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The authors utilized hierarchical multiple regression to understand the relationships between complex trauma, family environment, family cohesion, and resilience in 485 young adults aged 18–35. The young adults varied regarding their educational background and experiences with trauma. Results demonstrated that youth with more experiences of complex trauma were associated with lower levels of resilience. However, when they reported strong family environments and family cohesion prior to adulthood, they were more likely to be resilient in young adulthood despite the complex trauma experienced. Hence, family environment and family cohesion appear to be protective factors despite complex trauma exposure. Implications for family counselors working with trauma and resilience building through a systemic lens are discussed.

Objective We aimed to investigate the symptoms of inpatients with bipolar disorder (BD) in different types of families, and to explore the correlations between family coherence, family adaptability, and family functioning among inpatients with BD. Methods Inpatients with BD in Hebei, China (n = 61; mean age = 33.85±10.54; 39 males) participated in this study. Participants’ symptoms were evaluated using the Bech–Rafaelsen Mania Scale (BRMS) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) at weeks 1, 4, and 8 after their admission to the hospital. Participants’ family type was assessed using the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale II–Chinese Version. Family functioning was assessed using Family Assessment Device. Results Participants were classified into three family types: balanced (n = 13), mid-range (n = 28), and extreme (n = 20). BRMS scores improved over time in patients from all three family types. Improvement was slightly better with the balanced than the extreme family type. HDRS scores showed an improving trend over time, although this was not significant. Family coherence, adaptability, and functioning were mutually correlated. Conclusion The family system and family functioning are important factors that clinicians should keep in mind when treating people with BD.

Cultural values are believed to influence perceptions of and solutions to elder mistreatment (EM) perpetrated by family members. This study aimed to understand the influence of family cohesion on EM reported by community-dwelling older Chinese Americans. A mixed-method approach consisting of a quantitative survey built on focus group interviews was utilized. Focus group interviews were conducted to ensure subsequent survey questions about EM were culturally and linguistically appropriate. The revised survey questionnaires were then administered to 266 Chinese American older adults to assess estimated EM prevalence and the effects of family cohesion. Survey findings indicate that 1 in 10 reported at least one occurrence of EM in the past year. Depressed Chinese older adults (OR= 1.14) and those reporting low levels of family cohesion (OR = .82) were more likely to experience EM. Multigenerational family interventions can be designed to reduce older adults’ depression levels and promote family cohesion.

Family factors and adolescent life satisfaction have profound effects on later behavior. The present study examined the effects of family cohesion and life satisfaction on internalizing (depression and self-esteem) and externalizing (deviance) outcomes among adolescents. Moreover, this study also viewed internalizing outcomes as conduits that channeled the effects of family cohesion and life satisfaction on later adolescent deviance. Using the Taiwan Youth Project (TYP), results indicated that the family cohesion and life satisfaction of Taiwanese adolescents declined with time, and this, in turn, led to negative life outcomes, such as higher levels of depression and deviance, and lower levels of self-esteem. In addition to the direct relationship between family cohesion and adolescent outcomes, family cohesion also had indirect effects on self-esteem and depression through change in life satisfaction. Also, initial life satisfaction is indirectly related to later deviance through change in family cohesio...

In this study, we examined data from 200 families to investigate whether family functioning and adolescent psychiatric symptomatology were associated with differential attendance in a family-based or individually focused intervention for Latino adolescents. Latent profile analysis was used to identify families, and regression models were used to examine whether profiles exhibited differential attendance. Overall, three latent profiles were observed. The first described families where parents and adolescents reported discrepancies on psychiatric symptoms and family conflict. The second profile described families with elevated adolescent psychiatric symptoms but no family conflict. The third profile described families with low family cohesion and high levels of adolescent psychiatric symptoms. For this third profile, attendance in family-based treatment was significantly higher than in individual treatment. Results indicate that a family-based intervention may be better able to address issues of poor family cohesion.

This study explored the relationship between family functioning and trait emotional intelligence among 547 respondents, between the age of 16 and 24 years from Malaysia, Iran, China, Sudan, Somalia, Morocco, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. The questionnaires were Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale III and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between family functioning and trait emotional intelligence. The higher the family functioning, the higher the trait emotional intelligence among youths. The findings provide a deeper understanding in the field of family functioning and trait emotional intelligence and have implications for parents, administrators and child relationships dealing with trait emotional intelligence.

