The problem of this study was to assess the impact of growing up in an alcoholic family on adult personality strengths and to determine the perceived levels of autonomy and intimacy in the family of origin. The sample consisted of 115 volunteers, 84 women and 31 men, ages 22 years and older, who had at least one alcoholic parent. The 16 Personality Factor Questionnaires (16 PF) and the Family of Origin Scale (FOS) were administered. A 1 X 3 Chi Square Goodness of Fit analysis was used on each of the 16 personality factors to determine the personality strengths of adult children of alcoholics (ACA). A simple discriminate function analysis was used to determine the degree to which assessed strengths on the 16 PF discriminated self-reported levels of autonomy and intimacy in the family of origin. A multiple regression analysis was used to determine which 16 PF were more closely related to perceived autonomy and intimacy in the family of origin as measured by the FOS.

This study examined the effects of Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) on affection, communication, and relationship between elderly parents and their assisting adult children. Twenty-eight pairs of parents and children were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. Subjects took Quinn's Family Life Questionnaire as pre-, post-, and follow-up tests. Parents and children in the treatment groups attended a four-session STEP workshop. No significant differences were found on the 2 x 2 analysis of variance for repeated measures for the parents or adult children. Quinn's affection and relationship variables approached significance for the parents over time. His variable affection approached significance for the children over time, irrespective of group. Agreement approached significance for children in the treatment group. The results for the parents regarding affection suggest that the study may have emphasized their feelings of trust. Although the data for relationship approached significance, it was negative, indicating that parents in the treatment group may have reduced their interaction with their assisting children perhaps because they were learning new communication skills. The data for the children regarding affection approached significance, but it was negative, suggesting they felt free to question their feelings about themselves and their parents. The results for …

The problem of this study was to test the differences between adult children from alcoholic families with adult children from non-alcoholic families on levels of depression, self-esteem, and anxiety. The sample consisted of 203 volunteers, all from the Counselor Education Department, 150 females and 53 males, ages 19 and older. Volunteers who were noted as being adult children of alcoholic families numbered 60. Measures used were the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Coopersmith Adult Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI). Multivariate Analysis of Variance was used to test for differences between groups. In addition, a secondary analysis using a one-way MANOVA was used to test for differences between dysfunctional and functional family of origin status on the dependent variables of depression, self-esteem, and anxiety.

Postal survey research was conducted between September and November, 1986, to gather information concerning the evolution, existence and extent of mental health services available to police personnel. Questionnaires were mailed to all 366 municipal, county, and state police agencies in the United States that employed 200 or more workers. Usable data were obtained from 76.8% of the agencies surveyed. Of the 281 respondents who returned usable data, 65.1% reported the existence of mental health services available to their police personnel. The majority of respondents (58.6%) perceived their mental health programs as being equally reactive and preventive in orientation. The most frequently reported existing components were outside agency counseling, stress management seminars, and testing of potential police recruits. Over half (54.8%) of the responding police agencies reported having between 10 and 19 components in their respective mental health programs. The implementation dates and evolution of twenty-five (25) components were examined, and specific components of various police agencies were also revealed. The majority of respondents (70.7%) reported their mental health programs were available to sworn and nonsworn personnel and their families. Almost all respondents (98.3%) viewed their programs as being cost effective. Also, most agencies were satisfied with the four treatment resources …

Between June and August, 1983, a postal survey was conducted to gather information on industrial mental health programs in mid-sized corporations in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The sample included all companies listed in Standard and Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors, and Executives (1982) with an employee population of 500 to 2,000. Approximately 27% of the responding corporations indicated that they had formal existing industrial mental health programs. The responses indicated that the majority of formal industrial mental health programs were located in banking, insurance, high technology, media, and professional enterprises. The relationship between the size of companies and the provision of services was curvilinear.

