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This research, constituting secondary data analysis of a current Economic and Social Research Council funded programme of research with parents with disabled children in two areas in Northern England, responds to policy and practice prescriptions for family support services to be responsive and inclusive to a diversity of parenting situations (Department for Education and Skills, 2003; Social Services Inspectorate, 2004). An innovative research methodology, involving the collaborative analysis of a social work researcher and disability studies researcher, was used to gain a more holistic understanding of the issues in working with social work populations by investigating the concerns of a normative population. Findings identified a number of barriers to inclusion even for mainstream disabled families, particularly in the area of parent-social worker communication. The paper provides an initial contribution to current social work concerns of the need to improve the theoretical underpinning of 'specialist social work communication skills' for different practice settings (Social Care Institute for Excellence, 2004) by identifying communication issues and skills for work with parents of disabled children. Moreover, as secondary analysis of qualitative data is rarely reported, the paper provides a useful commentary on this type of research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on findings from a study of outcomes for young people leaving care funded by the Department for Education and Skills. It explores the informal support networks available to a sample of 106 young people over a period of 12-15 months after leaving care. It examines patterns of contact with birth families and caregivers, the support that emanated from these links and the strategies of leaving care professionals to strengthen these connections. It also considers the new families created by many young people through relationships with partners and the onset of parenthood and discusses the continuing support needs of young parents. The paper situates the needs and experiences of care leavers in a wider youth transitions framework and highlights the need for continuing professional attention to be given to strengthening family links as one strategy for helping care leavers to negotiate the transition to adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the authors' ideas about parenting adult children, describes some of the results of a larger qualitative research study and explores possible implications for practice. The study is based on in-depth analyses of narratives from interviews of a non-clinical population of parents of adult children. It represents part of an ongoing study to develop an understanding of an under-researched area of family life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article presents information about the 2004 Family Conference, held in Singapore. The Australian Institute of family Studies participated in the conference that was held to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family (IYF). The IYF celebrations culminated in a two-day Family Conference followed by a Family Festival. The Family Conference was organized by Singapore's Committee on the Family, the IYF taskforce, and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. The conference comprised two parts: a Regional Family Policy Forum and Family Matters Seminar. Speakers from various countries were nominated to present papers and to join in panel discussions which involved considerable audience participation. The article discusses various issues raised in the papers presented at the Regional Family Policy Forum. In total, nine papers were presented during the Forum. Considerable consistency in findings or conclusions emerged not only within the three sessions but also across these sessions.

This paper documents the process of integrating and institutionalizing academic service-learning into university, department, and program curriculum. First, we briefly define academic service-learning. Second, we discuss how academic service-learning is being institutionalized into our university community. Third, we discuss how we have integrated service-learning into our Family and Consumer Sciences curriculum. We conclude by illustrating how academic service-learning has been integrated into our Family Studies program by using a parent education course, our Family Studies club, and a human sexuality course as examples. The successes and difficulties of integrating academic service-learning into course curriculum are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Family life educators are likely to work with or develop programs for people who are bereaved. Family life educators, themselves, also likely will be bereaved at some point. Therefore, there is a need for bereavement education to be incorporated into the family life education curriculum. The main purpose of this paper was to discuss bereavement as it relates to family life education. A secondary goal was to determine the perceived preparedness of family life education students for working with the bereaved. A sample of 239 family life education students were surveyed about their preparedness using a questionnaire that was developed for the present study. The results indicated most of the students expected to come into contact with the bereaved; yet, they did not feel prepared to work with this population. Practical suggestions for incorporating bereavement education and skills training into the curriculum are offered for teachers of future family life educators and current family life educators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Objectives: In the last 30 years a growing body of studies on lesbian parents and the development of children has been published. Methods: Four computerized databases were identified studies for inclusion in this review of research on lesbian families, namely PsychInfo, Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), Medline, and the Social Sciences Citation Index. Results: Forty-four empirical studies on lesbian families published between 1978 and 2003 were reviewed. In the research on lesbian families two phases were identified. To begin with, systematic studies on lesbian families focused on lesbian families with children who were born in a previous heterosexual relationship. More recently, studies included lesbian families whose children were born to the lesbian couple (planned lesbian families). In both phases, articles reporting results on children''s development (such as sexual identity, emotional/behavioral development, social relationships and cognitive functioning), and parental functioning (such as mental psychological health and parenting skills). This paper presents and discusses major finding of the reviewed articles. Conclusion: Studies in both phases have emphasized that lesbian and heterosexual families are very much alike. However, it is the stigma of lesbianism that makes the family situation of lesbian families different. Practice implications: Healthcare workers should be informed about the similarities and differences between lesbian families and heterosexual families, and about the non-traditional family situation of planned lesbian families. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents information about the Asia Pacific Family Dialogue hosted from October 11-13, 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Asia Pacific Family Dialogue was the final in a series of four Regional Dialogues, leading up to an international conference on the family held in Doha, Qatar, from November 29-30, 2004, as agreed upon at the United Nations General Assembly in December 2003. The other three gatherings took place in Mexico City, Stockholm and Geneva. The ultimate aim of this entire process is to provide recommendations to strengthen and fortify the natural and fundamental group unit of society. The Dialogue was hosted by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, in conjunction with the World Policy Center, Brigham Young University, Utah. More than 70 papers were presented by speakers from 20 countries, including Australia and New Zealand. In addition, round-table discussions were held on such issues as marriage, parents and children, family life, family values and families and government policies.

