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Abstract

The applicability of Bednar, Melnick, and Kaul's model of early group development to college student self-help groups was examined. Research participants were 101 undergraduates who met in high-structure or low-structure groups for four weekly sessions. Dependent variables included importance of performing group behaviors, ownership of group functioning, and perceived group cohesion. As hypothesized, a path analysis revealed that (a) amount of group structure was positively related to the importance of performing group member behaviors and negatively related to ownership of group functioning, (b) importance of performing group behaviors was positively related to group cohesion, and (c) early group cohesion was positively related to later ownership ofgroup functioningand later group cohesion. These results support several aspects of the tested model of early group development.

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References

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Group Development in Self-Help Groups for College Students

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