Family Functioning of Male Alcoholics and Their Female Partners during Periods of Drinking and Abstinence

Family functioning of 20 alcoholic male veterans and their female partners was assessed in relation to drinking (wet) and abstinent (dry) intervals. Repeated measures analyses performed on the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD) indicated that on all 7 scales of the FAD, alcoholics and their mates perceived family functioning to be better during dry than wet periods. In contrast to their alcoholic mates, female partners gave healthier ratings to all FAD scales except Roles in the dry condition and Affective Involvement in the wet condition. According to published cutoff scores for healthy and unhealthy family functioning, alcoholics as a group viewed their wet and dry family functioning as unhealthy, although the female group regarded the family's dry Problem Solving and Behavioral Control as healthy. These findings suggest that the family functioning of alcohol-involved couples is biphasic, oscillating between drinking and abstinent periods.     

Enuresis in cross-cultural perspective: a comparison of training for elimination control in three Israeli ethnic groups

Enuresis was investigated in the context of different styles of training for bladder control among three Israeli ethnic groups (Jews of Moroccan, Kurdish or Eastern European descent). Semistructured interviews were conducted in ethnically homogeneous agricultural villages with 46 mothers of 248 children between the ages of 3 and 18 years. In contrast to previous British and American studies, no sex differences were found, but there were higher rates of primary enuresis and lower rates of secondary (regressive) enuresis. Enuresis was correlated among siblings in the Kurdish group only and with disorderly sleeping arrangements in the Moroccan group. The Moroccan and Kurdish groups had higher rates of enuresis than the Ashkenazi group. The higher rates appear to be related to differences in the age of onset of training and a lack of age-appropriate changes in the parent-child interaction, which led to chronic enuresis and the inability to seek effective assistance. These results are discussed in terms of a proposed typology for training: an early symbiotic style, a strict toddler style, and a communicative partnership.     

Interfacing Apple and IBM computers for the analysis of clinical biofeedback

This paper demonstrates a method of transferring research data from a remote clinic to a large university mainframe for data manipulation and statistical analysis. Data collected by an Apple //e computer were transferred to an IBM 3031 mainframe by sending data files to an IBM PC by telephone modem or by direct hardwire connection to the PC. The IMB PC performed data-formatting routines and then uploaded the files to the mainframe for storage. Advantages and disadvantages of sending data over telephone lines via a modem are discussed.     

Single-subject statistical analysis of computer-assisted biofeedback

Single-subject statistics were used to analyze physiological data [electromyographic (EMG) temperature] recorded from two patients receiving computer-assisted biofeedback treatment in a clinic. When the data were analyzed by an ANOVA method or a regression technique, the results demonstrated that both patients learned to significantly reduce EMG levels. The rationale of using single-subject statistics is discussed, and the applicability of the statistical technique to the clinic population is illustrated.     

Aggression in toddlers: Responses to the assertive acts of boys and girls

Sex Roles - Forty-eight toddler boys and girls, 18 to 36 months of age, were observed in play groups. The assertive acts of each child and the responses of peers and teachers were recorded. The...     

Appetitive differential conditioning of the rabbit’s jaw movement response

Two experiments examined appetitive differential conditioning of the rabbit’s jaw movement response (JMR) in a two-phase procedure. The first phase entailed reinforced training with one conditioned stimulus (CS+), and the second phase involved intermixed presentations of CS+ and an unreinforced stimulus (CS?). In Experiment 1, CS+ was a 600-Hz tone, and CS-was either a 660-,1,000-, or 2,100-Hz tone. In Experiment 2, the magnitude of the water unconditioned stimulus (US) paired with CS+ was either 1, 3, or 9 ml. The experiments revealed that 1) the level of responding to CS-rose for several days and then declined over the remainder of training; 2) the physical similarity between CS+ and CS?directly affected the level of responding to CS?but had no discernable effect on the level of responding to CS+ ; and 3) US magnitude positively affected the level of responding to CS + and, to a lesser extent, CS?. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for Spence’s gradient interaction theory and Pavlov’s external inhibition hypothesis.     

A note on accepting the null hypothesis: problems with respect to the mass-spring and pulse-step models of movement control

Models are sometimes developed on the premise that there are no differences between two or more conditions regardless of experimental manipulation. This article argues that unless a very sensitive experiment (or series of experiments) was conducted, such conclusions are often premature. Design and statistical factors such as alpha level, variability, sample size, and treatment effect are all determinants of the sensitivity of the experiment. It is sometimes the case that an experiment produces differences between means and yet the null hypothesis is not rejected because of high variability within experimental conditions or because too few subjects were used. Unless the probability of detecting a difference between groups is known, it would seem unwise to conclude that no difference exists. Judgment on the model should be suspended. Examples are taken from the mass-spring and pulse-step models fro voluntary movement control to illustrate the problem.