The goal of this study was to attempt to develop a classification scheme that systematically related individual behavior, interpersonal behavior, and group interactions for the purpose of using the resulting classification scheme to evaluate theories of group development proposed by Bion, Bennis and Shepard, Bales, and Tuckman and Jensen. It was assumed that theorists' presuppositions about the structure of groups might influence their theories. Using a qualitative process of analysis, a structural classification scheme (SCS) was developed based upon transformative and generative rules, utilizing the General System Theory subsystem process of self-regulated boundary operations. The SCS protocol was employed to categorize and compare the theories of group development proposed by Bion, Bennis and Shepard, Bales, and Tuckman and Jensen. The resulting categorization of theories indicated that relationships existed among and between a group's structural properties, the complexity and type of communication connections among and between group members, and the size of the group. In addition, a common structural relationship was demonstrated to exist among and between individual, dyadic, and triadic group forms. A similar structural relationship was also speculated to exist between groups of any size. It was concluded that a structural approach to groups may offer insight to group …

This study was designed to measure ten demographic membership variables of the Texas Association for Counseling and Development (TACD) and the respective relationships of those variables to ethical knowledge. It was also an effort to conduct a global study of the most recent revision (1988) of the AACD Ethical Standards and to find the relative knowledge of these standards by a random sample of 357 counselors in one state counseling organization.

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between parental empathy (PE) and parental acceptance (PA) and the effect of filial therapy training (FTT) on this relationship. Filial therapy training is a parent education program in which the goal is the development of PE and PA. The Measurement of Empathy in Adult-Child Interaction (MEACI) and the Porter Parental Acceptance Scale (PPAS) are two widely used instruments in filial therapy studies to measure PE and PA, respectively. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between parental empathy and parental acceptance, and the effect of filial therapy training on this relationship. Specifically, this study was designed to investigate the correlations between the MEACI and the PPAS.

This study was designed to determine the effects of child-centered play therapy as a play therapy training model for beginning play therapy students. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of child-centered play therapy training on play therapy trainees in (a) improving positive attitudes and beliefs toward children; (b) improving knowledge of child-centered play therapy; (c) improving confidence in applying child-centered play therapy skills; (d) reducing dominance tendencies in trainees' personality as measured by the California Psychological Inventory; and (e) increasing tolerance levels in trainees' personality as measured by the CPI. The experimental group, consisting of 37 counseling graduate students with a specialty in child counseling, received 45 clock hours of introduction to play therapy graduate course training at the University of North Texas, Denton. The control group, consisting of 29 counseling graduate students with a specialty in child counseling, received other counseling graduate courses training but no play therapy training at the time of their participation in this study at the University of North Texas. Both experimental and control group students completed the pretest and the posttest on the Play Therapy Attitude Knowledge Skills Survey and the California Psychological Inventory at the beginning and the end …

This study resulted in the development of the Discouragement Scale for Adults (DSA), an assessment instrument for the Adlerian construct of discouragement in adults more than 18 years of age. The DSA is a 60-item instrument that contains five sub-scales corresponding to five life tasks identified in Adlerian literature as work, love, society, self, and spirituality. Age, gender, and ethnicity norms were established for the DSA using a diverse sample (N=586). Additional normative data was developed with a presumed discouraged sample (N=47), and a special sample of traditional college students aged 18-27 years (N=531). Findings on the norm sample indicated that females are less discouraged than males on the Total DSA and on society and spirituality sub-scales. The 18-34 year old group was more discouraged than other age groups on the Total DSA and on work, society, and spirituality sub-scales. Presumed discouraged sample findings indicated that females were less discouraged than males on the society sub-scale. College student findings indicated that females were less discouraged than males on the Total DSA and sub-scales of love, society, spirituality, and work. A significant difference was found among ethnic groups in self sub-scales. Students with no absences per week were less discouraged than …

The possibility of a relationship between Adlerian life style, as measured by the Life Style Personality Inventory (LSPI), and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was examined by this research. The goal of this study was to clarify the relationship between these instruments to broaden the applicability of both instruments for both research and clinical endeavors. Life style is a concept which is vital to therapeutic intervention from an Adlerian frame of reference. Assessment of life style typically involves lengthy therapist interviews. Both the LSPI and the MBTI are questionnaires designed to measure personality variables. The 117 subjects for this study were solicited from individuals seeking counseling from an urban community counseling center. The individuals served by this agency are primarily those diagnosed with Adjustment Disorders. The LSPI and the MBTI were administered individually to each subject. Means and standard deviations were computed for the seven LSPI themes and the MBTI total. Due to a lack of research support for Theme 4 by the LSPI author, the data for this theme were disregarded. The same research indicated a strong bipolar relationship for Themes 7 and 8 (Displaying Inadequacy and Social Interest), which prompted the inclusion of Theme 8 in subsequent data …

