Increasing husbands' involvement in domestic labor: Issues for therapists

As a result of the dramatic increase in women's participation in the work force, more relationship therapists are seeing couples who are dissatisfied with how domestic labor is divided in their homes. Although, this issue may seem therapeutically straightforward, there are many aspects which make its renegotiation surprisingly problematic and complex. This article is an effort to delineate some of these issues such as engaging men in therapy, exploring emotional issues connected with housework, and the mechanism of gatekeeping. Also included is a therapeutic framework for addressing client concerns about domestic responsibilities.     

Emerging quality improvement measures in genetic counseling

The need to establish guidelines for total quality management in genetic counseling is now recognized as new genetic technologies are being introduced into genetics services and primary care. Genetic counselors have an important role in developing methods for assuring quality in the genetic counseling process. Emerging quality improvement measures as well as selected examples from the Quality Assurance Program in the Genetics Services Division at the Foundation for Blood Research are presented as examples of direct genetic counselor involvement. Suggestions for future directions of quality improvement activities for genetic counselors are discussed.     

The Development of Family Loyalty and Relational Ethics in Children

Despite little research investigating how family loyalty and relational ethics develop in children, theorists suggest that children's early family loyalty experiences play a significant role in their future relationships. Twenty-four children, ages 5–10 years, were interviewed to examine developmental trends in children's conceptualizations of family and family loyalty and their reasoning through parent-child ethical dilemmas. Results indicate (a) younger children possess a simpler, more concrete schema for family and family loyalty than do older children and (b) younger children are less able than older children to adopt their parents' perspectives in reasoning through ethical dilemmas.A psychotherapist with T. W. Ponessa & Associates     

Psychological Trauma in Adolescence: Familial Disillusionment and Loss of Personal Identity

This article presents trauma theory and characteristics of traumatized adolescents. A case vignette demonstrates the considerations regarding assessment and treatment strategies in clinical work with an adolescent girl who suffered profound trauma, loss of personal identity, and self-esteem due to familial disillusionment. In contrast, the author presents the case of a female Holocaust survivor, documenting catastrophic loss, also during adolescence. Irrespective of the nature and magnitude of trauma, the single most outstanding predictor of future positive adjustment and resilience was the nature of the parent-child tie.     

Gendered Characteristics of Political Engagement in College Students

This study was designed to examine gender differences in the political engagement of college students, in relation to perception of gender inequality, partisanship, issue involvement, and media use during the 2000 presidential and congressional campaign. A survey-based study of political engagement was conducted among 236 undergraduate students at a large northeastern university in Pennsylvania—a swing state—during the campaign. Findings support the theory that women with higher perception of gender inequality tend to be more politically engaged than women with lower perception gender inequality. Foreign policy as an issue of interest is important in this study because it is the only policy issue for which there was both a significant gender difference and a significant association with political engagement.     

Are Two Reasons Better Than One? The Role of Appeal Type in Consumer Responses to Sustainable Products

In the face of the growing prevalence of multiple appeals to sustainable consumption in marketers’ sustainable product communications, we examine the efficacy, in terms of consumer reactions, of adding an extrinsic appeal (e.g., “Purchase this green product to save money!”) to an intrinsic appeal (e.g., “Purchase this green product to save the environment!”) based communication for a sustainable product. Three studies provide support for our basic assertion that, compared to an intrinsic appeal, joint appeals (i.e., an intrinsic and extrinsic appeal together) reduce consumer preference for sustainable products. As well, these studies demonstrate that this adverse effect of joint appeals is based on a lowering of consumers’ attributions of the company's sustainability efforts to intrinsic motives (e.g., to the company's genuine concern for the environment). Finally, not all consumers react adversely to joint appeals; relative to intrinsic appeals, such appeals increase, rather than decrease, the intrinsic attributions and sustainable product preferences for consumers with lower involvement with sustainable consumption.