This inspiring book focuses on the spiritual aspect of psychotherapy with couples. Spirituality and Couples demonstrates that spirituality is an important factor in both the therapy process and the healing process. Chapters provide models to help therapists and counselors incorporate various aspects of spirituality into their therapy practices. They show the importance of a conscious attention to spirituality as a means of strengthening the effectiveness of individual therapy sessions as well as overall therapy efforts. Mental health professionals will find that including spiritual factors into their therapy will increase the effectiveness of their work as it opens new channels of communication between clients and therapists.Spirituality and Couples stresses that therapy should be viewed as a process between human beings rather than the use of a set of tools by a therapist on clients. Chapters cover a variety of topics including: an interview with Virginia Satir on the importance of not removing "heart and soul" from her work by reducing it to a set of techniques the need to find a new basis for enduring, enriching relationships the relevance of Buddhist meditation for the practice of couples therapy spiritual awakening in the couple relationship the sacredness of marriage spiritual connections between two people an analysis of Virginia Satir's philosophy of treatment in terms of spirituality Mental health professionals, couples therapists, pastoral counselors, and clergy will find the information and strategies in this book interesting to read and helpful in their work.

Couples Therapy, Multiple Perspectives is a springboard from which therapists may begin to answer such questions as What are the ingredients essential to good relationships? What are the ingredients essential to activity within the psychotherapeutic relationship? How can what therapists know regarding psychotherapy be combined to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts? Barbara Jo Brothers aids therapists in answering these and other questions about the basic ingredients, the common denominators, and the universal threads of work with couples from exploring the theories and methods of successful therapists.As there are many ways of looking at couples therapy, this volume encourages therapists to work cooperatively, not competitively, in developing clients'possibilities. Couples Therapy, Multiple Perspectives is intended to assist therapists working with couples achieve a broader view of their work and a richer range of choices in helping their clients. Every article, especially the two by master therapists Florence Kaslow and Maurizio Andolfi, moves readers toward a tapestry of therapeutic possibilities.Features of Couples Therapy, Multiple Perspectives include an in-depth look at the ingredients of a successful marriage, or, what makes marriages work for the long-term by Florence Kaslow; an article by Maurizio Andolfi, translated by Vincenzo DiNicola, which brings together an excellent integration of theories, including those of Bowen, Framo, and Whitaker. Andolfi describes a transgenerational approach to work with couples in crisis, with a case example of the value of doing family-of-origin work in the initial phase of therapy. In an interview segment with Virginia Satir (with Sheldon Starr, PhD, in 1985), she explores how all good therapy has essentially the same ingredients. Readers will find Satir's ideas timeless and thought provoking; indeed they may re-evaluate their own position and theories on therapy with couples.

Individuals with disabilities are often "desexualized" in our society, yet they have the same need for intimacy, self-worth, and social belonging as people without disabilities. Sexuality and Disabilities addresses persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and cognitive disabilities and their concerns in the areas of intimacy, family issues, sexuality, and sexual functioning. It offers suggestions for professionals who work with persons with these disabilities to help them work more competently with disabled persons in the sexuality arena. These concrete ideas are excellent for staff training and education and for enhancing professional development for those working with persons with physical disabilities.The contributing authors create an awareness that all people need individualized consideration and that the special needs of all individuals are important, especially for those who may have previously been left to discover things on their own--usually unsuccessfully. Sexuality and Disabilities focuses on a wide range of disabilities, including physical, developmental, and learning disabilities, mental retardation, and conditions that may have an impact on people later in life such as strokes, heart disease, or other chronic illness. Chapters discuss education and support issues for both practitioners and clients. Some of the topics examined include: components of a staff training program on sexuality and disability specific recommendations for sexuality education and counseling with people with spinal cord injuries and other acquired severe neurological disabilities a program model serving parents with mental retardation and their children specific ways educational programming, social work intervention, and policy efforts can address the special learning needs of people with cognitive impairments sources of support and stress for families caring for developmentally disabled children an analysis of special vulnerabilities and challenges relating to sexual victimization that confront people with disabilitiesAn extremely helpful tool for human service practitioners, Sexuality and Disabilities is also a valuable resource for graduate and undergraduate students who have an interest in working with people with physical, cognitive, or mental disabilities and helping them explore this basic facet of their lives.

