Social representations of refugees: Place of origin as a delineating resource

This study investigated social understandings of refugees from Africa in a regional town in NSW, Australia. Drawing from Social Representations Theory (Moscovici, 1984 ), the study investigated whether place of origin (Africa) mediated understandings held about refugees. Two studies were conducted. In the first study, a between‐subjects manipulation using word association tasks revealed that the super‐ordinate term Refugees, and Refugees from Africa shared a common core of elements (poor, war). Although sharing a core, these representations were differentiated by peripheral elements which concurred with social understanding of Africa (e.g. disease), and media portrayal of refugees/asylum seekers (e.g. boat). The salience of these meanings in the community was further explored using a self‐report questionnaire. Results suggested that place of origin, manifested as peripheral representational elements, may play an important role in differentiating, orientating and linking specific refugee groups to particular socio‐political contexts. Further, we contend that place of origin may be understood as a discursive resource, deployed for rhetorical ends. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Family of origin characteristics as predictors of perfectionism

This study investigated perceptions of family of origin (parental style and family system characteristics) as predictors of dysfunctional and functional perfectionism (as measured by the Khawaja and Armstrong shortened Australian version of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale) in a sample of 264 Australian first‐year Psychology students at University of Sydney. Regression analyses showed that dysfunctional perfectionism was predicted by extreme family enmeshment and by parenting styles that were highly authoritarian and high on psychological control. Functional perfectionism was also predicted by extreme family enmeshment and authoritarian parenting style, but not by high parental psychological control. An implication of these findings for counselling and remedial education programs for students working with dysfunctional perfectionist tendencies is that such programs need to include consideration of the possible influence of unhelpful controlling family processes that appear to be associated with the development of dysfunctional perfectionism.     

Family of origin as a therapeutic resource for adults in marital and family therapy: you can and should go home again.

This paper presents a general method of involving adults who are in marital and family therapy in sessions with their family of origin, offering a clinical application of the author's depth theoretical orientation. The method is based on the thesis that current marital and family difficulties are elaborations of relationship problems of the spouses in their original families. If adults are able to go back to deal directly with past and present issues with their families or origin, an opportunity exists for reconstructive changes to come about in their present family. This present work is compared with Bowen's methods. Procedures are outlined for preparing for these sessions and for overcoming resistances. Typical courses these sessions tend to take are described, and some preliminary results are presented. Several case histories are presented, and theoretical and clinical implications of this method are discussed.     

Family of origin: An experiential workshop

Abstract

A rationale is presented and a one day, content-free family of origin experiential workshop is described in detail. The workshop is designed for clients in ongoing family therapy. Its purposes are 1) motivating family members to engage in family of origin investigations; 2) supplying information in a supportive experiential learning paradigm for use in ongoing peer and multiple family therapy groups; 3) minimally teaching procedures for conducting a Bowen-like search; 4) contributing to an agency-wide atmosphere of intrigue and support for intergenerational therapeutic work. Sculpture, role-play and dramaturgical techniques are interwoven into a fabric deliberately left unfinished in order to provide maximal material for the ongoing family therapy.     

Family as a factor in delinquency

50 adjudicated delinquents were given academic and psychological tests and a self-report of delinquency according to the learning disability/delinquency study of the National Criminal Justice Service of 1980. 31 learning disabled delinquents were identified. The test of proportions compared learning disabilities in delinquent (n = 31) and nondelinquent (ns = 24 and 43) samples. The Mann-Whitney U test compared the reported number of categories of delinquent behavior in the three groups. A typical delinquent of this rural area tends to be a white male with average or above intelligence and a learning disability. His family is large; his parents are divorced. He comes from a poorer economic and cultural background. A dysfunctional family can be a center wherein delinquency grows; on the other hand, a strong family can nurture and protect when peers and school fail.     

Culture as a resource for mental health

This article is based on the author's address at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit III in Los Angeles, California, in January 2003. The author focuses on culture as a resource--a resource for theories that can inform one's understanding of human behavior; a resource for healing, self-help, and positive emotions; a resource for clinical practice; and a resource for mental health and wellness. The author uses a healing story from native culture to describe the essence of his relational worldview and to reframe the professional thinking about culture as one of the greatest assets for healing and mental wellness rather than as a problem to solve.     

Religion as a resource for bereaved parents

This paper addresses the relationship between bereavement and religious beliefs for parents. In-depth, qualitative interviews of twenty-seven couples were used to address the question of the relative value of religion as a coping resource during grief. Also addressed were ways in which religion was a positive resource (enhancing recovery), a neutral resource (having no impact), or a negative resource (retarding recovery). Conclusions are presented regarding the resource value of religion and ways in which others, primarily clergy, family, and friends, can enhance positive and minimize negative impact of religion during bereavement.This is a revision of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the national Council on Family Relations in Nuvember 1989 in new Orleans.     

Empathic Family Stress as a Sign of Family Connectedness in Haitian Immigrants

Research on familial experiences has documented the important role of receiving family support, but has not examined the effects of providing such support. Empathic family stress refers to the stress that individuals experience in response to difficult life circumstances of family members. The current study took a first step in examining the empathic family stress of 134 Haitian immigrants. Results from hierarchical regressions indicate that empathic family stress is a significant predictor of depressive symptoms, but not acculturative stress, for Haitian immigrants. Findings from the study are examined from a strengths-based perspective, where empathic family stress is viewed as a sign of strong family connections among Haitian immigrants. Recommendations are provided for clinicians working with Haitian immigrants to help them experience empathic family stress in a healthy manner.     

The parish clergy as a mental health resource

Summary This paper presents observations on the assets and liabilities of the parish clergy as a mental health resource within the community. These observations are drawn from a ten-year program of continuing education for cleargy in mental health, which focuses on daily pastoral experience. The parish setting is similar in many respects to the service area of a community mental health center. The clergy's assets often include availability, experience, tradition, and the special significance of the religious leader. Inadequate training in mental health skills and the complex demands of parish life are among the problems confronting the clergy in this area. On the whole, the pastoral role offers a unique and highly useful opportunity for positive psychological intervention.The work described in this paper has been supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health grant no. MH-11929-01 and by grants from the Cleveland Foundation and the Grant Foundation, Inc., and the Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.     

The Community Residence as a Family:

No abstract available for this article.     

Family environment as a predictor of adolescent delinquency

Efforts to decrease delinquency have led many researchers to study the underlying factors that lead youth to engage in delinquent acts. Webber (1997) has suggested that studies of delinquency can be categorized into those positing societal, individual, and/or family etiologies. The current research investigated the latter by assessing the relationship between family environment and delinquency. One hundred twenty-seven 9th-grade students completed the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES III; Olson, Portner, & Lavee, 1985) and a modified version of Elliot and Ageton's (1980) Self-Report Delinquency Scale. Results indicated that the relationship between the two scales was moderated by family status (traditional versus nontraditional). The cohesiveness of the family successfully predicted the frequency of delinquent acts for nontraditional families, but failed to predict delinquency for traditional families. Implications for counselors, educators, and parents are discussed.