Are American children's problems still getting worse? A 23-year comparison

Child Behavior Checklists were completed in home interviews by parents of 7–16-year-olds in 1976, 1989, and 1999. Competence scores decreased from 1976 to 1989, but increased in 1999. Problem scores increased from 1976 to 1989 and decreased in 1999 but remained higher than in 1976. Items, empirically based scales, and DSM-oriented scales showed similar patterns for demographically similar nonreferred samples assessed in 1976, 1989, and 1999 and for national samples that included referred children assessed in 1989 and 1999. For the 114 problem items that were common to the 1976, 1989, and 1999 assessments, the Q correlation was .98 between the mean scores on the 114 items in 1976 versus 1989 and was .94 between the mean scores on the 114 items in 1976 vs. 1999. This indicated very high stability in the rank ordering of item scores across intervals up to 23 years. For all children, the 1-year prevalence rate for mental health services use was 13.2% in 1989 versus 12.8% in 1999. For children with deviant Total Problems scores, the 1989 prevalence for service use was 30.5 versus 26.6% in 1999. Neither difference was statistically significant.     

The selfish meme & the selflessATMA

The word ‘meme’ was first used by Richard Dawkins (Dawkins, 1976)¹ in the sense of a replicator to introduce the idea of cultural transmission through the process of imitation, just as genes are responsible for the evolution of organisms. Following Dawkins several writers came forth to have a closer look at ‘meme’. The consensus was that this was a fascinating way of explaining cultural evolution and transmission; that meme is the basic unit of (cultural) information whose existence influences events so as to make more copies of itself (Brodie, 1996).² The book which got most attention in this line of literature wasThe Meme Machine (Blackmore, 1993),³ which favours the idea that culture, like biology, evolves through the process of variation, selection and replication. Something striking in Blackmore’s thesis is that emotions and attitudes do not count as memes since they are subjective and never get passed on.     

REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this Article: Philosophers and Philosophies. By Frederick C. Copleston. Pp.184, London, Search Press, 1976, £5.95. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Bernard Lonergan. By Hugo Meynell. Pp.ix, 201 (Library of Philosophy and Religion), London, Macmillan, 1976, £10.00. Teleology. By Andrew Woodfield. Pp.viii, 232, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976, £6.50. The Leap of Reason. By Don Cupitt. Pp.xi, 145, London, Sheldon Press, 1976, £4.50. From Belief to Understanding. By Richard Campbell. Pp.229, Canberra, The Australian National University, 1976, no price given. The Dogma of Original Sin. By Alfred Vanneste. Pp.188, Brussels, Paris and Louvain, Van der Nauwelaerts, date not given, 520 BF . Gabrielis Biel: Collectorium circa Quattuor Libros Sententiarum, Libri quarti, pars secunda. Edited by W. Werbeck and Udo Hofmann. Pp.xix, 622, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr(Paul Siebeck), 1977, 335 DM. Ministry to Word and Sacraments. By Bernard Cooke. Pp.ix, 677, Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1976, $25.00. The Risen Christ and the Eucharistic World. By G. Martelet. Pp.252, London, Collins, 1976, £4.95. The Resurrection Narratives. By Norman Perrin. Pp.86, London SCM Press, 1977,£1.95. Logik der Auferstehung. By Klaus Kienzler. Pp.279, Freiburg, Herder, 1976, no price given. Three Monophysite Christologies: Severus of Antioch, Philoxenus of Mabbug and Jacob of Sarug. By Roberta C. Chesnut. Pp.viii, 158, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1976, £6.75 The Orthodox Churches and the West. Edited by Derek Baker. Pp.xii, 336 (Studies in Church History 13), Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1976, £10.00. Studies in Spanish Renaissance Thought. By Carlos G. Noreña. Pp.ix, 277 (International Archives of the History of Ideas, 82), The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1975, 87.50 guilders. Studies in Spanish Renaissance Thought consists of four essays. The purpose of the book is, in Professor Noreña's words. The Handle and the Axe. By J.C.H. Aveling, Pp.384, London, Blond & Briggs, 1976, £9.50. The Seminary Priests. Compiled by Godfrey Anstruther. 4 vols. Great Wakering (Essex), Mayhew-McCrimmon, 1968, £5.50; 1975, £6.95; 1976, £6.95 (paperback), £8.95 (hardback); 1977 £6.95 (paperback), £8.95 (hardback). Beleaguered Tower: The Dilemma of Political Catholicism in Wilhelmine Germany. By Ronald J. Ross. Pp.xx, 218, Notre Dame and London, University of Notre Dame Press, 1976, no price given. Meditation in Christianity and other Religions. Pp.304 (Studia Missionalia 25), Rome, Gregorian University Press, 1976, $15.50.     

REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this Article: Pneuma und Wort. Ein exegetischer Beitrag zur Pneumatologie des Johan-nesevangeliums. By F. Porsch. Pp.x, 445 (Frankfurter Theologische Studien 16), Frankfurt, Josef Knecht Verlag, 1974, DM 42. The Johannine Circle. By Oscar Cullmann. Pp.124, London, SCM Press, 1976, £3.50. Jesus on Trial: A Study in the Fourth Gospel. By A.E. Harvey. Pp.140, London, SPCK, 1976, £2.95. Sōma in Biblical Theology, with Emphasis on Pauline Anthropology. By Robert H. Gundry. Pp.xii, 265 (Society for New Testament Studies. Monograph Series 29), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976, £9.50. Ernst Troeltsch and the Future of Theology. Edited by John Powell Clayton. Pp.xiii, 217, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976, £7.50. Death and Eternal Life. By John Hick. Pp.481, London, Collins, 1976, £5.95. Philosophical Dimensions of Parapsychology. Edited by J.M.O. Wheatley and H.L. Edge. Pp.xxix, 483, Springfield, Illinois, Charles C. Thomas, 1976, no price given. Life after Death. By A. Toynbee, A. Koestler and others. Pp.272, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976, £4.95. Tragic Sense of Life. By Miguel De Unamuno. Pp.xxxv, 332, New York, Dover Publications, reprint of 1954 edition, £2.30. Psychiatry and the Humanities, Volume 1. Edited by Joseph H. Smith. Pp.xiv, 247, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1976, £7.50. Moulds of Understanding: A Pattern of Natural Philosophy. By Joseph Need-ham, compiled and edited by Gary Wersky. Pp.320, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1976, £7.75. The Relevance of Natural Science to Theology. By William H. Austin. Pp.132 (Library of Philosophy and Religion), London, Macmillan, 1976, £7.95. Theology and the Philosophy of Science. By Wolfhart Pannenberg. Pp.458, London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1976, £9.00 An Ontology of Understanding. By Vincent P. Branick. Pp.266, St Louis, Marianist Communications Center, 1974, no price given. SocialJustice. By David Miller. Pp.viii, 367, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1976, £8.50. Freedom and Independence. By Judith N. Shklar. Pp.xv, 216 (Cambridge Studies in the History and Theory of Politics), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976, £5.95. Casiodoro de Reina: Spanish Reformer of the Sixteenth Century. By A. Gordon Kinder. Pp.xvii, 142, London, Tamesis Books Limited, 1975, £10.50. The John Carroll Papers. Edited by Thomas O'Brien Hanley. 3 vols., London and Notre Dame (Indiana), University of Notre Dame Press, 1976, £60.00 (the set). The Immigrant Church. By Jay P. Dolan. Pp.xiv, 221, London and Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975, £6.50. Church and Society in England 1770–1970. By E.R. Norman, Pp.507, Oxford, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1976, £15.00. Romanticism and Religion. The Tradition of Coleridge and Wordsworth in the Victorian Church. By Stephen Prickett. Pp.viii, 295, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976, £8.50.     

