Content Analysis of the Journal of Counseling and Development: Volumes 48–66

A content analysis of the Journal of Counseling and Development was conducted for a 19-year period (Vols. 48–66). Articles were cross-classified under content headings and then grouped by the four editorship periods during this time (e.g., Goldman, 1969–1975; Sue, 1975–1978; Barclay, 1978–1984; Goodyear, 1984–1988). Results were compared to earlier studies to illustrate changes and trends in both the counseling professions and the Journal.     

Midlife in the 1980s: Philosophy,Economy, and Psychology

America's current economic and cultural crisis is the environmental context within which the middle-aged must face the added challenges of their own special developmental issues.     

Group and Multilateral Marriage: Definitional Notes, Glossary, and Annotated Bibliography

The purpose of this note is to define the phenomenon under current study in the Multilateral Relations Study Project and differentiate it from certain other related but different sociological phenomena. Confusion in the area of alternative family structures is all but universal, even among professionals and researchers. While definitions that are overly rigid may reduce the value of study, most research and journalism in this area has been characterized by serious imprecision that has reduced rather than added to understanding.     

The McMaster Model of Family Functioning: Observer and Parental Ratings in a Nonclinical Sample

The McMaster Model of Family Functioning defines seven dimensions, which may be assessed either by an observer applying a Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) to a semi-structured interview of the family and/or by family members completing a questionnaire, the Family Assessment Device (FAD). The present article applied both methods of assessment, as well as the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), to a nonclinical sample (N = 105 ). Interobserver reliability on the CRS was highly significant. Parent (FAD) vs. observer (CRS) agreement was also highly significant, except for Affective Responsiveness and Behavior Control, for which agreement was barely significant. When families were labeled as “healthy” or “unhealthy” according to cut-offs, agreement between observers and parents was high (87%), and disagreements illuminated dynamics of individual families. Finally, the DAS (completed by mothers) was significantly correlated with both the CRS and the FAD, particularly for General Functioning.     

Educating For Silence: Renaissance Women and the Language Arts*

In the Renaissance, educating for philosophy was integrated with educating for an active role in society, and both were conditioned by the prevailing educational theo-ries based on humanist revisions of the trivium. I argue that women's education in the Renaissance remained tied to grammar while the education of men was directed toward action through eloquence. This is both a result of and a condition for the greater restriction on the social opportunities for women.     

TESTING THE DURABILITY OF JOB CHARACTERISTICS AS PREDICTORS OF ABSENTEEISM OVER A SIX-YEAR PERIOD

The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between job characteristics and absence over a 6-year period. Civilian employees from a large military organization participated. The results indicated that job characteristics continued to correlate significantly with a measure of absence frequency up to 6 years after the job characteristics had been assessed. The job characteristics measures also correlated significantly with a measure of time-lost absenteeism. Regression analyses revealed that job characteristics predicted absence frequency significantly over a 6-year period and time-lost absence for up to 4 years after job characteristics were assessed. The magnitudes of these relationships remained fairly constant across time. Results from regression analyses controlling for demographic variables indicated that job characteristics predicted time-lost and absence frequency for most years. Competence and need for achievement failed to moderate the job characteristics-absence relationships.