Family therapy with delinquents: a critical review of the literature

A critical review of the theoretical and outcome studies on family therapy with delinquents is presented. Assessment of the theoretical developments reveals that families of delinquents may be distinguishable from other families by their interactional sequences and processes. The available outcome studies within the field indicate that family therapy is viable for interventions with this population, with behavioral, structural, strategic, and communication approaches receiving the most support, but more specific and robust evidence is still needed. Trends in the research and critical issues are identified and used to provide suggestions for future research and practice.     

Individual Marital Therapy: A Critical Reappraisal

The belief that individual marital therapy (IMT) is an ineffective form of treatment for marriage problems and markedly inferior to the conjoint approaches has become almost an article of faith in family therapy circles. This position was originally advanced in the influential reviews of the research literature conducted by Gurman and Kniskern, and their conclusions have been cited in numerous other articles. This paper re-reviews the research studies purportedly supporting this conclusion and finds almost all of them to be invalidated by gross flaws in design and implementation. It is argued that from the highly inadequate evidence available, no conclusions can be reached concerning either the absolute or relative effectiveness of IMT.     

THE MEETING OF TWO CULTURES: ETHNIC IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT OF ITALIAN-AUSTRALIAN ADOLESCENTS*

The present study was designed to explore both the predictors of ethnic identity and the relationship between ethnic identity and psychosocial adjustment. Perceptions of ethnicity and ethnic identity and measures of psychosocial adjustment were obtained from 82 Italian-Australian adolescents. Parents' maintenance of cultural ties was associated with a strong sense of ethnic identity, however ethnic identity was relatively unimportant in predicting psychosocial adjustment. Cultural variables such as parents' embeddedness in the Italian community, the desire to assimilate into the Australian culture, and the perception of problems arising from minority group membership were of greater significance.     

PERCEPTION OF PICTORIAL SPACE BY BUSHMEN*

A new test for measuring the ability to perceive pictorial depth was used with children of two remote Bushman populations (!Xu and Kxoe), as well as with a sample of adult Bushmen drawn from these populations and a sample of urban Zulu children. The results show that subjects of apparently little sophistication are capable of perceiving depth when confronted with a ‘geometric’ figure. They also show surprising inter-group differences which cannot be easily explained by differences of environmental experience.