Marriage Guidance Training and the Trainee's Own Marriage: A Prospective Study

Twenty trainees and 18 partners took part in a study of the effects of a marriage guidance training programme on their own marriage. Changes were assessed in two ways: retrospectively ('perceived' changes as assessed following training) and prospectively (changes calculated by comparing scores obtained before training and those obtained after training). For most dimensions there was little correspondence between 'perceived' change and 'calculated' change. This has important methodological implications, which are discussed. The 'calculated' change indicated poorer marital adjustment following training. The trainees' scores suggested that they had become less 'abasing' and less 'nurturant' towards their partners; also that they had more disagreements about 'philosophy of life' and 'dealing with in-laws'. Their comments suggested that a number of the trainees had become more analytical of their own marriages, and that training had heightened their awareness of their own needs and individuality.     

Work involvement among college-educated women: A methodological extension

This paper has two objectives: (1) to develop a more complex measure of work involvement than that typically used, and (2) to correlate this measure with selected lifestyle/family and work variables. The data were drawn primarily from a 1981 survey of 110 female graduates of a large Midwestern university who completed their undergraduate degrees in 1967. Respondents were categorized as high, moderate, or low on a work involvement index based on four variables: work continuity, work status, current or most recent occupation, and educational achievement. Findings in the area of lifestyle/family suggest that high work-involved women are more likely to be single and to marry later when they do marry, less likely to have children, and less likely to perceive conflicts between marriage/relationships and/or children and a career. Findings in the area of work suggest that high work-involved women are significantly more likely to work in male-dominated occupations and to earn salaries of $20,000 or more. High work-involved women are also significantly more likely to be supervisors, to report that most of the people in their work group or branch are below them in rank/position, to be working with all or predominantly men, to have men above them in rank, and to have experienced sex discrimination on the job. In the area of job satisfaction, the differences by work involvement are not as pronounced. High work-involved women are significantly more likely to be employed and not job hunting — one measure of job satisfaction. However, they are no more or less likely than moderate or low work-involved women to perceive their job as a compromise with what they expected or to report overall job satisfaction. Some directions for future research are discussed.Environmental Strategies, Inc.Preparation of this report was supported, in part, by the Providence College Fund to Aid Faculty Research. Thanks are due to the staff of The Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College for access to the 1970 questionnaires, to Sharon R. Jenkins for data processing consultation, and to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS

Large community studies of depressive symptomatology provide mixed evidence concerning gender differences. The present paper investigates the effect of the high skewness typically present in distributions of depressive symptom scores on findings of a gender difference in depression. Because of this skewness, a few extreme scores among women (or in any subgroup) can produce a significant between-groups difference in untransformed scores even when the two groups' distributions are otherwise similar. Data from a community survey ( n = 1316) are consistent with this hypothesis. The data also suggest that gender increases depression scores indirectly, rather than directly, for the few women scoring in the extreme upper tail of the distribution. It is concluded that the gender difference in depressive symptoms lacks robustness, and that when it does occur, the effect of gender on depression can be understood as ndirect, i.e., as mediated by gender differences in rate of employment, job status, education, and income.     

Insight-oriented group psychotherapy of latency-age children in an acute care setting

Traditional approaches to group therapy with latency-age children have stressed activity and nonverbal therapeutic interventions. These approaches originated in the 1940s with Slavson's activity aroup therapy. A review of the literature of the past 25 years reveals that many clinicians have increasingly employed verbal techniques with latencyage groups. Most such reports describe groups for latency-age out-patients. In this paper, a verbal, interpretive technique for group therapy with latency-age inpatients is described. Clinical vignettes are included to illustrate this technique. Our experience suggests that such a technique can become an integral part of the inpatient treatment program for the latency-age child.     

An evaluation of the Garren-Edwards diet and behavior modification program

This study evaluated the efficacy of the Garren-Edwards Behavior Modification Program, which uses the Garren-Edwards Gastric Bubble as an adjunct to treatment. Group therapy sessions were conducted with 23 morbidly obese subjects for 6 months on a biweekly basis. Each therapy session used a five-stage problem-solving sequence designed to facilitate adaptive behavioral alternatives. In evaluating weight change, a multivariate analysis of variance was conducted along with two preplanned orthogonal comparisons. Patients lost significant amounts of weight between initial to 3-month (p<.0001) and 3- to 6-month intervals (p<0001). A similar treatment effect was noted in an additional sample of 24 morbidly obese subjects following 3 months of treatment (p<0005). The findings support the value of longer goal-oriented programs in promoting continued weight loss. Implications for treatment process and therapist interventions prompted by this new format are discussed.     

Correlates of negative attitudes toward homosexuals in heterosexual college students

Negative attitudes toward homosexuals were assessed in 103 heterosexual college students. On the average, 17% of the sample agreed or strongly agreed with each of 40 negative statements about homosexuals. Cronbach's alpha and a principal components analysis indicated that the attitude scale was unidimensional. Methodological improvements were made in the assessment of the correlates of negative attitudes toward homosexuals. Such attitudes were inversely related to age, academic performance, and the use of principled moral reasoning. They were positively related to traditional attitudes toward men, women, and the equality of men and women. Compared to females, males' attitudes toward homosexuals were more negative, and their attitudes toward men, women, and the equality of men and women were more traditional. However, the correlates of negative attitudes toward homosexuals were similar for males and for females. It was concluded that negative attitudes toward homosexuals are part of a larger belief system regarding conventional social order.     

Academic achievement and attributions among college students: Effects of gender and sex typing

Attribution questionnaires were completed by 137 students in an introductory economics course immediately preceding the first exam in their class and immediately after their exams were returned. Results indicate that males and females used attributions differently, although not as a function of perceived outcome. In contrast, sex-typing groups varied their attribution as a function of perceived outcome. Self-esteem is proposed as a possible mediating variable. It was concluded that sex typing in relation to perceived successful and unsuccessful performance is an important variable in attributional research.     

The relation of gender-role orientation to sexual experience among college students

This study examined the relations of gender and three aspects of gender roles — self concept, behavior, and sexual attitudes — to three aspects of sexual behavior — sexual experience, reasons for intercourse, and contraceptive use. Gender was strongly related to all three aspects of sexual behavior. For both men and women, sex role behaviors were related to sexual experience and to reasons for intercourse, but not to contraceptive use, and sex role self-concept was unrelated to any of the aspects of sexual behavior. The results indicate that sexual behavior is influenced both by societal gender role norms and by individual differences in the acceptance of those norms.     

Responses to the Challenger tragedy: Subtle and significant gender differences

Within two weeks of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, 188 subjects rated and ranked questionnaire items, and completed open-ended questions reporting their responses to and concerns arising from the accident. Analysis of open-ended responses showed females focused more on communal, person-centered aspects of the tragedy than did males. Analysis of ratings showed females viewed person-oriented issues as more important than did males. However, males and females did not differ in rankings assigned the items nor in ratings of the importance of the technological issues. Claims about sex differences in moral orientation are discussed in light of the results of this study.