Gendered Power in Cultural Contexts: Part II. Middle Class African American Heterosexual Couples with Young Children

When race and gender intersect, understanding gendered power may be complicated. The authors first describe the historical context that serves as important background for understanding gender and power in heterosexual African American relationships. Then they show how family solidarity in the face of social injustices often overrides gender equality as a goal for middle class African American couples with young children. The findings illustrate pragmatic equality within couple relationships and the willful suspension of gender roles for the well-being of the family as a whole. However, gendered power impacts couples in a variety of ways. Sometimes a woman's fear that the man might leave, for example, diminished her power in the relationship. Often a woman accommodated a man's greater power in the family because of her perception that he was often denied power in the larger society. Societal discrimination of women was less visible to couples. Implications for practice are provided.     

The Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ): A psychometric evaluation of the 36-item Norwegian version

The Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ) was designed specifically to study possible changes that occur during menopause. The purpose of this study was to perform a psychometric evaluation of the Norwegian version of the WHQ by examining the factor structure and construct validity of the instrument. Data used for the evaluation were collected at baseline of the ACUFLASH study, a randomized, controlled clinical trial that evaluated the effect of acupuncture treatment on menopausal symptoms. Altogether, 267 women with a very high frequency of hot flushes were included in the study. Some deficiencies in the WHQ questionnaire were observed when applied to this sample, including an unclear factor structure, low alpha values for some dimensions, and a strong floor effect in the vasomotor symptoms dimension. The total scale score appears reliable, but care should be taken when interpreting some of the subscales.     

Perceptions of marital interaction and change during pregnancy: A typological approach

Much of the literature on the transition to parenthood suggests that pregnancy and childbirth arc associated with decreases in marital satisfaction. Recent developments, however, demonstrate that this decrease in couples' satisfaction may be complicated by a number of factors. Among other things, the way couples interact may play a central role in their adjustment to the changes typically associated with pregnancy and childbirth. The purpose of this study was to examine whether couples who espouse varying patterns of interaction also have differing experiences of changes in marital needs and concerns during pregnancy. Couples (N= 190) enrolled in childbirth classes completed a series of questionnaires including Fitzpatrick's Relational Dimensions Instrument and a measure assessing perceived changes in their marital needs and concerns. Results indicated that husbands and wives differed in terms of the amount of nurturance they felt they gave and received, their tendency to worry since pregnancy, and their views concerning their sexual relationship. When changes in needs and concerns were compared across the various couple types, a number of patterns emerged. Wives in Traditional, Separate/Traditional, and Separate/Independent marriages felt they received significantly more nurturance since pregnancy than did wives in Independent marriages. Husbands in Separate/Traditional relationships noted greater increases in worrying than did other husbands. Finally, although couples varied in the frequency of conflict reported, they did not differ with regard to changes in conflict or the influence of such changes on their marriages.     

Using an Abbreviated Job Club Program in a Job Service Setting

A preliminary study was conducted to examine the possible utility of an abbreviated version of a group support program for job placement with clients of the Job Service. Such procedures may be helpful both in achieving job placement for clients and in assisting clients in meeting personal needs related to the stress of job seeking. Suggestions for further empirical validation of results are included.     

LOWERING FLOORS AND RAISING CEILINGS: A LONGITUDINAL ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF AN EARNINGS-AT-RISK PLAN ON PAY SATISFACTION

The attitudes of 101 bank employees were measured before and after the implementation of an earnings-at-risk (EAR) incentive pay plan which reduced base pay and increased employee risk and uncertainty with respect to total pay. Pay outcome satisfaction and pay process satisfaction both declined significantly over time, but the decrease in pay outcome satisfaction was the greater of the two. An examination of pay satisfaction antecedents at both points in time revealed relatively stable across-time relationships and provided information about some of the reasons for the changes. Perceived reward-to-effort ratio, which declined significantly over time, influenced both dimensions of pay satisfaction at both points in time. Perceived understanding of the pay system, which also declined over time, had a somewhat greater influence on pay process satisfaction than on pay outcome satisfaction, particularly at Time 2. In contrast to actual pay levels, changes in incentive and base pay amounts added more explained variance to the pay outcome satisfaction regression model. The study points out the potential for negative employee reactions to EAR incentive plans, and indicates that managers must ensure that employees understand these systems and feel that EAR plans will reward them equitably for their efforts.     

What Counselors Should Know About the Use and Interpretation of Psychological Tests

The effective use of tests in counseling depends on the choice of appropriate tests for the particular individual and problem under consideration, as well as the proper interpretation of test scores and their integration within the total assessment process. The knowledge needed for these purposes is discussed with reference to, first, statistical and technical knowledge about tests, and second, substantive psychological knowledge about the behavior domain that the tests assess. Because of the rapid accumulation of knowledge in both areas, counselors need to keep abreast of current developments through continuing efforts to update their knowledge.     

An Analysis of Counselor Verbal Interventions in Group Counseling

This study of verbal interventions of counselors during group counseling with predelinquent urban youth revealed that of the 12 counseling skills rated, 3 accounted for 2/3 of the verbal interventions used by the counselors.