Browsing by Author "Hughes, Michael D."
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- Accounting for the Gender Income Gap in Urban ChinaSun, Zizhuo (Virginia Tech, 2000-01-17)Using data from the China Housing Survey, that was conducted in 1993, the present study attempts to learn whether and how specific factors--human capital (including education and health), guanxi (social connections), housework, and employment in different sectors of the economy influence the income gap between men and women in urban China when traditional, socialist, and market mechanisms are all present. The data were collected from two large Chinese cities, Tianjin and Shanghai. The results of regression show that 1) Differences in education account for much of the gender differences in income. With the same amount of education, women still earn somewhat less than men. Health reduces the gender income gap between men and women in urban China. 2) Sector segregation accounts for much of the gender differences in income. The private sector pays much more than the public sector. Guanxi and housework do not help explain the difference in income between men and women. The present study reveals that the income inequality between men and women comes mainly from market forces. The market factors of education, health, and sector are the primary areas in which women suffer disadvantages that result in their lower income.
- Achievement of public and non-Catholic private high school students within a matched sampleMead, Susan Virginia (Virginia Tech, 1987-08-05)Over the past six years, analyses of the National Center for Education Statistics' High School and Beyond data have primarily focused on the differences in achievement between public and Catholic high school students. Valuable data on non-Catholic private school students have been virtually ignored. Based on a strategy proposed by Althauser and Rubin (1970), in this study non-Catholic private schools are matched with public schools similar in school average base year student achievement levels, school average base year student socioeconomic levels, geographic region and racial composition. T-test results show that, among students in the most similar matches, non-Catholic private school students score significantly higher on vocabulary, reading, and a test composite of vocabulary, reading and general math scores. Public/non-Catholic private differences in basic and advanced math, science and civics are not significant although all but the civics tests show a small non-Catholic private advantage. The multiple regression analyses suggest that, for the most closely matched pairs, non-Catholic private school students have a small statistically significant advantage over public students on the 1982 reading test and test composite. However, the non-Catholic private advantage on general math, science, vocabulary and writing tests, and the public advantage on the advanced math and civics tests, are not significant. Thus, the null hypothesis stating that there are no differences between the 1982 achievement test scores of students in public schools and the tests scores of students in non-Catholic private schools is generally refuted. Yet, the differences, primarily favoring non-Catholic private school students, are small and in many cases not significant.
- Adoptive Status, Social Capital, and Academic AchievementToussaint, Jeffrey Guy (Virginia Tech, 2008-05-02)This dissertation examined the relationships among adoptive status, social capital, and academic achievement. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) had 609 adopted and 11, 940 non-adopted adolescents. I used OLS regression models to help explain why adopted adolescents have significantly lower grade point averages (GPA) than non-adopted adolescents. Potential mediators were family social capital, closeness to family, mother and father, mothers' and fathers' involvement in their children's education, self-esteem, academic expectations, and in-school behavioral difficulties. Only closeness to fathers and in-school behavioral difficulties differed by adoptive status. Compared to non-adopted adolescents, adopted adolescents were closer to their fathers and had more in-school behavioral difficulties. Adopted adolescents also had lower GPA's, even when all other predictors were in the model. However, were it not for greater closeness to their fathers, adopted adolescents' would have had even more in-school behavioral difficulties and consequently, lower academic achievement. The results have implications for social capital theory and theory and research concerning adoptive families.
- Anabolic steroid use among non-competitive male bodybuilders: an application of two theories of deviant behaviorDurkin, Keith F. (Virginia Tech, 1992-06-05)The purpose of this research is to explain anabolic steroid use among non-competitive male bodybuilders. Two theories of deviant behavior are used in this research: rational choice theory and social learning theory. This thesis tests these theories on a sample of 50 males from fitness centers and gymnasiums. The results are interpreted in light of their implications for future research on the factors that encourage steroid use and other deviant behavior.
