Counseling Commons^™

Community Correlates Of Rural Youth Violence, D. Wayne Osgood, Jeff M. Chambers

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Rates of crime and delinquency vary widely across communities, and research going back many decades provides a good understanding of the nature, correlates, and probable causes of these community differences. Unfortunately, previous studies have been limited in an important way. Virtually all studies of communities and crime are based on large urban areas, almost totally excluding nonmetropolitan areas—that is, rural areas and smaller cities and towns. The findings in this Bulletin help to fill some gaps in the research by examining variations in rates of juvenile violence across nonmetropolitan communities in Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, and South Carolina.

Social disorganization is …

Understanding Grief And Loss With Children From Divorced Families, Angela C. Meyer

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to present information about how grief and loss affect children from divorced families. Divorce can be just as traumatic as the death of a loved one, and the divorce rate continually increases every year. Two models of grief and how they apply to children of divorce are presented, as well as an explanation the process of grief in relation to divorce. Finally, this researcher identifies prevention and intervention techniques that schools and the whole community can use to aid children through the grief process of divorce.

Effects Of Maternal Depression On Youth Adjustment, Jennifer Alexander

Graduate Research Papers

Depressive disorders are chronic illnesses affecting women and their families for extended periods of time. This paper summarizes research related to the effects of maternal depression on children's short and long term adjustment. Children of depressed mothers are at risk for internalizing and externalizing disorders. Genetics account for a small portion of these problems. Since depressed mothers tend to withdraw or show intrusive, hostile behaviors with their children, parent-child interaction problems account for the majority of youth adjustment problems, particularly when mothers' depression is severe, occurs during infancy, is chronic, and is paired with high family conflict or separation. Individual …

Effects Of Divorce On Adolescents : Interventions, Abigail C. Buchan

Graduate Research Papers

The family environment is a major contributor to the development and well-being of children and adolescents. The traditional definition for family is ever changing, and diversity in families is becoming more acknowledged and accepted. It is well known that currently more than half of all marriages end in divorce. It is necessary to understand the significant challenges and issues that young people of divorced families are faced with in order to facilitate positive change and resiliency in the counseling process. The author provides a historical overview of the divorce epidemic, the effects of divorce on youth, as well as implications …

Are College Students Prepared For Conflict? : A Review On Conflict Resolution Among College Students, Marc J. Dalmasso

Graduate Research Papers

The following is a review of the research on the topic of conflict resolution in college age students. All of the research involved used college students as their participants. The purpose of this review was to find out if college students constructively resolve conflicts in their individual and professional lives. The research reveals that there are various factors that play a key role in how this age group comes to their resolution strategies. Nevertheless, students appear to use some nonconstructive techniques. However, constructive methods to be aware of are discovered as well as skills that may offer insight further into …

Harm Reduction And Injection Drug Use: Pragmatic Lessons From A Public Health Model, Robert Reid

Department of Family Science and Human Development Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

How Does Childhood Incest Affect The Interpersonal Relationships Of Adult Females, Lyle Potter

Graduate Research Papers

Incest has been occurring in families for many years, often behind a cloak of secrecy and fear of disclosure. More recently, the taboo in talking about incest has diminished, and many survivors of incest have come forward with their experiences to seek needed help. A major portion of the research has dealt with trying to understand the family dynamics. But a growing number of studies are beginning to look at the long term effects of the abuse, and some of them focus on adult interpersonal relationships. It is in this direction that this literature review and study will focus.

Losing Faith : The Process Of Converting To Atheism, Jennifer J. Jacobi

Graduate Research Papers

The current study examines the process of converting to atheism and the counseling issues associated with it. It is argued that conversion to atheism can be conceptualized according to the model of religious conversion that Paloutzian, Richardson, and Rambo (1999) suggested. Research on atheism is reviewed in terms of how it fits into the stages of this model, and implications for counseling are discussed.

Facing The Death Of A Child : Effects On The Family System, Rita Kae Conger

Graduate Research Papers

The death of a child could very well be the most difficult crisis a family system can face. The uniqueness and severity of this type of crisis make it quite important for those in the counseling field to be aware of the many different aspects of a child's death which may be very significant to the child's family.

For this reason, the purpose of this paper is to describe a number of variables which affect the healing process. These variables include the cause of death, the age of the child at the time of death, family dynamics, and the relationship …

South Africa: Who Uses Youth Centers And Why?, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In 2000, the Reproductive Health Research Unit in KwaZulu Natal and the Population Council conducted an assessment of 12 youth centers and 7 affiliated peer education programs. The 12 centers, located in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas, offer very different services. The two centers of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health focus on providing reproductive health (RH) information and services to adolescents. The six centers of the Youth and Adolescent Reproductive Health Project provide a broader range of youth-friendly RH services, including counseling and life skills education, as well as modest recreational activities. The four centers run by loveLife have large …

Youth Violence : A Comprehensive Literature Review, Amy L. Licht

Graduate Research Papers

Over the last decade a great deal of literature has been focused on the subject of youth violence. For this paper, youth violence is defined as elementary and adolescent-aged boys and girls who commit violent acts. These include: the use of physical force to produce injury or death to others, gang fighting, hate crimes, sexual and/or physical assault, bringing and/or using weapons at school, and aggressive behavior used as a means to gain a certain outcome.