Robust techniques for testing heterogeneity of variance effects in factorial designs

Several ways of using the traditional analysis of variance to test heterogeneity of spread in factorial designs with equal or unequaln are compared using both theoretical and Monte Carlo results. Two types of spread variables, (1) the jackknife pseudovalues ofs ² and (2) the absolute deviations from the cell median, are shown to be robust and relatively powerful. These variables seem to be generally superior to the Z-variance and Box-Scheffé procedures.This research was sponsored by Public Health Service Training Grant MH-08258 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The author thanks Mark I. Appelbaum, Elliot M. Cramer, and Scott E. Maxwell for their helpful criticisms of this paper. An earlier version of this work was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society, Murray Hill, New Jersey, April, 1976.     

Reviews

The Spirit of Solzhenitsyn by Olivier Clément, Search Press, 1976, 234 pp., £5.95.

Protestants in Russia by J. A. Hebly, Christian Journals Ltd., 1976, 192 pp., £1.50.

USSR ‐ Democratic Alternatives

(A collection of Essays & Documents) edited by Vadim Belotserkovsky, Achberger Verlaganstalt, 1976, 335 pp. No price.     

An essay in the history of a medieval ideal

John Bugge. Virginitas. The Hague: International Archives of the History of Ideas, Series Minor 17: The Hague Martinus Nijhoff, 1976, pp. 168. Guilders 47.50

Geoffrey Ashe. The virgin, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976, pp. 262. £5.25

Marina Warner. Alone of all her sex. The myth and cult of the virgin Mary, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976, pp. 400 + xix. £6.50     

REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this Article: Theology as Narration. A commentary on the Book of Exodus. By G.A.F. Knight. Pp.viii, 209 Edinburgh, The Handsel Press, 1976, £5.00. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. By R.J. Coggins. Pp.xi, 150 (Cambridge Bible Commentary), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976, £4.50 (hardback), £2.25 (paperback). The First and Second Books of the Chronicles. By R.J. Coggins. Pp.x, 314 (Cambridge Bible Commentary), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976, £7.95 (hardback), £3.50 (paperback). Matthew : Structure, Christology, Kingdom. By Jack Dean Kingsbury. Pp.xiv, 178, London, SPCK, 1976, £6.50. Paul and Palestinian Judaism. By E.P. Sanders. Pp.xviii, 627, London, SCM Press, 1977, £15.00. The Use and Abuse of the Bible. By Denis Nineham. Pp.xii, 296, London, Macmillan, 1976, £10.00. Biblical Studies: Essays in Honour of William Barclay. Edited by Johnston R. McKay and James F. Miller. Pp. 224, London, Collins, 1976, £4.50 Theological Investigations, Vol. XIV. By K. Rahner. Pp. 340, London, Darton Longman and Todd, 1976, £5.50. Building God's World. By Robert Fancy. Pp.190, Denville, N.J. Dimension Books, 1976, $4.95. The Ultimate Church and the Promise of Salvation. By Jerome P. Theisen, Pp.xx, 198, Collegeville, Minnesota, St. Johns Press, 1976, $7.50. Original Sin: two major trends in contemporary Roman Catholic interpretation. By G. Vandervelde. Pp. 350, Amsterdam, Rodopi N.V., 1975, no price given. Look for the Living. The Corporate Nature of Resurrection Faith. By Peter Selby. Pp.viii, 212, London, SCM Press, 1976, £2.50. A Christian Method of Moral Judgement. By J. Philip Wogaman. Pp.xi, 270, London, SCM Press, 1976, £5.75. La Conscience du Libre Arbitre. By Paul Siwek. Pp.119, Rome, Herder, 1976, no price stated. L'Expérience de l'Esprit (Mélanges E. Schillebeeckx). By Paul Brand and others. Pp.253, Paris, Beauchesne, 1976, no price given. Nature and Supernature. By E.L. Mascall. Pp. 94, London, Darton, Longman & Todd, 1976, £1.50. The Doctrine of the Trinity. God's Being is in Becoming. By Eberhard Jüngel. Pp.xxi, 166 (Monograph Supplements to the Scottish Journal of Theology), Edinburgh, Scottish Academic Press, 1976, £3.25. The Materials, Sources and Methods of Ecclesiastical History. Edited by Derek Baker. Pp.xii, 370 (Studies in Church History 11) Oxford, Black-well, for the Ecclesiastical History Society, 1975, £10.00. The Correspondence of Erasmus, Volume III. Translated by R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson, annotated by James McConica. Pp.xvi, 392. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1976, £17.50. St Thomas More: The Complete Works: Vol. 12, A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation. Edited by Louis L. Martz and Frank Manley. Pp.clxvii, 566; Vol. 13, Treatise on the Passion, Treatise on the Blessed Body, Instructions and Prayers. Edited by Garry E. Haupt. Pp.clxxxiv, 364, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1976, £30.60 and £25.20. Deus Destroyed: The Image of Christianity in Early Modern Japan. By George Elison, Pp.xiv, 542, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 1973, £17.50. The Economics of the Zambezi Missions 1590–1759. By W.F. Rea. Pp.189 (Bibliotheca Instituti Historic S.I. 39), Rome, Institutum Historicum S.I., 1976, no price given. The Holy See and the International Order. By H.E. Cardinale. Pp.557, Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe, 1976, £17.50. What is Romanticism? By Henri Peyre, translated from the French by Roda P. Roberts. Pp.214, Alabama, University of Alabama Press, 1977, no price given. The Two Dantes and Other Studies. By Kenelm Foster. Pp.ii, 260, London, Darton, Longman & Todd, 1977, £7.50. The Eye in the Mandala: Patrick White — A Vision of Man and God. By Peter Beatson. Pp. 1 72, London, Paul Elek, 1976, £5.95. The Spirit of Solzhenitsyn. By Olivier Clement. Pp. 235, London, Search Press, 1976, £5.95.     