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of intensive play therapy as a method of intervention for child witnesses of domestic violence. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of intensive play therapy in: (a) improving the self-concept of child witnesses of domestic violence; (b) reducing internalizing behavior problems, such as withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety, and depression, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (c) reducing externalizing behavior problems, such as aggression and delinquency, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (d) reducing overall behavior problems, including internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and social problems, thought problems, and attention problems, of child witnesses of domestic violence; and (e) improving play behaviors in the areas of affection, contact, physical proximity, self-direction, aggression, mood, play themes, and food nurturing themes.

Body image may be defined as the perception or attitude one has regarding the appearance of his or her body. Body image concerns are not only central to the diagnostic criteria of eating disorders, but also create distress for nonclinical populations. Females (n = 167) from three universities participated in a study by completing the Eating Disorder Inventory - 2 (Garner, 1991) and the Figure Rating Scale (Stunkard, Sorenson, & Schulsinger, 1983); watching a video; and then completing the instruments again. Subjects in the treatment group (n = 89) viewed a video designed to increase awareness of unrealistic body sizes and shapes seen in the media (Kilbourne, 1995). Subjects in the comparison group (n = 77) viewed a video unrelated to female body image.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of filial therapy as a method of intervention for non-offending parents and their children who have experienced sexual abuse. Filial therapy is a didactic/dynamic approach used by play therapists to train parents to be therapeutic agents with their children. Parents are taught basic child-centered play therapy skills and the utilization of these skills in weekly play sessions with their children. Parents learn to create a special environment which enhances and strengthens the parent-child relationship, thus assisting in personal growth and change for both the parent and child. The purpose of this study was to determine if filial therapy is effective in: (a) increasing the acceptance of non-offending parents of their sexually abused children; (b) reducing the stress level of non-offending parents; (c) improving empathic behaviors of non-offending parents toward their sexually abused child; (d) decreasing the anxiety of sexually abused children; (e) enhancing the self-concept of sexually abused children; (f) decreasing behavior problems of sexually abused children as reported by their non-offending parents; and (g) enhancing the emotional adjustment of sexually abused children.

Parent Adaptive Doll Play, a technique in an early stage of development, is designed for use by parents in assisting their young children to cope with the stresses of parental separation/divorce. The effects of technique implementation by parents of three- through six-year-old children were investigated. Data was collected before and after parents received training and implemented the technique over an eight-week period. Parents completed the Child Behavior Rating Scale, Burks' Behavior Rating Scales, the Parenting Stress Index, and the Parental Attitude Scale. Twenty-two parents, reporting marital separation through separation and/or divorce, within 18 months prior to the beginning of the study, and reporting more than 50 percent physical custody of a three- through six-year-old child qualified for participation. Twelve children were experimental subjects and ten were control subjects. To determine differences between groups, a one-way analysis of covariance was performed on each post test variable. Positive differences were calculated in several areas of child behavior by parents of subjects in the experimental group. No significant differences between groups were found in any area of child behavior. The score which most closely approached significance, however, was found in the Burks' Behavior Rating Scale area of poor anger control.

This investigation used a descriptive approach to explore and evaluate early recollection changes of children in Adlerian counseling. The study addressed seven research questions regarding early recollection change for children in Adlerian counseling as compared with children not in Adlerian counseling. The treatment group was engaged in Adlerian counseling for 10 weeks. The investigator conducted pre-counseling and post-counseling interviews to collect six total early recollections from 9 subjects. The comparison group was not engaged in treatment for counseling. The investigator conducted interviews at an interval of 10 weeks to collect six total early recollections from 9 subjects. The Manaster-Perryraan Manifest Content Early Recollection Scoring Manual was used for analysis of early recollection content. Following training sesions, raters scored absence or presence of content variables in early recollections. Tables were employed to reveal findings of early recollection content change as addressed by the seven research questions of this study. A descriptive evaluation of' the data indicated that the treatment group manifested greater change in early recollection content as compared to the comparison group in six of seven research questions. On the basis of these findings, this study concluded that early recollections of children are a valid source of potential in measuring …

The problem of this study addresses a preliminary Rasch rating scale analysis of the Brief Symptom Inventory in relation to reliability and validity. Also, this investigator will utilize information provided by the latent trait psychometric model.

