CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL AND DROPOUT MDTA TRAINEES1

A study was designed to compare several variables of Manpower Development Training Act (MDTA) clients who dropped out of the program with those of clients who completed the program. A random sample of application cards was drawn for individuals enrolled in MDTA adult classes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Trainees who completed the program were more likely to be married, older, characterized by a more stable employment history prior to entering the program, and slightly more educated than were program dropouts. Clients who completed the program versus those who did not were not significantly different on the following variables: (1) sex; (2) counseling versus no counseling; (3) race; and (4) client reported physical disability.     

Child and adolescent services research at the national institute of mental health: Research opportunities in an emerging field

This article describes an important new area of research on services for children and adolescents with mental disorders at the National Institute of Mental Health, the parameters of mental health services research for youth, and the opportunities that are available for grant-funded investigations in this area.     

STIMULUS (INSTRUCTIONAL) FADING DURING EXTINCTION OF SELF-INJURIOUS ESCAPE BEHAVIOR

Three individuals with developmental disabilities were exposed to a series of assessment conditions to identify the source of reinforcement for their self-injurious behavior. In each case, self-injury occurred most often in instructional (demand) situations containing a brief time-out from the task contingent on self-injury, indicating that the behavior was an escape response (i.e., maintained by negative reinforcement). Treatment was implemented in a multiple baseline across subjects design and consisted of extinction (prevention of escape) plus instructional fading (initial elimination of instructions followed by their gradual reintroduction). Results showed that the combined treatment produced immediate and large reductions in self-injury that were maintained as the frequency of instructions was increased across sessions to match the original baseline rate of presentation. Results of a component analysis conducted with 1 subject suggested that stimulus fading accelerated the behavior-reducing effects of extinction.     

Sex Roles, Interpersonal Control, and Depression: Who Can Get Their Way?

This study is one of a series of investigations examining the contribution of sex roles to the development of depression within a learned helplessness framework. Utilizing 143 pairs of undergraduate female participants, the present study explored subjects′ abilities to gain and maintain control in an interpersonal context. Interpersonal control was operationalized as successful persuasion in a two-person discussion task, wherein one participant had hidden instructions to be maximally persuasive in discussing a questionnaire about social behavior. The results indicated that less successful persuasion was associated with increases in depressed mood. Furthermore, women with high masculinity and low femininity were able to gain interpersonal control regardless of the sex role of their partner. The results also suggested that high femininity is associated both with giving up control in interpersonal tasks and with increases in depressed mood when one is faced with the task of exerting interpersonal control. The findings were interpreted in terms of the importance of sex role characteristics in learned helplessness and depression.     

Late Adolescents' Experiences With and Attitudes Toward Videogames1

A total of 229 late adolescents (a large majority 15 to 19 years of age) completed a questionnaire that assesses a broad range of videogame-relevant experiences, preferences, and attitudes. Videogame playing was found to be a more popular, and a more highly regarded, activity among males than females. Gender differences were also found in participants' ratings of their motivations for playing videogames, their evaluations of particular characteristics of videogames, and their selection of their “most favorite” videogame. The differences between frequent and infrequent videogame players appeared to be limited to differences in the extent to which videogame playing is pursued and evaluated as a positive leisure activity, rather than reflecting broad differences in interest or personality. Some relations were found between participants' self-reported personality characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, empathy, conscientiousness, and introversion) and their attitudes toward videogames.     

Associations Between Clinic-Referred Boys and Their Fathers on Childhood Inattention-Overactivity and Aggression Dimensions

The question asked in this study of 70 clinically referred 6- to 12-year-old boys with behavior problems was whether or not childhood inattention-overactivity and aggression are transmitted specifically from biological fathers to sons. Fathers' self-reported childhood inattention-overactivity on a retrospectively valid measure was exclusively associated with parents' ratings of their sons' current attention problems on the Mothers' Operational Measure for Sub-grouping (MOMS), the Revised Child Behavior Checklist (RCBCL), and an approximated DSM-IV inattention dimension. Fathers' self-reported childhood aggression was not associated with ratings of their sons' aggression on the MOMS or DADS (a parallel instrument for fathers), nor on DSM-III oppositional or conduct disorder dimensions, but it was exclusively associated with RCBCL ratings of sons' aggressive and delinquent behavior. None of the nonspecific correlations (father inattention-overactivity with son aggression or father aggression with son inattention-overactivity) was significant.     

Comparison of the factors influencing interviewer hiring decisions for applicants with and those without disabilities

Two studies present an examination of the factors that influence hiring decisions for applicants with, and those without, disabilities in the employment interview. In Study 1, an integrative conceptual model of interviewer hiring decisions was proposed and tested in a field sample of applicants with disabilities. Interviewers provided ratings for 70 unstructured interviews with disabled applicants. Study 2 examined the fit of the model in an independent field sample of interviews with fully-able applicants (n=165). Results supported the model among both groups of applicants. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.This paper has been improved greatly through the suggestions of John Binning, Michael Campion, Robert L. Dipboye, Miles Patterson, and Mark Tubbs, and Lisa Brady and Jennifer Malatesta. Study 1 was partially funded by a grant from the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to the Wright State University Office of Disability Services (Theodore L. Hayes, co-Principal Investigator).