Using data from a survey of 330 parents of developmentally disabled children, the paper examines parents' participation in and attitudes toward special interest groups and political activities. Findings indicate that parents are willing to participate in special interest groups and political activities to a much greater extent than they have…

Representing the accumulated expertise of the Spanish Speaking/Surnamed (SS/S) multi-disciplined service provider network, this position paper is designed to focus national, state, and local attention to the Latino/Chicano child abuse and neglect (ca/n) problems and on the bilingual/bicultural resources needed to improve the degree and type of…

Exploring possible similarities and differences between mothers who work outside the home and mothers who do not, this study provides a preliminary investigation of maternal reactions to mother-child separation when children have reached school age. A total of 41 women working outside the home and 48 mothers staying at home responded to a…

In this scholarly work on black culture, the major contention is that black American culture derives from African culture which is an oral culture, while white American culture derives from European culture which is a lettered culture. This basic difference in cultures, when not considered carefully, makes it impossible to increase the educational…

The transition to parenthood has been described as both stressful and rewarding. To further clarify attitudes toward parenthood and suggest strategies for enhancing the satisfaction and reducing stress, 819 families responded to a 14-item questionnaire about parents' attitudes. Percent of agreement or disagreement was calculated for each item for…

A study investigated the hypothesis that children learning Spanish as a first language learn rules for assigning stress, as opposed to simply memorizing stress for individual words. The subjects were 50 Spanish-speaking preschool children. In one portion of the experiment, they imitated sets of 2, 3, or 4 Spanish nonsense words that were…

How adolescents deal with the difficulties and disappointments in their lives determines whether or not they will be able to successfully adapt to life stress. As the stresses of living become greater in our society, the number of adolescents who kill themselves also continues to increase. This study supported the concept that continual failure…

A parent-support group (Family Center at Nova University, Florida) for parents of handicapped infants and toddlers allowed parents to share their feelings and concerns. Parents were interviewed regarding three aspects: how they felt upon initial diagnosis, sources of support, and types of experiences that have promoted and inhibited coping. Parent…

This paper summarizes the findings of a series of studies on the effects of "ecological variables" on mother-father-sibling-infant interactions. Under consideration were: (1) the effects of stress on the parental preferences of young infants; (2) the effects of the presence of one parent on the interactions within the other parent-infant dyad; (3)…

Knowledge gained from the theoretical and empirical literature on social support theory, family systems theory, and social ecology provide the foundation for a model which studies stress, support systems, and coping patterns within the family. Puerto Rican (N=87) and Italian (N=49) families were interviewed to identify stress factors and coping…

This paper reports a study of the influence of two parent education programs on mothers' personality processes as measured by the Loevinger Scale of Ego Development. Participating in either a Discussion Group program focusing primarily on the mother's needs or a Toy Demonstration program focusing mainly on the child, low income black mothers…

One hundred thirty-six teachers enrolled in special education courses responded to a questionnaire which focused on stress in relationship to compliance with the mandates of Public Law 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act). The teachers were divided into three groups - special education teachers, resource room teachers, and regular…

This paper addresses some design considerations for computer-produced visual displays that are intended for either local or remote audiences of social workers. The project, "Building Family Foundations," expects to design and produce 10 different educational modules, including: child development; family issues--separation and attachment; family…

For early childhood educators a cognitive approach to stress therapy is a valuable supplement to other approaches. Early childhood educators, like others, may develop psychological vulnerabilities that contribute to stress and depression. An exaggerated need for approval or an unhealthy demand for perfectionism may contribute to their experience…

Despite previous research indicating that early negative child behavior and the quality of parent-child relationships are predictive of later externalizing problems, few investigators have attempted to trace these antecedents back to infancy. In a sample of 100 infants from low-income families, infant persistence and maternal responsiveness were…