Parents of the Handicapped by Alfred H. Katz

As the sexual abuse of children becomes more widely discussed, clinicians have become increasingly aware of the forgotten group of clients: the adult victim of childhood incestuous abuse. This article presents a group model useful in the treatment of these women. It outlines a time-limited, structured approach based on contextual theory. The selection of group participants is explored with an emphasis on the screening procedure that is used. A profile of the individual who most benefits from this treatment is also included. The various stages of the group are highlighted and the therapists' role during each phase is discussed. Case examples are used to illustrate many of these points.     

Studying Personality Cross-Culturally Edited by Bert Kaplan

This article offers a theory about the evolution of small group systems through a seriesof stages It discusses the relationship of these stages to and their effect on the self-other and therapeutic mteruentive spheres m the long-term group treatment of children. The developmental unfolding is seen as universal to small groups and as operating on an interpersonal and collective level, distinguishable from individual psyches and close dyadic bonds but influenced by them. On an isomorphic level the group stages contain emotive, cognitive, and interactive themes and pr cesses that parallel and evoke those of the bonding and work processes. As such, the group dynamic provides an enabling matrix and a mirror for the other goings on in the member–therapist encounter. Its pacing and its progressions and regressions appear to correspond with those of the development of the transitional space and therapeutic culture of the group. Like the other articles in the symposium, this one offers specific examples in which the three spheres intersect and are integrated.     

School Psychologists at Mid-Century Edited by Norma E. Cutts

Considerable evidence suggests that group interventions are a valuable resource for cancer patients, but few conceptual frameworks are available to guide decisions about which approaches might be most usefulforwhich patients at what phases of illness. This article presents an integrative treatment model for group services. It describes different group interventions geared toward patients at different phases of illness to accommodate the shifting needs and concerns that evolve over the course of the disease. Recommendations are offered concerning further research and model development.     

Psychological Aspects of Aging Edited by John E. Anderson

Supervision and training groups have advantages over dyadic supervision and training that include factors to promote group learning and interaction within a sociocultural context. This article focuses on the gender aspects of group supervision and training. It provides a review of feminist theoretical developments and presents their application to group supervision and training in the form of eight guidelines that are illustrated by clinical examples.     

Personality Profiles and Political Parties

This paper explores relationships between basic personality profiles of voters and their political party preferences. The Italian political system has moved recently from previously extreme, ideologically distinctive parties to form complex coalitions varying around more centrist orientations. Significant evidence was found for the utility of the Five-Factor Model of Personality in distinguishing between voters' expressed preferences, even given this greater subtlety in proposed values and agendas. More than 2,000 Italian voters who self-identified as having voted for new center-left or center-right political coalitions differed systematically in predicted directions on several personality dimensions measured by the Big Five Questionnaire. In the context of the model, center-right voters displayed more Energy and slightly more Conscientiousness than center-left voters, whose dominant personality characteristics were Agreeableness (Friendliness) and Openness; Emotional Stability was unrelated to either group. This relationship between individual differences in personality and political preferences was not influenced by the demographic variables of voters' gender, age, or education. Thus, personality dimensions proved to be stronger predictors of political preference than any of these standard predictor variables. Implications are discussed regarding links among personality, persuasion, power, and politics.