Career Indecision: A Family Systems Perspective

In existing theories of vocational development career indecision is generally attributed to character deficits in the young adult. The authors present an alternative, family systems perspective on career indecision. Also, they speculate on the family patterns that contribute to career indecisiveness and on the functions that this problem may serve within the larger family network.     

Bibliotherapy as a Counseling Adjunct: Research Findings

Counselors have been prompted to use bibliotherapy, but recommendations for using the technique are rarely based on published research. This article reviews the effectiveness of the technique and is intended to help counselors draw implications for using bibliotherapy in their professional practices.     

Social Support in Academic Programs and Family Environments: Sex Differences and Role Conflicts for Graduate Students

We hoped to identify the sources and types of social support that are most beneficial for helping graduate students cope with stress. A second purpose of our study was to identify sex differences in stress and the most beneficial types of support. Students living in graduate student housing were surveyed to assess (a) social support in their academic programs and in their family environments, (b) recent stressful life events, and (c) depression and anxiety as psychological symptoms of stress. Women reported significantly more stress, more symptoms of stress, and significantly less support from their academic departments and family environments than did men. Family support had only buffering effects, but no direct effects on stress symptoms for women. Graduate program and family support had direct effects, but no buffering effects on stress symptoms for men. These results may indicate greater role strain for women, perhaps resulting from less support for their multiple roles and greater concerns about balancing academic and family demands.     

Family-of-Origin Experiences and Conflict Resolution Behaviors of Young Adult Dating Couples

This study was conducted to explore the relationship among retrospective reports of family-of-origin functioning, reported perceptions of a laboratory-based conflict resolution discussion, and outsiders' ratings of communication behaviors between young adult dating couples, with a special focus on predicted gender differences. Sixty-three couples aged 18 to 24 participated in this study. A Revealed Differences task was used to elicit discussion about an issue identified as discordant for the couple on a Relationship Issue Questionnaire. Family-of-origin variables were related to both men's and women's perceptions of the conflict, as well as outsiders' ratings of their conflict resolution behaviors. However, the conflict resolution behaviors and perceptions of men and women were associated with distinctly different aspects of functioning in their families of origin. Further, women's families-of-origin factors were more prominent for the couples' communication behaviors because they indicated a greater number of significant correlations between the women's families of origin and: 1) perceptions of the conflict resolution discussion by both the men and women, and 2) the observed conflict resolution behaviors of both men and women. These findings are discussed in the context of both the relevant research and important social-political influences.     

Adverse work experiences and marital outcomes in middle years: Role of self‐esteem

This study assesses the decade‐long influence of adverse work experiences on husbands' and wives' problem‐solving behaviors and marital quality through self‐esteem using structural equation modeling with a sample of 308 dual‐earning couples. Analyses controlled for earlier marital quality, allowing for assessment of the residual change in marital quality over 10 years. Adverse work experiences directly affected marital quality and indirectly affected decreases in marital quality through lower self‐esteem; lastly, individuals' self‐esteem was positively related to increased problem‐solving behaviors. In addition, there was a crossover association, with wives' and husbands' self‐esteem influencing one another's problem‐solving behaviors. These results contribute to a deeper understanding about the processes responsible for the detrimental impact of adverse work experiences.