for view by subjects who then evaluate each television family with scales drawn from family theory. Reveals a model in which children construct a relatively hostile relational environment and parents exert a compensatory effect,…

Proposes an outline for a counseling model which combines individual and ecological approaches to assessment and intervention in a general systems theory, followed by an application of these principles to family assessment and intervention. Case examples illustrate how the ecological systems model is translated into clinical practice. (Author/WAS)

Child-driven and transactional models of child-family interactions were tested with 80 children (ages 3-11) with developmental delays and their families. Results indicate that the longitudinal relationships among children's cognitive competence, personal-social competence, behavioral and communication difficulties, and family accommodations are…

Offering an alternative to clinician's prevalent focus on family dysfunction, this book draws upon extensive clinical and research experience to present a framework for therapeutic and preventive work with couples and families who are distressed, vulnerable, or at risk. The book identifies key interactional processes that enable family members to…

This study examined whether a "goodness of fit" theoretical model (applied to 53 families with and 62 families without children with learning disabilities) might help in understanding children's school performance. For both groups, children rated as a "poor fit" in the home demonstrated poorer classroom behavior and poorer achievement over the…