Ritual experience and its emergence with story: An experience in meaning

The purpose of this research investigation was to understand the essential features and structures of ritual through the perceptions of 36 women's stories of their families of origin and how this may have had impact on their current sense of affiliation and meaning. Various theoretical perspectives were reviewed with a phenomenological lens. The study utilized findings from previous research in the areas of ritual, gender, and meaning. Results indicated a central theme of high ritual perspective affecting high current affiliation perspective. Ritual was a female-centered experience in the families. An experience of affiliation in one's family of origin seemed to indicate the creation of an affiliation template that allows one to recognize and experience a sense of relatedness in current connections.     

Relationships between adult attachment representations and family ritual quality: a prospective, longitudinal study

Meaningful family rituals have been associated with positive outcomes for families and children. No studies, however, have investigated predictors of family ritual quality, the identification of which would be important for understanding why some families create and enact meaningful family rituals while others lack rituals or have problematic rituals. We propose that adult attachment security may be an important predictor of family ritual quality because family rituals may provide a sense of stability and cohesiveness for the family. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between adult attachment representations and the quality of family rituals, using a prospective, longitudinal design. Prior to the birth of their first child, 125 couples completed the Adult Attachment Interview, and a subsample of 70 mothers and 62 fathers completed the Family Rituals Questionnaire when their first child was 7 years old. Different patterns of relationships between attachment representations and family rituals were found for mothers and fathers. Maternal Insecure Attachment was associated with higher routinization of family rituals. Being in a couple with mixed attachment classifications (e.g., one Secure partner and one Insecure partner) was related to a pattern of low routinization and low meaning for family rituals. The results of this study are interpreted in terms of two patterns of rituals that have been described by clinicians--rigid ritualization and underritualization, and suggestions for working with these ritual patterns in families with Insecure attachment are provided.     

Predictors of Family Functioning Within Alcoholic Families

This study assessed the effects of various predictor variables on dimensions of functioning within alcoholic families. Participants were 173 college student volunteers from alcoholic families who completed a measure of family functioning, demographic questions, and questions related to experiences in their families of origin. Child abuse, spousal violence, parental divorce, length of time living with an alcoholic parent, parental marital status, and parental availability and predictability significantly affected family functioning, whereas frequency of parental drinking did not. Results suggest that quality of parental interactions with children is more important for functioning in alcoholic families than frequency of parental drinking.     

The resurrection of a magical reality: treatment of functional migraine in a child

A magical world view and logic were used in the treatment of a 10-year-old girl who was referred because of suicidal threats due to migrainous pain. The treatment consisted of a one-session intervention with three-week, six-month, and one-year follow-up indicating elimination of migraine. Within a strategic family therapy, a magical ritual was prescribed that derived from the preoperational logic explicated by Piaget and from the healing practices described in anthropological studies. Such a ritual casts the symptom in a different context, alters the meaning of migraine to the family system, and leads to different interactional patterns. Piaget's theory and anthropological data are discussed as sources of a magical world view to help families and children disengage from a symptomatic system of interactions.     

Family Rituals

Family rituals, consisting of celebrations, traditions, and patterned family interactions, are defined and illustrated in this paper. The power of ritual practice in families is explained by three underlying processes — transformation, communication, and stabilization — concepts whose roots lie in anthropology and ethology. We propose that all families struggle with finding a suitable role for rituals in their collective lives but their actual achievement varies greatly. Commitment to ritual and adaptability of ritual practice throughout the family life cycle are important considerations. The utility of these concepts in the assessment and treatment of families is discussed.     

Systematic Changes in Families Following Prevention Trials

A selective prevention design was applied to 238 recently separated families. Of these, 153 mothers randomly assigned to the experimental (E) group participated in 14 group sessions focused on Parent Management Treatment (PMT). Prior analyses showed that, over time, the group of families in the untreated group deteriorated in both parenting practices and in child outcomes. In keeping with the classic prevention pattern, families in the E group showed modest improvements in parenting and in child outcomes. Improvements in parenting were associated with significant reductions in problem behavior. The data showed that those mothers who improved their parenting skills during the first 12 months also showed significant reductions in maternal depression during that same interval. A cross-lagged panel analysis showed that a reduction in maternal depression during the first year of the study was a significant predictor of maintenance or improvements over the next 18 months. The findings are consistent with the concept of the family as a system.     

Intergenerational Transmission: Individuation and Intimacy Across Three Generations

This study examined the transmission of intergenerational family processes across three generations, employing Williamson's construct of Personal Authority in the Family System (PAFS) as a theoretical back-drop. From a PAFS perspective, psychological health is viewed as directly related to the degree of individuation and intimacy (PAFS) experienced within the family of origin. Overall, the results provided a degree of support for the intergenerational transmission hypothesis. The strongest predictor of the transmission process was from the participant/parent relationship to the participant/spouse relationship (spousal fusion/individuation). Separate male and female analyses of the Spousal Fusion/Individuation model found a moderate effect for females and a large effect for males. A small effect was found in predicting nuclear family triangulation from parent and spouse variables, although there was no gender effect. The findings suggest that degree of individuation and its related constructs are more critical in the transmission process than is intimacy.     