This theorethical article outlines the development of family life education in Hungary. In the early 20th century, as a result of civic initiatives, this specific educational area as an independent professional and scientific field was organized in the United States and Western Europe. In Hungary, however, much like other Central and Eastern European states, institutional education became available much later. A government decree issued in the early seventies draws attention to the fact that "the biological, health, ethical, moral knowledge necessary for harmonious, desirable human relations is not sufficiently widespread among the general public, especially among young people, to create a well-balanced family life and to achieve a broad range of modern family planning. Therefore, measures should be taken to prepare for family life in all forms of public education and in the dissemination of information to the general public" (Mihalec et al 2011, 90) Komlósi points out, however, that despite the first governmental initiative on family life education, for decades there has been no significant change in practice. (Komlósi 1995) " In Hungarian secondary education, the pedagogical knowledge that can be chosen as subject matter for graduation examinations in pedagogical vocational secondary schools includes a growing proportion of topics related to education for family life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on trends in family studies in Australia. It monitors trends in the literature, both published works and unpublished papers such as conference and research papers and other non-commercial literature from universities and non-government agencies. The database also makes possible the identification of organisations and individuals working in particular subject areas. The database is divided into 70 broad subject categories. This structure makes it possible to analyse the amount and type of literature indexed in each category and to make observations about the attention or concern different social issues receive in a given time period. The majority of categories are surprisingly stable, mostly recording a slight increase each year, or occasionally a small decrease, in numbers of documents indexed. This year, 25 categories recorded more than 50 new documents; 13 with between 50 and 99 documents; nine with between 100 and 199 documents; and three categories with more than 200 documents.

An online professional practice analysis of family life educators was conducted resulting in responses from 522 Certified Family Life Educators (CFLEs) and a comparison group of 369 noncertified family practitioners. This survey included questions about the characteristics of CFLEs, their work environments, and practice-related tasks within 10 CFLE content areas. Compared to noncertified family professionals, CFLEs more frequently perceived that entry-level family life educators needed greater expertise in Internal Dynamics of Families, Human Growth and Development, Human Sexuality, Interpersonal Relationships, Family Resource Management, and Family Life Education Methodology than the other family life content areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dialogue in the polyphony of inner and outer voices in the present moment of family therapy is analysed. In Western Lapland a focus on social networks and dialogues in the meeting with families has proved to be effective in psychotic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examines the inherent challenges of the wide-scale implementation and replication of program models. Using the Healthy Family America (HFA) program model, the study reviews the adaptation/adoption debate and highlights the ways in which program adoption and program adaptation could coexist to facilitate successful program implementations. Specifically, 103 HFA program sites were evaluated based on their adherence to HFA's flexible program model. Although the results are mixed, the study presents a new way of addressing existing program implementation and replication issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends Goffman's idea that frames are laminated in various ways in interaction by demonstrating how work and play frames are interrelated in two distinct ways in naturally occurring family conversations. An analysis of excerpts from everyday interactions between parents and young children in three families illustrates how frames of play and parenting are laminated (i) by using language to sequentially transform inter- action from a literal frame to a play frame (reframing), and (ii) by creating two definitions of the social situation simultaneously through language and sometimes through physical actions as well (blending frames). It identifies linguistic and paralinguistic features by which these laminations are accomplished and shows how the parents in each family use the two different types. Finally, the analysis demonstrates in what ways play constitutes "work" for parents, contributing to our understanding of play as both ambiguous and "paradoxical." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young children with high levels of acting out behaviors present a challenge for families, caregivers, and the childcare system. The Parenting the Strong-Willed Child ( PSWC) parenting class curriculum program is a 6-week, group based parent education program designed for parents of children with noncompliance problems (ages 2–8). The PSWC program was offered at no cost to parents enrolled in 8 Head Start centers, and parents were invited to participate in a program evaluation study. Seventy-one families enrolled in the study and completed at least one PSWC session. From pre- to post-test, parents reported significant improvements in both the frequency and intensity of child behavior problems. Parents also reported significant reductions in parenting stress, as well as improvements in their parenting behaviors, including a reduction in the use of lax discipline techniques and emotional reactivity in the context of discipline encounters. All improvements were sustained six months later. These preliminary results are encouraging, and point to the need for a more rigorous, controlled evaluation of the PSWC parenting class curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the lack of consensus about what constitutes child neglect. Existing research and professional groups can't agree on the standards for minimally adequate childcare. Research and statistics show that children of a young parent with no partner or family support or a young parent with learning difficulties is at an increased risk of suffering neglect. It appears that parents with learning difficulties can be taught to care for their children adequately. A study confirmed that parenting skills training can be used to assess and improve basic childcare skills, especially with regard to bathing, but less so with regard to feeding.