- An Analysis of Masculine Socialization and Male Sexual AnxietyPhilaretou, Andreas Georgiou (Virginia Tech, 2001-11-16)This study uses autobiographical reflection to investigate the negative impact of essentialist masculine gender socialization on men's lives. In particular, I use personal recollective accounts both from my early childhood socialization-in the traditional Greek-Cypriot culture of the 1970s and 80s-and from my own introspections and analytical conceptualizations concerning intimate relationships in general. I analyze these accounts by using a feminist postmodern ideology of gender deconstruction and reconstruction. Men oftentimes fall victims of patriarchal masculine scripting by suppressing their needs for intimacy, connectedness, and self-disclosure, qualities traditionally devalued as feminine traits. Suppressing such needs exacerbates inadequacies in male intimacy with possible manifestations in the form of generalized non-clinical male sexual anxiety. Implications are also discussed in terms of the by-products of male sexual anxiety, such as non-clinical sexual addiction and male victimization.
- An Analysis of the Factors That Influence Older African-Americans to Self-Define as RetiredJackson, Tanara (Virginia Tech, 1999-04-14)Research that examines gender and retirement has given us insights on the ways in which gender structures the work and retirement experience primarily for white men and women. At the same time, a small but growing body of research on race-ethnicity and retirement reveals that race-ethnicity also serves as a context that structures the work and retirement experience. However, research that examines the intersections of race-ethnicity and gender in relation to retirement is almost non-existent. Our subsequent knowledge of how race-ethnicity and gender serve as contexts defining the retirement experience is severely limited. One result is that it is difficult to make generalizations or draw reliable conclusions concerning non-dominant populations. To address this gap, I conducted an exploratory investigation on the general topic of race, gender, and retirement, specifically focusing on how the process of self-definition as retired occurs among African-American men and women. Using data from Wave I of the Americans' Changing Lives Survey, this investigation identified the gender-and class-specific paid and unpaid productive activities that African-Americans ages fifty-five and older perform. Since unpaid activities are gender-specific, examining them, along with measures of income, income sources, education, marital status, age, and disabled status would help reveal the extent to which gender interacts with race-ethnicity to structure self-definition for Black men and women. These findings suggest that for older African-Americans, gender significantly impacts the decision to self-define as retired. However, when considering the impact of gender-specific unpaid productive activities, the above finding is not true. It is only in relation to the receipt of Social Security income, disabled status, and work status that gender significantly interacts with race-ethnicity to structure the decision to self-define as retired. In general, these findings substantiate pre-existing research on race, gender, and retirement. Importantly, they prompt further development of scholarly literature in this area of research, as this body of literature is still largely underexplored and inconclusive.
- An Analysis of Tolerance Variation Among Adherents to Feminist, Environmentalist and Gay Rights PrinciplesFiquet, Angela T. Jr. (Virginia Tech, 1998-04-10)To the extent that the United States is a post-industrial society, whereby the means and ends of social production are social, and the production and reproduction of knowledge are shaped by reflexivity and continuous reconceptualizations of reality, what it means to be "tolerant" has been subjected to multiple ideologies. Supposedly freed from collectively imposed identities, social scientists have argued that in a postmodern society, individuals actively construct their own identities. In this study, it is questioned how multiple, trans-class and trans-disciplinary identities affect beliefs and behavior. Subject to exploration are expressions of tolerance, embodied as the expression of attitudes toward the following groups of traditionally nonconforming individuals: atheists, communists, racists and homosexuals. Using 1993 General Social Survey data, independent attitudinal variables were constructed from indexed items measuring opinions about ideas embraced by three "new" social movements: the women's, environmental and gay rights' movements. Socio-structural and attitudinal variables were regressed on tolerance, the dependent variable, which was divided into general and group-specific indexes. Education and urbanism were shown to be significant predictors of tolerance, while gender and political ideology were not significant predictors of tolerance. Positive correlations resulted between general tolerance and pro-feminist, pro-environmentalist and pro-gay rights attitudes. In conclusion, the prediction that individuals scoring high on measurements of feminism, environmentalism and pro-homosexuality, which all expound ideological convictions that refute traditional norms and value systems, would also demonstrate high levels of tolerance was greatly substantiated. Lending support for Bobo and Licari's (1989) argument, it is agreed that demographic, or social structural, variables alone are insufficient determinants of tolerance. Furthermore, although new social movements are chiefly organized around identity, rather than class, issues, even historically "tolerant" individuals, such as feminists, were shown to be less tolerant of certain groups, such as, in this study, racists
- Attitudes toward the Effects of Privatization on the Employment System: A Study of Undergraduate College Students in Saudi ArabiaAl-Modaf, Obaid Ali (Virginia Tech, 2003-04-02)This study aims to examine the attitudes of the Saudi undergraduate college students toward the anticipated effects of privatization on the employment system of the Saudi privatized SOEs. Using survey questionnaire data collected in May 2002 from 672 Saudi undergraduate college students, the study results reveal varied attitudes. On the one hand, large percentages of the respondents prefer working under close supervision of Saudi management, having a salary based on productivity, being promoted based upon performance (rather than seniority), and adhering to prescribed procedures in executing job tasks. On the other hand, high percentages of the study respondents tend to dislike the concepts of putting forth more effort to meet management's plans, of working on nights and weekend, and of compromising job security in return for a higher salary. In addition, while the majority of the study respondents believe that privatization of state-owned enterprises is best for the local economy, their support for privatization is qualified by their insistence or desire that it not negatively impact their own interests. The statistical significance and association analyses reveal that the effects of academic majors and province on respondents' attitudes toward promotion criteria, teaming, and management's nationality are indeed significant. In addition, gender, SES, living areas prior to college entry, and adherence to religion are significantly related to respondents' attitudes toward privatization in general and toward some of its potential effects on the employment system. Recommendations are provided.
