LABORATORY AND BRANCH RESEARCH REVIEWS 139- the influence of maternal employment upon a mother’s attitudes about
and performance of the maternal role; and 6) the impact of mental illness
upon the family, especially of husband-wife communication and interac
tion in the period preceding hospitalization of either for mental illness.^7
Melvin L. Kohn, Ph.D.
Courtesy of the National Institute
of Mental Health
Clausen recruited sociologist Melvin L. Kohn from Cornell University
in June 1952 and assigned him to a field research unit in Hagerstown,
Maryland, to assess the local distribution of mental illness and social
backgrounds of schizophrenic patients hospitalized there.^8 Kohn be
came head of the Section on Community and Population Studies, which
focused on the relationship between the broader aspects of community
organization, social structure or cultural dynamics and mental health, per
sonality development and behavior. This involved analyzing important
aspects of life in distinct populations, such as socio-economic strata,
ethnic origin or community of residence, or common stresses, as can be
seen in some of the studies conducted by this section: 1) the relationship
between social class and family structure in child-rearing values and
practices, personality development, and development of schizophrenia;
2) patient characteristics, treatment with tranquilizing drugs, and duration
of hospitalization as predictors of successful release from mental hos
pitals among first-time functional psychotic admissions; 3) the cultural
differences in utilization of community mental health resources; 4) men
tal deficiency in twins; and 5) the ways in which the meaning of a