Black families in America face special and grave problems. Widespread unemployment, single parent circumstances, adolescent pregnancies, substance abuse, and violence are only some of the problems posing challenges. The authors, convinced that the conventional perspective used in the past to analyze black families is deficient, propose a holistic approach. That perspective takes into account the totality of black family life rather than measuring isolated factors. Using black families as the central unit of analysis, the authors identify fundamental issues requiring concentrated attention and policy changes. Both factors external to the black family and consideration internal to it are studied. The former include economic factors---racism, demographics, and governmental policies. The latter involve such aspects as black family structure, changes in the community, and widespread changes in values at the individual level. The authors provide practical recommendations for improving the conditions of black families through policy changes and revised priorities.

This informative book clarifies the complex picture of how the experience of divorce in one generation may influence the next generation s approach to and preparedness for marriage. It identifies research and clinical issues regarding the effects of the parental divorce experience on young adults'patterns of dating, attachment, and mate selection. Divorce and the Next Generation focuses primarily on young adults and the patterns and attitudes regarding intimacy and attachment that they will carry into their own adult marriages.The book contains research studies which compare differing variables of developmental achievement, personal adjustment, and attitudes of children from divorced and nondivorced families. The implications of these findings for understanding the intergenerational effect from divorce in one generation to marriage in the next are crucial as they guide professionals in their work with young adults and divorcing families in clinical and educational settings. This enlightening volume provides a foundation and a stimulus for more research into these dynamics. Divorce and the Next Generation addresses topics such as: the effects of childhood family structure and perceptions of parental marital happiness on marital and parenting aspirations differences in intimate relationships between college students from divorced and intact families a literature review of short- and long-term effects of parental divorce on children the effects of conflict and family structure on attitudes toward marriage and divorce differences in marriage role expectations between college students of divorced and intact families effects of parental divorce on children in Erikson s identity stage indirect effects of parental divorce on self-concept via changes in family environment correlates of self-esteem among college-age offspring from divorced familiesDivorce and the Next Generation is full of useful information for beginning and advanced family therapists, marital counselors, family and psychological researchers, and other professionals interested in the effects divorce has on the families involved.

Many books deal with divorce and its aftermath -- some deal with the impact of divorce on children and families, others with the legal or sociological aspects of divorce, and a few focus on divorced mothers and fathers. Most of these books are characterized by their practical orientation toward the issues and problems posed by divorce. None of these, however, have attempted to offer an integrated view of the massive amount of theoretical and research literature on divorced adults and their children. In addition, none present a comprehensive view of divorce as a psychological process within its larger social context.
Filling that void, this book:
* offers a comprehensive view of divorce as a social, interpersonal and psychological phenomenon,
* reviews the theory and research on divorce focusing on the major protagonists of the divorce drama: the mother, the father and the children, and
* introduces a social-psychological theory of divorce process.

When A Return to Modestywas first published in 1999, it began an important and much-needed national conversation. Wendy Shalit persuasively argued that modesty is not some hang-up we should set out to cure, but rather a wonderful instinct that, if rediscovered and given the right social support, has the power to transform society. Now, in this newly revised edition, Shalit backs up her claim with the latest trends and research to prove that the issue is just as pressing today as ever. Unfortunately, many problems Shalit originally explored, such as date rape, harassment, and most alarmingly, the sexualisation of young girls, have only become more prevalent. Where once a young woman was ashamed of her sexual experience, today she is ashamed of her sexual inexperience. And as we continue to push the limits of what is accepted behaviour, the pressure to overcome embarrassment and discard all sense of modesty is greater than ever. A Return to Modestyis a deeply personal account as well as a fascinating intellectual exploration into everything from seventeenth-century manners to the 1948 tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Beholden neither to social conservatives nor to feminists, Shalit reminds us that modesty is not prudery, but a natural instinct-and one that may be able to save us from ourselves.

Recent decades have seen a growing emphasis, in a number of professional contexts, on acknowledging and acting on the views of children. This trend was given added weight by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified in 1990. Today, seeking the perspective of the child has become an essential process in all sorts of tasks, from framing new legislation to regulating professions.

