Book reviews

Base Christian Communities and Social Change In Brazil. W.E Hewitt, Lincoln, London: Universty of Nebraska Press, 1991. 150 pp, £ 23.70.

Spiritual Quest. An Inter‐Religious Dimension. Hasan Askari, West Yorkshire: Seven Mirrors, 1991. 152 pp. £10.00. ISBN 1–873685

The Bed worth R.E. Project. Peter Woodward, ed. Warwick; University of Warwick, Department of Arts Education, 1991. 59 pp, (no price indicated).

A Dictionary of Judaism and Christianity. Dan Cohn‐Sherbok, London: SPCK, 1991. 181 pp. £15 ISBN 0–281–04538–0

Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth, Lesslie Newbigin, London: SPCK, 1991. 90pp, £5.99.     

A Three Generational Study of Tomboy Behavior

The perceptions and definitions of tomboybehavior were explored across three generations ofwomen. The sample included 521 women (primarilyundergraduates, their mothers, and their grandmothers)ranging in age from 17 to 94 who were categorized intoone of three cohorts (Generation Xers, Baby Boomers orSenior Citizens) for a final sample of 466. The samplewas 87% European American, 6% Native American, 3% Hispanic, and 2% Asian American. Sixty-sevenpercent of the sample reported being tomboys duringtheir childhood. The average age reported for startingtomboy behavior was 5.8, whereas the average age for ceasing tomboy behavior was 12.6. Agecohort analyses revealed relatively few differences butseveral interesting findings. The senior citizens tendedto differ from both sets of younger women. For instance, senior citizens were less likely toreport being tomboys than were Xers or Boomers.Directions for future research include monitoring thesocial acceptability of tomboy behavior, assessingpotential cultural differences in tomboyism, andanalyzing correlates of the average age that tomboyismceases.     

Full-time studying and long-term relationships: Make or break for mature students?

Results are reported of a 2-year longitudinal study looking at the effects of full-time degree study on full-time mature students who were also in long-term committed relationships. The findings from the first year of the research suggested that while there were particular stresses for students with domestic responsibilities; the single most buffering effect was support from the student's partner. The follow-up study in the second year confirmed these findings, but also suggested that there was a decrease in the amount of partner support experienced in the second year. The implications for counselling and student support services are discussed.     

The process of enabling change: a study of therapist interventions in family therapy

We describe the application of discursive analysis to the task of researching family therapy process. Through the analysis of a central theme in two family therapy treatments, we found that individual family members move to using a wider range of discourses on the central theme by the end of therapy. Using the example of one family's therapy sessions, we examine how the therapist contributes to the new meanings and views that emerge, and present our analysis of the therapists' interventions in relation to the 'production' of these alternative meanings. It is argued that discourse analysis can fruitfully be applied to family therapy process research and could contribute to theoretical concepts of change and therapeutic competence.     

Young infants'' sensitivity to movement information specifying social causality

Adults and 3- to 6-month-old infants were tested for their visual preference for two different dynamic displays presented simultaneously on two side-by-side computer monitors. Each display consisted of a pair of colored discs moving either independently (the independent display) or in systematic interaction (the “chase” display), never actually contacting one another. Except for the relative spatio-temporal dependence of the discs' movements, all dynamic parameters on the two displays were controlled and maintained equal. Analysis of looking behavior showed that adults as well as infants looked differentially at the displays. Patterns of preference depended on age. For the infants who completed the experiment, there was a significant transition from more looking at the chase to more looking at the independent display as a function of age. Adults as well as the older, attentive infants, showed enhanced visual attention to the independent display. These results provide first evidence of young infants' sensitivity to movement information specifying social causality for adult observers.     

An analysis of factors affecting traditional family expectations and perceptions of ideal fertility

This study examines: 1) the conditions giving rise to variation in sex-role orientation and the perceived cost of having children; and 2) the role these variables play as mechanisms linking antecedent variables to perceptions of ideal fertility. Data are drawn from a metropolitan area (Oklahoma City) sampling of 401 adults. Antecedent variables of sex, employment status, age, education, exposure to metropolitan living, and religious traditionalism--though correlated with ideal fertility--have no direct effects on that variable. Rather, the effects of these variables on fertility are mediated through sex-role orientation and the perceived cost of having children. The study confirms that there is a great deal of variation in the perception of a woman's place in comtemporary society and much of this variation is predictable. Education and exposure to metropolitan living both have influences which result in more egalitarian sex-role orientations, while traditional beliefs reinforce traditional sex-role orientations. Younger people also are more likely than older ones to be egalitarian. On the average, women are less traditional in their sex-role orientations than men and employed women are less traditional than unemployed women. Thus, the 2 strongest predictors of sex-role orientation are age and education. Sex role orientation and the perceived cost of having children both exert strong influences on the number of children thought to be ideal.     

Conditioning treatment of enuresis: Auditory intensity

The auditory stimulus characteristics of three commercially-produced enuresis alarms are described and the results of a clinical trial of the three alarm types are reported. No significant differences regarding outcome, either in terms of treatment efficiency or of subsequent relapse, were found.     

Pastoral ecstasy and the authentic self: Theological meanings in symbolic distance

Pastoral ecstasy is defined as the capacity for and the experience of my distance from myself. It is the ability to stand outside one's social roles for purposes of critical reflection. Social roles are inevitable and cannot be laid aside. The role-distancing of the authentic self nurtures emotional well-being and enables the pastor to reflect, address his failures, and modify his patterns and behavior. The capacity for role-distancing demonstrates a natural self-role duplicity that is legitimate, i.e., to stand outside of and critically reflect on one's role while performing responsibly within it. Authentic living involves this legitimate duplicity and indicates honest commitment.This article was first presented as an address before the Southwest Regional Meeting of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Spring 1976.