The rationale for this study was based on the application of the cycle of domestic violence theory to elder abuse. It examined the effect of history of experienced childhood violence on tolerance, behavioral intentions, and past behaviors of elder abuse toward general and specific elderly targets. The effectiveness of educational interventions for altering tolerance and behavioral intentions of elder abuse was examined. Two hundred and twenty-five undergraduates were assessed for aging knowledge, general aging attitudes, aging anxiety, elder abuse attitudes, and elder abuse intentions and past behaviors. Participants were assigned to a High or Low Experienced Violence group and participated in an educational group or control group. Posttest and one-month followup measures were obtained. No differences were found at pretest between High and Low Violence. Level of Violence did not impact intervention efficacy. Elder abuse education altered attitudes, intentions, and behaviors of elder abuse at posttest significantly more than did aging education or control groups (p < .001), but these effects were no longer significant at followup. Elder abuse attitudes had higher relationships with elder abuse intentions and reported past behaviors than did global aging attitudes or aging anxiety (p < .05). General elderly targets yielded more tolerance, intentions, and …

The present longitudinal study examined the effects and interactions of several variables thought to affect adjustment to conjugal bereavement. Questionnaires were administered to 147 conjugally bereaved subjects and to 46 persons bereaved of close relatives other than spouse. Independent variables included experienced competence (self-esteem, locus of control, coping self-efficacy, and prior coping strategies), impact of loss (anticipation and preventabillty of loss, centrality of relationship and life change), and perceived resources. All of the independent variables were found to be important predictors of adjustment in conjugal bereavement. However, hypothesized interactions among variables were generally not found. Experimental variables were better predictors of adjustment in conjugal bereavement than were demographic variables. Contrary to prediction, widowed subjects tended to become more lonely and showed increased bereavement adjustment difficulties over a six month period of time. However, post hoc analysis suggested that levels of adjustment do not decline over the long term in widowhood. The present study supports a view of widowhood as a multidimensional event, characterized by seemingly contradictory feelings, experiences, and behaviors.

Double standard effects in inferences about quality of parenting and adult sexual outcomes for children were investigated under five conditions of single-parent sexual behavior. The sample comprised six hundred married parents from three major metropolitan areas in Texas. Subjects were administered a scenario about a hypothetical single parent family. The scenario varied with respect to parent gender, child gender, and type of parental sexual activity (e.g., abstinence, limited affairs away from home, involvement with a live-in lover, frequent partners spending the night, and a control condition containing no sexual message). Subjects were asked to rate a parent from the scenario on quality of parenting and predict the adult sexual behavior of the child. Hypothesized double standard effects did not emerge. A double standard in judgments about sexually active single parents and parenting did appear. Main effects were found for child gender and sexual lifestyle of the parent (e.g., parents with boys rated less favorably than parents with girls; promiscuous fathers were rated lower than promiscuous mothers). Several interaction effects among parent gender, child gender, and sexual lifestyle condition were also found (e.g., promiscuous parents were rated lower as parents and seen as negatively influencing the child's sexual development). Recommendations for …

Personality patterns of sexually abused female adolescent runaways are compared to personality patterns of physically abused female adolescent runaways. Eighty-six female adolescents from 13 to 17 years of age completed a self report inventory to determine personality traits. To test the hypotheses of the study, a multivariate analysis of variance was conducted, followed with univariate tests to find differences on separate dependent measures. Results indicated that on the Jesness Inventory there may be a common personality pattern associated with abuse. Univariate tests yielded data which indicated that although there may be a general personality pattern for abused adolescents, there were significant differences between the physically and sexually abused adolescents on some personality variables. Results were evaluated taking into account the selective sample from which the population was drawn. Recommendations for future research included the use of projectives, a more comprehensive personality inventory, and selected demographics.

Eighty-seven single custodial fathers were surveyed to test the validity of previously developed typologies and/or construct a more empirically valid framework with implications for adjustment to the role. Mendes1 (1975) aggressive seekers, conciliatory seekers, conciliatory assenters, and aggressive assenters were compared to O'Brien's (1980) hostile seekers, conciliatory negotiators, and passive acceptors. In addition to demographic variables, relationship to ex-wife and child, and reasons for becoming single and obtaining custody, several personality variables were included along with measures of adjustment. One year follow-up measures of adjustment were collected to evaluate implications of typologies in adjustment. Two nearly equal groups were established in a Q type factor analysis of continuous data. Factor loadings of individual cases suggest a continuum of the two types of single fathers, rather than two distinct groups. Group differences were evaluated in a series of MANOVA and Chisquare analyses. Analysis included six factor scores from a supplemental R factor analysis of selected variables. Type I fathers are characterized as older, more passive, selfreflective, and aloof in interpersonal relationships. They are somewhat less oriented toward a relationship with their children and had felt satisfied with their wives* care of them. Alternatively, Type II fathers are younger, active, assured (not …

The experiment examined negative social reactions to bereaved parents from unrelated others. Both the behavior displayed by the parent and attachment style of the perceiver were expected to influence reactions to bereaved parents. Undergraduates at a southern university (N = 239) completed both attachment measures and measures of reactions to videotapes of bereaved parents. Results indicated that bereaved parents do indeed receive negative evaluations from unrelated others, in the form of decreased willingness to interact in various roles. However, a nonbereaved parent displaying depressive symptoms also received negative evaluations. Depressed targets in the present study did receive negative evaluations, supporting the predictions of Coyne's interpersonal-process theory of reactions to depressed individuals. Contrary to the predictions of interpersonal-process theory, a bereaved parent displaying loss content without depressive symptoms also elicited negative evaluations. Coyne's hypothesis that the amount of induced negative affect in the perceiver leads to negative evaluations was not supported by the data. Subjects appear to react to a complex set of factors when forming these evaluations, including both personal and situational information. Two factors may have undermined the present study s ability to adequately test this theory. Subjects may have perceived depressive symptoms in loss content in the present …

In an effort to determine whether job satisfaction and expectations in a group of workers undergoing major change in the workplace differ from groups of workers not undergoing major change, data were collected from three groups of workers at the operator level in a major U.S. electronics manufacturing company. Two of the groups were not undergoing a major work redesign and served as control groups. A group undergoing the early stages of a major work redesign, characterized primarily by their formation into a self-managed work team, served as the experimental group. The experimental group and one control group were located at the same manufacturing plant, while the other control group was located at another plant. It was hypothesized that the group of workers undergoing change would differ in job satisfaction and that over time, the difference would grow. It was also hypothesized that the group undergoing change would have different expectations about the nature of their jobs in the future. Data were collected from members of the three groups using a modified version of Hackman and Oldham's (1980) Job Diagnostic Survey, with two administrations of the survey seven months apart. Data were analyzed using a 3 (Groups) X 2 (Perception: …

The purpose of this study was to explore factors which are predictive of parenting stress for first-time parents. Based on attachment theory and empirical research, the factors investigated were the responsibility for child care and housework, the current and retrospective relationship with the family of origin, the change in emotions related to parenthood, the marital relationship, and attachment and individuation.

The Ecological Q-Sort was developed specifically for the measurement of self-concept in older adults. Self-concept is defined as individuals' perceptions of themselves in relationship to their environment. Consequently, self-concept is contextual, multidimensional and varies with the situation. The Ecological Q-Sort was subjected to convergent and discriminant validational procedures in the present study. Correlational analyses provided support for both convergent and discriminant validity, suggesting that this instrument measures ecological, domain specific self-concept in older persons. However, multivariate analysis of variance did not yield significant main effects or interactions for sex, marital status, and health as observed on the sets of ecological and non-ecological self-concept measures.