This book answers the fundamental question of what it is that constitutes a 'child perspective', and how this might differ from the perspectives of children themselves. The answers to such questions have important implications for building progressive and developmental adult-child relationships. However, theoretical and empirical treatments of child perspectives and children's perspectives are very diverse and idiosyncratic, and the standard reference work has yet to be written.

Thus, this work is an attempt to fill the gap in the literature by searching for and defining key formulations of potential child perspectives within parts of the so-called 'new child paradigm'. This has been derived from childhood sociology, contextual-relational developmental psychology, interpretative humanistic psychology and developmental pedagogy. The highly experienced authors develop a comprehensive professional child perspective paradigm that integrates recent theory and empirical child research. With its clear presentation of underlying theories and suggested applications, this book illustrates a child-oriented understanding of specific relevance to both child-care and preschool educational practice.

Considerable social changes are underway as more women, particularly mothers, enter and remain in paid employment. The authors explore these changes (which include an increase in dual-earner families, declining fertility, and growing problems of work-life 'balance'), both comparatively and specifically in a number of European countries (Britain, France, The Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Portugal). Original survey data, and qualitative evidence, is deployed in a series of cutting-edge chapters written by national and international experts.

At the end of the twentieth century, many people believe that U.S. public schools are in decline. In Holy Sparks, Philip Wexler likens our schools to the broken vessels of the Old Testament, but sees in their broken shards the holy sparks of divine inspiration. Drawing broadly on cultural criticism, social theory and religious tradition, Wexler discerns a spiritual reawakening that pervades all of late-twentieth-century culture. He insists that only by paying attention to the holy sparks that still exist in our children and in our schools will we ever be able to revive our educational system, and by extension, our future. Holy Sparks is a masterly cultural analysis that transcends the boundaries of the book to become a prayer for the next generation.

Research on the topic of parent beliefs, or parent cognition, has increased tremendously since the original publication of this volume in 1985. For this revised second edition, the editors sought to reflect some of the new directions that research on parent cognition has taken. By offering a greater variety of topics, it gives evidence of the intellectual concerns that now engage researchers in the field and testifies to the expanding scope of their interests. Although a unique collection because it reflects the diversity that exists among major researchers in the field, it evinces a common theme -- that the ideas parents have regarding their children and themselves as parents have an impact on their actions. This emphasis on parents' ideas shifts the focus on sources of family influence to ideas or beliefs as determinants of family interactions. The implication of this way of thinking for practitioners is that it suggests the shift to ideas and thoughts from behavior and attitudes.

This current study has emerged from two decades of the author's investigations in related areas: alcoholism and domestic relations. Its canvas is broadly comparative, drawing on interviews and data gathered in the United States and Finland. The domestic drama of "The Other Half "is played out both in the private scene of the home and the more public scene of the workplace, and against these two differing national backgrounds. Despite the many expected and perceived cultural differences between the countries, the effects of alcoholism on the family are shown to be the same.

Dr. Wiseman's study offers theoretical insights gleaned from its perspective on alcoholism as an interactive phenomenon, to which the concepts of G.H. Mead and Blumer can be applied to illuminate the carefully presented data and go beyond them. New terrain in studies of alcoholism is thereby explored, including such themes as the social construction by the subjects of their husbands' drinking, their marriage and their self-images; the strategy of coping mechanisms; and the effects of the crisis of alcoholism on gender, sex roles, and power differentials.

"The Other Half "complements Dr. Wiseman's prize-winning work on the treatment of Skid Row alcoholics, "Stations of the Lost, "while involving issues of greater complexity on both the methodological and theoretical plane.

The past decade has witnessed an explosion of interest and research on close relationships and social cognition. In both areas, numerous handbooks, textbooks, and journal articles have been published. However, it is the editors' impression that although cognitive theories and concepts have filtered through to research dealing with close relationships, much of this research reflects a relatively untutored understanding of the theoretical and empirical work in social cognition. Conversely, the research literature that provides a more sophisticated perspective on the role of cognition in close relationships typically reveals a relatively limited knowledge of the literature on close relationships. As researchers who have worked in both social cognitive processes and close relationships, Fletcher and Fincham are convinced that each field has much to offer the other. In fact, their book is based on two important postulates: first, that a social cognitive framework offers a valuable resource for developing our understanding of close relationships; and, second, that studying cognition within close relationships has the potential to inform our understanding of basic social cognitive processes.

