“Like My Grandparent,But Not”: A Qualitative Investigation of Skip‐Generation Stepgrandchild–Stepgrandparent Relationships

Families have become increasingly diverse and complex, which has made defining family membership more ambiguous. Issues surrounding family identity, belonging, and shared kinship are relevant in many types of complex families, but they are critically important for stepfamilies. In this study the authors examined stepgrandchild–stepgrandparent relationships; specifically, they explored how 27 stepgrandchildren (M age = 20.8) thought and felt about their relationships with 35 skip‐generation stepgrandparents (i.e., stepgrandparents who did not help raise stepgrandchildren's parents but who have been in the lives of stepgrandchildren from birth or early childhood). Most stepgrandchild–stepgrandparent relationships (n = 24/35) were described as emotionally close and supportive. Stepgrandchildren who perceived stepgrandparents as fulfilling traditional grandparent roles and whose parents modeled and facilitated warm, close relationships with stepgrandparents were most likely to perceive these intergenerational steprelationships as important. The findings have implications for kinship identification in diverse and complex families.     

Psychopathology and pathological gambling among males: Theoretical and clinical concerns

In this paper, some possible relationships between psychopathology and pathological gambling are delineated. The assessment and stabilization of such patients, including psychotherapeutic and pharmacologic strategies, are discussed. Guidelines for treating patients manifesting both a psychiatric illness and a gambling problem are suggested.     

Agrarian processes within 'plantation economies': cases from Guyana and coastal Ecuador

Léconomie de plantation’ en tant que modèle de dépendance pour l'analyse de la société Antillaise, présente des problèmes théoriques et pratiques quand le modèle est appliqué a des situations actuelles agraires. Ces problèmes sont créés par la dichotomie entre la plantation et le paysan, et à cause de la supposition que ce sont des structures homogènes et empiriques. En cornparaison, les études ethnographiques ont démontrées la compléxité des formes agraires contemporaines. Cependant, un effort continuel pour raffiner ces modèles a obscuré les processus variables de différenciations éconorniques dans les systèmes agraires locaux dans lesquels la production a été, et est encore, basée sur l'exportation. Afin de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension générale de ces processus, cet article fournit deux études des changements agraires locaux dans les économies de plantation’ et essait d'isoler les facteurs qui contribuent aux variations observées dans ces histoires agraires. Plantation economy, as a dependency model for analysing West Indian society, has theoretical and practical problems when applied to actual agrarian situations. These problems stem from a ‘plantation-peasant’ dichotomy and from the assumption that these are homogeneous, empirical structures. In contrast, ethnographic studies have pointed out the complexity of contemporary agrarian forms. However, a continuing effort to refine these types has, in turn, obscured the variable processes of economic differentiation within local agrarian systems in which production has been, and is, for export. In order to contribute to a more general understanding of these processes, this article provides two case studies of local agrarian change within plantation economies and tries to isolate those factors which contributed to the observed variations in these agrarian histories.     

Decoding of profile versus full-face expressions of affect

Spontaneous facial expressions were elicited from 64 young adults who watched video segments intended to evoke either positive or negative affect. Subjects viewed the stimuli under conditions where they were alone and thought they were not under visual surveillance. Expressive responses to the emotionally evocative materials were video-taped simultaneously from three perspectives (full-face, a 90° right profile, and a 90° left profile). A subset of facial expressions from 14 males and 14 females was selected and shown to 24 male and 24 female decoders. Judges viewed the expressions in one of the three facial perspectives (full-face, right hemiface, or left hemiface) in either normal or mirror-reversed orientation. Judgments were made for intensity and affective quality of the expressions. Positive expressions were more accurately identified in full-face and in right hemiface views as compared to left hemiface views, while the left hemiface was associated with better accuracy than the right hemiface for negative expressions. Right-looking profiles were associated with higher intensity ratings for both positive and negative affect. Among right-looking profiles, right hemiface expressions were seen as more intense than left hemiface expressions for positive affect. This was also true for full-face views. Full-face views were perceived as more intense for positive affect when the right hemiface was presented to the perceiver's right. This was true for negative expressions when the left hemiface was in the same position.     

Therapeutic interventions with families with psychotic young children

Mahler's theory of infantile psychosis focuses on the distortion or omission of the symbiotic relationship between mother and child. The child's defective utilization of the mother, often a result of constitutional vulnerability, prevents internalization of the mother's functions, ego development, and differentiation of self. The child's deficiency may also exacerbate the mother's vulnerabilities, causing her to respond in ways which further inhibit the child's development. This article presents the treatment of two families, each with a child suffering from infantile psychosis.     

Applications of qualitative analysis software: A view from the field

This article describes six potential benefits and five possible limitations of microcomputer-assisted qualitative data management and analysis. It is written from the perspective of a new faculty member, within the specific context of dissertation student advisement and mentoring. Although the article addresses the composite qualities of the genre of microcomputer software known as text analysis programs, the particular product featured in the examples is THE ETHNOGRAPH.     

Female-perpetrated intimate partner violence and romantic attachment style in a college student sample

The frequency, severity, and reciprocity of female-perpetrated intimate partner violence and its consequences (i.e., injuries) were investigated in a college sample of women (N = 457). Participants were classified into one of the following four groups on the basis of self-reported physical assault perpetration and victimization against their relationship partners: nonviolent, perpetrator-only, victim-only, and bidirectionally violent. Results showed that females in the bidirectionally violent group had a reportedly higher occurrence (although not always statistically significant) of perpetration and victimization than those in the perpetrator-only and victim-only groups. Additionally, a similar degree of reciprocity was indicated by females in bidirectionally violent relationships in terms of violence severity and the occurrence of injury. Adult romantic attachment style was also examined among a subset of females (N = 328), and bidirectionally violent females were found to have the highest reported levels of attachment anxiety. Further, females high in attachment anxiety and low in attachment avoidance were more likely to report perpetrating violence than females high in both styles. Implications for prevention are discussed.