Joe Wittmer

Perceived Parent-Child Relationships: A Comparison between Amish and Non-Amish Young Adults

This study compared the perceived parental behavior characteristics of 25 Amish and 25 non-Amish youth using the Parent-Child Relations Questionnaire (PCR). The Amish groups perception of their fathers, behavioral characteristics, as compared to the perception of behavioral characteristics for non-Amish parents, differed significantly on several measures of the parent-child relationships. The Amish mothers and fathers were perceived as being less rejecting, less neglecting, less casual, less likely to reward directly and less likely to use symbolic methods of punishment. And, further, the Amish fathers were perceived as being more loving than the non-Amish fathers and the Amish mothers were viewed as being less likely to reward symbolically when compared to the non-Amish mothers. The results were discussed in light of the Amish culture.

A Response to “Counselor Education and the Psychology of More”

Joe Wittmer and Thomas Sweeney, Executive Director and Chairperson, respectively, of the APGA Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, respond to the article, “Counselor Education and the Psychology of More” (Pipes, Buckhold, & Merrill, 1983), found elsewhere in this issue. The authors agree that Pipes et al. challenged the profession to examine the state of the art in counselor education, but that they seemed unaware of the rapidly moving changes occurring within the profession today.