Roman families were infinitely diverse, but the basis of Roman civil law was the familia, a strictly-defined group consisting of a head, paterfamilias, and his descendants in the male line. Recent work on the Roman family mainly ignores the familia, in favour of examining such matters as emotional relationships within families, the practical effects of control by a paterfamilias, and demographic factors producing families which did not fit the familia-pattern. This book investigates the interrelationship between family and familia, especially how families exploited the legal rules for their own ends, and disrupted the familia, by use of emancipation (release from patria potestas) and adoption. It also traces legal responses to the effects of demographic factors, which gave increased importance to maternal connections, and to social, such as the difficulties for ex-slaves in conforming to the familia-pattern. The familia as a legal institution remained virtually unchanged; nevertheless Roman family law underwent substantial changes, to meet the needs and desires of Roman society.

This is one of the first volumes to examine the interface between research undertaken in sexuality and that in close relationships from a social psychological perspective. Experts from several different disciplines offer chapters that contain theory, extant literature, and their own original research on such topics as jealousy, extradyadic sexuality, communication, love, and sexual coercion. Aimed at a fairly wide audience, this book will be of interest to students, faculty, and other professionals in social psychology, sociology, communication, and family and women's studies. It is also a valuable source of information for teachers, researchers, and clinicians working in the areas of human sexuality and/or close relationships.

This book, based on economics and game theory, analyzes the changes that Japan is now facing as a reflection of changes in Japanese families and society. The author presents a simple framework for the structural relationship among markets, communities including families, and the state; and uses it to explain the changes that have occurred in Japanese society. Social changes have created a series of social problems such as population ageing, poverty, and regional disparities, which require changes in public policies. The book provides readers with rich information about the Japanese social security system, social policies and regional policies by explaining why they are developed, how they are designed, and what challenges they face. Readers will find that the transformation of Japanese society is not really a special case but a fairly common one that many developed countries have experienced and many developing countries are going to experience. The book will be useful not only to those who are interested in Japanese society and public policies but also to anyone who is interested in the transformations of families, communities, and roles of the state in a modern market economy.

Intimate partner violence is a complex, ugly, fear-inducing reality for large numbers of women around the world. When violence exists in a relationship, safety is compromised, shame abounds, and peace evaporates. Violence is learned behavior and it flourishes most when it is ignored, minimized, or misunderstood. When it strikes the homes of deeply religious women, they are: more vulnerable; more likely to believe that their abusive partners can, and will, change; less likely to leave a violent home, temporarily or forever; often reluctant to seek outside sources of assistance; and frequently disappointed by the response of the religious leader to their call for help. These women often believe they are called by God to endure the suffering, to forgive (and to keep on forgiving) their abuser, and to fulfill their marital vows until death do us part. Concurrently, many batterers employ explicitly religious language to justify the violence towards their partners, and sometime they manipulate spiritual leaders who try to offer them help. Religion and Intimate Partner Violence seeks to navigate the relatively unchartered waters of intimate partner violence in families of deep faith. The program of research on which it is based spans over twenty-five years, and includes a wide variety of specific studies involving religious leaders, congregations, battered women, men in batterer intervention programs, and the army of workers who assist families impacted by abuse, including criminal justice workers, therapeutic staff, advocacy workers, and religious leaders. The authors provide a rich and colorful portrayal of the intersection of intimate partner violence and religious beliefs and practices that inform and interweave throughout daily life. Such a focus on lived religion enables readers to isolate, examine, and evaluate ways in which religion both augments and thwarts the journey towards justice, accountability, healing and wholeness for women and men caught in the web of intimate partner violence.

