Sociology Commons^™

Age, Emotional Maturity And The Decision To Marry, Patricia Ann Duclos, David F. Thomas, Joanne Zusman

Dissertations and Theses

The decision to marry and choice of mate are two issues contemplated by most individuals during their lifetime. It is our belief that the manner in which an individual makes these decisions is a reflection of that individual’s level of emotional maturity.

In our society, the right to enter into a marriage agreement is largely determined by chronological age. Our research problem began with the hypothesis that there is no direct relationship between chronological age and emotional maturity at the time of marriage.

For our study, marriages were divided into two general categories: 1) teenage marriages in which at least …

Predictors Of Placement From A Juvenile Detention Facility, Diane C. Brock

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this project was to determine whether certain personal, socioeconomic, and court-related factors are significantly related to the differential placement of delinquent and dependent children from the detention facility at the Donald E. Long Home. A stratified random sample was composed of 173 placements of children who were held in detention after a preliminary hearing.

The review of literature revealed that little systematic. Information is known regarding the placement process as it is related to differential placement of children from a detention facility.

A code sheet was developed for recording the information in the children's records maintained by …

Continuance Vs. Discontinuance In Family Counseling, Katherine Anderson, Alice Dudley, Mayetta Rocks

Dissertations and Theses

The study was designed to examine the social workers' and clients' perceptions of change in the treatment process; specifically to examine the question of why clients discontinue service prior to planful termination. Also, the authors attempted to assess the client's perception of gain and the worker's assessment of gain.

Life Styles Of Methadone Treatment Patients: Agreement Of Self Report And Informant Report, Richard Cox, Gary West

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to reveal the typical life style of a representative sample of fifty male opiate addicts participating in the Oregon Methadone Treatment Program. An important goal of the research was to assess the reliability of information gathered from patients compared to data obtained from an equal number of informants. A highly structured questionnaire was designed to elicit specific responses in order to calculate the degree of concordance between patients and informants to identical items. The findings depicted the modal life style of the subjects as more socially conventional, more responsible, and less antisocial. Although …

Post-Divorce Visitation Of Minor Children; Development Of A Questionnaire, Viola Cotter, Lorraine Goldenberg, Terry Mcgill

Dissertations and Theses

The present descriptive study was broadly concerned about divorces which have an impact on minor children. It was intended to build on the previous research of Griffith, Hack, Murphy, Wieman, Williams, Van Lydegraf & Glaudin (1970) in describing the relationships between parents and children after divorce. It was the objective of the present research team to come closer to the goal of selecting a representative sample of divorced parents than was possible previously. Moreover, an attempt was made to develop a highly structured questionnaire and interview schedule growing out of the earlier experience with semi-structured interviews. Data to be collected …

A Postulated Alternative To Current Oregon Marital Statute (Ors 106.71): A Frankly Revisionist Analysis Of The Concrete Situation, Ken Jones, Ray Kendall, Jan Nolley, Jill Weeden

Dissertations and Theses

According to the Oregon Marriage statute an applicant for a marriage license must present a physician's statement that he is free from certain mental and physical conditions. When the examining physician is not satisfied that the applicant is free from these conditions, the applicant is referred to the Committee of Three, a special standing committee appointed by the Board of Social Protection for determining whether or not a license to marry should be granted.

In the spring of 1970 such a situation was referred to the committee for its consideration. As a result of the committee's involvement with this applicant, …

A Study Of The Willingness Of Elderly People To Live With Each Other, Joanne Welander

Dissertations and Theses

This research project was focused on elderly people and their living arrangements in an attempt to discover whether elderly people would prefer to live alone or with other elderly persons. If it was found that the elderly people interviewed would like roommates, then this would provide information which would be helpful in assessing the need for and determining the feasibility of a roommate service for elderly people.

Willingness to roommate served as the dependent variable. This study tested the relationship between each of two psychological variables, loneliness and independence, and the dependent variable. Loneliness was defined as an elderly person's …

How Women Are Made: A Look At The Issues Of The Women's Liberation Movement, Lenore Jan Coffey

Dissertations and Theses

This project was originally conceived of as an exploration and written presentation of various dimensions of the contemporary social movement called the Women's Liberation Movement. The exploration was to be through personal experience in the movement and research in movement literature.

Action-Oriented Group Therapy For Lower-Socio-Economic-Status Clients, Joan C. Peters

Dissertations and Theses

An attempt is made to present a model of group therapy for Lower-Socio-Economic-Status (LSES) clients. The theoretical issues include a definition of traditional group therapy along with a brief description of the more recent sensitivity training approaches. A rationale for combining these two different group approaches is presented to form the model for action-oriented group therapy (ACT groups) which utilizes both the traditional approach and action techniques of the sensitivity group. It is proposed that this hybrid, the AOT group, is more appropriate for treating the LSES client. The needs and expectations of the LSES client are discussed. The goals …

The Lair Hill Park Neighborhood On Examination Of The Phenomenon Of Community Creation, Joseph S. Uris

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is a study of a community in physical isolation. The first chapter describes the methodology used. Short form questionnaires and in-depth interviews were gathered. Three sets of historical maps were drawn from documented sources. A film describing the life style and beliefs of some community residents was made. The second chapter is an evaluation of some of the literature on the neighborhood. This chapter details the hypothesis that external pressures and externally created needs tended in the case of the Lair Hill area to produce a Gemeinschaft-like situation which proves stronger than the many factors making for heterogeneity …

Madrona Movers: A Sociological Analysis Of A Work Group As A Process Of Harmony And Dissent, John Vance Cannucci

Dissertations and Theses

The research problem discussed in the thesis is generally concerned with the investigation of a group of men who work as furniture movers. The problem is focused on the dynamic interplay of status equality and status differentiation as contradictions that render harmony and dissension as common group denominators.

