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The Dual Employed Coping Scales (DECS) were developed to measure coping behaviors and patterns of dual-employed families. The original DECS (58 self-report items) was administered to a sample of 60 individuals in dual-employed families. In another study, in which 69 dual-employed couples completed the DECS and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales, factor analytic procedures for the DECS yielded 49 items with internal reliability and 4 patterns of coping: (1) maintaining, restructuring, and strengthening the family system; (2) procurement of support to maintain family roles; (3) modifying roles and standards to maintain work/family balance; and (4) maintaining a positive perspective on the lifestyle and reducing tension and strains. Analysis of DECS data suggested gender role differentiation in dual-employed coping styles. Dual-employed wives used significantly more coping behaviors than their husbands, with much effort focused on accommodating their work to their family. Successful family adaptation also related to the wives' attempts to accommodate work to family, while the husbands' use of time for personal coping behaviors such as exercising appeared to interfere with family adaptation. Results of the study support the DECS as a tool for measuring dual-employed family coping behaviors. (MCF)

This book is an outgrowth of two major projects. The first is a research investigation being conducted by the Center for Prisoner of War Studies, and the second is the extension of services to families. The volume encompasses three major periods: the waiting period (early 1960's to February 1973); the repatriation period (February 1973 to April 1973); and the readjustment and reintegration period (April 1973 to the present). Chapters are organized and presented in the context of these periods. Introductory chapters provide a historical perspective of the Prisoner of War (PW) and Missing in Action (MIA) situation in Southeast Asia, as well as a demographic profile of the men and their families. In the second section, the casualty and waiting period, the complexity of family adjustment to father absence is emphasized. The third section is devoted to repatriation and the returned prisoner of war. The fourth section, which covers the readjustment and reintegration period, describes major dilemmas and factors involved in adjustment, such as adjustment of families of returned prisoners of war, and adjustment of relatives of servicemen missing or killed in action. The final section examines underlying assumptions, theories and concepts characterizing the military outreach and follow-up program for returned PW's, their families, and families of MIA servicemen. (Author/JLL)

Recent developments in family stress and coping research and a review of data and observations of families in a war-induced crisis situation led to an investigation of the relationship between a stressor and family outcomes. The study, based on the Double ABCX Model in which A (the stressor event) interacts with B (the family's crisis-meeting resources) which interacts with C (the family's interpretation of the event) which produces X (the crisis), was designed to study variables that discriminate between balanced and imbalanced family units faced with the chronic strain of raising a child with cerebral palsy. The 217 families responded to questionnaires about family life changes and parental coping. The balanced group revealed moderate scores on cohesion and adaptability subscales. This group was able to change their power structure, role relationships, and rules in response to stress. The imbalanced families were characterized by rigidity and chaos. The data partially support a multivariate and interactive approach to the study of differences between balanced and imbalanced families. (JAC)