This study examined the association between marital status and psychological distress among Latinos in the United States, with attention to the impact of gender and family processes (family support, family cohesion, family cultural conflict, and family burden). Analyses were conducted using the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). The sample was a national randomized stratified probability sample ( N = 2,554). For the entire sample, being separated, divorced, cohabitating, or single was associated with higher levels of psychological distress compared with being married. For women, being separated or divorced was associated with higher levels of psychological distress compared with being married, but for men, distress was not related to marital status. For both men and women, lower levels of support and higher levels of cultural conflict and burden in the family were related to higher psychological distress. Among divorced women, family variables impacted the relationship between marital status and psychological distress.

This article studies the construction of ethnicity within majority and minority families and more in particular the strategies developed to ensure intergenerational continuity via an in-depth analysis of the narratives of Belgian-Flemish-, Italian- and Moroccan-origin parents in Flanders, Belgium. Parents were asked to discuss the upbringing of their children and the main elements they want to transmit, with a focus on their ethno-cultural identity. These narratives shed light on how parents perceive themselves, their children and other groups in society, and, more importantly, what these perceptions entail for the upbringing of their children. This article studies the strategies developed to ensure ethno-cultural continuity within the family and/or ethnic group, and discusses in which way these strategies become ‘logic’ in the eyes of these parents. The analysis shows how internalized perceptions and dispositions about one’s ethnicity, cultural background and religious affiliation influence strategy development to ensure linguistic and religious continuity and family cohesion, given the specificities of the social context. Overall, parents try to make sense of the burden of ethno-cultural continuity they feel resting upon their shoulders, but the article discusses how minority and majority parents’ perceptions and strategies tend to differ according to one’s social location and to power differences.

Regular family meal times have been associated with enhanced family cohesion and positive developmental outcomes for children–youth, especially in White and/or middle-class families. Less is known about the meal time experiences of low-income African American families. Guided by a family resilience perspective, this study examines meal times among a sample of low-income African American caregivers of preschoolers in an inner-city neighborhood. We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews and a photo elicitation interview with 11 low-income African American caregivers about their family meal time experiences. We found that caregivers valued family meal times and acknowledged their benefits for family life. However, competing demands such as family schedules, household configurations, chores, time pressures, fast food restaurants, and low-wage work affected the schedule and structure of meal times. This study adds to discussions of family meal times among low-income African American families and provides suggestions for enhancing mealtimes through culturally and developmentally appropriate interventions.

Advocates of home-schooling claim a variety of positive educational and familial outcomes. Research is needed to examine possible effects of home-schooling on family relationships. We investigated family environment differences between home-schooling and public-schooling families matched in terms of family-centric orientation. Family cohesion was measured using FACES III, and parent–adolescent interaction styles were measured using the Interaction Styles Profile, an instrument formulated for limited research use by the second author based on previous work done with family interaction styles. Mothers, fathers, and adolescent students in 38 public-schooling and 35 home-schooling families completed the measures. The potential confound of preexisting values and commitment to highly cohesive, emotionally connected, cooperative family life in home-schooling families was controlled for by the selection of public-schooling families matched on this variable (family-centric orientation). Family-centric home-schooling families reported statistically significant, but only moderately higher levels of family cohesion and parent–child parallel interaction than family-centric public-schooling families. There were no significant differences between home-schooling and public-schooling families in self-reported symmetrical and complementary interactions. Thus, when controlling for preexisting family-centric orientation, the institution and practice of home-schooling alone appears to produce only moderate (clinically nonrelevant) shifts in family cohesion or positive parallel interaction, suggesting that family-centric families can realize their goals for family cohesion and positive interaction independent of their choice of schooling.

This intergenerational, qualitative study of Jewish families in Argentina (N = 10 mother/daughter dyads) coping with the religious intensification of their daughters exemplifies cultural change in one or more of their subsystems. We found challenges to family cohesion related to food and television limitations, daughters' lack of acceptance of siblings' partners, and parents' concerns about the way their grandchildren were being raised. Relationships reportedly were not adversely affected by the daughters' religious intensification. The grandparent-grandchild relationship served as a bridge between cultures and generations with grandchildren being regarded as socializing agents. Results were interpreted in terms of strengths, ecological, and interactionist role theories. A community-based intervention model that derives from this research is suggested.