Rehabilitation and recovery: Bulgaria's muslim communities

The Mountains of Serbia: Travels Through Inland Yugoslavia by Anne Kindersley, John Murray, 1976, 286 pp., £6.95.

An Early Soviet Saint ‐The Life of Father Zachariah Anonymous. Translated by Jane Ellis. Mowbrays (Keston Books No. 6), 1976, 111 pp., £4.25.

The Religion of the Russian People by Pierre Pascal. Translated by Rowan Williams. Mowbrays, London and Oxford, 1976, 130 pp. + ix, £2.95.     

The image of Muhammad in The Message,the first and only feature film about the Prophet of Islam

In 1976 The Message, the first feature film about Muhammad, had its premiere. It was a very special film because as a result of the restrictions imposed by some prominent Muslim legal scholars, the Prophet was not depicted, nor his wives nor his cousin ^cAlī. After an analytical impression of the contents of the film, the article discusses the relationship between the image of Muhammad in The Message and the pictures of the Prophet delineated by Muslim tradition and modern biographies of him. It then considers some new declarations made by Muslim religious authorities in 2002 and 2004 about films dealing with the life of the Prophet. Finally attention is given to the consequences of the rules announced by Muslim religious scholars concerning the image of the Prophet and to the acceptance of such an image by non-Muslims.     

An algorithm for clustering relational data with applications to social network analysis and comparison with multidimensional scaling

A method of hierarchical clustering for relational data is presented, which begins by forming a new square matrix of product-moment correlations between the columns (or rows) of the original data (represented as an n × m matrix). Iterative application of this simple procedure will in general converge to a matrix that may be permuted into the blocked form [_?1¹₁^?1]. This convergence property may be used as the basis of an algorithm (CONCOR) for hierarchical clustering. The CONCOR procedure is applied to several illustrative sets of social network data and is found to give results that are highly compatible with analyses and interpretations of the same data using the blockmodel approach of White (White, Boorman & Breiger, 1976). The results using CONCOR are then compared with results obtained using alternative methods of clustering and scaling (MDSCAL, INDSCAL, HICLUS, ADCLUS) on the same data sets.     