- The Beats Have No Color Lines: An Exploration of White Consumption of Rap MusicKatz, Meredith Ann (Virginia Tech, 2004-05-13)The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between white consumption of politically conscious rap music and the political beliefs of white rap music consumers. The guiding research questions included an exploration of why whites with little prior concern about racism consume rap music with politically conscious antiracist messages; if whites who consume this music believe the messages spoken are an accurate depiction of reality; and if a relationship exists between consumption of politically conscious rap music and an individual's political beliefs. Through interviews of white fans at politically conscious rap shows it was found that many individuals do not understand the music they are consuming is political in intent. Individuals highlighted themes that they could identify with, namely the need for unity and love, while ignoring others, such as the need to fight against injustice and racism. While independently individuals may have liberal political beliefs and consume politically conscious rap music, there appears to be no indication that consumption of rap music alters political beliefs.
- Bolstering Opportunity and Prejudicial Expectation Effects on Recall When Appraising Performance PotentialAtkins, Stephen G. Jr. (Virginia Tech, 1997-09-05)This research program investigated the reasonable possibility that differential information processing strategies can be manifestations of racist prejudgments. Our research design applies a technique often used in social cognition studies. This technique captures evidence of a rather habit-driven (though not instantaneous) decision made by subjects rapidly presented with information about (typically fictional) characters. These target characters are associated (in the context of the experiment) with some form of generalized expectancy (i.e., they are typically presented as a likable or unlikable person). This is accomplished either by creating the expectancy artificially, or by using targets that are members of a conspicuously or notably-stereotyped group. The rather non-conscious decision involved is one of either bolstering one's pre-conceived notions or engaging in inconsistency resolution (e.g., either marshaling evidence to bolster your prejudicial expectation or pondering more earnestly those pieces of information which are inconsistent with your expectancy or well-known prejudicial stereotypes). Typically, the likelihood of pursuing one strategy or the other is manipulated in experimental settings by first providing an artificial expectation, then altering the structure of the person-memory task or adjusting the rate of information flow to the subjects. We hoped to reveal how a non-artificial pre-existing race-based prejudicial expectancy (of a largely non-evaluative as in non-likable/dislikable nature) might effect the pursuit of one strategy or the other. By and large, tests of our five hypotheses provide only mixed support for use of a person-memory associative network model in this context. The first and second hypotheses have some visual support (i.e., recall proportions across sentence types start out roughly equal for low prejudicial expectation - PE -- subjects then branch out; high PE subjects seem to treat sentence types differently from the start); however, these differences are not amenable to clearly interpretable statistical tests. Analysis of the third and fourth hypotheses was confounded because the candidate contaminating covariate failed to have consistent effects. This, coupled with the floor effect of the PE scale, the unexplained (and substantial) variability in recall behavior, and some other control issues (detailed below), made the use of the continuous DVs less than fruitful. The floor effect of the PE scale was especially problematic - with many subjects compressed at this floor, relations would be difficult to see even if present. In an attempt to detect weak effects of prejudice, we aggregated subjects by PE (as in high and low prejudice). Aggregation probably made the floor effect-driven range restriction less problematic (the subjects lumped together on PE's floor are probably less-afflicted with well-practiced prejudicial expectations than the high half of PE scorers). This exercise generated weak support for the third hypothesis: the time interval data feebly indicates that high PE subjects manifest a negative impression-centered person-memory schema in their storage of sentences about a Black target - and, unlike