Family cohesion has shown to be associated with lower psychological distress and other risk behaviors for Latinos, but little is known about the relationship of family cohesion, family discord, and anxiety disorders. Using data from the National Latino and Asian American Study ( n = 2,554), this study examines the relationship between family functioning and anxiety disorders for an aggregate Latino sample and for Latino subgroups (Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Other Hispanic). Results for the aggregate sample suggest that family discord is associated with 12-month prevalence of almost all anxiety disorders for Latinos. On the other hand, strong family cohesion is only associated with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. For the subgroups, different patterns of association were found, suggesting the importance of understanding the heterogeneity of Latino culture when studying and treating anxiety disorders.

Given the growing population of Latino immigrants in the United States, it is critical for counselors to understand pre- and postimmigration social contextual factors affecting the mental health of this heterogeneous ethnic population. The objective of our cross-sectional, retrospective study was to investigate the potential protective influence of preimmigration family cohesion on drug/alcohol abuse just prior to migration among 527 Latino young adults (age 18–34 years). Multivariate Poisson regression indicated that preimmigration family cohesion was inversely related with harmful/hazardous alcohol consumption, the frequency/quantity of alcohol use, and illicit drug use when controlling for the potentially confounding sociodemographic factors of gender, age, education, income, marital status, and immigration status (documented or undocumented). Associations between family cohesion and drug/alcohol use behaviors varied between Central American immigrants and Caribbean/South American regional groups. Preimmigration findings offer a fuller contextual understanding of the lives of Latino young adult immigrants and support the importance of family cohesion as a buffer against drug/alcohol abuse.

• Summary: This study uses an integrative framework that includes various theories on delinquency to explain the relative contribution of factors on delinquency among Samoan adolescents and their overrepresentation in the Juvenile Justice System. Some 275 Samoan adolescents were recruited for the study from the states of Hawaii and Washington. Structural equation modeling was employed for the analysis. • Findings: Two models were analyzed. One model tested all the factors regardless of economic status. The full model fits the data well. The other model utilized economic conditions as a moderating factor (multigroup model). The multigroup invariance shows that the measurement model appears to fit better with the higher income group rather than the lower income group. The results suggest that while acculturative stress has a direct impact on delinquency, family cohesion can be a deterrent to high acculturative stress on delinquency particularly for the higher income group. The major hypothesis was confirmed by the data to show that there was a predictive relationship between involvement with antisocial peers and delinquency, and prosocial peers and no delinquency. However, it varied by income group. The higher income group showed a stronger predictive relationship of the involvement with prosocial peers and low delinquency. • Applications: Given the results, it is imperative for social workers to understand the impact of acculturation on family members and their family functioning. A better understanding of culture and how it operates within a family as well as an understanding of cultural identity is an important part of service to Samoan families.

This study examined relations between family cohesion and adaptability (as measured by the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales-III) and the formation of trust and intimacy (assessed with the Measure of Psychosocial Development) among adolescents in residential treatment. Bivariate correlation revealed a significant association between family cohesion and adaptability and psychosocial stages of trust and intimacy. Regression analyses revealed that family cohesion predicted trust, and that trust is significantly influential in the formation of intimacy. Discussion and treatment implications are included.

In this exploratory, correlational study, the researchers examined the extent to which select family systems theory constructs were associated with self-reported current weight among a sample of 77 primarily non-Hispanic Black adolescents. We also explored the extent to which select parental and familial constructs (family cohesion, family conflict, family resources, and perceptions of weight), and parents' current weight status separately and taken together predicted adolescents' current weight. Bivariate analyses suggested that adolescents' self-reported weight status is correlated with factors from multiple levels in which the adolescent is embedded; adolescent weight status was positively associated with parent- and family-level factors. Furthermore, the exploratory regression model established the existence of a small significant relationship (22% of the variance) between the parent- and family-level constructs and adolescent weight status, with parents' perception of his or her own weight status and family resources being the strongest unique predictors. These findings point to the potential importance of systemic factors related to adolescent weight status.

