Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2014, Marriage and Family Counseling/Therapy

The purpose of the present study was to examine the influences of the created constructs of father involvement, family structure (marital status), parental relationship quality, and paternal religiosity on young adult-father relationship quality. Data from all three waves of the National Survey of Families and Households were used to test the present study's hypotheses. Canonical correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between the eight independent variables (four from each of the first two waves) and the two dependent variables of interest (both from the third wave). Within the framework of Systems Theory, it was hypothesized that each of the constructs of father involvement, family structure, parental relationship quality, and paternal religiosity would be statistically significant predictors of the constructs of young adult-father relationship quality per parental and young adult reports, to varying degrees. All of the created constructs had acceptable or strong internal reliability. Potential contributions of the present study include a better understanding of the relationship of certain family structure and father involvement factors on children's relationships with their fathers in young adulthood, as well as on their overall development. Such understanding could aid clinicians, researchers, parents and educators in better understanding the role of these family structure variables on young adult-father relationship quality.

Committee: Karin Jordan Dr. (Advisor); Xin Liang Dr. (Committee Member); Cynthia Reynolds Dr. (Committee Member); Rebecca Boyle Dr. (Committee Member); Rikki Patton Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Counseling Education; Families and Family Life; Individual and Family Studies; Mental Health; Personal Relationships; Religion; Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Sociology

Past research has examined the phenomenon of intimate partner violence (IPV), with recent increased focus on IPV among adolescents and young adults. Moreover, prior work examining IPV among young adults often looks at familial factors such as child maltreatment, and current relationship dynamics such as jealousy and control, but does not consider these two domains simultaneously. This is potentially problematic, as individuals’ relationships in multiple domains are affected by their socialization experiences within the family. Relatedly, research examining family effects on IPV often focus solely on childhood maltreatment and interparental aggression, failing to include other meaningful aspects of family life, such as the parent-child relationship. Finally, while trajectory analyses have been conducted in the past, most are confined to IPV occurring among older adults. Given the highly fluid and complex nature of adolescence and young adulthood, the examination of IPV across time may be especially insightful during these stages of the life course. Using five waves of longitudinal data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), the current project relies on social learning and life course theories to investigate the antecedents and trajectories of adolescent and young adult experiences with IPV perpetration and victimization. Results from fixed-effects, random-effects and growth-curve analyses indicate both parental violence (i.e. child maltreatment) and parentchild relationship quality (PCRQ) are significant and independent predictors of IPV reports. Interestingly, though, both parental violence and PCRQ are more predictive of males’ experiences with IPV than females’. Findings also demonstrate that as jealousy and control, cheating, verbal aggression, arguments, and partner mistrust increase in frequency or severity, so too does the likelihood of both IPV perpetration and victimization. However, contributing to previous research (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alfred DeMaris (Committee Chair); Peggy Giordano (Committee Member); Wendy Manning (Committee Member); Monica Longmore (Committee Member); Sherri Horner (Other) Subjects: Social Research; Sociology