the low PE subjects, they apparently do this starting with the earliest blocks of sentences. The median split approach failed to generate support for the fourth hypothesis - where we expected to see bolstering replace inconsistency resolution (in the slow condition) since subjects were afforded the time. There was weak evidence, however, that more inconsistency resolution was occurring in the fast condition (as the proposed model had predicted). This evidence was in the form of greater recall time interval differences seen when comparing high PE subjects and their schema-speeded versus non-speeded intervals. The bottom line for the first four hypotheses is still this: we failed to create a condition where prejudice would paradoxically favor recall of laudable or admirable inconsistencies associated with a fictitious Black target. The fifth hypothesis was just intended to verify that racial prejudice does not predict recall behavior when the target is White and so are the subjects. So using a White target, we performed the same sort of tests seen above. Fortunately, relations with PE ranged from weak to very weak - and, of course, were non-significant. In sum, these outcomes suggest that Hastie-Srull associative network (H-SAN) processing effects may not reliably or consistently manifest themselves in the prejudiced rater/performance appraisal arena -- at least not in designs similar to those used previously to illustrate H-SAN effects. There were some clear exceptions, however, in our data. Taken together, our results suggest that H-SAN mechanisms may apply when appraising performance potential, but have a difficult time manifesting themselves in substantial ways.
- Consequences of Marijuana Use for Depressive DisordersDema, Brunilda (Virginia Tech, 2002-02-08)The purpose of this study is to investigate the temporal order in the association between marijuana use and depression. There are two possible hypothesis examined, and for each of them is conducted a separate set of analyses. The dependent variable in the first hypothesis is current depression, predicted by previous and current marijuana use, abuse, and dependence. In the second hypothesis the dependent variables are current marijuana use, abuse, and dependence, predicted by previous and current depression. To conduct the analyses this study uses data from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS). The NCS is an epidemiological research study of the prevalence, causes, and consequences of psychiatric disorders and comorbodity, analyzing data from a national sample of 8098 participants covering an age range from 15 to 54 years old. Results show that prior depression is the main predictor of current depression while marijuana use has a weak effect on current depression. Marijuana users are slightly more depressed than never users, but the lag of the effect is short. There is a strong association between marijuana use and abuse and other drug use and abuse. Findings show that prior marijuana and other drug use and abuse predict current marijuana use and abuse. There is a weak association between current depression and current marijuana use, and when controlled for prior marijuana use this association disappears. The results of this study provide no support for the coping theory. There is a clear pattern of comorbidity of both, mental disorders, and substance use and abuse.
- Craft Beer in the US: A Production of Culture PerspectiveChapman, Nathaniel Gray (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-26)In this dissertation I use the production of culture perspective as a lens to analyze the emergence of craft beer in the US. In doing so, I examine how the six facets of the production of culture perspective have both constrained and stimulated the production of craft beer in the US. The six facets of the production of culture perspective are: law and regulation, industry structure, organizational structure, markets, technology, and occupational careers. These six facets, in concert, allowed the craft beer movement to emerge in the 1970s. In order to demonstrate the effects each facet has on the production of craft beer I employ a content analysis of All About Beer, an industry trade publication that reports on the craft beer culture. Additionally, I analyze the structure of the brewing industry through secondary data regarding technology, production, and industry concentration. In my analysis I demonstrate how the POC explains the production of cultural goods. I also highlight the limitations of the perspective and suggest future avenues of research.