The authors tested whether self-efficacy, coping styles, family cohesion, and meaning in life predicted family satisfaction among 64 mothers of children with disabilities. They also examined whether meaning in life mediated the relationship between cohesion and family satisfaction or served as a resource whose effects on family satisfaction were mediated by coping and cohesion. Stress, meaning in life, emotion-oriented coping, and family cohesion predicted 31% of the variance in family satisfaction. Family cohesion fully mediated the relationships between stress, meaning in life, and emotion-oriented coping on one hand and family satisfaction on the other. Mothers with lower stress exhibited higher meaning; those utilizing less emotion-oriented coping had higher family cohesion. Mothers with higher family cohesion had higher family satisfaction.

The relationship between social self-esteem and family functioning in college-aged young adults was investigated. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify family variables predictive of social self-esteem. High levels of family cohesion and number of siblings significantly predicted strong social self-esteem. Family adaptability, amount of time left in the care of others during childhood, birth order, and gender were nonsignificant predictors. As the sample was predominantly female, these findings are reviewed within the context of feminist family therapy, and indications for counseling young women are discussed.

This study extends previous research by Dilworth by examining antecedents of both positive and negative family-to-work spillover—a long-neglected area of research. It also uses an extended definition of domestic labor that includes emotion work and status enhancement. Using data from a random sample of dual-earner couples, the study found gender differences and similarities in the antecedents of family-to-work spillover. For both men and women, family cohesion and emotion-work satisfaction enhanced positive family-to-work spillover. For men, relationship satisfaction was associated with positive family-to-work spillover, whereas satisfaction with the housework arrangement was related to women’s positive spillover. The factors associated with negative family-to-work spillover are different for men and women. For men, satisfaction with the status enhancement they perform in support of their partner’s career was related to decreased negative family-to-work spillover. For women, the presence of preschool-aged children was associated with increased negative family-to-work spillover.

This study assessed the self-perceptions of 432 gifted students regarding their family environments and their talent areas. Family environmental variables included parental expectations to achieve, parents’ encouragement to be independent, and family cohesion. Talent areas included academic skills, creativity, and leadership. The conjectures that academic achievement could be enhanced by parental expectations, as well as family cohesion, and that creativity could be enhanced by encouragement to be independent were not fully supported by the regression analyses. However, family environmental variables did predict students’ perceived talent areas, especially in leadership, and family cohesion was the consistent significant predictor. Implications of the findings are discussed with reference to cross-cultural research, but caution needs to be exercised in the interpretation of these results, as data were collected only on student perceptions.

Learning disability services worldwide increasingly recognize people with learning disabilities as family members and aim to provide effective support which facilitates family cohesion. However, some professionals still hold stereotypical views about families within a pathological model and as being `in need'. This article outlines one mother's reflections on her experience of raising a child with Down Syndrome, how his presence impacted on the family, and how she as a person changed as a result. The focus is on how the mother feels as a person, and how she has grown throughout all the sadness she has had to face. The article may help professionals to understand family life from a mother's perspective when a child has learning disabilities, and to recognize the importance of effective listening, ongoing coordinated support, and learning to work in partnership.

This retrospective study assessed the interacting relationships between child behavior problems, marital satisfaction, maternal depression, and family cohesion in 43 mothers and school-aged boys from a clinical sample. Mothers rated their child's behavior, marital satisfaction, level of depression, and perceived family cohesion. Results suggest that mothers with depressive symptoms report lower levels of marital satisfaction and higher levels of child behavior problems. Findings also suggest that maternal depression acts as a mediating mechanism for child behavior. In addition, marital dissatisfaction is related to lower levels of family cohesion. A discussion of the findings is presented, followed by implications for future research and clinical practice from a family systems perspective.