Three questions were asked. First, are there consistent ways of behaving while working as a furniture mover? Second, if consistent ways of behavior do exist, how are they related to the notions of status equality and status differentiation? Third, if this latter relationship should exist, can harmony and dissent be conceptualized as …

Verbal Accessibility And Authoritarian Family Ideology: A Study Of 50 Graduate Social Work Students And Their Spouses, Linda Louise Metz

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is the fourth in a series of empirical investigations concerned with symbolic interaction in marriage. Its basic assumption is that personal predispositions of marital partners as well as the social context of their marriage influences marital intimacy particularly the partner's readiness to communicate verbally with each other about important attitudes and feelings.

Fifty married graduate students attending Portland State University School of Social Work and their spouses comprised the sample. The subjects responded to three instruments: (1) a personality scale (Authoritarian Family Ideology – AFI) developed by Jane Loevinger, (2) a measure of verbal accessibility (VA), and (3) …

Verbal Accessibility Between Marital Partners As Studied In A Court Of Domestic Relations, Patricia Walker

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the concept of verbal accessibility in marriage. It is an example of the interactional approach to the study of marriage, which is concerned with the on-going socialization process in marriage. Verbal communication is one component of the socialization process and also of problem solving in marriage.

Interpersonal communication is influenced by many variables--personality, culture and social situation. Polansky (1965) conceptualized verbal accessibility as the degree of readiness to communicate verbally and to participate in communication about determinant attitudes. Determinant attitudes are those which have the most far reaching influence on other attitudes and on behavior.

One of …

Assessment Of Subjective Experiences Of Boys Entering The Community From A Correctional School, Thomas W. Dejardin

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore, classify, and evaluate the personal experiences of juvenile offenders following release from a state training school.

During a two month period beginning in the fall of 1967, a group of twenty-three releasees from the MacLaren School for Boys in Woodburn, Oregon were interviewed on a weekly basis in the Portland metropolitan area. The boys, ranging in age from thirteen to seventeen were contacted in their homes, schools, and other settings to learn of positive, negative, and critical experiences encountered in the community.

Open ended questions based upon a twenty- seven item schedule …

Social Exchange In Private Family Day Care Arrangements, Gerald Wesley Perry

Dissertations and Theses

A study of social exchange between working mothers and their sitters was based on a sample of terminated family day care arrangements in Portland, Oregon (1966-67). The sample, provided by the Multnomah County Public Welfare Commission and the Day Care Exchange Project of northwest Portland consisted of the arrangements of 27 mothers and 23 sitters.

Review of the literature on family day care revealed a paucity of research on the relationship between mothers and sitters in such arrangements. The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that continuity of a family day care arrangement is a function of …

A Scale Of Verbal Accessibility In Marriage, Barbara F. Kresse

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this project was to develop a tool to clarify one concept of verbal interaction in marriage. This concept, Verbal Accessibility, was developed by Norman Polansky and defined as the degree of readiness of the individual to communicate verbally and to participate in communication about his determinant attitudes. Verbal Accessibility is dependent on two variables: l) the enduring characteristics of the individual, and 2) the release of inhibiting factors in a given situation.

In order to facilitate the use of this concept in treatment, a scale was needed to measure Verbal Accessibility of both the person and of …

Medical-Social Needs In A Sample Population Of Elderly Post-Hospital Patients, Rose N. Cooper

Dissertations and Theses

The EPP Project was a descriptive and inferential study designed to determine the psychosocial and medical needs of elderly post-hospital dischargees.

The areas of need assessed were (1) living arrangements, (2) use of leisure time, (3) vocational adjustment, (4) financial functioning and (5) adjustment to illness.

The instrument adopted for the purpose of this study was an adaptation of a scheduled in the New York Study. The New York Study, described in The Elderly Ambulatory Patient: Nursing and Psychosocial Needs by Doris Schwartz, Barbara Henley and Leonard Zeitz was a long-range study of the needs of elderly clinic patients. The …

Franz Michael Felder: Bregenzerwalder Dorfgeschichten Und Schriften, Eine Erziehungsstudie, Richard Deal Stones

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is the first known study to analyze the writings of the Austrian, Franz Michael Felder, as an educative device, which the author himself utilized to enlighten and instruct his country folk in Bregenzerwald, Vorarlberg.

An attempt is made to uncover the basic message inherent in all of Felder's works: close family relationship, high moral standards and diligence are important to him; he fights petty prejudice, meaningless tradition and hypocrisy. The many native customs peculiar to the region are, of course, immanent in his literary production and, what is particularly significant, he stages a continuous battle against the social …