- Culture and Family Life: Three Studies on Family and Marriage Relationships across CulturesFang, Fang (Virginia Tech, 2018-06-25)This dissertation explores how family and marriage relationships vary according to the culture in which they occur. Based on the individualism/collectivism framework about cultural variations in familial beliefs across countries, I study three topics of family and marriage relationships across cultures. In the first study, I examine how 17 member countries of Organisation of Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD) differ culturally in older adults' preference for family elder care. I find that older adults from countries with more traditional values that emphasize the importance of a strong parent-child tie are more likely to prefer family care rather than formal care than those from more secular-rational countries with less emphasis on the parent-child tie; the cultural difference gets smaller at a higher level of individual family income. In the second study, I select China as a representative of the collectivist culture, and look into how the collectivist culture and older parents' filial beliefs shape the intergenerational relationship in China. I find that patrilocal and patrilineal traditions are still prevail in China. A highly cohesive intergenerational relationship people idealize in the collectivist culture is more common between older parents and married sons, and least common between older parents and married daughters. In the third study, I compare an individualist society, the U.S., and China, a collectivist society to test whether marriage also isolates people from their informal social network in China as observed in the U.S. I find that marriage does not isolate but integrates people into their informal social network in China, while marriage isolate people in the U.S. The three studies present new evidence on how marriage and family experiences differ due to different cultural beliefs about family, and under what conditions the cultural influences are weakened or reinforced.
- Culture on a Plate: The Social Construction of Authenticity in Food CultureByrd, Kaitland Marie (Virginia Tech, 2017-04-21)This study uses three case studies to show how authenticity is fabricated in food culture. Conceptualizing food as a cultural product makes possible the analysis of social processes through food. In doing so, food becomes a mirror reflecting the happenings within the broader social world. This study examines three empirical cases to sociologically understand food culture: southern barbeque, Top Chef, and ramps and quinoa. Southern barbeque allows the examination of the role of fabricated authenticity within food culture. Top Chef is evidence of how chefs actively produce distinction to legitimate their position and status within the field. Ramps and quinoa are examples of two ingredients that have been exploited from their original context to become elite and mainstream ingredients without concern for the consequences to the people who relied on them in the quest for the exotic. Together these cases provide examples of how research on the fabrication of authenticity and impression management can be expanded to include food.
- Differential perceptions of prejudice: an analysis of social attributionGraves, Ellington T. (Virginia Tech, 1992-10-15)Studies have found disparate perceptions of race relations and discrimination between black and Asian students at institutions of higher education. A linkage is made between perceptions of race relations and attributions of prejudice as a motivation. Attribution theory is developed as a foundation for theoretical understanding of the attribution of prejudice. Both theoretical and empirical literature is reviewed to provide a rationale for expecting blacks to attribute, and therefore perceive, more prejudice than Asians. Several social factors are also identified which could serve as additional reasons to expect blacks to attribute prejudice more frequently than Asians. Results from a questionnaire tapping prejudice attributions are analyzed for significant group differences. Those differences are then analyzed by ordinary least-squares multiple regression. Support is found for the contention that blacks have a greater tendency to make prejudice attributions than do Asians. Support is found for the hypothesis that perceptual differences between blacks and Asians are partially due to differences in the tendency to attribute prejudice. Perceptual differences are also found to be partially due to citizenship status and race. A greater salience of race for blacks and blacks' greater tendency to attribute prejudice are suggested as reasons for observed differences in the perceptions of black and Asian students. The greater salience of race for blacks is discussed as a possible effect of structural inequality, or as a cultural artifact originating in past inequality.
- Economic Consequences on Gays and Lesbians of Heteronormativity in the WorkplaceMorgan, Meredith Leigh (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-01)Feminist scholars have theorized that the workplace is gendered and heteronormative1, but little research quantifies the economic consequences of those organizations. This study investigates income discrepancies between gay men and straight men and between lesbians and straight women, to quantify these consequences. Using the National Survey of Family Growth 2006-2010, and controlling for several correlates of income, I use ordinary least squares regression to test the hypothesis that lesbians have higher incomes on the average than straight women do, and that straight men earn more than gay men. I also use hierarchical regression to test the relative strengths of the associations between income and possible causes of variation in it. The study found that gay men earn more than straight men because of higher educational attainment, and that lesbians earn more than straight women, though this finding is not statistically significant.
- Ecosystemic determinants of and Predictive Relations to Racial IdentityWeeks, Cheri (Virginia Tech, 2015-09-23)This investigation examined the role that racial concordance, defined as the percentage of African Americans in one's environment, play in the relation between racial socialization and racial identity. African American (n=-160) students evaluated their perception of parental socialization, racial concordance, and racial identity. As hypothesized, racial socialization significantly predicted racial identity. As well, racially concordant environments moderated the relation between racial socialization and racial identity. Minority and cultural socialization were the best predictors of racial identity. Conclusions emphasize the importance of proactive racial socialization and supportive environments. Future research and mental health implications are also examined.