This article presents preliminary results investigating the relationship between parental and adolescent adjustment and coping and their relationship to social support and family functioning in a sample of adolescents (ages 11-18) with cancer and one of their parents. Parents and adolescents from two pediatric oncology clinics completed measures of distress, coping, social support, and family cohesion/adaptability. Low levels of distress were reported by both children and their parents with positive correlations noted between parent and child adjustment. Adolescents reported that their parents and a close friend were the greatest sources of social support and described their families as having a high degree of cohesion and adaptability. Both adolescents and parents used more adaptive than maladaptive coping strategies, although distress was asso ciated with reduced use of adaptive coping. Adolescents are able to adapt to cancer in the context of strong family and social supports. In addition, there is a relationship between parental and adolescents adjustment, and between greater use of adaptive coping styles and lower distress

One hundred eighty young adults completed measures of family cohesion and adaptability, communication expressiveness and clarity, and problem solving. The results of polynomial regression trend analyses yielded a linear relationship between cohesion and communication expressiveness, clarity, and problem solving whether cohesion was defined linearly as emotional bonding or curvilinearly as family togetherness. There also was a linear relationship between adaptability, defined linearly as flexibility to master family life cycle stage transitions and these facets of family communication. However, the relationship for communication clarity was curvilinear when adaptability was defined in a curvilinear way as the degree of power, control, and organization in the home. Overall, these results tend not to support Olson’s circumplex model of couples and family systems.

A method is presented for evaluating the presence and size of cross-cultural item biases. The examined items concern parental support and family cohesion in a Likert-type questionnaire for adolescents in The Netherlands. Each evaluated item has two versions, a collectivist and an individualistic one, that measure the same theoretical construct. The standardized difference between the score means of the item versions, called the Δe score, gives an indication of the cultural bias of the item. As expected, most items were found to yield a higher Δe when respondents scored low on an individualistic scale for acculturation or originated from countries that are (more) collectivist. This procedure is recommended for use in testing items in pilot studies.

Family environment is related to characteristics of adolescents’ personal development and social interactions. Although potentially different for males and females, decreased family cohesion and increased interparental conflict can inadvertently provide family environments that are associated with increased feelings of loneliness, which may be associated with problems in adolescents’ social interactions (i.e., social anxiety and social avoidance). Analyses of responses from 124 late adolescents revealed that feelings of loneliness were related to perceived levels of interparental conflict for males and females and decreased family cohesion for females. Furthermore, late adolescents’ feelings of social anxiety and social avoidance were related to their feelings of loneliness. The findings in this study show how deteriorated family systems may provide contexts that are associated with adolescents’ feelings of loneliness as well as their ability to engage in social interactions outside of the family system.

Determinants of adolescent distributive-justice reasoning skills in a face-to-face resource-allocation task with parents (mother and father) were examined with 45 families. Adolescents' distributive-justice reasoning was associated with satisfaction with family cohesion, mother-adolescent communication, and empathy, but not with father-adolescent communication, gender, or socioeconomic resources. Parental distributive-justice practices during the resource-allocation task reveal very different roles for mothers and fathers.

A history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been shown to be an important contributor to poor psychosocial adjustment in adult life. However, the long-term impact of childhood physical abuse (CPA) has been neglected, and research has often failed to consider moderating factors such as a negative family environment. This article investigates the relationships among adult psychological adjustment and self-esteem, family-of-origin environment variables, and a history of CSA or CPA. A self-report questionnaire was administered to a general community sample and a tertiary student sample. Findings indicated that family-of-origin variables did not predict psychological adjustment. However, the community group exhibited poorer psychological adjustment than the student group. For the community group, family cohesion and CSA were the best predictors of adult adjustment and self-esteem. For the student group, only CPA significantly contributed to the prediction of adult psychological adjustment. Statistical and conceptual limitations, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

This study compared the family-of-origin perceptions of doctoral psychotherapists in training with doctoral students in other social science fields. The sample consisted of 41 therapists in training from three programs (two in counseling and one in clinical psychology) and 47 doctoral students in the fields of history, political science, educational psychology (research measurement statistics), and economics. Results indicated differences in family-of-origin perceptions between the two groups on measures of family cohesion, adaptability, and family satisfaction.

