Freedom and struggling openly in psychotherapy: A qualitative inquiry with LGBQ young adults from religious families

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) young people from religious families are at increased risk of family rejection, poor mental health outcomes, and are overrepresented in mental health services. This article describes a two‐part qualitative study aimed at exploring the experiences of LGBQ young adults from religious families in psychotherapy, identifying positive and negative psychotherapy experiences, and understanding the influence of family and religion on the psychotherapy experience. Data were collected through a web‐based survey (n = 77) and interviews (n = 7) with LGBQ young adults (ages 18–25) from religious families. The study followed an interpretative phenomenological approach. Integrated results found often invisible, relational therapy processes, and religious discourses as significant to LGBQ young people who seek psychotherapy. Implications for future research, effective systemic family therapy practices with LGBQ young people from religious families, and a critique on ethical and legal limits of confidentiality with policy implications are outlined.     

Making the Most of Small Effects

The idea that classroom social ecologies are shaped by the aggregate effects of peers' prior care experiences is provocative, even though the evidence is weak that this explains the small and diminishing effect of childcare experience in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study. Small effects may indeed be small effects, but students of early development should attend to the potential importance of group-level influences on social and cognitive growth.     

The Family Unpredictability Scale: Reliability and Validity

We developed the Family Unpredictability Scale (FUS) to better understand the factors that underlie the presence and consequences of family dysfunction. Familial unpredictability is defined as a lack of consistency in family behaviors and regulatory systems. Family researchers and therapists generated and evaluated items, which were self‐administered by married parents who had children aged 2 to 18 (N= 314 ). Principal‐components analysis yielded four subscales (discipline, nurturance, meals, and money; 22 items total) that were internally consistent; confirmatory factor analysis based on a separate subsample yielded an adequate preliminary representation of this factor structure. The FUS related significantly to known measures of family and individual functioning but not to social desirability. The present study provides preliminary reliability, construct validity, and concurrent validity for this new multidimensional, self‐report assessment of family unpredictability. Research and clinical implications are discussed.     

Effects of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Preventing Violent Crime in Washington,D.C.: Results of the National Demonstration Project,June--July 1993

This paper reports the results of a prospective experiment in which a group of approximately 4,000 participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi assembled in Washington, D.C., from June 7 to July 30, 1993. It was hypothesized that levels of violent crime in the District of Columbia would fall substantially during the Demonstration Project, as a result of the group's effect of increasing coherence and reducing stress in the collective consciousness of the District. A 27-member Project Review Board comprising independent scientists and leading citizens approved the research protocol and monitored the research process. Weekly crime data was derived from database records provided by the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (DCMPD), which are used in the FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Statistical analysis considered the effect of weather variables, daylight, historical crime trends and annual patterns in the District of Columbia, as well as trends in neighboring cities. Consistent with previous research, levels of homicides, rapes and assaults (HRA crimes) correlated with average weekly temperature. Robberies approximately followed an annually recurring cycle. Time series analysis of 1993 data, controlling for temperature, showed that HRA crimes dropped significantly during the Demonstration Project, corresponding with increases in the size of the group; the maximum decrease was 23.3% (p < 2 × 10–9) [24.6% using a longer baseline, with 1988--1993 data (p < 3 × 10–5)], coincident with the peak number of participants in the group during the final week of the assembly. When the same period in each of the five previous years was examined, no significant decreases in HRA crimes were found. Robberies did not decrease significantly. However, a model that jointly estimated the effect of the Demonstration Project on both HRA crimes and robberies showed a significant reduction in violent crimes overall of 15.6% (p = 0.0008). Further analysis showed that the effect of the coherence-creating group on reducing HRA crimes could not be accounted for by additional police staffing. The time series analysis for HRA crimes gave results that are highly robust to alternative model specifications, and showed that the effect of the group size was cumulative and persisted after the Demonstration Project ended. Also, calculation of the steady state gain based on the time series model predicted that a permanent group of 4,000 coherence-creating experts in the District would have a long-term effect of reducing HRA crimes by 48%.     

Ego-dystonic heterosexuality: a case study

This study reports a case of a heterosexual male who was not psychotic and expressed a wish for a homosexual orientation. The psychodynamics of this patient are discussed, and the classification of ego-dystonic states discussed. It is concluded that DSM-III diagnoses should reflect underlying psychological disorders rather than sexual orientation.     

FAMILY ASSESSMENT DEVICE: REPORTS FROM MOTHERS, FATHERS, AND ADOLESCENTS IN COMMUNITY AND CLINIC FAMILIES

This study compared responses on the 60-item version of the Family Assessment Device (FAD) obtained from mothers, fathers, and adolescents in two groups of families. The clinic group consisted of 94 families in which the adolescent had been referred to a mental health service in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. The community group consisted of 94 families, also containing an adolescent, living in the Adelaide community. Members of the clinic families consistently rated their families as less healthy than did families in the community. Importantly however, adolescents in both groups of families rated their families as significantly less healthy than their parents. Thus, while the results of the study provide support for the discriminative validity of the FAD, they also emphasize the need to consider separately self-reports on family functioning obtained from different members of the same family.     

Changes in acceptors' and users' ages: A test of an explanatory mechanism

Summary Acceptors in national family planning programmes are becoming steadily younger, with fewer children. In the present analysis, which makes use of the computerized component projection scheme CONVERSE, it is shown that saturation of the older groups with users has a relatively minor role to play in reducing the mean age of new acceptors. Even where acceptance and continuation rates are high and follow the usual pattern of higher levels for the older women, the build-up of users in the upper age groups is not enough to produce major changes in the age of acceptors. Yet acceptor ages have fallen consistently and sharply in most national programmes, regardless of the general strength, duration, or method mix. The finding that the mechanical effects investigated here play rather a small part in the large empirical declines in acceptor ages suggests the need to investigate other explanations. For this, a critical need is more data than are at present available on trends in age-specific rates of acceptance in national programmes.     

The volatility of the socially optimal level of investment

In this paper, an annual series for the socially optimal level of investment from 1960–1961 to 1993–1994 for Australia is derived from a vintage production function and compared to the actual series for investment over the same period. The vintage production function can be expected to yield a smoother socially optimal investment series than that derived from a nonvintage, homogenous capital production function. Even so, the resulting series for socially optimal investment is much more volatile than the series for actual investment. Several alternative assumptions are tried in an attempt to further smooth the socially optimal investment series. These include smoothing the assumed values of the exogenous variables, modelling adjustment costs and delivery lags, and changing the form of the production function. While these approaches do succeed in smoothing the investment series, in order for the socially optimal investment series to be as smooth as the actual series the assumed values of the parameters must be quite unrealistic. In the conclusion, we suggest that, in the future research on the socially optimal level of investment, the role of liquidity constraints and of irreversible investment should be investigated.