The problem of this study addressed how women experience the conflict variables of beliefs about conflict, anger arousal, conflict styles, and received and expressed violence as partners in love relationships and how these factors affect their reported satisfaction. Graduate women (M = 186) from University of North Texas completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), a subscale of Relationship Beliefs Inventory (RBI), the Multidimensional Anger Inventory (MAI), and Interpersonal Conflict Tactics and Strategies Scale (ICTAS), and the Severity of Violence Against Women scale (SVAW). Data were analyzed using MANOVAs with ANOVAs to examine significant differences. Multiple regression procedures were used for the exploratory questions. Women reporting less satisfied relationships were expected to believe that disagreement was more destructive and to report higher anger arousal than those who were more satisfied. The hypotheses were supported. Women who were less satisfied also reported using less constructive conflict tactics and more destructive and avoidant tactics as well as receiving some forms of violence. Expressed violence was not significantly related to low satisfaction. Results suggested that these conflict variables are highly interrelated. Strong feedback loops may develop. Strongly held conflict beliefs may affect the use of destructive and avoidant conflict strategies and increase anger which …

This research study was performed in an attempt to fill an apparent void regarding the relative utility and comprehensiveness of three published, theoretically-based, idiographic, initial assessment inventories: Integral Intake (II), Life-Style Introductory Interview (LI), and Multimodal Life History Inventory (MI). “Experts” -- defined as professors of counseling or psychology and licensed practitioners who have been practicing as counselors or psychologists for at least five years - read through the inventories and then evaluated them by responding to both (qualitative) open-ended questions as well (quantitative) rankings and ratings. The researcher posed three primary research questions: 1) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the overall helpfulness of the three inventories; 2) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the comprehensiveness -- both relative to each of the eight dimensions of the client (thoughts, emotions, behaviors, physical aspects of the client, physical aspects of the client's environment, culture, spirituality, and what is most meaningful to the client) and overall -- of the three inventories; and 3) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the efficiency with which the three inventories assessed the eight dimensions. Results indicated that participants consistently evaluated the II and MI as more helpful, comprehensive, and efficient than the LI - both …

This study was designed to determine the diverse practices of group counseling instructors in the delivery of the required experiential group. A small group experience (experiential group) is required of all counseling students in accredited institutions. The accreditation body for counseling programs is the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The experiential group has been considered to be a valuable and integral part of counselor training. However, the group has been controversial because of ethical issues involving dual relationships and the right to privacy. The purpose of this study was to determine how group counseling instructors deliver the experiential group, compare current practices to recommended practices in the literature, and recommend changes based on disparities that may exist. The difference between this study and previous surveys of group counseling instructors is that the sample in this study involves CACREP institutions exclusively and the focus is on CACREP standards rather than the standards of the Association for Specialists in Group Work. The results of the study showed that approximately one third of the instructors surveyed indicated that they also serve as leaders of the experiential group. Many of these instructors who serve as group leaders also …

This study was designed to assess the effects of a peer ministry training course upon adolescents' ability to respond empathetically and upon their level of moral development. Volunteers from a church's high school group were blocked by gender and randomly divided into two groups . Adolescents in the treatment group were trained in thirteen sessions basic helping skills (emphasizing empathy) and measured before and after training on variables of empathy, moral development, and internality - externality. Adolescents in the second group were used as a control and were measured with the same assessment devices.

The purpose of this study was to seek an understanding of the problem of low morale among Catholic priests based on the principles of Individual Psychology. The relationship of Adlerian life-style and social interest to job satisfaction among 210 pastors randomly selected from 13 of the 14 Catholic dioceses in Texas was investigated. The Life-style Personality Inventory (LSPI) was used to measure the Adlerian life-style. The Social Interest Scale (SIS) was used to measure the Adlerian concept of social interest. The Job Descriptive Index (JDI) was used to measure job satisfaction.

The problem of this study was to determine if career awareness groups which use Guided Imagery (GI) and the California Occupational Preference System (COPS), both individually and in combination, have a positive effect on career attitude maturity, oi* disabled college students as measured by the Career Maturity Inventory Attitude Scale (CMI-A). This study involved three experimental groups (GI, COPS, & GI-COPS) and a control group. Participants included thirty-two volunteer disabled college students attending four community colleges in an urban area in the Southwest (Texas). There were eight volunteers per campus, and each campus constituted a group. Each group met once for 120 minutes. After consent was obtained, subjects completed the CMI-A. The general sequence was: introduction; instructions specific to the group condition; presentation of assigned stimulus condition; group discussion of reactions to the presented stimulus; control group members completed the post administration of the CMI-A; and group members' completion of the post administration of the CMI-A, with the exception of the control group which discussed reactions to the presented stimulus.

