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The article presents information on a research investigating how do adults explain occurrences with which they are not familiar. During the research, the subjects were cordial and cooperative, with very minor exceptions. During the first demonstration, the explanations of predictions included such terms as "air resistance," "more mass per area," "density of what surface there is," and the like. Out of thirty-five, thirty-one subjects predicted correctly. In the second demonstration, there was a sheet of paper on boxes. Predictions in this case varied considerably. In the third demonstration, spool and card experiment was done which is another example of the Bernoulli effect. Twelve predicted the card would fall or drop, 11 predicted that it would be blown away. In fourth demonstration, the prediction given by 11 was correct.

Theoretical and empirical bases are presented in this paper for considering the situation of parents during the period after the children leave the family of orientation as an emergent and identifiable phase of the family cycle. The post parental period is found to be generally a satisfactory one for marital partners although problems arise in role-taking and adult socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the spiritual relationship as one form of social relationship. The first pan of the paper concludes that sociologists have concentrated on religion as a belief system in a social organization and have not given consideration to religion as a spiritual relationship. The second part concerns factors that are related to the degree of spiritual involvement, and tentatively concludes that in late adolescence this involvement is directly related to satisfaction with parents, while in early adulthood it is negatively related. Finally, there is a discussion of the conditions under which one object might compensate for another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the book "Images of Class," by A.F. Davies. This is an expensive little book recording a survey in 1962 of the attitudes towards class of 146 adults in Melbourne. The aim was to find out what they understood by class, how they would locate themselves and other people (notably relatives) in this stratification system, and to try to deduce something about the origins of these attitudes by interrelating the facts collected in the survey. Some stress is laid on sibling relationships as a cause but in view of the small sample and the investigators' failure to calculate any tests of significance, these conclusions carry little weight. Most of this book is anecdotal; interesting but of little scientific value, but perhaps it is useful as the pilot it was intended to be.

The article presents a questionnaire study of the traits that adults consider to be important in the formation of friendship with members of their own sex. The numerous friendships that the average adult forms in a society present a wide variety of characteristics. It is frequently observed that two persons who consider themselves as friends differ markedly from each other both physically and psychologically. If an analysis is made of the friends of the average adult, at least two major types are almost certain to be found. One type is those friendships, which are socially and economically expedient, if not obligatory, as the result of one's position in his business or profession, or in the organization or club to which he belongs. The second type includes those friendships, which are formed on the basis of a relatively free choice on the part of the members of the friendship pair. The intention of this paper is to determine what physical and psychological characteristics are considered desirable and undesirable from the standpoint of the formation of friendship between two adults of the same sex.

This paper reports the findings of a study that related a series of background and treatment variables to the likelihood of success or failure on probation for 791 California adult offenders. Thirteen variables on which the 415 probation successes and the 376 failures differed significantly were divided into three categories: social background, antisocial behavior, and conditions of probation. The greatest differences between the two groups were in the antisocial behavior category. Probationers with a past history of disciplinary problems in the military, a juvenile record, or an adult record were much more likely to fail on probation. The type of crime the failures commit (property: auto theft, check offenses, forgery) suggests elements of career offenders. In terms of social background, the failures were more likely to come from disadvantaged circumstances: lower educational level and lower socio-economic status. They are also more unstable, as reflected in a high incidence of marital instability and a greater tendency to move from job to job. Finally, certain conditions of probation, especially the ordering of restitution, were more prevalent in the case histories of the failures than of the successes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarized some results from a larger investigation of the stability of behavior in a group of subjects who were part of the Fels Research Institute's longitudinal population. This report dealt specifically with the long term stability of passive and dependent behavior from childhood through adulthood. The Ss were 27 males and 27 females for whom extensive longitudinal information was available from birth through adolescence. One psychologist studied narrative reports based on observations of the child in various settings and rated each child on four variables describing types of passive and dependent behavior for ages 3 to 6 and ages 6 to 10. A second psychologist, who had no knowledge of the childhood data, interviewed each S in adulthood and rated each S on six variables related to aspects of adult passive and dependent behavior. In addition, each adult S was administered a tachistoscopic perception task in which scenes illustrating dependent activity were presented at seven different exposure speeds. The results revealed that passive and dependent behaviors were quite stable for women, but minimally stable for men. Over 60 per cent of the correlations between the childhood (ages 6 to 10) and adult ratings of dependency were statistically significant for females, while only 9 per cent were significant for men. For example, the correlation between passive withdrawal from problem situations for ages 6 to 10 and adulthood was .52 (p <.01) for women and .21 for men. Similarly, the correlation between emotional dependence for ages 6 to 10 and adult dependency on parents was .51 (p < .01) for women and .02 for men. The correlations between the ratings for ages 3 to 6 and adulthood were considerably lower and not statistically significant. It was suggested that environmental disapproval and punishment of dependent behavior in young males led to inhibition of and conflict over dependency in the growing boy. The social acceptance of passive and... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a phenonienological framework of the, socialization process, based on Husserl, Mead, Schütz, Berger and Luckmann. It focuses on the assumptions underlying the Meadian analysis of socialization, and examines selected differences between child and adult socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is one chapter from a larger study called "Success and Failure of Adult Probationers in Wisconsin." The problem is to compare the behavior of rural-farm probationers, rural-nonfarm probationers, and urban-nonfarm probationers with respect to certain traits in their history. These traits were age of conviction, factors in the family background, factors associated with the circumstances and conditions of the crime and of the trial, crime for which convicted, length of sentence, and period on probation. Rural- farm and urban-nonfarm differ most strikingly in their behavior on probation. The critical ratio of the standard error of difference to the actual difference between their mean violation rates was 6.8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to consider stereotyping procedures in relation to another substantive area: that of adolescence. The main conclusions which can be drawn from empirical studies of racial stereotypes is that stereotypes have a considerable ability to resist change and to remain unaffected by new information. There can be little doubt as to the tenacity of racial stereotypes. However to argue that they are never subject to change in any degree is to misunderstand the import of empirical findings. The definition of adolescence cannot be divorced from those of childhood and adulthood. People process through each status over time. Since the procession is a temporal one there tends to be an association between each status and a particular age-range. In societies with instituted rites de passage the relationship between age and status is formally defined. The status of adolescence has important implications for the kinds of roles which are appropriate for actors. Adult status is characterized by the adoption of responsible roles. On the other band both children and adolescents are expected to play roles which are not responsible. However the status of children is such that they are not expected to play adult roles at all.