Research on family strengths began in Korea in the 1990s. With increasing academic and social interest in the study of family strengths, a number of investigations have been conducted. Western measurements do not properly reflect unique features of Korean familism and culture. Pursuit of coexistence and we-hess are unique Korean qualities of family strengths that represent the solidarity of members and familism. However, these qualities are sometimes called obstacles to the adjustment of Korean people to changing norms in a rapidly individualizing society today. In this context, it is time to reexamine the concepts of family strengths in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to more fully understand the factors that motivate and influence kinship care provided by African American grandfathers who raise their grandchildren. Methods. Data were gathered from a community sample of older men, age 65+, who were responsible for the care of at least one grandchild in a rural community in southeastern North Carolina. Fifty-four percent of the grandfathers were African American men who are the focus of the present analysis. Responses were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis mode and descriptive statistics. Results. Five factors (obligation, lack of availability of other caregivers, family tradition, role modeling, care and concern) that influence their decision to assume the parenting role emerged and three areas (lack of resources, feelings of powerlessness, religious beliefs and spirituality) that impact their ability to continue providing care were identified. Discussion. Findings indicate that practitioners seeking to understand kinship care and assist grandparents who are raising grandchildren must take into account the hardships these families face due to a lack of concrete services and the implications for mental health. Results affirm the need for special attention to grandfathers who provide kinship care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Vygotsky's (1997a) concept of fossilized behavior, this study examines the cultural fault lines between the imagined community (Anderson, 1991) of early childhood education and some Australian Indigenous families. Through creating a social space within which Indigenous families could examine dominant and taken-for-granted discourses within early childhood education, participants could make visible assumptions and beliefs about early childhood education in Australia. Through this study, cultural tools were identified for supporting professionals to re-imagine new landscapes for early childhood education in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the meaning of quality of life (QOL) in China from the perspective of social representations. The data were collected by open-ended individual interviews with 16 ordinary Chinese people. The study shows that social thinking about QOL in Chinese society is activated in five critical domains of life: health, family, work, social relations and the natural environment. Meanwhile, “having” and “being”, the two antinomic, yet dialogical interdependent, interpretive repertoires, have an overarching generative and normative power over the discourse about QOL. They permeate and underpin the different domains of life. Dominated by an “economic logic”, the “having” repertoire constructs these life domains through a set of economic consequences and posits them as resources leading to material possessions. While dominated by an “existential logic”, the “being” repertoire confesses existential meanings to the same life domains, and emphasises the joy derived from them. Thereby, it infers that QOL as a social representation is generated from, and organised around, a central thema of “having” and “being”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I discuss the reasons for my interest in sibling relationships, and showcase studies on sibling relationships in adolescence carried out with my colleagues and students, in the context of the broader literature on sibling relationships. Our studies have focused on a number of important issues concerned with sibling relationships. First, I report on the associations between sibling relationships and other family relationships and the ways that the various family relationships affect each other. Second, I report a study of sibling relationships in the context of parental separation and divorce and show that sibling relationships in these families are more likely to be high in both warmth and hostility than is true for relationships in 2-parent families. Third, I report on several data sets showing an association between the quality of sibling relationships and adolescent adjustment and the link between differential parenting, adolescent adjustment, and the quality of the sibling relationship. Fourth, I report on a study of comparison and competition in sibling relationships and the associations between sibling relationship quality and reactions to being outperformed by a sibling. Finally, I discuss possible future directions for research on sibling relationships, including the importance of multimethod studies and a longitudinal perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We offer a framework to help marriage educators think more thoroughly, systematically, and creatively about intervention opportunities to strengthen marriage. We draw attention to the educational dimensions of content, intensity, methods, timing, setting, target, and delivery, and their implications for marriage education. Our discussion points out the potential value of developing marriage education with greater specificity in content, timing, and target. We call for intervention that embeds marriage education in diverse institutional settings and provides access to couples across the socioeconomic spectrum. In the end, we address the need to take marriage education beyond a valuable helping profession and an expanding educational service to a vibrant social movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When selecting a marriage education curriculum, educators can turn to programs that have been evaluated for effectiveness; however, few curricula have undergone such study. An alternative approach, consistent with best practices, is to ensure a research base for program content. A translation process model is offered as an initial attempt to explicate the often advocated yet seldom described research-practice linkage. This process is used to examine recent research on marital quality and provide examples of research-based content in existing marriage education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connections: Relationships and Marriage is a high school marriage education curriculum designed to teach students how to develop healthy relationships and marriages. This study evaluated the effectiveness of this curriculum with 410 high school students who were in Connections or a control group. Although the effects were relatively small, findings suggest that the curriculum increases knowledge of relationship concepts, decreases violence in dating relationships, decreases risk factors for adolescent pregnancy, and positively impacts attitudes related to future successful marriage. Implications for further development of the curriculum and other implications for practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe "Marriage 101: Building Loving and Lasting Partnerships," an innovative, for-credit undergraduate course at a large, religiously unaffiliated research university. Marriage 101 engages students in the scientific literature and discourse in the psychology and sociology of marriage and marital success. The course has the additional explicitly practical goals of preparing students to choose compatible partners, to face inevitable challenges, and to experience greater marital and relationship satisfaction. To achieve these goals. Marriage 101 integrates traditional academic methods with experiential and self-discovery assignments. Four years of experience with 150 students has found students eager to learn and able to do so, gaining considerable insight about themselves and the challenges of intimate relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American population is constantly evolving, as are its needs for family life education. We discuss how family life educators can address issues of diversity in developing and conducting programs for families. Domains for change are suggested in which educators can incorporate cultural competence in their daily work. Four general strategies are presented for extending programming to more audiences. Interwoven throughout are specific examples and recommendations for use by family life educators. We end with a diversity agenda for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given changing demographic patterns in the U.S. population, learning about diversity is important for students in family studies. The current study examined 44 syllabi of courses that addressed family diversity issues. The syllabi were reviewed with respect to (a) how instructors were structuring courses, (b) the level at which these courses were offered (e.g., undergraduate or graduate), (c) the topics that were included in these courses, (d) the departments that were offering the courses, (e) the types of instructional materials utilized, and (f) the assessment strategies employed. In addition to providing descriptive information, evaluative recommendations, and directions for future research, our findings are useful for instructors who are interested in developing or revising courses on family diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Schools can be instruments of social change when they adopt a curriculum that intimately joins didactic instruction and experiential learning, otherwise known as service-learning (Boyer, 1997; Bringle & Kremer, 1993; Myers-Lipton, 1996). As a type of “scholarship of engagement” (Boyer, 1997), service-learning is a methodology which enables family educators to incorporate community service opportunities into established family science curriculum. Having received support from an intergenerational servicelearning grant from the Association of Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) and the University of Pittsburgh's Generation's Together (GT), we will describe the way in which service-learning was integrated into an existing aging course. This class helps our students to meet the human development content area requirement for the National Council on Family Relation's (NCFR) Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) program. More specifically, we will provide a description of the Elder Service Partnership Project, delineate the educational objectives of the experience, and offer a critique of the partnership based on feedback provided by both undergraduates and elders. Benefits of the experience to both students and elders will be highlighted, as well as suggestions for improving the overall experience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article aims to promote the practice of service-learning in family science courses. It also has the objective of providing the reader with a basic understanding of the practice of integrating service and academic study, subsequent resources to review, and awareness of crafting a proposal that requests funds for developing a course.

