The promotive effects of family educational involvement for low-income children's literacy

Longitudinal data for 167 low-income children were analyzed to examine associations between family educational involvement during kindergarten, children's feelings about literacy, and children's literacy achievement from kindergarten through fifth grade. The promotive effect of family educational involvement for feelings about literacy and literacy achievement was moderated by maternal education such that involvement was more positively associated with literacy outcomes for children whose mothers were less educated compared with children whose mothers were more educated. In addition, children's feelings about literacy mediated associations between family educational involvement and literacy achievement. Implications for intervention efforts are discussed.     

Monosymptomatic hysteria in childhood, family and professional systems involvement

A conceptual framework for understanding childhood hysteria is presented. A family orientation for evaluating the relative contributions of the child, family and professionals is used, incorporating five previously described psychological concepts (abnormal illness behaviour, identification and imitation, family myths, childhood predicament, locus of control). Three case histories are presented to illustrate the clinical method and to emphasize the need for careful assessment and the avoidance of hastily contrived strategies for treatment. The principles of liaison psychiatry within a paediatric setting previously described in the literature are important factors in the successful management of these families.     

The school psychologist as an organizational boundary role professional

An organizational perspective on the school psychologist's role can provide a basis for integrating disparate activities, reduce ambiguity produced by lack of role consensus, and facilitate more effective role behavior. The school psychologist is herein described as an organizational boundary role professional. Relevant theory and research on this conception are presented and parallels to school psychological practice are drawn. Implications for practice, training, and research in school psychology are also discussed.     

Invasive partners: an exploration of attachment, communication and family patterns

Therapists'ratings on a sample of heterosexual couples receiving marital or partnership counselling were used to develop measures of'invasive'behaviour by the adults concerned. We suggest that this behaviour stems from difficulties in attachment and is marked by a desire to stay close to the other person, difficulties in communication, difficulties in handling relationships between three people, and problems associated with the birth of a baby. A particular feature of this behaviour is that one or other partner attempts to restrict communication from the other, perhaps in order to avoid surprises which are perceived as a threat to the relationship. Invasiveness by wives was high in those couples who had had problems after the birth of a baby and significantly lower in those who had not. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Early educational foundations for the development of civic responsibility: an African experience

An innovative curriculum designed to foster the development of social responsibility among pre-adolescent children was introduced at a rural Zambian primary school. The curriculum invoked Child-to-Child principles focusing on health education, advancing a synthesis of Western psychological theories and African cultural traditions. The teacher sought to democratize the educational process through cooperative learning in mixed-gender, mixed-social-class, and mixed-ability study groups. Learners engaged in community service activities and contributed to the nurturant care of younger children. Young adults interviewed seventeen years after completing the program recalled their experience and reflected on how it had promoted their personal agency, cooperative disposition, and civic responsibility in early adulthood.     

The structure of interpretations in family therapy: a video-enhanced exploration

A method for assessing the structure of interpretations of family therapy events is described. Family sessions were videotaped; each participant then independently reviewed the tape, stopping it to indicate any significant events and describing the importance of each identified sequence. Qualitative approaches to analyzing the stop points are described, using data from six families and their therapist. This combination of direct session experience and reflective interpretation provides a much-needed perspective on the meaning of sessions and psychotherapeutic interaction. Research and clinical implications for scientifically examining the structure of shared interpretations in family therapy are discussed.     

The educational therapy contribution to a family systems approach

This article draws on the experience of one specialist education unit to demonstrate the usefulness of engaging families directly in the treatment of children showing difficulty in managing tasks and relationships in school. It will look at the overlap of psychoanalytic and systemic ideas and show how theory and practice from both 'schools of thought' allow for a fuller understanding of blocks to school success and also support the family and child in their efforts to 'defeat' a difficulty. I look in particular at the way a psychodynamic focus on a child's inner world can work alongside the systemic focus on family structure, hierarchy and history.     

Spirituality as Struggle: Poetics,experience and the place of the spiritual in educational encounter

This paper begins to explore and interpret the unsatisfactory conditions surrounding the term spirituality. It finds in this unsatisfactoriness a set of contradictions producing a sense of struggle. Using poetry, narrative and experience, it locates spirituality in contexts of struggle. It argues that if spirituality can be interpreted in certain senses as struggle, spiritual education (or development) becomes education in and for struggle. This in turn suggests lessons for our future treatment of, and practical approach to, world religions and other forms of experience in the classroom.     

Conceptualizing bullying in adult professional football: A phenomenological exploration

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to gain an in-depth insight into male professional footballers' perception of the concept of bullying and to explore the essences of this behavior within this context.Design and MethodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 adult male professional football players in the UK. Data were analyzed in accordance with the principles of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.ResultsParticipants highlighted that key themes within Olewus' (1993) seminal definition of bullying are relevant to professional football such as repetition, power, abuse and harm doing. Notably, there were variations in footballers' views of the constituents of these themes which were explained by divergent perceptions of how the football context shaped these components of bullying. It was evident however, that certain common elements of the football environment, such as its inherent masculinity, identity conforming nature and authoritarianism helped to contextualize the players' conceptualizations of bullying.ConclusionsWhile some of the identified themes mirrored classic definitions of bullying, this concept was articulated in an individually nuanced, context dependent fashion. These findings advance bullying literature by demonstrating how professional football shapes perceptions of this concept, while highlighting the importance of contextually tailored intervention program to address bullying.     

The experience of tedium in three generations of professional women

Tedium, defined as the experience of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion, was studied in three generations of professional women, who were questioned extensively about their lifestyles, life stresses, and life attitudes. Results indicated that in spite of the differences in life features and pressures among the three groups, the similarities in their experiences, attitudes, and overall life satisfaction are rather impressive. The differences among the generations tended to cluster around the more stressful environment of college for the young preprofessional women, who experienced most tedium and were most overextended and conflicted, and around the more traditional attitudes toward women and women's issues expressed by the older postprofessional generation, who also had the least tedium. The midcareer professional women were characterized by more positive life attitudes, more satisfaction from their work, and by liberal feministic attitudes toward working women's issues. Three focal variables were hypothesized and documented to be important tedium correlates for all professional women. Of the three, role conflict rather than number of roles was found to be a positive tedium correlate. Sense of control and especially having social support systems emerged as significant negative tedium correlates.An earlier version of this article was presented as a paper at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, August 26–30, 1977. The authors wish to thank Trudy Solomon, who assisted in the organizational aspects of the study, and Susan Reuss and the students of the University of California, Berkeley's social psychology course, who took part in the group research project and helped in the data collection.     

The Georgia family Q-sort: an observational measure of family functioning

The development of a new observational measure of family functioning using a Q-sort methodology is described. The Q-sort is one way of obtaining observer measures of family that complements both microcoding and global ratings of family processes. Evidence for construct validity is presented along with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the Q-sort approach to family observation.     

The use of family myths as an aid to strategic therapy

The concept of family myth can be used by the therapist to help organize the wealth of information provided by a family in therapy. Rituals, symbols and metaphors can be viewed as structurally related components within the family myth system which enable the therapist to interpret non-literal, analogic communications as a coherent yet primarily symbolic, narrative about the family's shared perceptions of its functioning. The concept of myth is explored in relation to mythology, the family therapy literature, and a case study. Several strategic intervention strategies are proposed which utilize the family's own metaphors, symbols and rituals to re-edit the family myth. Re-editing the myth on a symbolic level should be associated with improved system functioning, including more concrete areas of the family's life.