Little is known regarding the etiology and maintenance of substance abuse, especially factors which place children at higher risk for later drug use. The present study evaluated the impact of a 12‐week verbal mediational program (Think Aloud), which teaches children and parents cognitive and social problem‐solving skills and addresses early childhood risk factors related to the onset of drug use in adolescence. Fifty children and parents were included in the present study and were randomly divided into four groups: two groups received either a verbal mediation condition comprising the Think Aloud training or time to complete homework assignments. Each of the topic groups was subdivided into two groups, one in which the parents served as models and one in which the experimenter served as the model. Measures of family cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict, family organization and control, social skills, level of disruptiveness of the child's peer choice, academic competence, and the child's problem behaviors were administered to the parents and the teachers pre‐ and postinterventivefy. Children in the verbal mediation condition with parental models were expected to show the greatest reduction in risk factor scores, and children in the verbal mediation condition with the experimenter model were predicted to show the second greatest reduction in risk factor scores at posttest. Results of the study demonstrated partial support for experimental hypotheses in that the children involved in the Think Aloud program showed improvement on four of the six factors on posttest measures. The superiority of the parental model was not found.

We used data from the screening phase and first two waves of a panel study to compare the home environments of families with a substance-abusing parent, families with a depressed parent, and families in a comparison group. We diagnosed substance use disorder and affective disorder by administering the Structural Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (third edition, revised) to each participating parent. The data suggest that families in which parents display a substance use disorder are very similar to those in which parents suffer from affective disorder, in terms of negative life events and lower family cohesion. The results of structural equation modeling indicate that parental substance use disorder and parental affective disorder influence adolescent substance use and depressive symptoms. In addition, parental substance use disorder has a direct influence on adolescent substance use at the time the first-wave data were collected, but this effect does not persist over time.

The potential of family cohesion and organization to act as buffers against the long-term, negative impact of childhood sexual abuse was examined. College women (N = 266), including 141 who had experienced childhood sexual abuse, completed self-report measures of current depressive symptomatology, self-esteem, and social adjustment. Family cohesion and organization were measured by the Family Environment Scale. Although no evidence for a buffering effect was indicated, multiple regression analyses revealed that both family characteristics were significantly related to participants' current social and psychological adjustment.

This is a study of acculturation and acculturation stress among Cuban and Nicaraguan adolescent males and their parents. The sample consisted of 674 Cuban-American and 211 Nicaraguan-American 6th and 7th grade adolescents and one of their parents. Hypotheses predicting group differences in acculturation stress were tested. Analyses were bivariate and multivariate, using parent and adolescent data. Findings indicated important differences in acculturation stress for different cohorts of immigrants within the two ethnic groups as well as differences between the subsamples. Important differences were also found between adolescent and parental acculturation stress, with more recent immigrants among the adolescents experiencing more language conflicts, while parents reported more long-term language conflicts. Adolescent and parental acculturation-related stressors and acculturation levels were strongly associated with lower levels of family cohesion, increased parent/child acculturation conflicts, adolescent self-esteem and adolescent perceived teacher derogation. The differences and similarities found between the Cuban and Nicaraguan groups, parents and adolescents, are discussed with a focus on the importance of the family as a coping source for the stresses associated with immigrant adaptation.

A path model was tested to examine a modified version of coercion theory. Results suggested that family cohesion is a salient issue in adolescent delinquent behavior, particularly as mediated by involvement with deviant peers.

Economic development in Hawai'i is generally based on a movement from agriculture (e.g., pineapple, sugar) to resorts and tourist-related activities. Tourism tends to change the complexion of rural communities and ultimately affects family structure and dynamics. The authors present a case study on the island of Lana'i, Hawai'i, which is undergoing economic changes that pose major challenges for agrarian families. The research findings indicated a clear relationship between family cohesion and mental health status. The results of this study provide a basis for designing preventive mental health strategies and making responsible policy decisions regarding future economic development.

Discrepancies between adolescents' and their parents' perceptions of family functioning were examined in a sample of 74 sixth-and seventh-grade students and their parents during the fall and the spring of the school year The effect of both the adolescent's gender and the gender of the parent on differences in perceptions was explored. In addition, the relation between discrepancies in perceptions of family functioning and adolescent emotional adjustment was examined. Results indicated that girls and boys perceived lower levels of family cohesion than did their parents. Girls also perceived lower levels of family adjustment than did both parents. Not surprisingly, mothers' and fathers' perceptions of family functioning were more similar to one another than the adolescents' perceptions (especially boys') were to either parent. Discrepancies in perceptions of family functioning also were related to the adolescents' reported levels of depressive symptomatology and anxiety, particularly for girls.

