Human values and counseling

The author describes some of the philosophical and practical problems concerning personal values and professional ethics that counselors encounter in their work. She discusses ethical problems in counseling research and practice and points out some of the differences among various types of deliberate influence and implicit influence.     

Employment counseling and organizational ethical values

Employment counseling is commonly used in companies to assist employees with various personal and professional challenges that are confronted in the workplace. Such guidance could affect the degree to which employees believe a company proactively supports an ethical orientation; the purpose of this study was to explore this issue. A self‐report survey was used to collect data from 105 working students who were attending business classes at the University of Wyoming. Results suggested that perceptions of organizational ethical values were higher among students who were employed in companies that offered employment counseling than were the perceptions of those working in companies that did not offer employment counseling.     

Maintaining religious values in a nonreligious counseling program

Summary Both Christianity and HE therapy may be viewed as dealing with searching questions for those of us who dare to pursue the quest. A sense of mission is to be found in both humanistic existentialism and Christianity when we query: Who am I? What is my relationship to the world and those in it? What do I truly believe and how do I want to act upon my beliefs?Thus, both Christianity and HE therapy explore searching questions for those who dare to pursue the answers, to reveal their individuality, their fears, their aloneness, and to explore the possibilities of existence.Finally, it is suggested that both Christianity and HE therapy are capable of creating an honest atmosphere that makes it easier for us to remove our masks, to reveal and share our doubts, resentments, and anxieties, and to do so in an atmosphere of acceptance that brings healing and wholeness, whether as a Christian or as a nonreligious humanistic existentialist. Rather than polarization or a dichotomy existing between the two positions, similarities have been found to be inherent, and integration and reconciliation are possible and feasible, allowing students to maintain their religious beliefs with integrity while at the same time incorporating university teachings.     

Divorce Ambivalence and Reasons for Divorce in Iran

This study examined divorce attitudes and reasons for divorce in Iran, a nation experiencing a rapid increase in divorce. Using instruments translated into Farsi with a sample of 230 Iranian spouses filing for divorce, we found a preponderance of common relational reasons for divorce (such as growing apart and not getting enough attention), along with high rates of interpersonal violence reported by wives. Study participants showed considerable rates of divorce ambivalence, along with openness to reconciliation services. The findings were compared with similar studies of the United States spouses in the divorce process. Clinical implications include a careful approach to considering how discernment counseling might be adapted to the cultural situation of Iran, and particularly the special concerns of Iranian women.     

Internationalizing the counseling psychology curriculum: toward new values,competencies, and directions

The changing world in which we now live requires that counseling psychology alter its training curriculum assumptions, content, and methods to prepare students and faculty for meeting the challenges of life in the global community. Global problems such as poverty, migration, overpopulation, international war and violence, rapid urbanization, and cultural disintegration are posing new challenges for service professions that are no longer suited to ethnocentric values, content, and interventions. Adjustment syndromes such as alienation, culture shock, acculturation, identity conflict and confusion, and migration stress are now emerging as major problems for counselors in schools, colleges, industry, clinics and private practice. New competencies are needed. The present article offers 50 different ways to assist in the internationalization of the counseling curriculum, with specific recommendations for professional psychological associations and department of psychology curriculum content and extra-curricular activities, and universities. The article calls upon counseling psychologists around the world to help create a new professional and global consciousness that can advance our field by addressing the problems we face and restoring dignity to those we serve through the provision of more informed and culturally sensitive services.     

Child Abuse and Divorce

Summary

This article addresses the problem of divorce situations in which there are also allegations of abuse. Its goal is to provide guidance for professionals evaluating these cases. It describes the challenges peculiar to cases where divorce and abuse allegations coexist, relevant research findings, and potential sources of bias. The article suggests a multidisciplinary approach may be the optimal strategy for evaluating these cases. Specific guidelines for evaluation and decision-making are provided.     