This volume is concerned with elucidating similarities and differences in enculturation processes that help to account for the ways in which individuals in different cultures develop. Each chapter reviews a substantive parenting topic, describes the relevant cultures (in psychological ethnography, rather than from an anthropological stance), reports on the parenting-in-culture results, and discusses the significance of cross-cultural investigation for understanding the parenting issue of interest. Specific areas of study include environment and interactive style, responsiveness, activity patterns, distributions of social involvement with children, structural patterns of interaction, and development of the social self. Through exposure to a wide range of diverse research methods, readers will gain a deeper appreciation of the problems, procedures, possibilities, and profits associated with a truly comparative approach to understanding human growth and development.

This life-course analysis of family development focuses on the social dynamics among family members. It features parent-child relationships in a larger context, by examining the help exchange between kin and nonkin and the intergenerational transmission of family characteristics.

This book examines the American system of dating, mate choice, and marriage. It analyzes a wide range of established ideas about how dating and mate choice are changing, and identifies changes and continuities in premarital experiences in twentieth century America. A variety of ideas about what sorts of dating and premarital experiences will make for a successful marriage are tested and for the most part disproven, raising serious doubts about our fundamental assumption that dating experience helps individuals make a "wise" choice for a future mate. Marital success turns out to depend not so much on premarital experiences or on the social background characteristics of couples (such as race, religion, and social class) as on the way in which couples structure their day-to-day marital life together. Through its detailed examination of a wide range of ideas and predictions about dating, mating, and marriage, and through its dramatic findings, "Dating, Mating, and Marriage" challenges many previous assumptions and conclusions about the fate of American marriage and elevates our knowledge of the American system of mate choice to a higher level. "Martin King Whyte" is Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. His primary research interests are the sociology of the family and social change in the People's Republic of China and the former Soviet Union. He is the author or editor of several books, and author of several journal articles. He is also a member of several professional Associations including the American Sociological Association, National Committee for U.S. China Relations, and Population Association of America

This book examines the American system of dating, mate choice, and marriage. It analyzes a wide range of established ideas about how dating and mate choice are changing, and identifies changes and continuities in premarital experiences in twentieth century America. A variety of ideas about what sorts of dating and premarital experiences will make for a successful marriage are tested and for the most part disproven, raising serious doubts about our fundamental assumption that dating experience helps individuals make a "wise" choice for a future mate. Marital success turns out to depend not so much on premarital experiences or on the social background characteristics of couples (such as race, religion, and social class) as on the way in which couples structure their day-to-day marital life together. Through its detailed examination of a wide range of ideas and predictions about dating, mating, and marriage, and through its dramatic findings, "Dating, Mating, and Marriage" challenges many previous assumptions and conclusions about the fate of American marriage and elevates our knowledge of the American system of mate choice to a higher level. "Martin King Whyte" is Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. His primary research interests are the sociology of the family and social change in the People's Republic of China and the former Soviet Union. He is the author or editor of several books, and author of several journal articles. He is also a member of several professional Associations including the American Sociological Association, National Committee for U.S. China Relations, and Population Association of America

This book presents, for the first time, a full range of perspectives on emotions and the family from the radical behaviorist to the intrapsychic. B.F. Skinner begins the volume by examining the role of feelings in applied behavior analysis, thus laying the groundwork for the reactions of many distinguished contributors. Offering both opposing and favorable comments, contributors also present their own original empirical, theoretical, and clinical perspectives. Finally, the editor integrates the contributors' positions into an expanded behavioral perspective on the study of emotions and suggest a model for effective family communication.

The condition and characteristics of the black family have been subjects of intense debate since at least the 1960s, when the Moynihan Report and the culture of poverty theses held sway. Since then a consistent theme has been that black families are pathological. Despite the fact that research has been inconclusive and contradictory, political debate and policy have been strongly influenced by the pathology theme. This volume presents alternative approaches toward understanding the special characteristics of black families. Extending a special issue of "The Review of Black Political Economy, "the book focuses on the economic circumstances and decision making of these families, employing Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives. It examines the general responses of black families to various external factors such as economic systems, and to Internal factors such as interpersonal relationships. This compendium of current thinking and research will be of interest to professionals in a number of fields, Including family studies, counseling, social work, psychology, and sociology. It will be of practical use in training programs for service delivery systems Interested In Incorporating multicultural perspectives, as well as those specifically interested in black families today.