Some responses to economic change in Scottish farming and crofting family life, 1900–25

Our investigation of some of the processes involved in the emergence of ‘the modern family’is based on evidence from oral histories conducted with people who grew up in Scottish farming and crofting families in the early decades of the century. After showing how peasant and capitalist modes of production shaped both family structures and strategies for getting a living, we examine some of the ways in which the encroachments of the cash economy helped create new forms of gendered inequalities. Our discussion concludes with an analysis of recent papers concerned with the ways in which families are embedded in community life and the implications for long term change in authority structures.     

REFOCUSING FROM CHILD TO MARITAL PROBLEMS USING THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT GAME

Couples experiencing marital distress often request treatment for child behavior problems. These families have been found to respond poorly to behavioral parent-training programs and to reject offers of marital therapy. The Marriage Contract Game (MCG) structures and teaches problem-solving and communication skills; the game can be used to improve the skills of distressed couples and to refocus their attention away from their children and toward their own marriages. A multiple-baseline design was applied to four distressed couples who requested treatment for a target child. Results showed that game play improved couple's problem-solving and positive feeling statements in home discussions of problems, parents' ratings of target children's problems, and, in three cases, couples' perceptions of the difficulty of resolving their problems. Therapists untrained in behavioral methods were able to use the game with success and comfort. While four sessions of the MCG were not sufficient treatment for this population, intervention improved couples' skills and shifted their focus away from child problems and toward their own.     

Effects of exposure to occupational violence and the mediating impact of fear

This paper examines the consequences of exposure to work-related violence and in particular, focuses upon the role of fear (of violence) as a mediating variable. The sample comprises UK public house licensees-individuals who manage public houses and hold the licence permitting the sale of alcoholic drinks on the premises. Questionnaires were sent to 479 licensees and a response rate of 51% was achieved. Each questionnaire measured exposure to a range of violent assaults, fear of violence, general well-being, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Based upon a final sample of 242 pub licensees, regression analyses showed that as the severity of the violence to which licensees were exposed increased, so fear of becoming a victim and symptoms of impaired well-being increased, while job satisfaction and organizational commitment decreased. Hierarchical analyses showed that fear of violence fully mediated the negative impact of exposure upon each of these other variables. It is argued that the management of fear appraisals should be integrated into organizational responses to work-place violence.     

Countertransference issues for the consultant when a colleague is critically ill (or dying)

This report illustrates how countertransference issues emerged for a consultant therapist whose guidance about practice was sought by an ill and dying colleague. The detechment necessary for consultation was difficult to maintain. Denial, avoidance, and isolation operated for both. Ambivalence about directive behavior developed. Unexpressed grief, shock, feelings of inadequacy, and identification with the colleague intruted but were managed. The occurrence of such countertransference phenomena can be anticipated and understood in a consultation process that represents one valuable, underutilized, and important means of encouraging quality clinical practice under extremely painful circumstances.     

Urbanism and Social Psychological Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Test of Three Theories*

Three competing theories of how urbanism affects social-psychological well-being are tested using data from London, England; Los Angeles, California; and Sydney, Australia. Path analyses are conducted using visiting friends, visiting kin, and marriage companionship in the different paths. It is found that determinist theory can be rejected because most-urban people do not have fewer social relations than less-urban people; in fact, they may have more. Subcultural theory received some weak but mixed support, and compositionalist theory generally is not supported. The three metropolitan areas do not differ markedly from each other in the paths they show. The best predictor of well-being is the quality of people's social relationships.     

HOME-BASED MARITAL THERAPY FOR MULTIPROBLEM FAMILIES*

This paper describes a project designed to reach low-income, multiproblem families, utilizing couples therapy in the home. By targeting a population of young couples under the age of 30 and with children no older than 7 years, the project aimed at prevention of severe family dysfunctioning and child disturbances. The major characteristics noted in the literature on multiproblem families are reviewed here, as are the treatment goals and techniques with such families. Most programs working with multiproblem families have focused primarily on the parental functioning in family therapy, and little has been reported on work with the couple in multiproblem families. The project described here used home visits by a male-female therapist team, including frequent individual and couple sessions. Therapeutic techniques based on modeling, role playing and demonstration were emphasized. In addition, tasks which increased the individual and couple functioning of the spouses were designed and successful completion was reinforced. An attempt was made to integrate the couple into the community and to create a network of support outside of the family, including friends and community services.     

Young Children in Rural Areas: Implementing the Children Act

SUMMARY. This article is based on the results of the first stage of a study of the Children Act (day care and preschool education), and looks at how the Children Act 1989 has been put into practice with respect to services for children under eight, in rural local authorities in England and Wales. It considers the duties given by the Act to local authorities from a rural perspective, including providing a range of services for children in need, reviewing the services that are available for all young children, and setting standards for day care services provided by the voluntary and private sectors. It concludes that although the Act has helped to focus attention on the needs of children in rural areas, there is a danger that nothing will be done to meet them because of the principle of targeting resources on children who are most in need. Rural isolation was rarely specified as an indicator of need, and other criteria often had an urban bias which may work against the development of services in rural areas. The article also argues that there is a particular need to develop new models of service delivery and ways of providing training and support to early years workers which are appropriate for rural areas.     

History lessons: inequality,diversity and the national curriculum

This article explores the continued importance of teaching a diverse curriculum at a time when issues of racial and ethnic equality and diversity have been increasingly sidelined in the political discussion around ‘British’ values and identities, and how these should be taught in schools. The 2014 History National curriculum, in particular, provoked widespread controversy around what British history is, who gets included in this story and how best to engage young people in increasingly diverse classrooms with the subject. The new curriculum provides both opportunities for, and constraints on, addressing issues of racial and ethnic equality and diversity, but how these are put into practice in an increasingly fragmented school system remains less clear. Drawing on the findings of two research projects in schools across England and Wales, this article examines the challenges and opportunities facing teachers and young people in the classroom in the teaching and learning of diverse British histories. We argue that it is not only the content of what children and young people are taught in schools that is at issue, but how teachers are supported to teach diverse curricula effectively and confidently.