THE CORRELATES OF HEALTHY FAMILY FUNCTIONING: THE ROLE OF CONSENSUS AND CONFLICT IN THE PRACTICE OF FAMILY THERAPY

The present study explores the relative importance of individual, dyadic and triadic measures of intrafamily functioning in predicting family health. Using self-report data from 78 families, it was found that dyadic measures pertaining to marital quality and parent-child relationships were more powerful predictors than either individual measures of emotional maturity, anxiety, self-esteem or locus of control, or triadic measures of the families' hierarchical alignments. The study also found that while mothers' and fathers' assessments of intrafamily functioning were more important than the childrens' (except for the childrens' view of parent-child relationships), the parents differed in that marital quality was more important to the mothers' evaluations of the family unit while parent-child relationships were more important to the fathers'. Compositely, the findings suggest that family health is a complex multidimensional phenomenon, and that change in a particular dimension of family life may not necessarily be greeted with consensual validation or repudiation by all family members.     

The use of therapeutic interventions to reduce crowding-related arousal: A preliminary investigation

Studies of mass transportation crowding have universally shown that such crowding is arousing and often anxiety producing. Attempts to intervene to reduce arousal and anxiety have met with mixed results. In this study four therapeutically based interventions were used to reduce the arousal evoked by a laboratory analogue of mass transportation crowding. Subjects in the intervention conditions showed significantly fewer increases in pulse rate during crowding. Two of the intervention conditions showed significant decreases in skin conductance level when compared to subjects in an uninstructed crowded condition. An intervention which increased feelings of control over the environment resulted in a more positive view of the environment but did not decrease physiological arousal any more than interventions which did not increase perceived control.The research reported in this paper was sponsored by grants from Rutgers University Research Council to Yakov M. Epstein and Robert A. Karlin.     

Solving the two-stage cutting stock problem

This paper describes an important class of cutting stock problems not previously discussed in the literature. The problem is one of determining the patterns to be used in a two-stage cutting process with restrictions imposed on the locations of cuts in the first stage. A particularly difficult version of this problem from the plastic film industry is presented and solved.     

Marital group therapy

This article offers a model for community mental health centers of how to respond to additional service requests for marital counseling.     

Comic Relief In Everyday Life: Dramaturgic Observations On A Function Of Humor*

The comic relief of the theater has an everyday analog. It is seen in the momentary humorous respites from the seriousness or lengthy concentration on a collective task commonly found in certain spheres of daily life. These respites facilitate the completion of that task by refreshing the participants. Observations of social comic relief made during a series of rehearsals and performances of an amateur theater company are reported. The nature and function of this sort of humor is considered, first in theater, and then in other similar settings. A comparison of social comic relief as a function of humor with selected philosophical and psychological relief theories of humor follows. A concluding section considers the place of creativity and wit in social comic relief.