The study of pets in families is an important scientific dimension, with a substantial body of research literature. This article presents a framework and theoretical basis for understanding human relationships with pets, using a life course perspective. Pets play an important role at each stage of the life-course. Research indicates that pets offer companionship, assist persons with disabilities, facilitate therapy, and play an important role in the bereavement process. Implications for Family Life Educators and a consideration for the inclusion of pets in the substance areas of teaching curriculums are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the last two decades, there has been a notable increase in the number of families in which grandparents are raising grandchildren. During the same time frame, academic journals representing a number of family-focused disciplines have published articles on the situation of these grandparents. Many of these articles include implications for family life educators and other family professionals. However, the information on practice strategies has not been compiled into one source that cuts across disciplines. This article both summarizes major issues for grandparents raising grandchildren and discusses how professionals can apply general practice principles to their work with this population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses changes made to the second edition of the Framework for Life Span Family Life Education, developed by the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). The family life education movement encompasses a broad range of disciplines, such as, health science, sociology, psychology, counseling, biology, economics, mass communication and others. Family life education is defined by NCFR as "preventative and educational activities including program development, implementation, evaluation, teaching, training, and research related to individual and family well-being." The second edition of the framework is helpful to those who engage in family life education on a full-time basis, as well as those who do it on a part-time basis. The framework can be an important tool in program development and assessment by aiding program developers in determining appropriate curriculum content for age-specific programs. The framework also provides assistance in assessing both breadth and depth in family life education curricula.