Ultrastable stimulus-response latencies: Acquisition and stimulus control

Modifications were made to Kristofferson’s (1976) response-stimulus synchronization procedure which resulted in a further reduction in the estimate of minimum S-R latency variance. Minimum variances near 50 msec² were obtained whether mean latency was 310 or 550 msec. Within this range, latency distributions were the same, symmetrical and sharp-peaked, and unlike typical RT. All responses fell within a 50-msec time window. This independence of mean latency and latency variance was present throughout acquisition. A special technique allowed isolation of the controlling stimulus for synchronization timing, and showed that subjects were able to transfer control to another modality with no loss of performance. Results are discussed in terms of support for the notion of nonvariable, internally timed delays which can be inserted in the S-R chain. These delays are easily adjustable, but, once set, are deterministic. The role of feedback in acquisition and maintenance of synchronization performance is also examined.     

Reviews

The Gulag Archipelago (Vols. 1 and 2) by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Collins, 1974 and 1975, 600 pp. and 712 pp. £3.50 and £4.95.

Arkhipelag Gulag (Vols. 1, 2 and 3) YMCA Press, Paris, 1973, 1974 and 1976, 606 pp., 657 pp. and 581 pp. No price.

A Marxist Looks at Jesus by Milan Machovec, Darton Longman & Todd, 1976, 220 pp. £2.95.

White Book on Restrictions of Religion in the USSR by Michael Bourdeaux, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in the USSR, Brussels, 1976, 66 pp., 65p.

Religious Liberty in the Soviet Union: WCC and USSR—A Post‐Nairobi Documentation edited by Michael Bourdeaux, Hans Hebly and Eugen Voss, Keston College (CSRC), 1976, 96 pp., £1.50.     

Thirty years on – a large anti‐Flynn effect/ (II): 13‐ and 14‐year‐olds. Piagetian tests of formal operations norms 1976–2006/7

Background Shayer, Ginsburg, and Coe (2007) showed that children leaving primary school in Y6 entered secondary school with much lower levels of understanding of the physical conservations than in 1976. It seemed desirable to investigate cognitive development in the first three years of secondary education. Aims By using two Piagetian tests of formal operations, one of which had been used in the 1976 CSMS survey, the performance of Y8 and Y9 pupils would be compared with the survey results published in 1978. Sample Eight schools were selected as willing to test their Y9 or Y8 classes on either the Pendulum (in 2007) or the Equilibrium in the Balance tests (in 2006), giving 39 classes on which to make the comparison with 1976 performance. Method Regression of the pupils' class mean on each formal test on either the class's 2004 MidYIS or nferCAT standardized scores, and computing the regression at IQ = 100 allows comparison with that found in 1976. Results On Equilibrium in the Balance the Y8 pupils were down on the proportion at the early formal level or above by ?0.61 standard deviations (SD) for boys and ?0.63 SD for girls on the 1976 results. On the Pendulum the Y9 boys were down by ?0.49 SD and the girls by ?0.48 SD on the proportion at the early formal level or above. Conclusion The negative Flynn‐effect found on Volume & Heaviness for Y7 pupils is paralleled by a similar negative effect on attainment of formal operations by Y8 and Y9, compared with 1976. Yet at the same time the proportion of pupils using the top level of concrete operational thinking has increased on both tests. It seems that there has been a change either in general societal pressures on the individual or in the style of teaching in schools – or both – favouring a lower level of processing of reality.     

Review by Margaret A. Boden School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences University of Sussex,England

Book reviewed in this article: SCOTT R. TURNER The Creative Process: A Computer Model of Storytelling. MINSTREL can be thought of as a more powerful version of the earliest plan-generating, artificial intelligence story-teller, TALE-SPIN (Meehan, 1975, 1976). Meehan, J. (1975) “Using Planning Structures to Generate Stories,” Meehan, J. (1976) The Metanovel: Writing Stories by Computer .     