Parent involvement in school: English speaking versus Spanish speaking families

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationships between three predictor variables (attitude toward school, parent-child communication, and school commitment action) and the criterion variable (parent involvement) in a representative sample and to examine if these relationships were consistent across three groups (English speaking Caucasian family, English speaking Latino family, and Spanish speaking Latino families). Using a national database (N = 9.841), multi-group SEM analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship between three predictor variables and the criterion variable in three family groups. While all three predictor variables significantly predicted parent involvement in English speaking Caucasian and Latino families, only two variables (parent-child communication and school commitment actions), significantly predicted parent involvement in Spanish speaking Latino families. The results of this study suggest that when administrators, teachers and counselors in school strive to share specific school-related information with Latino families, Spanish speaking families are more likely to become involved with schools.     

Ecological Correlates of Family Functioning

Guided by ecological theory, we empirically explored how parents' psychological functioning, social relationships, and demographic characteristics related to family functioning. Our sample of 197 participants included both neglectful and control families. We found statistically significant associations between the predictor variables (i.e., maternal personal maturity, depression, stressful life events, social support, family of origin difficulties, education, income) and family functioning as rated by mothers, caseworkers familiar with the families, and observers who coded family interaction tasks. However, the exact pattern of significant associations differed as a function the rater of family health.     

Attitudes Toward the Continuation of Family Rituals Among Emerging Adults

In this study we examined college students' assessment of the personal meaningfulness of their families' rituals and their desire to initiate family rituals in the future. Participants were 46 male and 49 female never-married, primarily European American undergraduates at a private east coast university. It was found that women were more likely than men to see themselves initiating future family rituals. The amount of ritual initiation undertaken by participants' same-sex parents and participants' communality were significant predictors of reported likelihood of future ritual initiation. A “caring” parenting style was the only significant predictor of the meaningfulness of rituals. The relationships of respondents' religious and ethnic background and their parents' marital status to their attitudes toward rituals were also examined.     

Family Process as a Mediator of the Negative Effects of Parental Alcoholism on Young Adult Dating Relationships

The effects of parental alcoholism on young adult dating relationship quality (trust, intimacy, commitment, and satisfaction) were considered in the context of the mediating variable of family process (cohesion, conflict resolution, and family competence). A model was tested with a sample of 287 young adults (95 were adult children of alcoholics) that suggested that healthier family process mediates the negative effects of having an alcoholic parent on dating relationship quality. Structural equation modeling results showed that the model fit the data. Young adults from alcoholic families in which family process was less negatively affected by parental alcoholism were less likely to report lower dating relationship quality than those from families in which family process was more negatively affected by parental alcoholism. Parental divorce was directly related to lower relationship quality. Clinical implications for working with young adult children of alcoholics are discussed.     

Family factors associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional disorders in children

Few well-controlled studies have identified psychosocial profiles of families of boys with ADHD and boys with emotional disorders compared with normal controls. However, the clinical and theoretical literature pinpoints four domains in which distinctive profiles would be expected to occur. In this study, twenty-two mothers and thirteen fathers of twenty-two boys with ADHD; twenty mothers and fifteen fathers of twenty boys with a mood or anxiety disorder; and twenty-six mothers and sixteen fathers of twenty-seven normal controls were compared on: (1) stress, support and quality of life; (2) current family functioning; (3) parenting style and satisfaction in the family of origin and current family; and (4) current and past parental functioning. The two clinical groups showed higher levels of stress and lower levels of both social support and quality of life than did normal controls. Both clinical groups showed deficits in current family functioning, but contrary to expectations the ADHD and emotional disorder group did not show distinctly different profiles. Parents of ADHD children reported higher levels of authoritarian parenting styles, and parents from both clinical groups reported less parenting satisfaction than did normal controls in both their current families and their families of origin. Parents of children with ADHD and emotional disorders reported greater parenting satisfaction in their families of origin than in their current families. This discrepancy was greatest for parents of ADHD children. Parents of children with ADHD and emotional disorders reported greater psychological health problems and more childhood ADHD symptomatology than did normal controls. Parents of children with ADHD and emotional disorders have significant psychosocial difficulties in family and personal functioning. Family intervention is highly appropriate for families with children who are referred for help with both types of difficulties.     

