Sara C. Lambert and Drs. David C. Dollahite and Alan J Hawkins, Family Science Dear Dad, It’s been twenty years since we last hugged, talked, or even had a brotherly shot of vodka. The pain I experienced growing up rings out from my heart as I recall the time we never had together. You worked […]
Helping Willing Hands: Educating Single Mothers to Create Skills-Based Resumes
Kiel Willmore and Dr. Maureen Rice, Counseling and Career Center I had two main objectives for my creative project when I received an ORCA grant earlier this year. First, the project was aimed towards helping local single mothers, who not having the chance to obtain a secondary education, create skills-based resumes rather than education or […]
Substance Abuse in Adolescent Literature
Megan Rogers and Dr. Sarah M. Coyne, School of Family Life Over the past 50 years the effects of being exposed to questionable material in the media has been studied. During this time, a large body of research has accumulated which suggests that exposure to behaviors such as substance abuse, sexuality, violence, and other forms […]
The Affect of Marital Quality on Father Involvement with Children
Jessica Miner The study of father involvement is a fairly new trend in research. Lamb (2000) suggested that we could define father involvement in behavior terms. These behaviors include: engagement, accessibility, and responsibility (Lamb, 2000). Fathers who are positively and behaviorally participating in these three components have, by definition, high involvement with their children. With […]
Negotiations of Household Labor and Child Care and Perceptions of Fairness Across the Transition to Parenthood: A Longitudinal Study
Brandon McDaniel Background Information The birth of a couple’s first child brings about more profound changes and challenges to the family unit than any other developmental stage (Vessey & Knauth, 2001). This transition has been associated with a deterioration of couple communication, sexual intimacy, and overall marital satisfaction with an increase in conflict (Cowan, 1995; […]
Do Grandparents Matter? The Relationship Between Emotional Closeness and Adolescent Prosocial Behavior
Jami Jackson and Dr. Jeremy Yorgason, School of Family Life Grandparental emotional closeness is important for both grandparents and grandchildren (e.g. Bowers & Myers, 1999; Drew & Silverstein, 2007; Crosnoe & Elder, 2002). However, in many of the studies given, the measure of intergenerational closeness has come from the grandparent (e.g. Fingerman, 2004; Drew & […]
Pornography use in non-clinical couples: Basic Frequencies from the Flourishing Families Project
Stephanie Blickfeldt and Dr. Randal D. Day, School of Family Life Purpose Pundits, popular press, political groups, and religious organizations make the claim that the current rate of pornography use is a determinant to society and individuals in family life (Kretchmer & Carveth, 2001). Due to the concerns expressed by such figures and my own […]
TEACHING KINDNESS TO PARENTS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PARAGUAY
Mark L. Elliott and Professor Wesley R. Burr, Family Science In May of 1996, I traveled to South America to teach a family life education course to parents in Paraguay. In the months preceding the trip, I sent packets of information to various public secondary schools in the area around the capital of Asuncion, offering a […]
SIBLINGS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: UPLIFTS, COPING, AND STRESSORS
Jesse A. Bingham and Melinda Buchanan and Drs. Susanne F. Olsen and Elaine S. Sorensen, Family Science When a family includes one or more children with special needs every family member is affected by the challenges related to that chronic disability. In the past, research has focused on the child and his or her disability […]
Do Perceptive People Have More Satisfied Spouses?
Kurt L. Olsson and Dr. James M. Harper, Family Life The main objective of this research was to determine if there is a relationship between the level of satisfaction in a marriage and the accuracy with which the individuals could predict their spouses= perceptions. Attributional styles, or patterns, are those perceptual sets that tell us […]