Examined the nature of family social interactions appearing in contemporary novels written especially for adolescent readers. Investigated: (1) family structures and parenting behavior; (2) family decision-making processes; (3) autonomy; (4) affect; and (5) global-health-pathology. As a norm, fictional families were not functioning optimally but…

The intense striving for power which characterizes much of male behavior occurs inevitably as part of the process of gender acquisition and consequently contributes to a sense of psychological vulnerability in the male personality. Masculine and feminine attributes develop spontaneously from young children's tendencies to compare themselves to…

The paper defines and discusses various social learning theories. Central to most theories of how an individual acquires socially acceptable behaviors are the processes of imitation, or observational learning, and identification, or modeling. The effectiveness of each process is noted. (SB)