The problem of this study was to investigate the relationship between attitudes of love and marital adjustment through seven stages of the marital life cycle. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the changes which occur in attitude toward love and marital adjustment through the marital life cycle. The average number of subjects in each of the seven marital groups was 16, for a total of 114 couples or 228 subjects. All subjects were volunteers from three North Texas church populations. Test data for each of the seven marital groups consisted of husbands" and wives' scores on the Marital Adjustment Test and the Love Attitudes Inventory.

This study presents a topical and chronological analysis of the published works of Fritz Perls with particular attention to specified theoretical continua. The theoretical continua specified are: 1. Determinism vs. Free Will, 2. Unconscious vs. Conscious, 3. Monism vs. Dualism, A. Physical vs. Mental, 5. Nativism vs. Environmental ism, 6. Elementalism vs. Holism, 7. Reactive vs. Proactive, 8. Subjective vs. Objective, 9. Responsibility vs. Helplessness, 10. Thinking vs. Feeling, and 11. Heterostasis vs. Homeostasis. Each continuum is analyzed in reference to Perls' published thought and his stated beliefs are described and reported. Large sections of the dissertation are devoted to the intellectual, philosophical, and emotional influences that led Perls to write the theory of Gestalt therapy. The dissertation concludes with the report of Perls' position on each defined continuum, with discussion of empirical studies, Gestalt therapy and other major theories of counseling that hold parallel theoretical positions, concluding with a discussion of the limitations of the theory of Gestalt therapy and of this dissertation.

The principal investigator (PI) for this study surveyed 207 American School Counselor Association (ASCA) members on their attitudes toward utilizing trained counseling paraprofessionals in school counseling. The PI also examined the relationship between participants’ attitudes and their subjective reports of the counselor-student ratios in their schools, the amount of work time they spent providing direct counseling services to students, and the extent to which their districts experienced a school counselor shortage. The participants’ mean reported counselor-student ratio (1:464.63) significantly exceeded ASCA recommendations of 1:250. Elementary counselors reported the highest counselor-student ratios while high school counselors reported the lowest. Furthermore the PI found a significant linear trend for counselor-student ratios to decrease as school level increased. The participants’ reported mean percentage of time involved in direct counseling services (61.48%) fell significantly below the ASCA recommended 70%. Elementary counselors reported the highest amount of time involved in direct counseling services while high school counselors reported the lowest. The PI also found a significant linear trend for percentages of time involved in direct services to decrease as school level increased. Over one-fourth of the participants indicated school counselor shortages existed in their districts. A majority of participants supported utilizing counseling paraprofessionals in their …

This study was design to determine the efficacy of intensive individual play therapy as a method of intervention for children diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was designed to study the effectiveness of an intensive play therapy intervention in: a) reducing symptoms of childhood depression in children with IDDM; b) reducing symptoms of anxiety in children with IDDM; c) reducing the overall behavior difficulties in children with IDDM; d) increasing healthy adjustment in children with IDDM; e) increasing diabetic's children's adherence to their diabetic regime; and f) impacting these emotional and behavioral symptoms over time. The 15 children in the experimental group received 12, daily play therapy sessions while attending a summer camp for children with diabetes. The control group, consisting of 15 children who attended the diabetic summer camp, received no play therapy. Children and parents in both groups completed pretest, post-test and three-month follow-up data, consisting of: the Children's Depression Inventory, the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Filial Problems Checklist and the Diabetes Adaptation Scale. Analysis of covariance revealed that the children in the experimental group significantly improved their adaptation to their diabetes following intensive play therapy as reflected by the Diabetes Adaptation …

The problem of this study was to analyze the effects of contingent reinforcement on the presence of thoughts defined as anxiety responses. The two types of data, observed and introceptive, were used to determine the effects of reinforcement. The observed data from the peripheral physiological pre- and post-measures included heart rate, blood pressure, and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale data. The introceptive data supplied by subjects were the daily percentages of anxious thought detections subsequent to a baseline period. The daily percentages were formed by the subject's monitoring his own thoughts, with the monitoring prompted by an automatic tone device which emitted a tone approximately every four minutes. The daily percentage of anxious thoughts was formed by dividing the number of tones the subject heard into the number of anxious thoughts occurring at the time of the tone.The problem of this study was to analyze the effects of contingent reinforcement on the presence of thoughts defined as anxiety responses. The two types of data, observed and introceptive, were used to determine the effects of reinforcement. The observed data from the peripheral physiological pre- and post-measures included heart rate, blood pressure, and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale data. The introceptive data …