Many studies have been conducted focusing on several dynamics involved in this complicated issue. The focus of the present work was primarily to: review …

A Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Syringe Exchange Programs, Robert Reid

Department of Family Science and Human Development Scholarship and Creative Works

To date, a paucity of systematic economic evaluations have been applied to syringe exchange programs. In today's cost-conscious environment, with public health officials contending with restricted HIV prevention budgets, what amount of scarce resources should be allocated toward the operation of SEPs? To address this question, benefit-cost analyses emerge as useful strategies to inform decision-makers about which programs hold the most promise for preventing HIV infection among intravenous drug users. This review article balances the benefits of HIV prevention via syringe exchange against the costs of operating such programs.

Stepfamilies : Implications And Interventions For Children, Deanna S. Johnson

Graduate Research Papers

The American family has been in a state of transition for the past three decades. Marital dissolution has quadrupled in the past 20 years, with three in five marriages ending in divorce. Approximately 80% of divorced men and 75% of divorced women remarry, creating 5.3.million married-couple households in which at least one stepchild under 18 resides.

The author of this paper will address several factors and intervention strategies that have been identified as potential determinants of healthy adaptation in children in stepfamilies. Given the increasing prevalence of stepfamilies in this country, it is imperative that school counselors become knowledgeable in …

Conflict Resolution : A Counseling Skill, Carol Jean Friedmann

Graduate Research Papers

Conflict resolution is a counseling skill (Ivy, 1994; Haley, 1976; Pearce, 1996). Counselors are in a unique place to both promote conflict resolution skills and use counseling skills while practicing conflict resolution for longer lasting and therapeutic resolutions. Two environments in which counselors have been especially active regarding conflict resolution have been in the schools and in the family (Moore, 1996).

To take a closer look at conflict resolution, this paper will do the following: define conflict resolution; look at common attitudes and ways of handling conflict; examine the effects of destructive conflict resolution and the effects of teaching constructive …

The Developmental Implications Of Parental Loss During Adolescence, Dacni C. Jones

Graduate Research Papers

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature that relates to the death of a parent and how this experience influences an adolescent. This review will answer the question of how adolescent cognitive, emotional, and social development is affected when a parent dies. After a brief definition of the words "adolescence" and "loss," the focus of this paper will be on the areas of cognitive, emotional, and social development and the effects of grief on development after a parent dies. This information can help mental health professionals and school counselors understand the impact of living through the experience of …

Rationale For Using Group Therapy With Couples Affected By Domestic Violence, Joyce C. Fehr

Graduate Research Papers

This paper defines battering and batterers, highlights some of the treatment interventions already in place for batterers, and provides a rationale for using couples group therapy for those people who choose to remain in a relationship after there has been at least one incidence of domestic violence resulting in the arrest of one of the partners. The paper describes what this type of group format might look like, and takes a look at the criticisms of couples group therapy and the cautions associated with such a group. Finally, this paper summarizes the future direction of domestic violence treatment.

Children Of Divorce : Implication To Teaching, Gloria Mao

Graduate Research Papers

The primary focus of this paper is the causes of divorce and their effects on elementary-age children. The adjustment problems of children of divorce in classrooms are examined. The importance of teachers' roles in easing the transition to school for children of divorce is emphasized. Teachers are assumed to be in a better position to observe the changes of children of divorce and to help them to adjust to their parents' divorce. By being sensitive and supportive, teachers can make a difference in their students' lives. A 7-hour workshop designed to enhance teachers' understanding about children of divorce is described.

Strengthening The Family In Jacksonville, Study Committee On Youth And The Family

Jacksonville Community Council, Inc.

Goals of the Study: discover how families have changed and are changing. To find out what "strengthening the family" actually means. To examine major community forces (schools, work, mass media, child care, recreation, Florida laws and religion) and their impact, both positive and negative, on families. To develop ideas for strengthening families in Jacksonville. PALMM

The Effect Of The Helping Experience Upon The Self-Concept Of The Helper, Hal J. Kelly

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Important among the reasons which many counselors have given for being counselors has been that the profession enables them to develop themselves (Carkhuff and Berenson, 1967). The idealized outcome of this development has been variously termed inner congruity, integration, self-actualization or simply the realization of a basic potentiality. Regardless of theoretical persuasions, counselors, in moments or candid self-revelation, have admitted that for them the act of engaging in counseling relationships hes contributed to personal growth more rewarding than monetary gain and self-satisfaction. This amounts to an untested truism which could be considered fundamental to the philosophical set of many who …