Quality of life among U.S. Army spouses during the Iraq war

ABSTRACT

During the course of previous military conflicts, attention has been focused on separations experienced by service members and their loved ones. This study utilized the ABC-X model of Family Stress and Resiliency Theory to provide information about specific family and parental stressors, family coping, appraisal of stress and coping abilities, and quality of life for spouses at various stages of a recent military deployment. Three groups of spouses differed primarily for levels of family stress and quality of life. In addition to comparative analysis, path analyses were conducted for each group to determine the influence of stressors, coping, wellbeing, and sense of coherence on quality of life. The model for the group of spouses with service members deployed longest accounted for the greatest amount of variability in quality of life. Implications for family counseling, social work practice, and community policy have been provided.     

SOME INSTRUMENTALITY-VALENCE MODELS OF UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE CHOICE

This paper reports an extension of valence-instrumentality-expectancy (VIE) type models of organizational choice to the decision process of high school students selecting undergraduate colleges. Using questionnaire data from 714 respondents, interactive vatence-instrumentality models correctly predicted 68% of actual choices. A number of alternative models are evaluated, and several areas for refinement and extension of this study are identified.     

The Symbolic Type Revisited: Semiotics in Practice and the Reformation of the Israeli Commemorative Context

Revisiting Grathoff's theory of symbolic type (ST), we examine the personal evolution and commemorative work of Tsipi Kichler, a cultural entrepreneur and founder of an alternative Israeli Holocaust museum/geriatric center. As hybrid product of Israeli social cleavages, Kichler exteriorizes her paradoxical vision in the museum aiming to reform Holocaust‐related discourse and practice. Early biographical positioning and resultant contradictions become translated into resistant commemorative performance where serious humor deconstructs the binaries of life/death and past/present. We consider the implications of the ST's self‐referential closure to interaction, and the transformative potential of the alignment of cultural entrepreneurs' personal memory with collective memory.     

Sexual Communication Between Early Adolescents and Their Dating Partners,Parents, and Best Friends

This study assessed early adolescents’ sexual communication with dating partners, parents, and best friends about six sexual health topics: condoms, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), pregnancy, and abstinence/waiting. Using a school-based sample of 603 youth (ages 12 to 15; 57% female; 46% Caucasian), we examined communication differences across demographic and developmental factors, tested whether communication with parents and best friends was associated with greater communication with partners, and examined associations between communication and condom use. More than half of participants had not discussed any sexual topics with their dating partners (54%), and many had not communicated with parents (29%) or best friends (25%). On average, communication was more frequent among adolescents who were female, African American, older, and sexually active, despite some variation in subgroups across partner, parent, and friend communication. Importantly, communication with parents and friends—and the interaction between parent and friend communication—was associated with increased communication with dating partners. Further, among sexually active youth, increased sexual communication with partners was associated with more frequent condom use. Results highlight the importance of understanding the broader family and peer context surrounding adolescent sexual decision making and suggest a possible need to tailor sexual communication interventions.     

An Exploration of the Independent Contributions of Genetics, Shared Environment, Specific Environment, and Adult Roles and Statuses on Perceived Control

Perceived-control 'describes individuals'generalized beliefs about their abilities to influence their life courses and circumstances. Most research concerning this construct has viewed perceived control as a developmentally acquired, stable personality characteristic. Others argue that perceived control is determined by current social status, with more privileged social positions contributing to increased control over life circumstances.
This study analyzes data from the Virginia Twin Registry to determine the independent contributions of genetics, shared environment, and nonshared environment, including adult roles and statuses, on women's perceived control. Findings from latent variable twin models suggest that there are modest but significant effects of shared environment and genetics on perceived control but that the majority of individual variation in perceived control is due to nonshared environmental factors on perceived control among adult women. Analyses of measured individual-level variables indicate significant effects from education, income, earnings, marital quality, age, and single-parent status.     

Health Care Providers' Experiences with Problem Gamblers

The purpose of this study was to document health care providers' awareness of problem gambling and frequency of recognition and treatment. An exploratory survey was designed to collect data on awareness and knowledge of problem gambling. A structured questionnaire was completed anonymously by 180 health care providers (nurses, physicians, social workers, and other allied health professionals). Almost all respondents (96%) reported knowledge of problem gambling, and 30% reported asking clients about gambling problems when they presented with stress related symptoms. A third of the respondents reported identifying and treating clients for a gambling problem. The most frequently reported intervention was referral to counseling and other gambling resources. Respondents were generally interested in learning more about gambling problems, particularly those providers who have had a client discuss gambling related concerns. There were no significant differences in findings between provider groups.     

A Longitudinal Examination of the Associations between Fathers' and Children's Attributions and Negative Interactions

The present investigation examined the concurrent and longitudinal relations between attributions and negative behavioral interactions in the context of the father-child dyad. Participants were 177 fathers and their young adolescents recruited from non-metropolitan counties in the southeast. Results indicated that for children, attributions about their father play a significant role in their negative behavioral interactions with their father both within and across time. Interestingly, father's earlier negative behavioral interactions with their children predicted children's subsequent attributions about their father in the longitudinal analyses. In addition, both attributions and behavioral interactions were highly stable across time for both fathers and children.