The dimensions of nonauthoritarianism

The converse of authoritarianism has not been conceptualized very clearly though scales purporting to measure nonauthoritarianism are among the most commonly used in. personality inventories. Using the Autonomy scale of the Omnibus Personality Inventory (a derivative of the original California F scale), as administered to a sample population of beck and white college freshmen, the dimensions of nonauthoritarianism were explored. A factor analysis of the scale creates three components (anti-authoritarianism, anti-conventionalism and open-mindedness) that are conceived of as successive phases in the weakening of authoritarianism. This phase hypothesis is supported with evidence from Guttman scales and a correlational analysis of how black and lower-class as compared to white and middle-class students shift from one phase to another over the course of the freshman year.     

Preschool children with externalizing behaviors: Experience of fathers and mothers

Childhood behavior disorders are related to family stress and maladjustment. Little is known, however, about the adjustment of families with preschool-aged children at risk for subsequent behavior disorders. Moreover, fathers' perceptions of child problem behavior and their reactions to it generally have been neglected. Subjects were mothers and fathers of 52 preschool-aged children assigned to one of three groups: control, moderate externalizing, and high externalizing. Higher child externalizing behavior was associated with greater negative family impact, lowered parenting sense of efficacy, and child-rearing practices that were more authoritarian and less authoritative. Mothers and fathers did not differ in actual perceived level of child behavior problems, although both believed that mothers saw more problems. Child Group × Parent interactions indicated that mothers experienced increased stress and a need for help with moderate as well as high child externalizing behaviors, whereas fathers were not elevated on these measures unless the child's externalizing behaviors were high. Implications of these findings for early family intervention are considered.This study is part of the Preschool Project, conducted at UCLA's Fernald Child Study Center, Co-PIs Bruce L. Baker and Barbara Henker. We appreciate the involvement of Barbara Henker, Erin Gallagher, Laurel Smith, and Terry Webster. We also appreciate the very helpful anonymous feedback from the two journal reviewers.     

Accounting for achievement in parent-teacher interviews

This paper examines features of the talk in a number of teacher-parent interviews recently audio-recorded in a secondary school in Brisbane, Australia. The central topic of the talk is the academic achievement of the student. In offering accounts of the student's achievement, participants offer moral versions of themselves as parents and teachers. These institutional identities are oriented to and elaborated in the course and in the organisation of this talk. The student about whom the talk is done is present but largely silent, an overhearing audience to this talk. The analysis shows how parents and teachers talk two institutions, and the relation between them, into being.We wish to thank the participants in the interviews for their agreement to have the interviews audio-recorded.     

Quality of life and social support of patients being evaluated for bone marrow transplantation

A sample of 437 patients completed self-report measures of quality of life and social support while they were being evaluated for bone marrow transplantation (BMT) at The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center. Generally, the candidates showed reasonably high levels of quality of life (QOL) on the Satisfaction with Life Domains Scale (SLDS), their present ranking on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Ladder of Life, and their scores on the Bradburn Positive Affect Scale. The level of QOL of these candidates for transplant was significantly related to their level of social support. Both availability and adequacy of social support for these transplant candidates were found to be significantly related to QOL as measured by the SLDS. Availability of social support as measured by patient membership in religious and other organizations was significantly related to Positive Affect but not Negative Affect. The Family APGAR and Relational Support Scales measures of social support were significantly correlated with both Positive and Negative Affect.     

Negotiating international bioethics: a response to Tom Beauchamp and Ruth Macklin

Can the bioethical theories that have served American bioethics so well, serve international bioethics as well? In two papers in the previous issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, I contend that the form of principlist fundamentalism endorsed by American bioethicists like Tom Beauchamp and Ruth Macklin will not play on an international stage. Deploying techniques of postmodern scholarship, I argue that principlist fundamentalism justifies neither the condemnation of the Nazi doctors at Nuremberg, nor, as the Report of the Advisory Committee on the Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE) demonstrates, condemnation of Cold War radiation researchers. Principlist fundamentalism thus appears to be philosophy bankrupt. In this issue of the Journal, Beauchamp and Macklin reject this claim, arguing that I have misread the ACHRE report and misunderstood Nazism. They also argue that the form of post-postmodern negotiated human rights theory that I proffer is adequate only insofar as it is itself really fundamentalist; insofar as I take postmodernism seriously, however, I mire international bioethics in relativism. In this response, I reaffirm my anti-fundamentalism, provide further evidence in support of my reading of the ACHRE report, and defend my post-postmodern version of rights theory. I also develop criteria for a minimally adequate theoretical framework for international bioethics.     

The relationship between sex-role orientation and vocational undecidedness: An exploratory study

The relationship between sex-role orientation and vocational choice has attracted empirical interest but many studies conducted have been inconclusive. Giankos and Subich (1986), however, produced a highly significant result (p < .001) which suggested that non-traditionally sex-typed subjects are more vocationally indecisive than traditionally sex-typed subjects. To attempt a replication of this finding, data were collected from 65 subjects, of whom 32 were unemployed and the remaining 33 were in full-time tertiary education. Although statistical analysis revealed no main effect on vocational indecision for either the sex-role identity or unemployed/student distinctions, the data suggested an interaction between these two factors. The level of statistical significance fell between .05 and .10. This trend, together with Gianakos and Subich's finding, suggest that vocational indecision may be associated with an interaction between sex-role orientation and socio-economic factors.