The relationship between behavior in the home environment and perception of family social climate and personal well-being in a social-ecological perspective is investigated. A strong positive relationship between adolescents' sense of well being and time spent with adults in leisure and recreational activities in the home was identified.…

The 10 subscales of the Family Environment Scale did not emerge as 10 factors of the family environment. Seven new subscales were proposed: conflict, group cohesion, structure, religion, activities, verbal-intellectual orientation, and protestant ethic. The first four factors replicated well; the last three factors replicated moderately well.…

Discusses important aspects of desirable quality of life or well-being of families: household maintenance and work activities (care of house, family, clothing, food preparation, health maintenance, and home management); consumer goods satisfaction; and interaction of household members. Home economics can help families to maintain these critical…

This study compared interactions in 18 families headed by either deaf or hearing parents with an eldest hearing child (aged 7 to 11). Transcripts of parent/child dyadic interactions during a vacation planning activity were analyzed. There were no significant differences between children in the two groups, though deaf parents demonstrated less…

Examined gender and developmental differences in awareness of underlying feelings about subjects' age-near, same-sex sibling in 60 child-rearing and empty nest subjects. Found that women seemed to be more aware of their underlying feelings toward sisters than were men toward brothers, but valence of feelings was life phase-specific. (TE)

Study results indicate the mean depression levels in a group of Chinese children was similar to those found for children in the West. Positively associated depression with aggressive-disruptive behavior and negatively associated it with social competence. School social and academic difficulties were concurrently and positively correlated with…

Examined attitudes about foster care of 75 birth children of foster parents. Found that most enjoy or at least tolerate being part of a foster family, with many indicating that, despite the problems, it can give them a greater appreciation of their own family and an awareness of the difficulties some of their peers must cope with. (HTH)

The families of 325 adolescents with deafness were surveyed to assess the relationship between the communication modes used by families and family cohesion. The mother's use of sign language predicted family cohesion, and the child's degree of hearing loss and mode of communication predicted the mother's use of sign language. (Author/JDD)

Responds to Maccoby's and Hinde's commentaries on the Belsky, et al. article in this issue. Highlights several points of concurrence and disagreement. Draws attention to the potential benefits of asking questions about proximal and ultimate causation simultaneously and, thus, the need for child developmentalists to think about both the how and why…

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…

Introduces the concept of family integration to describe how family social organization affects individuals. Hypothesizes that well-integrated parents benefit children's self-concept formation. Tests three mechanisms of parental family integration, and shows that integration early in life has positive effects on children's self-esteem in early…

Examined family relationships and adjustment of two adolescent siblings in non-stepfamilies and in stabilized simple and complex stepfamilies. Found that complex stepfamilies were more different from non-stepfamilies than simple stepfamilies in which all children were fully biologically related siblings from mothers' previous marriage. Adolescents…

Employed an experimental research design in evaluating intensive family preservation services to reunify families after out-of-home placement. Found significant difference between the treatment group and control group in terms of family reunification, and mixed findings in terms of family functioning. Discusses research design with implications…

This study examined the degree to which members in two-parent two-child families of adolescents influenced one another. Social relations analyses indicated that characteristics of the partner and the unique actor-partner "fit" were systematic sources of interpersonal influence, and that reciprocal influence was present in most family…