Family Ritual and Routine: Comparison of Clinical and Non-Clinical Families

Research demonstrates that the constructive use of family rituals is reliably linked to family health and to psychosocial adjustment. This study explores the relationship between family rituals and child well-being. Two samples participated: 21 families whose adolescent was receiving psychiatric treatment and 21 families in which the adolescent was a public school student. A parent and the adolescent were individually interviewed regarding family rituals and completed standardized measures of adolescent and family functioning. Analyses demonstrated that, in addition to significant sample differences in the expected direction on measures of functioning, the non-clinical families scored significantly higher on the index of family rituality than did the treatment families; this is additional evidence that family rituals are a correlate of child well-being. Further analysis of the data pointed to “people resources” as a robust dimension in its association to adolescent functioning. The role family ritual and routine plays in defining family relationships, both within the nuclear family and with other important adults, was significantly related to clinical status. This work may point to an important, yet overlooked, dimension of family ritual life, the relational qualities of rituals and routines.     

A therapist's ritual of respect

A great deal of attention in systemic family therapy has been given to the process and technique ofdeveloping 'therapeutic' rituals for families. In this paper we address the process of the therapist developing the ritual of practising respect. By practising respect the therapist shifts to a position similar to that of an anthropologist who is attempting to understand another culture and its epistemology. The ritual of practising respect has the potential of changing the therapist's tendency to move toward social control and moralist judgements. A case example is presented in this paper which illustrates the therapeutic ritual of practising respect for the client/family.     

Quality of Life and Adjustment in Youths with Asthma: The Contributions of Family Rituals and the Family Environment

This cross‐sectional study explored the relationships among family ritual meaning, cohesion, conflict, and health‐related quality of life (both specific to chronic health conditions and in general), and the emotional and behavioral problems reported by youths with asthma. Participants included 149 Portuguese children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 18 who had been diagnosed with asthma and attended outpatient services at three public hospitals. The results showed that stronger family ritual meaning predicted a more positive family environment (i.e., higher cohesion levels and lower conflict levels), better health‐related quality of life, and fewer emotional and behavior problems in youths. Furthermore, family cohesion and conflict mediated the links between family ritual meaning and health‐related quality of life, and emotional and behavioral problems. These results did not change after controlling for participant age, gender, and asthma severity. The findings of this study suggest that family ritual meaning contributes to the adaptation of youths with asthma via its positive association with the family environment. The implications for multicontextual interventions with families are briefly discussed with regard to the positive role of family rituals and of their potential as a modifiable factor in families with increased health challenges.     

Alcoholism treatment and marriage and family therapists: An empirical study

This article reports on results of a mail questionnaire study conducted among 257 members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (132 respondents, response rate of 51%) on their attitudes toward alcoholism issues (acceptance of alcoholism as a disease, treatment philosophies used with clients and/or families, and acceptance and use of Alcoholics Anonymous as a resource). Results indicated that 69% of respondents (as compared with 42% formerly) considered alcoholism a disease after MFT education. A combination of individual, family therapy, and AA (81.1%); family therapy (66.7%); and AA only (60.6%) were most often used. Controlled use of alcohol by clients in treatment was believed to be unethical by 43.2%, legal by 39.4% and ineffective by 54.5%.     

Longitudinal analysis of flexibility and reorganization in early adolescence: a dynamic systems study of family interactions

A dynamic systems (DS) approach was used to study changes in the structure of family interactions during the early adolescent transition period. Longitudinal observational data were collected in 5 waves prior to, during, and after the transition. Boys (n = 149 families) were videotaped problem solving with their parents at 9-10 years old and every 2 years thereafter until they were 18 years old State space grids (a new DS method) were constructed for all families across all waves. Two variables indexing the variability of the family interactions were derived from the grids. As hypothesized, the DS variables revealed a significant quadratic effect related to a peak in variability at 13-14 years of age.     

A Life History Model of the Alcoholic Family

Research and clinical interest in the alcoholic family has tended to outpace the development of family-oriented conceptual models of alcoholism. A family development perspective has been almost totally absent, despite the chronic, longitudinal nature of alcoholism. A life history model is proposed that uses the concepts of the “alcoholic system,” family homeostasis, and the “family alcohol phase” as its building blocks. Chronic alcoholism tends to produce distortions in the normative family life cycle. These distortions and their clinical implications are discussed, using four case histories as illustrations of the concepts proposed. The model is also examined in the light of current research findings about the alcoholic family.     

Scientific empathy,American buddhism,and the ethnography of religion

This paper examines some of the current ideas and methods that have problematised the study of religion within a globalised community. Religion and culture cannot be considered bounded entities, to be described as unchangeable. However, their constant process of change is not something new. It becomes new due to writing patterns and contemporary ideas on the relevance of religion or the creativity of culture. By analysing some discussions on possession cults, the paper suggests that ritual and performance constitute the moments when culture and religion are mediated. It is through ritual that religious practices are adapted, and it is in a ritual performance where culture is contested and challenged. Religion becomes ‘confused culture’, that once again is re‐organised and made orderly by reflection on ritual practices. Finally, the paper suggests that the agenda for an anthropology of religion for this new century is two‐fold. Firstly, to try to become more conversant with ever changing localised practices of ritual, and secondly, to try to converse about those practices with other practitioners and scholars from different fields and in different fields.