The article presents information on the research interview and its measurement. Not only is it the most often used tool in social work practice, the interview is also an essential device in social work research. Information can be gathered by this means when no other method is either adequate or possible, yielding richer qualitative data than many other tools and techniques. However, in spite of its important qualities, the interview as a method for collecting original data in research has one major disadvantage: it fails to provide quantitative data for comparison and measurement of interviews. This paper reports attempts to measure a series of forty-eight recorded interviews together with the methods of question formulation and recording development in an attitude study undertaken by the writer in rehabilitation settings in the New York metropolitan area. The study dealt with two groups of individuals with visible and non-visible physical impairments. The primary purpose of the interviews was to collect data about the subjects' attitudes toward their disability. All forty-eight subjects were male adults of various socioeconomic levels, educational backgrounds, and occupations. Each subject had been interviewed by the same interviewer twice prior to the recorded interview to gather biographical data.

The article reports on determining the extent of obesity in an individual based on body density, body potassium or body water. Body fat is defined as the difference between body weight and lean body weight while fatness can be predicted through body fat and height. This paper hopes to gather data that will be used to derive equations which will accurately estimate total body water from anthropometric measures in individuals from infancy to adulthood and be able to determine the normal relation between fat and height in assessing excess fat.

This paper focuses on aspects of adult socialization into the deviant community of skid row. Residence on skid row is defined as a stigma, and the extent of one's acceptance of the stigma and identification with skid row are viewed as varying with his drinking behavior, his interaction with other skid-row men, and his interaction with people who do not live on skid row ("normals"). These ideas are tested in a secondary analysis of data gathered in a 1964 survey of 92 skid-row men selected at random from the registers of four Bowery lodging houses. Findings consistent with the hypotheses include the following: 1) identification with the Bowery varies inversely with extent of interaction with "normals"; 2) interaction with Bowery men is directly related to conformity to skid-row drinking patterns. Five other hypotheses receive partial support from the analysis. In general, support for the hypotheses is greatest among two Bowery subpopulations—men who have lived there less than 10 years, and men who do not drink heavily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sociological Research Unit of the Department of Sociology of Education has been engaged for the past five years upon a study of variations between and within social class in familial patterns of communication and control. This paper examines social class differences in maternal reports of various contextual usages of language. The findings, obtained from a sample of 100 mothers, indicate social class differences in adult-adult and mother-child communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a preliminary study of the relative standing, in both schooling and ready knowledge, of groups of liberal and conservative U. S. adults. The article states that the findings of the study provide a new perspective on the "attitudes-enlightenment" problem, and seem to afford some clews as to where certain types of education and information campaigns might make headway and where they might encounter important psychological barriers. The article provides information about the procedures or methods taken for arranging the data for the study. One of the techniques employed in the study was "Contrasted Groups" in which people in the survey who approved or agreed with a criterion attitude question were compared on information and education with people who disapproved or disagreed with the proposition. The result or the findings were summarized in form of tables. The 16 attitude areas were indicated in the first column together with the approximate date or dates when the questions were asked, and with the putatively liberal answers in capital letters. The most obvious conclusion is, apparently, that no consistent superiority obtains for either liberals or conservatives.

New data concerning relations between change in religious affiliation and family stability are examined, disclosing results highly similar to those obtained in a previous study. Religious homogeneity between spouses is shown to be similarly related to family stability among both Catholic and Protestant couples. Results for couples who achieve a common religious affiliation in adulthood are virtually the same as those for couples who have always been religiously homogeneous. The continuity of results over two studies suggests that more intensive research, particularly longitudinal in design, is in order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many recent studies of older people have been concerned with the validity of the theory of disengagement. Briefly stated, this theory assumes that disengagement is an inevitable process associated with aging "in which many of the relationships between a person and other members of society are severed, and those remaining are altered in quality." The theory further assumes that ego energy declines with age, and that as persons age they experience increased self-preoccupation and presumably decreased response to normative controls. Data from a nationwide sample study of persons aged 65 years or more permit comparisons of the attitudes of successive age cohorts from age 65 to 69 to age 85. The findings indicate that with advances in age, old people in the United States apparently do become increasingly preoccupied. On the other hand, there seems to be no evidence from the data for the decrease in response to normative controls also suggested by the theory. The data suggest that most old people harbor weak or non-existent age group identifications, and that most old people are optimists. A key question seems to be whether the present findings are associated with aging in a particular culture, the United States, or whether they have a more general application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses sex role expectations and criteria of social adjustment for young adults. Forty-nine adult informants from a rural county in southwestern Minnesota were interviewed as part of the validation phase of a study in the prediction of adjustment. The intent was to obtain data for a group of subjects enrolled in the county schools from four to six years prior to the interview and for whom predictions of adult adjustment, based upon psychological instruments and teacher' ratings, had been made. The inform ants were from a variety of occupational groups including clergymen, physicians, gas station attendants, salesmen etc.