The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible relationship between social interest and marital adjustment in a selected group of married couples. Another variable relating to spiritual well-being and religious participation is also considered. In the studies reviewed, the concept of social interest as proposed by Adler has been supported as a psychological construct. It has generally correlated with characteristics that are viewed as social interest components. By contrast, it has generally related negatively with characteristics that are inconsistent with the concept. Of the investigations conducted, most have focused on the relationship between social interest and some aspect of individual functioning, such as psychological well-being, health, mood states, and locus of control. There has been little investigation between social interest and some aspect of individual functioning, such as psychological well-being, health, mood states and locus of control. There has been little investigation between social interest and marital satisfaction and, additionally, the possible relationship to religious participation. The results of this study support a positive relationship between social interest and marital satisfaction, a positive relationship[ between social interest and religious participation, and a positive relationship between marital satisfaction and religious participation.

The problem of this study was to provide a more comprehensive and accurate profile of various aspects of selective mutism—family atmosphere/dynamics, aetiology and manifestations of mutism, usages and outcomes of therapeutic approaches, and a profile of the affected child—and to provide a more comprehensive and consistent basis to guide effective treatment strategies and facilitate additional research. A content analysis of case studies of selective mute children completed from 1929-1994 was used to educe this data.

This qualitative study examined the characteristics of the mother-child relationship of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the time of the abuse. The study consisted of data from the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), the Family of Origin Scale (FOS), and a set of structured interview questions designed by the researcher. Autonomy/intimacy concepts from the FOS examined constructs of clarity of expression, responsibility, respect, openness, acceptance of loss and separation, expression of a wide range of feelings, conflict resolution, mood and tone, and empathy.

The purpose of this investigation was to critically examine differences in the perceived levels of marital satisfaction among Nigerians living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A realistic appraisal of this group's perceived levels of marital satisfaction provided the basis for this pragmatic and academically useful study which is especially valuable to professionals involved in cross-cultural counseling.

This study was designed to determine whether participation in an eight hour training program based on Adlerian theoretical principles would influence managerial attitudes. The effects of the training curriculum on three attitudinal dimensions were investigated: leadership style, acceptance of self and others and level of dogmatism. It was hypothesized that Adlerian training would increase the development of managerial human relations competence. Eighty-one managers participated in the study. The experimental group, comprised of 40 line managers, received eight hours of Adlerian training conducted in two one-half day sessions. The training was both didactic and experiential in content and contained modules on lifestyles/management styles, conflict resolution, effective communication strategies and understanding personality dynamics. The control group, comprised of 41 managers, did not receive training but participated in the pre-testing and post-testing process. Managers completed The Leadership Opinion Questionnaire, The Acceptance of Self and Others Questionnaire, and The Rokeach Dogmatism Scale, prior to the first training session and again two weeks after the final training session. A one-way analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups on both the Consideration and Structure dimensions of the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire. This suggests that managers in the experimental group demonstrated a …

The purpose of this study was to critically examine differences in levels of anxiety, locus of control and stress between adoptive and biological parents of adolescents.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of Filial Therapy as a method of intervention with families with chronically ill children. Filial Therapy is an intervention that focuses on strengthening and enhancing the parent-child relationship. Parents are trained to become the agents of change for their children's behaviors by utilizing basic child-centered play therapy skills in weekly play sessions. The purpose of this study was to a) determine the effectiveness in decreasing parental stress, b) determine the effectiveness in increasing parental acceptance, and c) determine the effectiveness in decreasing problematic behaviors in the chronically ill child as assessed by their parents.

This study examined the relationship among the variables of marital satisfaction, life satisfaction, and parenting stress of grandparents raising grandchildren and whether the sources and levels of marital satisfaction, life satisfaction, and parenting stress differed among grandparents raising grandchildren and grandparents not raising grandchildren.