Brenda Munro

Identity Processing Styles and Canadian Adolescents' Self-Reported Delinquency

Drawing on research in juvenile delinquency and crime, several parallels are observed with that of research using the concept of identity styles. The study of 1,450 adolescent boys and girls in the 7th through 12th grade was completed to discern if identity theory is useful in detecting self-reported delinquency behavior. Gender and age differences were expected; however, they were not observed to be of major consequences. Rather, a diffuse-avoidance identity style was associated with higher self-reported delinquent behaviors and a normative or social convention perspective associated with less self-reported delinquency. This discussion briefly explores the findings that support a general theory of crime and the potential contribution identity theory could have for the study of adolescent delinquency. Limitations of this study are briefly recognized.

Following the Leaders: Parents' Influence on Adolescent Religious Activity

In this study, the relationship between the religious activity of mothers and fathers and the religious activity of male and female adolescents was investigated. The gender of the adolescent was seen as an important variable. Two hundred and thirty five intact families with adolescents were drawn from the Olson, McCubbin, Barnes, Larsen, Muxen and Wilson (1983) data set of 1140 families. Findings indicated that only paternal religious activity variables were significantly related to female adolescent religious activity, while both maternal and paternal variables were significantly associated with the religious activity of male adolescents. However, even in relation to male religious activity, more paternal religious activity variables were significant than maternal religious activity variables.

Love American Style: A Test of Role Structure Theory on Changes in Attitudes Toward Love

A series of four investigations was completed to validate a new love scale and assess the relationship between stage of life and romantic and conjugal love attitudes. Collegeand highschool-educated samples were compared overfour stages of life. The data support a proposed functional linkage between role structure and love attitudes. Specifically, during stages where role expectations were simple and loosely defined, romantic attitudes were high, while complex stages were associated with low romantic and high conjugal love preferences.

Sexuality and Disability: The Role of Health Care Professionals in Providing Options and Alternatives for Couples

Disability affects both the individual and his/her partner and, if health care professionals are to work with clients in a holistic manner, they will need to include the partner. A comprehensive review of the literature was completed to examine the impact of disability on sexuality as it relates to couple relationships and to explore strategies health care providers can utilize to help couples deal with these issues. The literature describes some common intervention strategies that have been shown to be effective in helping couples affected by disability or illness address the issue of sexuality. Specific concerns and difficulties faced by couples are also identified. Finally, the various intervention strategies will be incorporated into a framework known as the P-LI-SS-IT model. With this framework, health care providers will be able to determine the clients needs, as well as assess their own level of comfort and expertise in dealing with this very important task.

Handling greedy clergy roles: A dual clergy example

Striking changes have occurred in the number of women who have been ordained as clergy in the Protestant denominations in North America. With these changes has come a concomitant increase in the number of dual clergy couples. These couples are a new variant on the dual career theme. They share some of the same strains which have been identified for dual career couples in general; namely, identity issues, work and role overload, role cycling problems, social network dilemmas and discrepancies between personal and social norms. In addition, particular qualities of the clergy role create problems which these couples must address. One such problem is handling the ambivalent boundary between work and family roles. Two aspects of this issue are the absorptiveness of the role and the embeddedness of both work and family roles. The present paper discusses these boundary issues using data from a study of a population of dual clergy couples in two synods of the Lutheran church in two western Canadian provinces. Strategies for handling these issues are suggested for couples, church leaders and congregational representatives.

The effectiveness of participatory theatre with early adolescents in school‐based sexuality education

Public concern about adolescent sexuality has garnered considerable interest in recent decades. Most teenagers are either thinking about or acting on their sexual impulses. Yet notable controversy exists regarding sexual education among youth. Adolescents report sexuality education must speak to issues of interest to them and be delivered in a compelling manner. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of theatre as an effective means of education. Six hundred and twenty‐seven Canadian Grade Nine students completed a questionnaire before and after a theatre production as part of sexuality education in their schools. The limited statistically significant findings were unexpected. However, students revealed positive comments in interviews. The nature of theatre, the personal content of the play, and the science‐based methods of evaluation are suggested as reasons for this contradiction. Future research on theatre in school‐based sexuality education must incorporate qualitative research methods if different approaches to evaluation research in fine arts (such as drama) and social science are to be resolved.

Farm women/farm work

The lack of documentation of womens farm work makes it difficult to assess womens contributions to farm businesses. A survey of farm women in western Canada showed that while younger women were more likely to have a farm work role, they also saw more barriers to farm work than older women. Variations in womens farm work may be a result of cohort differences in socialization for farm work, of farm cycle, or of family cycle. Incorporation of off-farm and household work into the analysis of womens contributions to the farm business is suggested as a more comprehensive method of assessing their work involvement.

Does a Baby Help Young Women Transition Out of Homelessness? Motivation, Coping, and Parenting

Homeless young women experience high levels of stress, challenges to mental health, substance use and abuse, and a lack of housing or of secure housing. This article explores one of the findings from a longitudinal qualitative study designed to follow homeless young women for a 2-year period as they make efforts to transition out of homelessness. Our objective was to determine the assets used by these young women as they survived on the street and to transition out of homelessness. The authors found that one of the primary reasons discussed for leaving homelessness was becoming pregnant and having a baby. However, most of the mothers reported increasing levels of stress as the baby became a toddler. They described themselves as using “soft drugs” as a mode of coping with this stress.

Generational Differences in the Meaning of Retirement from Farming

Developmental stake theory posits that the parental generation will have a greater stake in the family and in family continuity than will their adult children. This research tested the effect of these differential stakes on the meaning of retirement for 365 members of the retiring generation and 276 members of the receiving generation currently farming together in Canada and the United States. The hypotheses that more of the retiring generation would say retirement from farming meant exit from management responsibility and more of the younger generation would say retirement from farming meant exit from ownership were supported. The hypothesis that more of the younger generation would say retirement meant exitfrom labor was not supported. Both generations had stakes in farming andfamily, but the older generation had a greater stake in family continuity. Differences in expectations are predicted to result in intergenerational tension. Implicationsfor practitioners and researchers are discussed.

The support gap for dual clergy couples

Within this study six levels of support for dual clergy couples with and without children were investigated. Seven dual clergy couples of several synods of the Lutheran Church in two western Canadian provinces were asked open-ended questions about the support they had received in several employment and family related areas. While findings in each of the areas varied, overall, most individuals received the most support from their spouse and little from close friends and relatives often due to physical distance. Support provided by other clergy and church administrators was mixed. Only one major difference was found between couples with and without children. The group without children were more optimistic about the support that would be provided by family and friends in the area of child care while couples with children failed to mention support from friends and family.