The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of parental divorce and family conflict during adolescence on young adult females' social support and psychological adjustment. The three areas explored were perceptions of relationship satisfaction and closeness, sources and amount of social support and adjustment. One hundred and forty-one female undergraduates, 53% from families in which their parents are still married and 47% from families in which a parental divorce occurred during adolescence, completed the following measures: the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), the Social Provisions Scale-Source Specific (Cutrona, 1989), the Inventory of Common Problems (Hoffman & Weiss, 1986), the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981), and the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985).

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the Type A behavior pattern to Holland's occupational types and the career choice process. The Type A behavior pattern is characterized by high levels of achievement striving, time urgency, chronic activation and hostility, and is an independent risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease. It was hypothesized that Type A college students would be more attracted than Type B individuals to aspects of a future work environment which would reinforce their Type A behaviors. Previous research had suggested a relationship between the Type A behavior pattern and Holland's Enterprising and Investigative types (Martin, 1986). This study sought to replicate those findings, and further examine the nature of the Type A/B-Holland types relationship. Data were collected from undergraduate students in a variety of academic fields of study. Subjects completed a questionnaire packet consisting of the student version of the Jenkins Activity Survey (Jenkins, Rosenman, and Zyzanski, 1965; Glass, 1977), the Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1985b), and a modified version of the Minnesota Job Description Questionnaire (Rosen, et al., 1972) . The findings demonstrated that the Type A/B pattern is a significant factor in the career choice process. …

The purpose of this study was to examine how parental separation is related to eating disturbances and assertiveness in females who struggle with bulimic symptoms. Two-hundred ninety-two undergraduate females from the University of North Texas comprised the subject group. Using pen and paper measures of assertiveness, bulimia, and parental separation, support was found for the prediction that there would be a relationship between assertiveness and parental separation. Likewise, partial support was found for the prediction that there would be a relationship between bulimia and parental separation. Parental separation was found to affect levels of bulimia and assertiveness. Finally, it was found that subjects endorsed greater emotional independence from fathers than from mothers.

The purpose of the present investigation was to explore the relationship of the adolescent experience of parental death to the variables of identity formation, adjustment, and coping. The inclusion of adolescents who had experienced parental divorce and those who had not experienced either loss condition allowed for group comparisons.

The question addressed in this study is whether either parent's conflict style affected the supportive quality of the parents' relationship with the son or daughter. It was important to explore variables that affect support because supportive relationships with parents have been related to adolescent adjustment. Past studies have suggested parental conflict has a negative impact on the parent-adolescent relationship. Research in the area of mediators of perceived support in the parent-adolescent relationships is limited. This study focused on perceived support in the specific relationship of the parent and adolescent. Qualitative measures of conflict were used since they have been more strongly related to changes in parent-adolescent relationships than quantitative measures. In this study the supportive quality of the parent-adolescent relationship was operationalized as a measure of parental support, depth of the parent-adolescent relationship, and conflict in the parent-adolescent relationship (Quality of Relationship Inventory).

The influence of theoretically prominent family processes on late adolescent college student identity development was the focus of this study. The primary purpose was to test a model of adolescent identity development. This model proposed that family health variables would predict identity development, and that attachment and separation-individuation would each make unique and additive contributions to identity development. The second purpose was to identify instruments which discretely measured the family processes. The third purpose was to better understand family influences by measuring the processes of exploration and commitment. Participants were 150 male and 150 female college students, between the ages of 18 and 23, and from intact families. Questionnaires completed measured family functioning and identity development. Family functioning measures covered three domains (family health, attachment to parents, and separation-individuation) which formed the set of independent variables. The identity measures (ego identity status and identity process) comprised the dependent variables. A hierarchical regression design was employed where family health variables were entered first, followed by attachment variables, then separation-individuation variables. The results indicated mixed support of the model. First, the proposed model was statistically supported for females as all domains predicted identity achievement and diffusion. For males, only family health predicted …

The purpose of this study was to explore how supportive functions of parent-child relationships influence young adult dating motivations and involvement. Theoretical literature suggests that emotionally supportive homes provide a secure base for children to depend on as they explore themselves and other relationships. However, problematic family ties could be expected to inhibit relationship involvement due to negative past experiences or to encourage involvement as a search for intimacy. A sample of 206 single, female undergraduates completed questionnaires assessing relationships with parents and aspects of romantic involvement and development. The set of Parent-Child Relationship variables included Support, Conflict, Depth, and Affective Quality in relationships with mother and father. The Attachment Related Dating Motivation variables included measures of Anxiety, Dependency, and Closeness in relationships, Attachment Motivation, Sexual Expression, Dating Exploration, Behavioral Indicators of Romantic Involvement, Sexual Involvement, and Level, Satisfaction, and Importance of Romantic Involvement.

This study examined the neurocognitive skills, incidence of mild head injury, incidence of learning disabilities, and study habits among college students with grade point average of 2.00 or below (N = 25) as contrasted with college students with grade point average above 2.00 (N = 70). The intent of this research was to extend the work of Segalowitz and Brown (1991) and Segalowitz and Lawson (1993) who found significant associations between reported history of mild head injury and developmental disabilities among high school and college samples. MANOVAs conducted on measures of academic achievement, global cognitive skills, verbal and nonverbal memory, motor and tactile functioning, and study habits did not discriminate between probationary and non-probationary students. Probationary and non-probationary students also did not differ with regard to incidence of reported head injury, frequency of diagnosed learning disabilities, and study habits. Measures of neurocognitive functioning and study habits did not contribute to the prediction of grade point average over and above that predicted by Scholastic Aptitude Test composite score. Several exploratory analyses were performed examining the relationship between study habits and neurocognitive skills. Gender differences, implications for future research and development of study skills courses, and limitations of this study were discussed.