Utilizing ethnographic methodology, this study examined and described the filial therapy process to provide an in-depth understanding of the process, the relations in progress, and effects on the parent, child, and parent/child relationship. This study supports filial therapy as a viable option for educating parents in effective parenting and training as agents of change. The results appear to be generalizable to other parents engaged in learning filial therapy since previous research reported similar findings.

Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology emphasizes the uniqueness of individuals and describes the life style, or personality, as the unique and characteristic pattern of coping with and solving problems and interacting with other people. The purpose of this study was the development of a similar instrument that would quantitatively identify life styles in children.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of filial therapy on reducing the stress experienced by incarcerated parents; its ability to increase the acceptance level by those parents toward their children ; and to determine the effectiveness of filial therapy on improving the self concept of the children of incarcerated parents.

The focus of the present study was to test through SEM the relationships between family influences (FI) and school influences (SI) on factors hypothesized to be associated with adolescent social interest: school belonging (SB), extracurricular participation (EP), and peer/romantic involvement (PRI). The final model consisted of FI and SI that contributed to the expression of adolescent social interest. FI included parental communication and parental caring. SI consisted of teacher fairness. SB consisted of a child's self-reported feelings of belonging at school, EP included self-reported involvement in sports or academic clubs, and PRI consisted of self-reported desire for romantic involvement or desire for participation with others. The proposed model suggested that FI contributed significantly to self-reported SB, EP, and PRI. Additionally, it was hypothesized that SI would contribute significantly to SB and EP, but not to PRI. The data used in the current study were part of an existing data set collected as part of the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. The total sample size for the present study was 2,561 male and female adolescents aged 12-19 years. The data consisted of adolescent and parent self-report information. Results suggested a significant relationship between FI and self-reported SB and PRI. As …

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of play therapy as a method of intervention for children with a variety of emotional and behavioral problems. Specifically, the study was aimed at determining the effectiveness of play therapy in: (a) improving self-concepts of children with adjustment difficulties; (b) reducing internalizing behavior problems, such as withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety, and depression; (c) reducing externalizing behavioral problems such as aggression and delinquent behaviors; (d) reducing overall behavior problems, social problems, thought problems, and attention problems of children with adjustment difficulties; and (e) reducing parenting stress of parents of children who were experiencing adjustment difficulties.The experimental group consisted of 15 children who were experiencing a variety of adjustment difficulties and received play therapy once per week for 7 to 10 weeks. The control group consisted of 14 children who were experiencing a variety of adjustment difficulties and who were on a waiting list to receive intervention, and therefore, did not receive any treatment during the time of data collection. Experimental and control group children were administered the Joseph Pre-School and Primary Self-Concept Screening Test and parents of all participants completed the Child Behavior Checklist and the Parenting Stress Index at pretest and posttest …

This exploratory study drew from research in family art therapy assessment by Kwiatkowska (1978), Landgarten (1987), Kurinsky (1986), and Wilson (1988). The objectives of this study were to develop a theoretically consistent art therapy assessment tool for Adlerians to use in initial family therapy interviews and to evaluate its effectiveness in a field test with families of adolescents. Accounts of the families' perceptions of their AFAAT experience and the researcher's and three trained family therapists' interpretation of the six families were provided. An overview of the six families' perceptions of their AFAAT experience, their interactions, their art works, and hypotheses about indicators of adolescence as seen in their art works were also described. Although compelling anecdotal information about families of adolescents and their art work was obtained from the study, the validity and reliability of the AFAAT, as established in this study, is insufficient. Recommendations for improvements to the AFAAT and ideas for future studies to refine and utilize it more effectively concluded the study.

The study compared an experimental group (n=26) who participated in weekly SIS sessions as an adjunct to existing treatment protocols for a period of 6-8 weeks, to a control group (n=14) who matriculated in treatment without the addition of SIS training for a period of 6-8 weeks. Subjects completed a battery of questionnaires at the beginning of the measurement period and at the end of the measurement period. The SASSI-2, The McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), and the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale were used to measure groups on recovery related variables at Pre-Test and Post-Test. Results demonstrated a consistent pattern of improvement over the time measure. The results of the interaction of group and time demonstrated a pattern of gains which did not reach statistical significance, partially as an artifact of the small sample size. An investigation of effect sizes was conducted to detect the effect of SIS training. The training was found to have a moderate effect size, which was consistent with other research using SIS training. Some areas for possible future research were addressed.

