Digital Commons Network^™

Handling Conflict In Marriage, Trampas J. Rowden, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Disagreements and arguments crop up in even the best marriages. It's how conflict is handled that is an important key to marital success or failure.

Current research confirms that poorly handled conflict between married couples can negatively influence mental, physical, and family health. Feelings of anger, bitterness, and unhappiness (sometimes leading to separation and divorce) often result.

But couples need not settle for these experiences. Partners can realize, as stated in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, that "marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God" (¶ 1) and that successful and happy marriages "are established …

Baby Makes Three, Amberlie Lane, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Expecting the first baby is an exciting time for most couples. Most couples understand that having a baby will call for certain sacrifices, but many don’t fully comprehend the challenges their marriage will face once two become three. The Family: A Proclamation to the World states that “husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to care for each other and for their children” (¶ 6). While babies do bring joy and rejoicing, they can be demanding and stressful. In these circumstances, attending to the baby’s needs may take precedence over caring for one’s spouse.

Immunized Against Infidelity: "Affair-Proofing" Your Marriage, Megan Northrup, Robert F. Stahmann, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

The Family: A Proclamation to the World emphasizes the sacredness of marriage and declares that men and women should "honor marital vows with complete fidelity" (¶ 7). The importance of fidelity and God's disapproval of adultery have been emphasized throughout the Judeo-Christian scriptural tradition.

Coping With The Chronic Illness Of A Spouse, Shelece Mcallister, Susanne Olsen Roper, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Sometimes couples are faced with problems they do not anticipate. One such issue is that of chronic illness. A chronic illness is a medical condition that lasts for a long time, sometimes for the rest of someone's life. Chronic illnesses include conditions like diabetes, arthritis, and cancer, among many others. Chronic illnesses may appear quickly or gradually, and they are often unexpected. As a couple, be informed about the illness you are facing. Seek out information from your doctor and from reputable medical websites. Organizations may exist to help those with your spouse's chronic illness. Learning about the condition will …

Everyday Marriage, Rachel Loser, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Everyday marriage is what most marriages are used to. As couples learn to love everyday marriage, they will find their marriage satisfying, renewing, and nourishing.

Helpful Resources For Pornography Addictions And Other Problematic Sexual Behaviors, Jill Christine Manning

Forever Families

This workbook is acompanion to In the Shadows of the Net: Breaking Free of Compulsive Online Sexual Behavior (2001). The book is well-laid out and has a professional tone throughout. The approach is holistic in that it takes into consideration one's stage of change, level of self-awareness, relapse prevention, triggers, psychological defenses, relationship patterns and lifestyle factors. The workbook also goes into quite a bit of detail as to why sexual behavior online is problematic.

The United States And Canadian System Of Healthcare: A Comparative Study, Mopelola O. Mopelola

University Honors Program

There is a lot to be said about the world of healthcare. The significance of the role our health plays in our lives cannot be overemphasized. The idea of this paper is to explore two of the largest and functional healthcare systems in the world. The purpose of this is because of some key differences between the systems of healthcare that are very important as they relate to the accessibility and availability of healthcare and also the quality of care that is received. The two countries being compared in this paper are the United States and Canada. These countries utilize …

Cole Wanted To Be Part Of First Year Of Law, Justice & Culture Masters Program, Ohio University College Of Arts & Sciences

All Forum Articles

No abstract provided.

Benefits Of Couple Prayer, Andrew S. Brimhall, Mark Butler

Forever Families

Prayer can be defined as a two-way personal communication between an individual or couple and God. It is a vibrant, vital link with a Supreme Being that gives meaning to a person's life. Prayer allows individuals, couples, and families to come closer to God through healing. Prayer can be meditative (silent), colloquial (asking for abstract things like guidance or forgiveness), petitionary (asking for materialistic things), or ritual (memorized or read from a book). While it can be all of these things, it can also enrich the quality of marriage and family life. In fact, The Family: A Proclamation to the …

Staying Connected With Each Other, Megan Northrup, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Each of the below mini-scenarios represents a couple connecting in some small way:

• When Russ walks in the door, Carol looks up from her newspaper and says, "How was your day?"
• When Christine and Steven are walking down the grocery aisle he asks, "Aren't we almost out of milk?"
• When Jay peers over Liz's shoulder to see what she's doing, she turns and gives him a quick kiss on the chin.

Nurturing Friendship In Marriage, Megan Northrup, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Good marriages seem rare these days, but a leading marriage expert says it's not complicated—or even necessarily difficult—to make a marriage last. Friendship, says John Gottman1, is at the core of a strong marriage.

