Suchergebnisse

This article explores some of the dynamics of a special andfast-growingform of small group phenomenon-the self-help group. Specifically, the article analyzes the role of self-help group membership as a majorfacilitator of activismforparents of children with cancer Few studies of self-help groups have compared members with nonmembers, let alone related membership to reported life change. Using datafrom 93 parents of children with cancer, this article assesses the relationships between parents' demographics, coping styles, self-help group membership status, and reports ofpositive changes in parents'activism-their active involvement in improving the medical system caring for their children. Findings indicate that although individual parents' active coping styles are linked to increased activism, self-help group membership clearly plays the most important role in explaining the variance in this aspect ofparents ' life change. In contrast to much of the existing literature, discussion and implications focus not only on the individual activism that may be related to self-help group membership but also on the potentialforsocial activism or collective effort that groups can enhance.

Following a brief sketch of the sociocultural context of the contemporary university & consideration of theories of white racial identity & attitudes, the development & expression of racial identity stages & racial attitude are explored, drawing on 1996-2000 individual & small-group interviews with white students at the U of Michigan to examine white student precollege & college racial encounters. Revealed are contradictions in many white students' views of racial relations & indicated is the impact of the changing US sociopolitical context of race on student racial views. This is evident in their views on affirmative action, wherein the negative influence of social & historical forces on the psychological development of white college students can be discerned. J. Zendejas

This article explores the orientations toward self-help and mutual support groups held by people facing family crises in the United States and Israel. People from four different kinds of self-help groups in the two nations— Parents of Children with Cancer and Parents of Murdered Children, from the United States, and Parents of Mentally Ill Children and Members of Families of New Immigrants, from Israel—report on the kinds of activities and programs that their self-help and mutual support groups undertake and on the benefits that they receive from participation. The results indi cate that these voluntary organizations can be helpful to people facing family crises. Further analysis distinguishes the differential impact on these reports of the types of family crises involved and the national cultures and social service systems of Israel and the United States.

The Cuban crisis & pol'al events are perceived & evaluated re a broader framework of pol'al, ideological, & personal constructs. is between 6 attitude scales showed a general trend for more conciliatory & libertarian S's to be more favorable to disarmament & intellectualism & less ethnocentric, less patriotic, less dogmatic, & less conservative than the more aggressive & restricting S's. Parents of S's with these divergent clusters of att's & values differed in their educ'al & occup'al characteristics. The higher the father's educ'al attainment, the more aggressive the S's reactions to Cuba & the more likely he was to agree to curtail dissent. S's whose fathers had managerial status scored higher on the conservatism & dogmatism scales than S's whose fathers did not have such status. S's who come from fam's in which the mother did not work scored higher on the conservatism scale than S's whose mothers worked full or part time. The interrelationships of these fam characteristics & personal attitude clusters influenced, at least in part, the way these S's perceived & evaluated nat'l policy & public dissent during the Cuban crisis. Modified AA.