This article discusses the role of family life practitioners in the new electronic frontier--the Internet. According to the author, family life educators care deeply about the transformative power of knowledge. Knowledge and its application can change lives engaged in a learning enterprise. The World Wide Web provides family life educators with an extremely powerful tool they can use to inform families. Understanding the cultural conditions that influence and are influenced by this technology is necessary if family life educators hope to use that tool effectively. According to the author, family life practitioners must consider integrating three complimentary strategies into their work. First, they should focus on information management with their clients. Second, they should support their efforts to transform information into useful knowledge. Third, they should use the Web as a tool to communicate directly with their clients. Practitioners will have an increasingly important role in helping clients sort, organize, and apply the large amounts of information provided by the Internet.

Family life education sites on the internet were searched for and classified into the topic areas of the Framework for Life-Span Family Life Education. A total of 356 sites were found and a content analysis was performed to discover trends within each topic area. Many Web sites were found in the topic areas of parenting and human development, while fewer sites were found in other areas such as family resource management. These findings will help family life educators identify gaps in information available through the World Wide Web. Recommendations are offered for improving the use of technology in educating families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family systems thinking is too abstract to be testable and too discontinuous to be related to the field of psychology as a science and as a profession. Its basic untestability might be necessary, but it remains insufficient to account for behavior in the family. After a detailed discussion of these and other shortcomings, a reductionistic proposal submits three major dimensions of family behavior. The major dependent one is development, which is a function of two process functions: the ability to love and the ability to negotiate power. Much published evidence tends to support the present proposal; however, it will be the purpose of future research to question whether two major process functions are necessary to describe behavior in the family or whether additional and/or different functions will be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiential technique for teaching the Family Life Cycle is presented. Participants are asked to create simulated families and are assigned a series of structured exercises that focus the emotional, developmental, and systemic issues of each Family Cycle stage. Directions for each exercise, questions designed to develop observation skills, and discussion of specific workshop issues are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family life education arose around the turn of the 20th century in response to the perceived negative impact of changing social conditions on families. Since then, family life education as a field of study and practice has experienced considerable growth. This article reviews recent advances in family life education scholarships, practice, and educator preparation and identifies challenges for the future. Historical and futuristic perspectives acknowledge the evolutionary nature of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Important aspect of graduate education is learning how to evaluate the quality and validity of research. The sturdy of families presents particular challenges, due in part to the multidisciplinary nature of family research. Three methods designed to teach students how to critique family research are examined. All three methods appear to have promise in teaching students how to evaluate family research, and all three methods sensitized students to pertinent issues in the research literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a model for guiding students in writing reviews of family literature. The conceptual base for the model is drawn from Bloom and associates taxonomy of educational objectives. It also highlights the value of the Bloom taxonomy for assisting academic mentors, enlightening graduate students, and advancing family science. As in other fields, literature reviews in family science serve two functions: to guide new research and to organize information and facts. These functions are identical to the functions of theory. Writers focus on one or both of these objectives in writing scientific literature reviews. The value of the literature review in a developing discipline, such as family studies, seems particularly critical because of the multiple paradigms that compete and contribute to one another in a relatively young science. The multiplicity of paradigms, variety of theoretical bases, and the variation in methodologies imply a critical need for the integration that literature reviews afford. In addition to the advancement of the field, the writing of a literature review also contributes to the personal growth as well as the pragmatic goals of the writer.

