Sexual preference,feminism, and women's perceptions of their parents

In an attempt to clarify the relation between parental variables, sexual preference, and sex-role attitudes, three groups of women were studied: lesbian feminists, heterosexual feminists, and heterosexual traditional women. The women were asked about their perceptions of their parents when they were in high school. The groups differed more from each other with respect to their perceptions of their fathers than their mothers. The perceived attitudes of the father were much more important in differentiating lesbian feminists from heterosexuals than in differentiating heterosexual feminists from heterosexual traditionals. Both the heterosexual groups (feminist and traditionals) reported having a more affectionate and involved father who also encouraged them more in the expression of anger than the lesbian feminists reported. The results suggest women's father relationships must not be obscured in research and support Johnson's hypothesis that the father relationship is more central than the mother relationship in sex typing and especially in the specifically sexual aspects of sex typing.     

The development of therapeutic consultations in child-focused family work

This paper outlines the theoretical influences that have led to our use of a consultation approach to work with children and families. Winnicott's notion of therapeutic consultation, the narrative approach in family therapy, the use of letters in therapeutic work and the two-plus-one model of therapeutic contact are discussed. A model of the consultation interview and process is presented together with examples of consultation letters responding to typical client expectations of the process.     

Assessment of incarcerated juvenile delinquents: Agreement across raters and approaches to psychopathology

The purpose of the current study was to examine the agreement across three informants (youth, teacher, caretaker) when rating behaviors of incarcerated juvenile delinquents. Furthermore, the agreement between a dimensional approach (Child Behavior Checklist) and a categorical approach (DSM-III-R) of assessing behavior was examined. Fifty-two delinquent youth were assessed with a structured interview. In addition, the youth, teacher, and caretaker completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The results indicated significant correlations across the teacher and caretaker for externalizing types of problems. The youth report form of the CBCL did not correspond to either adult informant. However, the ratings by the teacher and caretaker were related to externalizing types of problems, primarily hyperactivity/inattention, derived from the structured interview with the delinquent. The results suggest that, in the psychological assessment of incarcerated juvenile delinquents, agreement across informants is dependent on multiple factors, including type of behavior assessed and the approach utilized in assessment.This work was supported, in part, by the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council of Georgia, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the University of Georgia's Institute for Behavioral Research.     

Issues and options in literacy training

When was the last time you saw a job application with no spelling or grammatical errors? Basic skill deficiencies among people at all levels of business are forcing companies to develop innovative ways of compensating for and correcting the problem. What follows is a summary of literacy training strategies and suggestions for implementation.     

Attentional scanning and space errors

Using the method of paired comparisons, pairs of simultaneous horizontal or vertical lines, with one line above and one below or one on the left and one on the right of a fixation point, respectively, were presented tachistoscopically for length comparison. Space errors were found to have a pattern similar to that of time errors. The tendency to guess the comparative response from the absolute magnitude of stimuli is proposed as a basis for time and space errors. Manipulation of attentional scanning, which implies a more frequent usage of this guessing strategy for one of the two lines in a pair, was shown to affect space errors.     

Sex-typing of play and psychological adjustment in young children: An empirical investigation

Traditional assumptions that sex-role conformity is positively related to psychological adjustment in young children have not, to date, been examined empirically. Seventy-four preschool children, 37 boys and 37 girls aged 3 to 5, were observed over a 3-month period to determine their frequency of play in male and female sex-typed activities during the free-play period in their classrooms. Teacher ratings on the Kohn and Rosman Symptom Checklist and Social Competence Scale were correlated with individuals' rates of play in male and female preferred activities (M and F scales, respectively). Results indicated that boys' play with male-preferred toys was related to high scores on the aggression/defiance dimension of the Symptom Checklist, while boys who scored highly on play in female-preferred activities received high scores on the Social Competence dimension labeled conforming to classroom rules. For girls, play with malepreferred toys was negatively related to the apathy/withdrawal dimension of the Symptom Checklist. These results do not confirm the hypothesis that sex-typed behavior is positively related to adjustment, and they suggest that for both sexes, play in opposite sex-typed activities may contribute positively to children's social and academic functioning in the classroom.This research was supported in part by Grant No. MH25751-06 from the National Institute of Mental Health, and by a grant from the Programme de Formation de Chercheurs et d'Action Concertée, Ministére de l'Education, Gouvernement du Québec. Portions of this paper were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, April 1981.     

Conditioned tilt naming: A modified absolute judgment method is used to measure the oblique effect

Two naive human observers were conditioned to report on the slant of a 3.8-cpd sinusoidal grating viewed monocularly with a light-adapted eye and presented at various orientations extending from ?45 to +135 deg. The procedures used yielded a baseline measure of performance and measures obtained during conditioning, extinction, and reconditioning of the tilt-naming response. Both subjects learned rapidly, achieving a level of performance that permits efficient measurement of meridional differences in perceived orientation Ithe oblique effect) at a large number of angles.     

‘Just leave it blank’ non-religious children and their negotiation of prayer in school

ABSTRACT

This article examines how non-religious children experience acts of collective worship and prayer in primary school settings and analyses how they negotiate religion and their non-religious identities in these events. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork examining non-religious childhoods and collective worship in three English primary schools, the authors explore how non-religious children demonstrate their agency when confronted with particular boundaries and concepts related to religion and non-religion in school contexts. Attending to the experiences, perspectives, and practices of non-religious children adds to our understanding of the varieties of non-religion, which has to date largely focused on elite, adult populations. Focusing on non-religious children’s experiences of prayer reveals how these children did not experience tensions between praying to God and their non-religious identities and articulated their own interpretations of these practices, deepening understanding of the lived realities of non-religious cultures and identities.