Relationships Among Dogmatism,Family Ideology,and Religiosity in Master's-Level Counseling Students

This paper presents the results of a survey of the perceptions of master's-level counseling students in the areas of dogmatism, family ideology, and religiosity. Participants in the study consisted of 331 master's-level counseling students from 7 master's-level counselor education programs in northern, southern, and eastern regions of the United States. A total of 142 participants were classified as beginning participants, and 123 were classified as graduating participants. Findings indicated that graduating participants were significantly lower in levels of dogmatism than were beginning participants. Bivariate and multivariate data analyses also revealed that family ideology was more strongly related to dogmatism than religiosity.     

Family Structure and Stress

This report presents an evolving theoretical model of the relationship between normative and severe stresses and a family's organizational structure. It is useful for understanding these processes and for planning treatment intervention for families at several levels of function: competent, dominant-submissive, chronically conflicted, and severely disturbed.     

Reflections on Bill Kell: The Legend and His Legacy

Bill Kell influenced many contemporary counseling psychologists through his work as author and as director of training at the Michigan State University Counseling Center from 1957 until his death in 1973. This article describes the legend and legacy of Bill Kell, by using excerpts from six oral histories collected from former trainees, colleagues, and family members.     

Mapping and/or Discovering Meaning in Family Therapy: An E-Mail Conversation

Editor's Note: Because of the provocative and stimulating nature of the study reported on by Steven Kogan and Jerry Gale in their article "Decentering Therapy," I have invited one of our Advisory Editors, Chris Beels, to provide some comments about the study and its implications. However, rather than use the standard for mat of a formal "Commentary," followed by an "Authors' Response," Beels, Kogan, and Gale have instead carried out a series of e-mail exchanges, with reactions and responses going back and forth in the form of a dialogue. What follows is a slightly edited version of their conversation. As you will see, this exchange has afforded Beels, Kogan, and Gale the opportunity not only to critique each other's ideas, but also to raise questions and to puzzle together about the linkages that might be forged between the Kogan and Gale study and earlier therapy process research carried out by Beels using Scheflen's context analysis techniques. The use of a conversation format seemed more consonant with the research being discussed, research that urges a stance of openness and curiosity rather than formal hypothesis testing and closure. Hence my decision to endorse this experiment in "commentary as conversation," rather than "commentary as debate." What follows is the first three rounds of this "conversation," with the "roughess" of ordinary e-mail communications retained, but with some minor editing in order to facilitate clarity and narrative flow .     

An Effective Career Development Program for Parents

This article is a comparative review of career development programs in Switzerland and the United States, with emphasis on the degree of parental involvement. Investigators visited schools and interviewed parents in both countries. This article offers ideas for improving the effectiveness of career development programs in the United States. Among the useful ideas from Switzerland are greater use of community resources such as departments of employment services, specific career training in schools, and school-based job placement programs.     

Chaos and Christianity: A Response to Butz and a Biblical Alternative

This article responds to M. R. Butz's (1995) fundamental conclusion regarding chaos and Christianity, briefly discusses the compatibility between the two perspectives, and offers a biblical model for counselors in assisting Christian clients in embracing chaos.     

On Applying Applied Philosophy

If 'applied philosophy'is really to be applied it is necessary for its practical implications to be spelled out in some detail: both the specific goals implied if not entailed, and the life-style that would be expected to support such goals. To be as specific as this would only be to emulate the ancient Greek philosophers whose influence may still be discerned and is often claimed. Contributions to a recent issue of this Journal are taken as a basis for the discussion.     

The Transition to Parenthood: III. Incorporation of the Child into the Family

The major focus of this article is the relationship of the parents' marital relationship structure to the incorporation of the child into the family. Our central hypothesis is that couples who have evolved more competent marital structures prenatally are more likely to incorporate the child successfully into the family.