The article uses three core assumptions shared by feminists to examine the contributions of feminist perspectives to the content and methods of, and participants in, family life education. Teaching about families from a feminist perspective is innovative because it assumes intrinsic connections among the content, process, and participants of education. It is controversial not only because the term feminism evokes strong reactions, but also because feminism proposes fundamental change both to people and to institutions. In the spirit of this special collection's focus, authors argue that although some goals are shared by feminist and more traditional educational models, feminist pedagogy offers more promise of achieving these goals, particularly in family life education. In addition, they see feminist approaches as breaking new ground by moving beyond the goals of traditional models to enhance connections among educators, learners and content. Teaching about families from a feminist perspective is likely to result in more effective family life education than teaching from more traditional perspectives.

The article presents a survey of educators of comparative family studies and identifies the types of information that are needed for multicultural family courses. Issues related to social inequality were considered particularly important. Family educators are expected to be interested in current global changes and their impacts on contemporary families. Family scholars have made significant contributions to the study of cultural diversity internationally and nationally, through comparative studies of families in other cultures and studies of minority groups in the U.S. Traditionally, comparative family research involves the systematic observations of two or more family systems across time or place. The goal is to identify and to explain the uniformities and differences in family structure and the effects of these characteristics on individual and family development and interactions. Virtually every topic studied by family scholars can be and is pursued comparatively, such as premarital sexuality, conjugal power, marital dissolution, differential socialization of children, and gender roles in households and the wage labor market.

The article provides a brief overview of various teaching techniques used in interpersonal and family relationships courses over the past decade. It also summarizes the empirical studies that have assessed teaching techniques and the outcomes of courses in terms of changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. It is encouraging to see the diversity of teaching techniques used in family life education, but unfortunately there are limited empirical assessments of the effectiveness of these teaching methods. Additionally, little attention has been paid to educating family life educators about the various teaching techniques that are available. No easily accessible source exists for ideas and information about teaching university-level family relations courses. The challenge for family life educators for the decade of the '90s, then, is to more definitively assess the effectiveness of various teaching methods and to address the issue of outcomes for students in terms of their increased under standing of the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, their personal growth, and their competence in developing and maintaining satisfying interpersonal relationships.

The article clarifies the concept of family life education using methods of analytical inquiry. This involves a systematic examination of two essential features of the concept and of the meaning of the word "education." It also clarifies the distinction between family life education and other related fields with which it may be confused. One of the problems in defining family life education is that family life educators have expected a great deal from their definitions. Family life educators suggested that to be adequate, a definition should explain the field in terms acceptable to the professional, meaningful to the layperson, and useful for evaluating programs. A review of family life education literature for the past 25 years indicates that the problem is not the lack of a definition because several definitions are available. The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of family life education using methods of analytical inquiry. This kind of inquiry is concerned with investigating questions of meaning and aims to increase one's understanding and use of concepts. Such inquiry is guided by what is sometimes called a "prior question."

The literature on the effects of teenage parenthood on the adolescent mother herself, her child, and her mother is reviewed from the perspectives of ecological and family systems theories. Life course trajectories of the three family members and how changes due to early motherhood co-occur are described. Emphasis is placed on missing links between what is known about the lives of these families and how services are provided. Recommendations are given vis-a-vis future directions for programs and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a variety of historical, philosophical, and applied perspectives on the changes occurring in family pedagogy. Of particular importance are the controversial paradigm shifts and the concomitant innovative ways of teaching that empower both students and teachers. A quiet revolution is occurring in the many areas in which professionals teach about families. As in all revolutions, controversy is inherent in the subsequent changes. From paradigm shifts to teaching methods, controversial changes are occurring on many fronts. First is the inclusion of a variety of nontraditional family structures into the content of mainstream family-related courses. These nontraditional structures include multigenerational families, matrilineal families, dual-earner couples, communal families, single-parent households, binuclear families, and stepfamilies. This change in course content is a function of such recent and current phenomena as a more global perspective of life on earth like the Civil Rights Movement and increasing numbers and percentages of ethnic minority families in the U.S.