Self-control in distressed couples: a pilot study

A protocol for the short treatment of fighting couples is described. The treatment consists of three training sessions in which homework assignments are given, aimed at enhancing self-control. The participants received exact instructions on how to monitor their anger, to take time out and to write to the partner in a structured manner, instead of expressing their anger in the usual way. A pre-/post-pilot study with nineteen couples shows that the couples improve significantly more during the training than in the pre-treatment baseline period. During the follow-up phase, the improvements are maintained.     

Effectiveness of family therapy: a meta-analysis

The effectiveness of family therapy is assessed in a meta-analysis of 19 studies. At post-treatment, the average patient with family therapy is better off than 76% of the patients with an alternative treatment, a minimal treatment or no treatment. This effect is comparable to that assessed of other psycho-therapies at post-treatment. Our data suggest, that the effect of family therapy increases during the first year after treatment, but that the effect may diminish sharply 18 months after the end of therapy. However, more studies with extended follow-ups will be needed before firm conclusions about the long-term effectiveness of family therapy can be advanced.     

Sex role correlates of stress-prone type a behavior in college students

This study considered the direct and interactive relationships between three sex role variables and Type A/Type B behavior in college students of both sexes. As predicted, Type A college women were more masculine than Type B controls; Type A females were not less feminine, however, as had been expected. No relationship was found between masculine or feminine sex role behavior and Type A status in college men, consistent with the results of an earlier study. Both male and female Type As revealed weaker gender schemas than Type B controls. Analysis of the conjoint variation of all three sex role components revealed no relationships for either Type A or Type B men. Type A women presented an unusual asynchrony between these components in light of the expected positive relation between stereotyped sex role identity (femininity) and sensitivity to stereotyped differences between women and men (strong gender-schematic processing). Nontraditional female Type As, who were more masculine than feminine, demonstrated strong gender schemas. Traditional female Type As, more feminine than masculine, displayed weak gender schemas. Type B women did not display these unusual sex role linkages.     

Gender and marital status differences in depression: The effects of chronic strains

Although women evidently have higher depression levels than men and singles have higher depression levels than the married, the reasons for these differences are yet unclear. This paper investigates whether differences in the stress-producing circumstances of the lives of men and women, and the married and unmarried, might explain the differences in their levels of depression. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we found that gender differences in depression were accounted for by chronic strains. Family-based strains and economic hardship are significant predictors of higher distress in women. Chronic strains also explain why variations in depression are more pronounced among the married than among the unmarried.Bowling Green State University     

Perceptual isolation effects: Short-term visual storage vs cognitive-perceptual structure

Two hypotheses concerning the effects of perceptual isolation were examined. Three experimental groups were defined by the interval between the first and second stimulus presentations within a recognition-discrimination problem. Ninety Ss were exposed to 12 recognition-discrimination problems for each of three physical dimensions of random forms, both before and after 1/2 h of perceptual isolation. Analyses of the number of correct responses indicated support for the hypothesis that isolation increases the duration of the short-term visual storage, but not for the hypothesis that isolation produces change in the hierarchy of physical dimensions to which Ss selectively attend.     

Stereoacuity for oscillating targets exposed through apertures of various horizontal ex tents

This experiment assesses the separate effects of several interrelated temporal variables on binocular depth discrimination as measured in a two-rod test apparatus. Equidistance settings were obtained from two Ss for a black target oscillating in a frontal plane at each of five velocities, and viewed against a constant illuminated background (1.20 log td) through 29 different horizontal apertures. Combinations of target velocities and aperture sizes were selected to produce a series of eight constant target viewing times (0.15, 0.25, 0.40, 0.50, 0.80, 1.00, 1.50, and 2.00 sec). Both the constant and the variable errors of the equidistance settings were analyzed in terms of the relative deleterious effects produced by increased target velocity and reduced horizontal aperture. The deleterious effects were discussed with respect to the contribution of presumed loss in neural integration for the changing luminous-energy distribution patterns on each retina, energy losses occurring in each pair of stimulated binocular retinal elements along the path of image movement, decreases in target viewing time, and reduction in the number of binocular retinal elements being stimulated.     

Short-term memory for a pure-tone stimulus among mentally retarded and nonretarded persons

Two studies were conducted to determine whether short-term memory performance differences between mentally retarded and nonretarded persons can be attrubuted to the operation of structural features, as contrasted with strategic control processes. The task—discrimination of intensity differences between two pure tones—was selected as one which would minimize specific strategy utilization. In the first experiment normal children, normal adults, and retarded adults were presented with a standard tone and then a comparison tone after an interval of 1, 5 or 10s. Difference limens and constant errors were computed over a substantial number of trials. Measures of intra-individual variability were also obtained. Clear age and IQ-related threshold differences were obtained. Difference thresholds increased over intervals for all groups. However, the critical interaction that would support a theory of differential decay of the memory trace was not obtained. A second experiment, procedurally similar to the first, was conducted using signal detection methodology. The major findings were: (a) groups differed in sensitivity (d′); (b) d′ decreased with increasing separation of standard and comparison tones; (c) d′ increased as the intensity differences between standard and comparison tones increased; and (d) retarded subjects did not alter response bias to changing task requirements Again, however, the interaction of groups and retention interval was not significant. Intelligence and age-related differences in the task occur early in the information processing sequence and appear to be of a perceptual nature.     

THE USE OF THE BEHAVIOR PROBLEM CHECKLIST WITH GREEK DEAF CHILDREN IN CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH*

The Behavior Problem Checklist was completed by teachers of 127 students who attended a state supported school for the deaf in Athens, Greece. Analyses were performed which generated three, four, five, and ten factors. The biographic variables of sex and age were also included in some of the analyses to determine their effect, if any, on the factor structure. Results of the analyses were compared to analogous results for U.S. deaf children and Greek hearing children. Three factors which correspond to dimensions found in earlier research and previously labeled conduct problem, personality problem, and inadequacy-immaturity were found. Overall the Greek deaf children tended to have problem behavior patterns similar to the U.S. deaf and Greek hearing as well as other populations. It was apparent that these patterns for the Greek deaf children were largely independent of the deafness handicap and differences in cultural background.