This research study investigated the effectiveness of the application of child-centered play therapy procedures and skills by trained fifth grade students in play sessions with kindergarten children who had adjustment difficulties. Specifically, this research determined if play sessions with trained fifth grade students facilitated change in kindergarten children's self concept, internalizing behavior, and externalizing behavior and their parents' stress level.

Extensive documentation exists which firmly establishes the high use rates and disastrous consequences of alcohol consumption by university students. Use rates for this population have been linked to attitudes toward alcohol consumption, especially alcohol expectancies. Research to date on alcohol expectancies has shown differences in expectancies among various groups. However much of this research has been conducted without a theoretical basis, accomplishing little in explaining how beliefs and drinking behavior are related. The investigation was designed to explore the relationships among and between early recollections and alcohol expectancies and to explore how the contents of early recollections function in relation to expectancies in terms of alcohol consumption patterns among three groups of college males (student-athletes, fraternity men, and independents). The content of individuals' early recollections was analyzed and compared to expectancies and consumption rates for each of the three groups. The study addressed seven hypotheses regarding alcohol consumption rate comparisons, comparisons of consequences experienced as a result of alcohol consumption, comparisons of alcohol expectancies, and comparisons of reported content of early recollections. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to test the extent to which select early recollections and alcohol expectancy scores contributed to the explained variance in alcohol consumption patterns.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of filial therapy with incarcerated mothers as a method of increasing empathic behaviors with their children, increasing attitudes of acceptance toward their children, and reducing stress related to parenting. Filial therapy, a method of training parents to respond and interact therapeutically with their children, focuses on enhancing the parent-child relationship. The sample population of 22 volunteer subjects was drawn from a pool of incarcerated mothers in the Denton County Jail who had children between three and ten years of age. The experimental group parents, consisting of 12 incarcerated mothers, received 2-hour filial therapy training sessions biweekly for five weeks and participated in biweekly 30-minute play sessions with one of their children. The control group parents, consisting of 10 incarcerated mothers, received no treatment during the five weeks. The three written self-report instruments completed for pretesting and posttesting purposes by both groups were The Porter Parental Acceptance Scale, The Parenting Stress Index, and The Filial Problem Checklist. The parents were also videotaped in play sessions with their child before and after training as a means of measuring change in empathic behavior. Analysis of Covariance revealed that incarcerated mothers in the experimental group had …

This study investigated relationships among and between psychological hardiness, coping style, and burnout in 101 female hospital nurses. The third generation (50-item) hardiness scale, scored by the revised scoring procedure, was used to measure hardiness and its components. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used as the measurement for burnout. Coping style was assessed by the COPE Inventory. The components of hardiness, commitment, control, and challenge, were hypothesized to be negative predictors of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and positive predictors of personal accomplishment. In addition, hardiness and its components were postulated to be positively related to adaptive coping styles and negatively related to maladaptive coping styles. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were thought to be related positively to maladaptive coping styles and negatively related to adaptive coping styles. Personal accomplishment was thought to be positively related to adaptive coping style and negatively related to maladaptive coping style. Simple and multiple regressions were used.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of filial therapy in: (a) increasing Chinese parents' empathic behavior with their children; (b) increasing Chinese parents' attitude of acceptance toward their children; and (c) reducing Chinese parents' stress related to parenting. The experimental group, consisting of 18 Chinese parents, received 10 weekly 2-hour filial therapy training sessions and conducted a weekly 3 0-minute play session with one of their children. The control group, consisting of 16 Chinese parents, received no treatment during the ten weeks. All the parents were videotaped playing with their child before and after the training as a means of measuring change in empathic behavior. The two written self-report instruments completed for pretesting and posttesting purposes were the Porter Parental Acceptance Scale and the Parenting Stress Index. Analyses of Covariance revealed that the Chinese parents in the experimental group had significant changes in all 12 hypotheses, including (a) a significant increase in their level of empathic interactions with their children; (b) a significant increase in their attitude of acceptance toward their children; and (c) a significant reduction in their level of stress related to parenting. This study supports filial therapy as an effective intervention for Chinese …