- The Effect of Cohabitation on Egalitarianism in MarriagePioli, Mark (Virginia Tech, 1997-05-05)This study examines the relationship between premarital cohabitation and egalitarianism in marriage using data from the two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 13,017). Multiple regression and path analysis techniques are used to test this effect. Cohabitation is viewed as an experience in which patterns of behavior and attitudes are formed that influence later marriages. It is hypothesized that this experience leads to a more egalitarian household division of labor and less traditional gender ideologies among married individuals who cohabited premaritally, as compared to those that did not. Path models test the extent to which cohabitation’s effect on later marriages is explained by the household division of labor and gender ideology at time-1. Based on attitude-behavior research, 1) a higher correlation between household division of labor and gender ideology is expected for premarital cohabitors than for non-cohabitors; and 2) a measure of attitude toward sharing housework should better predict household division of labor than does general gender ideology. The analysis showed that premarital cohabitation does have a positive effect on household division of labor and gender ideology in marriage through indirect (and possibly direct) paths. The attitudinal and behavioral measures were not more closely linked for cohabitors, and the specific attitude-toward-thebehavior measure was not a better predictor of household division of labor than general gender ideology. I conclude from this analysis that the experience of cohabitation leads to more egalitarian marriages and that this is largely due to household labor during cohabitation.
- The Effects of Class, Age, Gender and Race on Musical Preferences: An Examination of the Omnivore/Univore FrameworkWhite, Christine Gifford (Virginia Tech, 2001-09-05)Using data from the 1982, 1985, 1992, and 1997 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), this thesis tests the effects of class, age, gender and race on the breadth of musical preferences that respondents report to liking. Specifically, the omnivore/univore framework developed by Peterson (1992) is examined. It is hypothesized that age and social class are positively related to musical omnivorousness (liking a wide variety of music). That is, older people and people higher in social economic standing will be more omnivorousness in musical preferences. The underlying theory here is that in today's society, being omnivorous is a form of cultural capital. Cultural exclusivity is no longer valued as it may have been in the past and is more often a sign of ignorance rather than status. Hence, the hypothesis is that people today will use a wide knowledge of musical forms to help them network and "get ahead." This should be more important for people as they age because the need to network as a way of moving higher in the social economic hierarchy should be more important. Additionally, it is hypothesized that women and whites will be more omnivorousness because they may feel less alienated in general from mainstream society, especially at younger ages. Hence, blacks and men will gravitate towards fewer genres of musical as a symbolic rejection of the values of mainstream society. This should also be more salient when people are younger. Overall, the findings presented support the contention the omnivorousness is replacing exclusiveness as a sign of status. Indeed, the findings show that class is positively related to omnivorousness, age is positively related to omnivorousness, being female is positively related to omnivorousness, and that whites are more omnivorous than blacks. Perhaps most interesting, however, is that the relationship between age and omnivorousness was determined to be a curvilinear relationship. No other analysts have reported this. Moreover, the findings present evidence that age may indeed be a more important determinant of musical omnivorousness than social class. Hence, it is concluded that no longer should musical preferences be examined simply as varying by social class but also as changing across the life cycle.
- The Effects of Family Structure and Family Process on the Psychological Well-Being of Children: From the Children's Point of ViewFalci, Christina D. (Virginia Tech, 1997-05-08)The impact of family structure on children’s outcomes is a highly debated topic in literature on the family. This research made an attempt to engage in this debate by testing the family process perspective. Theorists who favor this perspective believe that the effects of family structure on children can be mediated by the family processes occurring within families, such as the quality of parent-child relationships. The psychological wellbeing of children from six family structures were compared. After controlling for family processes and background variables the majority of the effects of family structure on children’s psychological well-being disappeared. Only children from stepfamilies had significantly lower levels of psychological well-being than children from intact homes. Stepfamilies, however, are a very complex family form and this research could not account for the possible unique processes occurring within stepfamilies. Finally, children from divorced homes did not have significantly lower levels of psychological well-being even before family processes and background variables were controlled. Overall, this research shows support for the family process perspective.