The Divorce Myth

This article argues that counselors need to disengage themselves from the prevailing cultural attitude that divorce has inherent power to make people unhappy. Within this context, consideration is given to counseling couples with children.     

Parental Divorce and Children's Adjustment

ABSTRACT— This article reviews the research literature on links between parental divorce and children's short-term and long-term adjustment. First, I consider evidence regarding how divorce relates to children's externalizing behaviors, internalizing problems, academic achievement, and social relationships. Second, I examine timing of the divorce, demographic characteristics, children's adjustment prior to the divorce, and stigmatization as moderators of the links between divorce and children's adjustment. Third, I examine income, interparental conflict, parenting, and parents' well-being as mediators of relations between divorce and children's adjustment. Fourth, I note the caveats and limitations of the research literature. Finally, I consider notable policies related to grounds for divorce, child support, and child custody in light of how they might affect children's adjustment to their parents' divorce.     

The Divorce of Marriage and Parenthood

Marriage is a template for domestic life and the problems that arise in it. The patterned assumptions that traditionally defined marriage gave substance to the family. These assumptions have become less compelling over the course of a century. In this paper, I suggest how and why this has happened. I focus on the meaning of parenthood and its relationship to marriage. In the course of a century, parenthood has been redefined as a rational choice governed by calculation. As a result, childbearing, pregnancy, marriage and parenthood have been redefined. Their relationships to one another have, to varying degrees, been altered. Marriage is an institutionalized way to care for the babies that once came, inevitably, as a result of sexual intercourse. What becomes of marriage when sex no longer produces babies? The answer is that everything about marriage and the family changes. Such changes help explain the rise of professional family therapy and related fields.     

Divorce and remarriage in christian perspective

The church has an opportunity not only to nurture and support persons in their marriage but also to minister to those whose marriage comes to an end. This ministry includes enabling these persons to work through their sense of grief and failure and to expereince forgiveness and reconciliation toward the possibility of another marriage in the future.Appreciation is expressed to Commonweal, Hamilton Publishing Company, Basic Books, Inc., Harper & Row, and Pilgrimage for permission to quote from their publications.     

The State, Marriage and Divorce

ABSTRACT This essay advances several interrelated arguments concerning the proper role of the state with regard to marriage and divorce but my main contention is that 'pure'no-fault divorce laws are unjust—or, at least, they are unjust if marriage involves a genuinely contractual element, and there seems to be very little doubt that it does. Locke, Kant and Hegel are three eminent thinkers who are alike in viewing marriage as a contract (though in the case of Hegel, it is a 'contract to transcend the standpoint of contract') and in the first two sections of the essay I consider their views on the role of contract in marriage. Whilst holding (with Hegel) that marriage is more than a contract, I also hold (with Kant) that it is not less than a contract. In section three I consider the implications of this 'not less than', the most important one being that 'pure'no-fault divorce laws are unjust. I shall contend that whilst the irretrievable breakdown of marriage may be regarded as a suitable ground for divorce, it simply cannot, and certainly ought not to, be regarded as a justificatory basis for the laying aside of rights acquired by individuals as a result of their having entered into a marital contract. However minimal one might wish the role of the state to be, or however averse one might be from allowing the state any role at all in purely personal and confidential relationships, yet to allow the expression 'the irretrievable breakdown of marriage'to be employed as a olanket to cover over the infringement of personal, contractually engendered and civilly recognised rights, is not to exercise commendable restraint but is, rather, to condone what is simply an abnegation by the state of its basic responsibility to ensure that justice prevails.     

Divorce Therapy in Context

Abstract

Partners trying to decide whether to continue or end their marriage rely on the expertise of therapists to help them evaluate their alternatives. Research on what predicts divorce and what consequences divorce has for parents and children is reviewed so therapists are informed in the guidance they give clients. Attention is given to the environmental context of marriage as well as its interior quality. Implications for therapists doing divorce therapy in the context of a “pro-marriage” climate are also discussed.