Kathryn D. Rettig

The role of perception in the intention to change the family financial situation

The study investigates factors associated with the individual intentions to change the family financial situation of 337 farm respondents. The hypotheses are that intentions to change are influenced by (a) resource flexibility or constraints existing at the time of the decision situation, including off-farm employment, education, age, and household size, and (b) perceptual factors of perceived income adequacy, locus of control, degree of discrepancy between standard and level of the family financial situation, and dissatisfaction or satisfaction with the discrepancy. Older respondents and those experiencing more external control are less likely to intend to change. Younger respondents and those who perceive their incomes as more adequate are more likely to perceive that they have control over their situation. The lower the perceived income adequacy, the greater the discrepancy between standard and level of the family financial situation and the lower the satisfaction with the discrepancy. Significant indirect effects were consistent with theoretical expectations.

The effects of resources, decision making, and decision implementing on perceived family well-being in adjusting to an economic stressor

This article examines the relationships of personal resources, decision-making, and decision-implementing behaviors that were measured in time one with perceived family well-being that was measured one year later. The sample included 323 farm men and women who had experienced the same economic stressor event. A structural equation model was posited based upon the theoretical frameworks of family resource management. The results indicated the theoretical model fit the data well for both men and women. LISREL analyses revealed strong positive relationships among perceived financial and emotional resources, decision making, and perceived family well-being. A positive relationship was found between decision making and decision implementing, but no relationship was found between decision implementing and perceived family well-being. Gender differences were present only in the measurement model among the indicators of decision implementing and family well-being.

A General Theory for Perceptual Indicators of Family Life Quality

The paper presents Foa and Foas Resource Theory (1974) that was used to develop a self-report, multidimensional measure of family well-being, an indicator of family life quality. Facet theory methods of sentence mapping provided an explicit way to explain how theoretical constructs were translated to operational measures, and a rationale for the use of multidimensional scaling analysis to verify the circular structure of resource classes proposed by the theory. Results of the analyses confirmed the theoretical propositions for a sample of 560 adults and indicated a better fit of the data for womens, compared to the mens model.

The value tensions in Korean–American mother–child relationships while facilitating academic success

The current study explored mothers’ perspectives concerning their experiences in facilitating the academic success of their adolescents in American schools, using a naturalistic study design, data from transcribed personal interviews of 17 Korean–American mothers, and a phenomenological analysis approach (Giorgi, 1985, 1997). The purposes of this study were to (a) reveal the layers of context that influenced mothers’ thoughts, actions, and mother–child relationships as they assisted their adolescents in realizing academic success, a core value in Korean culture, and (b) uncover the relationship difficulties mothers perceived in these processes. The results indicated that mothers were influenced by their individualistic and collectivist cultural (meta) contexts as they tried to facilitate the academic success for their adolescents. Second, they were struggling with their competing Korean and American value systems (general context) in the adjustment processes of “becoming an American” and “remaining a Korean.” Third, mothers revealed their value tensions with adolescents (specific context) in school and family settings. In the family setting the tensions involved balancing obedience and respect with freedom and equality, similarity preference with diversity tolerance, and achievement and recognition with happiness and fulfillment.

The Good Death: Reaching an Inductive Understanding

The study examines descriptions by twenty-six elderly Israelis of a good death. The transcripts of personal interviews were analyzed using phenomenological methods to determine general and essential essences of the good death phenomenon. The good death was perceived as a multidimensional phenomenon based on eighteen general essences that were condensed into five essential essences that included the physiological, personal, interpersonal, social, and cultural domains of life. The good death incorporated past, present, and future time periods; and was underlined by the fundamental wish to establish continuity. The good death description further involved a critical component toward the ways in which death and dying are currently occurring in Israel. The research results call for Israeli policy-makers to more forcefully acknowledge and accommodate the different secular perspectives of the good death into law and to allow individuals more freedom and control over the dying processes and rituals following ones death.