We examined the relationships among psychological adjustment, perceptions of family environment, and the presence of bulimia. Twenty-nine bulimics and 33 nonbulimics completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and Family Environment Scale (FES) parents of bulimics and nonbulimics were sent the FES to complete independently. Bulimics had higher scores than nonbulimics on MMPI-2 F, Hs, D, Hy, Pd, Pa, Pt, and Sc scales and lower scores on the L and K scales, with a clinically elevated mean configuration of 7-8-1. No differences in perceptions of family environment were found between bulimics and nonbulimics or between their fathers. Mothers of bulimics perceived more active-recreational orientation and less control than mothers of nonbulimics. For bulimics, perceived family cohesion was positively correlated with the Si scale of the MMPI-2. Finally, there was qualitatively less agreement on perceptions of family environment within bulimic than nonbulimic families. We discuss the clinical and research implications of these findings.

This study models the influence of family relationships on succession variables, using a sample of 130 participants from 109 family businesses. Results suggest that the effects of family adaptability and family cohesion on succession planning and successor training are determined by the family'S commitment to the business and the quality of the owner-manager and successor relationship. The study finds that the influence of family relationships on administrative behavior in family businesses is not always direct, as was previously assumed, but is mediated by various factors.

Comparison is made between migrant (n = 332) and Australian-born (n = 242) schizophrenic outpatients attending a regional psychiatric hospital. Age-corrected rates show that migrants are over-represented. The migrant patient-group was older, developed the illness later, and had a higher proportion of females. More female migrant patients had developed the illness before arrival and in the first five years after migration compared to males whose peak incidence was between 11 and 15 years after arrival. Migrant patients showed greater family cohesion. On broad socio-economic indices, illness characteristics and treatment received, no significant differences emerged. In many respects patients born in U.K. and Ireland resembled the Australian-born.

This paper examines the relationships between individual and familial functioning among adult cocaine abusers, using the FACES III scales to determine family functioning, and the Beck Depression Inventory, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-90, and SCID to determine individual functioning. The correlations between family cohesion and the three different measures of psychological impairment consistently show that persons who are psychologically the most functional are part of the most cohesive families, while the relationships between adaptability and the measures of psychological functioning are found to be inconsistent. The Olson “circumplex” model hypothesis is not confirmed for families in this sample.

Data on the relationship of identity and perceptions offamily processes are reported. The FACES III Inventory provided measures of perceived cohesion and adaptability of families, while identity statuses were derived from the Ego Identity Interview. Subjects were male and female college students (N = 61). Gender proved to be a major variable, with females perceivingmore cohesion in theirfamilies. Cohesion and adaptability levels were related to identity exploration for males. High-exploring males were more likely to describe their families as both moderately cohesive and moderately adaptive. A breakdown of identity by domains revealed little evidence of exploration by the subjects in pursuit of religious or political identity.

An empirical study of the relevance of the personal space concept when applied to adolescent family relationships was conducted with a sample of 40 intact, nonclinical families. Using the Family Approach-Stop Measure of personal space it was found that the spatial distance between the parents and an older adolescent was greater than the spatial distance between the parents and a younger adolescent. Using Pearson product moment correlations, it was found that there was a significant positive relationship between adolescent age and spatial distance between the adolescent and each of his or her parents.

The purpose of this study is to examine how different types of students respond to various drug abuse prevention areas, so that some sensitivity to differences in audiences' need can be known for planning. The students were differentiated through a classification scheme based on three factors—friends' drug use, family cohesion and school interest. This study is based on a school survey completed by 4,000 rural students and 2,700 suburban students in New York State during 1970–71. Students in the classifications most involved with drugs were those least receptive to traditional educational programs.

The study compares adolescent coping styles across different perceived family climates. Analyses indicated that the perception of family cohesion and organization, combined with respect for individual development, were related to a higher level of functional coping in the adolescent. A sense of lack of family support, or a sense of an over-controlling family climate, was related to a higher level of dysfunctional coping. Adolescent perception of family climate was found to be related to the nature of the task or situation the adolescent encounters. Findings are discussed in terms of the interface between adolescent development and perception of family processes.