Solving Your "Solvable Problems", Megan Northrup, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

According to researcher John Gottman1, marital conflicts fall into just two categories: solvable and perpetual. Perpetual conflicts show up over and over again. They probably will never disappear from your relationship because they come from fundamental differences in personality: She wants to have a baby but he doesn't want children; he hates clutter but she is a pack-rat; she wants a religious home but he is an atheist.

Slacktivism: Social Media Activism And Its Effectiveness, Abby M. Foreman

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Engagement is costly in terms of time and often money."

Posting about the pros and cons of slacktivism from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/slacktivism-social-media-activism-and-its-effectiveness/

Chuck Coleman, Oral History Interview, November 13, 2018, Rachel Burns, Matt Jones

Oral Histories

Chuck Coleman is a former Eastern Michigan University student activist. Before exiting the university in 1978, Coleman was a member of the Black Student Association, Campus Service Corps, and a student representative of the Office of Minority Affairs. Coleman played an important role for bettering conditions for students of color on campus.

The Art Of Research: A Divergent/Convergent Framework And Opportunities For Science-Based Approaches, Glory E. Aviña, Christian D. Schunn, Austin R. Silva, Travis L. Bauer, George W. Crabtree, Curtis M. Johnson, Toluwalogo Odumosu, S. Thomas Picraux, R. Keith Sawyer, Richard P. Schneider, Rickson Sun, Gregory J. Feist, Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Jeffrey Y. Tsao

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Applying science to the current art of producing engineering and research knowledge has proven difficult, in large part because of its seeming complexity. We posit that the microscopic processes underlying research are not so complex, but instead are iterative and interacting cycles of divergent (generation of ideas) and convergent (testing and selecting of ideas) thinking processes. This reductionist framework coherently organizes a wide range of previously disparate microscopic mechanisms which inhibit these processes. We give examples of such inhibitory mechanisms and discuss how deeper scientific understanding of these mechanisms might lead to dis-inhibitory interventions for individuals, networks and institutional levels.

The Social Side Of "Borderline:" Edgework In The Narrative Accounts Of Self-Injurers, Victoria Lynn Gaines

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Eleven in-depth life history interviews with respondents who identified as former self-injurers and a thematic analysis of the existing qualitative literature on self-injury constitute the data for this research. Self-injury, a growing public health concern, has typically been framed by researchers as an individual level, psychological, phenomenon with largely negative connotations. Edgework, a theoretical orientation which has been used to explain voluntary risk-taking such as skydiving and mountain climbing, has been applied to the activity of self-injury. The interviews and qualitative research on self-injury were coded for the presence of edgework as a vocabulary of motive. Framed as edgework, this …

Childhood Obesity And Academic Outcomes In Young Adulthood, Igor Ryabov

Sociology Faculty Publications

The present study used nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (a.k.a., Add Health) to examine the impact of childhood obesity on young adult educational attainment. In addition to weight status, independent variables included race–ethnicity, immigrant generational status, family socio-economic status (SES), preference for overweight and obese friends in school, school socio-economic and race–ethnic composition, and other important predictors. Educational attainment was measured as a categorical variable with the categories reflecting key educational benchmarks: (1) being a high school graduate; (2) having some college education; and (3) having completed a bachelor’s or higher degree. The results …

The Anti-Fracking Movement And The Politics Of Rural Marginalization In Lithuania: Intersectionality In Environmental Justice, Diana Mincyte, Aiste Bartkiene

Publications and Research

While the environmental justice perspective focuses on the unequal distribution of environmental risks and benefits across different groups based on race, class, or gender, intersectionality approaches avoid the use of a priori categories to examine marginalization. We argue that intersectionality can broaden the scope of environmental justice studies by examining interactive, historically grounded processes through which categories of difference are produced. To support this argument, we present an illustrative case of the movement in Lithuania that challenged Chevron’s plans to prospect shale resources for potential fracking. We conduct a narrative analysis of public discourses surrounding the formation of the movement …

For Every Mountain: A Phenomenological Study Examining The Experiences Of First-Generation, Low Socioeconomic Status, Black Males Excelling At Select Predominately White Institutions In Louisiana, Jovan Thomas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study is an attempt to examine the academic experiences among low SES, first-generation Black males who are excelling at select PWI’s in Louisiana. The images created of Black men in our society often confine them to environments shaped by drugs, crime, athletics, and academic failure. The path to upward mobility or economic success for African American men is often filled with obstacles and roadblocks. For a period of decades, there has been much research dedicated to African American male academic success and first-generation college students, whereas, the focus on low SES, first-generation Black males who excel at Predominantly White …