Farm Wives' Business and Household Decision Involvement in Times of Economic Stress

The purpose of the study was to examine the involvement of 263 farm wives in decision-making discussions about periodic and continuous business decisions and household decisions during times of economic stress. The operating hypothesis that the perceptions of the decision maker would contribute to the explanation of variance in decision discussion involvement over and above the variance explained by the contextual factors was supported in three two-step regression analyses. The satisfaction about the way money concerns are discussed was positively related to involvement in decision discussions for all three decision content areas. Perceptions concerning the tendency to set new goals increased the involvement in periodic and continuous farm decisions. Perceptions about the amount of respect received increased involvement in periodic farm and household decision discussions, and perceived income adequacy negatively influenced involvement in continuous farm decision discussions. The number of years farming influenced household decision discussions and off-farm work influenced involvement in continuous farm decision discussions.

Family life quality: Theory and assessment in economically stressed farm families

The purposes of this paper are to (a) describe a resource exchange theory which outlines the dimensions of life quality (Foa and Foa, 1974), (b) present a multidimensional measure of personal evaluations of family life quality based on this theory, and (c) report the results of a two-stage study in which the scale was used. The scale includes items representing love, status, services, information, goods, and money resources received from the family. Respondents evaluated the degree to which the receipt of these resources satisfied personal needs for: (a) love and affection, (b) respect and esteem, (c) comfort and assistance, (d) shared meaning, (e) personal things, and (f) money for personal use. Reliability, correlation, covariance, cluster, and factor analyses on data from 592 subjects provided information for reducing the number of items. A reduced version of the scale was administered to 331 of the same subjects one year later. The two stages provided evidence of construct validity and reliability for the scale.

Impact of Procedural Factors on Perceived Justice in Divorce Settlements

We used a decision-making conceptual framework from family resource management combined with procedural justice frameworks from social psychology to (i) articulate the elements and rules of procedural fairness, (ii) develop a theoretical organization and code to include procedural fairness principles as applied to legal decision processes in divorce, and (iii) describe the perceptions of divorcing parties about the violations of procedural fairness principles in their own divorce process. Procedural fairness principles included accuracy, consistency, ethicality, bias suppression, correctability, and representativeness. Results of qualitative data analyses were consistent with experimental studies in that divorced people were concerned with fair procedures and particularly with violations of the principles of ethicality, consistency, accuracy, and representativeness.

FAMILY BELIEFS ABOUT END-OF-LIFE DECISIONS: AN INTERPERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

Elderly Israelis and their family members (n = 41) from 13 nuclear families were interviewed individually and conjointly concerning their beliefs about end-of-life decisions that would involve prolonging life or hastening death. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using the hermeneutic phenomenology approach since the purpose of the study was to reveal and interpret beliefs that were not easily visible to participants. The premise of the study was that it would be possible to identify family beliefs that had been unintentionally, but collectively constructed by family members. The results presented 6 belief themes and 3 communication strategies that supported our premise. These family beliefs and communication patterns have practical implications for professionals working with families that are making end-of-life decisions.

The construction of the good death: A dramaturgy approach

Abstract The study examines interview transcripts of 26 elderly Israelis who are describing their own death, using the dramaturgy analysis approach. The study identifies eight meaning-making strategies used to construct the “good death”: using story in the form of drama; describing multiple scenarios; assuming the director and playwright roles in varying degrees; explaining what a good death is not; comparing previous experiences with death; using questions, similes, and metaphors; commenting with sarcastic remarks and black humor; and describing dreams. A composite drama, resulting from the stories of all participants, is presented in three acts, including the time prior to death, the imminent death, and the funeral. Each dramatic episode is constructed by descriptions of the script, purpose, action area, actors, and performances. The ultimate intent of a drama is to establish new meanings of dying and its aftermath for actors and audience, which is to maintain and promote continuity of ones identity, heritage, and legacy.