This study examined the conflict-related communication styles of American and Israeli couples and how these communication styles related to marital satisfaction in the two groups. An Israeli sample was recruited from Israeli couples currently living in New York City; the American sample was selected from the friendship circles of the Israeli couples. In spite of the close social ties of the two groups, we predicted that the conflict-related communication styles of the Israelis would be less calm and rational than those of the Americans and that such rational modes of communication would be positively associated with marital satisfaction for the Americans but not for the Israelis. The principle instruments were Straus' Conflict Tactics Scale, Ryder's Imagined Situation Inventory, and Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results largely confirmed the hypotheses. Israeli couples were more apt to be verbally aggressive (but less physically violent) and less apt to behave calmly during marital conflict, but these communication styles did not relate to marital satisfaction as strongly for the Israelis as for the Americans. These findings are discussed as a demonstration of the importance of considering cultural context when treating families.
Abstract:The article compares reading literacy education in Germany and Finland using the following curricula and textbooks intended to ten-year-old pupils as data: Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education and the German Bildungsstandards, as well as of three Finnish and three German textbooks. Our analytical method is critical discourse analysis, which is used for the purpose of the comparison. We identify three important differences in the curricula that also affect the textbooks. In our analysis of the textbooks we focus on identifying their ideal readers, and, as a reflection of the differences between the curricula, find that these ideal readers differ between the German and Finnish data. We illustrate the ideal readers' characteristics by analyzing extracts from the textbooks. The ideal reader in the Finnish textbooks is presented more as an independent actor who is interested in learning and whose prior knowledge is valuable whereas in the German textbooks the ideal reader is more dependent on guidance. According to our limited data, we consider this to be one of the key elements illustrating the differences in German and Finnish educational cultures.
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