Exploring Agentic Treatments For Anxiety And Depression, Tyler H. White

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Agency and mental illness are hypothesized to be related. Agency may contribute to mental illness (specifically, anxiety and depression) by impacting the amount of choices in one’s life (LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011; Schwartz, 2004). Effective treatment for the mentally ill targets causes of mental disorders, so if agency is related to mental illnesses, then it logically should be incorporated in treatment. Agentic treatment, which consists of any form of treatment that explicitly acknowledges the importance and the reality of agency, has been shown to be effective (Myers, 2016; Patterson et al., 2016; Slife, 2004). Effective agentic treatment includes autonomy groups …

Cultural Influences On Regulating Emotion, Gyuyi Kang

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Emotional regulation is an important aspect of our social lives that can build or weaken relationships. Regulating emotion is influenced by many factors and culture is one of many important factors that has a striking influence on how people regulate their emotion. The world can be divided into two major cultures: independent and interdependent culture. Most Western countries show characteristics of independent culture while most Eastern countries show the characteristics of interdependent culture. Depending on what culture we are from, we will exhibit differences in emotion regulation on, behavior, and emotional coping strategies. Thus, understanding cultural differences is especially crucial …

Principles And Principals: Leveraging K-12 Principal Training And Evaluation Standards To Support Environmental, Ecological, And Sustainability Education, Rodolfo Rincones-Delgado, Anthony D. Feig

School Leadership Review

Ecoliteracy is the pedagogical grouping of environmental science, ecology and sustainability studies. This paper is a policy analysis of how principal training and evaluation standards may support a principal’s building-level efforts to establish and sustain an ecoliteracy mission and curriculum in US public K-12 schools. A comparative case study of leadership standards in Texas and Michigan was conducted to support the argument that school administrator training and evaluation standards in both states can lend formal, codified support to a sufficiently determined school leader’s efforts to center the school’s mission on ecoliteracy. The limitations of this support are also discussed.

Racial Bias In Offender Identification, Nasya Hammond-Watson, Verneda P. Hamm Baugh

Modern Psychological Studies

This study was examined whether there is a bias to attribute criminal activities more to one race than another. Participants read scenarios of different crimes (bank robbery, fraud, and murder) and rated the likelihood that the perpetrator of each crime was Black, White, or Hispanic. As anticipated, the perpetrators were overwhelmingly identified as male. Results also found a strong interaction between race of perpetrator and type of crime. Blacks were more likely identified as the perpetrator of the violent crimes of murder and bank robbery and Whites were more likely identified as the perpetrator of the non-violent crime, fraud. These …

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (November 12, 2018), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Why Is Mom So Blue? Postpartum Depression In A Family Context, Amy Scoville, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Elizabeth just couldn't understand herself. She had waited for this her whole life. When she was little, she had a whole nursery set up for her "baby" (a doll she had been given by her grandmother), and she would spend hours taking care of her. She loved to change her clothes, give her a bath, rock her to sleep, and do every other thing mommies do with their babies. She would dream of the day she could do those things with her own, real-life baby. So now that she could, why was it so hard? Why wasn't she finding any …

Adoption: Special Needs, Tanya Bailey, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Unfortunately, being certain that adoption is right for you and being as prepared and qualified as possible will not ensure that you get a baby to adopt. Adopting an infant today isn't as easy as it used to be. In the first half of the 1900's there were more babies needing to be adopted than there were families to take them (p. 987).7 That changed in the 1970's. Abortion was legalized, birth control became more available, and single parenting became more socially acceptable. Fewer and fewer healthy babies were available for adoption. At the same time more people began having …

Adoption: Building A Solid Foundation, Tanya Bailey, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Adoption touches most of our lives in some way. If you are not directly involved with adoption, most likely you know a neighbor, friend, or family member who is.

Sacrifice: An Unexpected Answer To Family Challenges, Jenny Stewart, Justin Dyer, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Michael Ruse and Julie Dodger had been engaged for six months, but the closer they got to the wedding, the more concerned they were about the marriage. Julie was willing to move to a new location, and Michael was willing to attend all of her family gatherings. When they did the math, it should have worked out. But according to Julie, Michael didn’t earn enough, didn’t listen well enough, and didn’t compromise. And according to Michael, Julie was intolerant, disorganized, and high maintenance. They worried that their differences were irreconcilable.

Recognizing And Dealing With Childhood Depression, Amy Soto, Jared Warren, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

It is normal for children to experience moments of sadness and discouragement. However, sometimes children will experience prolonged feelings of sadness, anxiety, and hopelessness which may interrupt normal interest in ordinary, everyday activities such as going to school, playing, sleeping, and eating. Research shows that about 5% of children and 10% to 20% of adolescents experience significant depression.15

Moving Ahead After Divorce As An Adult, Sarah Taylor, Stephen F. Duncan

Forever Families

Divorce can affect every aspect of a person's life, which can make the period of adjustment that follows very painful and overwhelming. This article discusses how individuals can take a positive approach to adjustment and provides practical ideas on how to heal from the pain and move on after divorce.