Psychoanalysis and Dictatorship in Chile: A Non-Existing Relationship

This paper offers a critique of the Chilean Psychoanalytic Association (an affiliate of the International Psychoanalytic Association)¹ from 1973 to the Chilean democratic transition in 1990. During the period under examination, this group struck a moral, political, theoretical, and clinical stance, which entirely disavowed the context of the violent military dictatorship in which it existed and practiced appearing to be “saving” or “protecting” the purity of psychoanalytic thought from the intrusion of environmental factors. To demonstrate this disengagement I present the story of a member of the society who was detained and then disappeared in 1976, an event that went institutionally unnoticed and unprocessed among its members. Despite the fact that alternate strategies for facing and managing the traumatic effects of the oppressive regime were being developed by other agencies, only a small group of analysts ever supervised psychotherapists working with human rights violation victims or were willing to take seriously the effect this had on patients and on society as a whole.     

Adlerian family counseling: An evaluation

Abstract

A number of studies have been reported recently evaluating the effects of one or another form of intervention based on Adlerian principles (Freeman, 1975; Croake and Burness, 1976; Berrett, 1975; McKay, 1976; see also McDonough, 1976, for a review of other studies). Unfortunately, there are a number of problems in attempting to draw any general conclusions from these studies. First, a number of different types of Adlerian-based programs have been included, such as mother study groups, undefined parent study groups, and so on. Second, many of the studies were uncontrolled so that statements regarding the causes of any changes cannot be inferred. Third, many of the studies did not utilize adequate measures of child behavior (positive changes in which are an important goal of Adlerian family education programs), and instead relied on changes in parent attitudes.     

Reviews

Abstract

The sixth annual banff conference on behavior modification looks at families: Perspectives, polemics, and promises, Cole Barton, James F. Alexander

Behavior Modification and Families. Mash, E.J., Hammerlynck, L.A., and Handy, L.C. (Eds.), New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, 1976, $13.50, 362 pages.

Behavior Modification Approaches to Parenting. Mash, E.J. Hammerlynck, L.A., and Handy, L.C. (Eds.), New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, 1976, $13.50, 254 pages.

The abusing family, Blair, Rita Justice, William Friedrich, Human Sciences Press, 1976, $14.95, 288 pages     

Therapists' perceptions of healthy family functioning

Abstract

For several decades family theorists, researchers, and clinicians have attempted to describe healthy and dysfunctional family functioning. The numerous articles and studies with this focus have been reviewed elsewhere (Riskin & Faunce, 1972; Jacob, 1975). Until recently a disproportionate amount of attention has been given to pathology. Several volumes in the past few years have tried to redress this bias by focusing primarily on healthy family functioning (Kantor & Lehr, 1976; Lewis, Beavers, Gossett & Phillips, 1976).     

Book reviews and books received

T.D. Vaughan (ed.): Concepts of Counselling. London: Bedford Square Press, 1976. £1.50.

V.J. Derlega and A.L. Chaikin: Sharing Intimacy: What We Reveal to Others and Why. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1975. £1.95.

R.B. Sloane, F.R. Staples, A.H. Cristol, N.J. Yorkston, and K. Whipple: Psychotherapy versus Behaviour Therapy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1975. £7.20.

Dean F. Juniper: Decision-Making for Schools and Colleges. Oxford: Pergamon, 1976. £5 (paperback).

Gaynor Nurse: Counselling and the Nurse. Aylesbury, Bucks.: HM & M Publications, 1975. £1.50.

Rosemary Lee: Students at Risk. Cambridge: CRAC/Hobsons Press, 1976. £4.

Margaret I. Reid and Robert J. McDowell: Guidance in the Secondaty School. Windsor: NFER, 1976. £1.85.