The purpose of this study was to investigate college student stress, how students cope with stress, and how the stress of renegotiating self and relationships influences one's sense of coherence (SOC). A survey research design was utilized incorporating 596 college students. Using family stress theory, this study examined how stress associated with relationships, level of coping, physical and emotional reactions to stress, and quality of life can be integrated to predict SOC in male and female college students. Findings indicate that female college students experience greater stress from quality of friendships, love relationships and relationships with parents. Whereas emotional health had the greatest effect on SOC for females, family relationships had the greatest effect on SOC for males. Qualitative responses were also examined, providing insight into students' perceptions of stressors. Conclusions and implications for educators, researchers and family therapists are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The traditional method of studying families has often focused on the pathological rather than on the strong family. However, accentuating positive aspects could prove to be more important in a long-term basis than simply solving problems and weathering crises. Understanding the strengths of families has great potential for helping to solve many of the problems that families incur (Foster, 1983).Studies of family strengths have generally concentrated on traditional families rather than on nontraditional families such as remarried families, blended families, dual-career families, older

As the role of fathers within families continues to evolve, understanding how these changes impact life satisfaction is needed. This is especially relevant for fathers who have children with disabilities; therefore, this study sought to understand the group differences between fathers of children with and without disabilities. A survey design was used that involved 85 fathers of children with disabilities and 121 fathers of children without disabilities. Analyses indicated that fathers of children with disabilities experienced greater stress in daily parenting hassles, family life events and changes, parenting stress and health stress. In comparison, fathers with children who did not have disabilities had a higher level of coping and greater satisfaction with life. A path-analysis model based on family stress theory indicated that whether or not fathers had children who were disabled was a major contributor to life satisfaction followed by parenting stress and stress from family life events and changes. These findings provide implications for future research and practice.

No abstract

Translational family science lies at the intersection of family research and the practice of family life education (FLE). Discussion of the foundational principles of FLE (education, prevention, strengths‐based, and research and theory‐based) and its key components (culture, context, content, and practice) provide a framework for considering the reciprocal relationship between family science and family life education in the context of translational family science. Further discussion is provided regarding possible barriers to progress and the need to better integrate discovery science and practice science.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived life, marital, and sexual satisfaction of married couples undergoing treatment for infertility. A survey research design was utilized involving the responses of 43 husband-wife pairs. The findings indicated that wives had a significantly lower level of satisfaction with life than their husbands and that there were significant relationships between husband-wife pairs for both marital and sexual satisfaction. In comparison to paired wives, the responses of 17 wives whose husbands chose not to respond to the survey indicated higher levels of dissatisfaction in all three dimensions of life satisfaction. Furthermore, a majority of the scores for this group indicated clinical levels of depression. It was evident that individuals, especially females, undergoing treatment for infertility experienced stress in various areas of their lives. Hence, suggestions are given to assist caregivers in their endeavor to enhance the quality of life for infertile couples.

No abstract

The present study seeks to model the effects of parenting stress on contentment experienced by spouses of soldiers deployed to Iraq for long periods of time (n= 200). Using the ABC‐X model from family stress and resiliency theory, a path analysis determined that, in addition to parenting stress, the length of deployment and the ethnic background of the Army spouse also acted as contributing stress factors influencing not only contentment, but perception of family coping and the sense of coherence experienced by the spouse during long‐term deployments (mean = 4.6 months). The mean age of children in the home was found to have significant effect on sense of coherence in this particular sample of women. The influence of the stressors in the statistical model on life contentment was mostly ameliorated by sense of coherence (i.e. perception of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness in daily life). In other words, spouses with higher sense of coherence experienced better contentment with their lives during deployments. The study also captures qualitative responses and provides several themes associated with daily experiences of Army spouses. Implications for both military and civilian social workers are discussed.