Information-Seeking Practices during the Sexual Development of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals: The Influence and Effects of Coming Out in a Mediated Environment

Constructing a sexual identity is one of the major developmental tasks of adolescence. Applying the Media Practice Model, this study retrospectively examines how self-identifying lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals used media during the commencement of the coming-out process and the effects of media use during this pivotal time of development. Results indicate that the Internet plays a critical role in the development of LGB sexual identities. Heavy users of media during the coming-out process are significantly less likely to communicate openly with their families later in life. However, individuals’ reports of loneliness and self-esteem are not affected. Conclusions suggest that mediated forms of communication can be beneficial for sexual exploration among LGB individuals.     

Linking family dysfunction to suicidal ideation: Mediating roles of self-views and world-views

Research on suicide has documented various factors predicting suicidal ideation. The present study focused on the pathways emanating from one of the external, environmental forces (i.e. family dysfunction) through internal responses (beliefs about oneself and about the world), to suicidal ideation among Hong Kong Chinese. Using structural equation modelling, we tested the mediating roles of depressive self-views (including stress perception, depressive cognition and negative self-esteem) as well as two dimensions of social axioms (social cynicism and negative reward for application). Multi-group analysis showed that the mediation model was invariant across both males and females. Being socialized into a problematic family of origin affected multiple aspects of one's assessments of both oneself and one's world which, in turn, lead to greater suicidal ideation. Our findings provide important implications for assessing suicidal risk and guiding interventions in clinical treatment.     

Role of personal endorsement of outgroup members' distinctive values and need for cognitive closure in attitude towards the outgroup

The present study was designed to examine the role of the perceived culture of the outgroup and the perceiver's cognitive style on the intergroup process. We conducted a survey among mainland Chinese college students to discover the role of their personal endorsement of Hong Kong Chinese's distinctive values and need for cognitive closure in predicting their attitude towards the Hong Kong Chinese outgroup. Results showed that mainland Chinese who gave a higher endorsement of Hong Kong Chinese values were more likely to show a positive attitude towards Hong Kong Chinese, especially for people with a higher need for cognitive closure. These results were discussed in terms of the function of shared social reality on the formation of positive intergroup attitude. Future directions for intergroup research were proposed based on these findings.     

Clients' suitability for counselling: The perception of counselors working in general practice

This study investigated the attitudes of 112 counsellors in general practice towards various factors concernig the selection of clients. Response indicate that counsellors are influenced, not only by diagnostic criteria, and other factors relating to the client, but also issues relating to the counsellor and the setting in which she or he works. The diagnostic critreria whcih seem to be considered most important are desire for change, motivation for therapty and evidence of psychopathology, althoug there is no clear consensus about the criteria overall. Importance varied according to the age and sex of the counsellor, but not by the experience, training, model of working, desire for further training, or number of sessins available.     

Positive and negative norm regulation and their relationship to therapy group size

Norm regulation was examined in 18 outpatient psychotherapy groups, each led by cotherapists and varying in size from two to eight clients. Clients indicated acceptabilityand likelihood of occurrenceof 24 member behaviors. Positive norm regulation of acceptable behaviors was more readily achieved than negative norm regulation of unacceptable behaviors. The amount of positive regulation in any group was unrelated to the amount of negative regulation. However, group size was associated with both positive and negative regulation, with very small groups achieving more norm regulations than large groups.The author is grateful to suggestions by Bob Dies, Ken Howard, and Roy MacKenzie on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Ethical Issues in Counselling in Education

It is suggested that there are two quite distinct Systems of ethics and practice in use by counsellors in education: the integrated model, which emphasises viewing the counsellor-institution relationship as theprimary ethical perspective; and the differentiated model, which emphasises the counsellor-client relationship as the starting point for an ethical understanding of the counsellor's role. The implications of these two perspectives for ethical issues relating to sources of referrai, issues of confidentiality, accountability for resources, the implications of role diffusion, and the outcomes of counselling, are examined. The ethical consequences of viewing the two Systems as reconcilable or incompatible are explored.     

Olfactory aversion conditioning and overeating: a review and some data

The present study evaluated the efficacy of olfactory aversion conditioning in the management of overeating problems. 42 overweight female subjects were assigned to one of three treatment conditions: olfactory aversion therapy, attention placebo control, and no-contact control. One experimenter administered the 8-wk. treatment phase. The aversion therapy procedure entailed the pairing of selected target foods (CSs) with noxious odors (UCSs). There were 25 pairings of the CS and UCSs during each weekly session. Four noxious odors were employed, one each week, to prevent habituation to the UCS. The attention-placebo control procedure was identical except that "air" was substituted for the putative UCS of the aversion therapy condition. At the end of the treatment period the aversion therapy group had lost 4.7 lb.; the attention placebo controls had lost 3.6 lb. and the no-contact controls 0.5 lb. The difference between the aversion therapy group and the no-contact controls was significant and that between the attention placebo group and the no-contact controls approached significance. At a follow-up 8 wk. after the end of the treatment period the weights of all groups had risen to pretreatment levels and there were no differences between them. These results indicate that olfactory aversion therapy is not an efficient technique in promoting weight-loss.     

The incidence,prevalence, and severity of behavior disorders among preschool-aged children in day care

This study examined the incidence, prevalence, and severity of 14 empirically derived externalizing (unsocialized aggressive) and internalizing (socially withdrawn) behaviors among 2- through 5-year-olds attending day care. Teacher ratings were obtained for 558 children in the incidence sample and 709 children in the expanded prevalence sample. Within each age, data were cross-tabulated by sex of child and severity of behavior, and chi-square analyses were computed. Results indicated that a substantial proportion of children in the normal preschool population exhibit relatively high severities of selected externalizing and internalizing behaviors; this proportion varied with the age of the child and the behavior rated. Preschool-aged boys were consistently rated as demonstrating greater frequencies of externalizing behaviors than preschool-aged girls. The diagnostic and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Personality, Self-Disclosure and Friendship Between Chinese University Roommates

The present study examined the relations among personality perceptions, self-disclosing behavior, and friendship strength between Chinese roommates. These variables are rarely measured together and, when jointly assessed, allow for the disentanglment of personality factors from the social behavior of self-disclosure, making it possible to assess the role of self-disclosure behavior in the nexus of personality perceptions relating to friendship. One hundred and thirty-one university students rated their own and their roommate's personality, their self-disclosing behavior, and the strength of their friendship six months after being assigned to room together. It was found that self-ratings on the personality dimension of application were related both to one's friendship ratings and one's self-disclosing behavior, suggesting that personality variation is responsible for some of the well-established (Collins and Miller, 1994) links between self-disclosure and friendship strength. After controlling for self-rated application, it was found that both the respondent's and the roommate's self-disclosing behavior contributed separately to increasing the respondent's friendship ratings, as has also been found in Western research. Surprisingly, respondent self-disclosure was unrelated to how respondents perceived their roommates. However, the perceived roommate qualities of helpfulness and intellect were associated with the respondent's friendship ratings, suggesting that other, unmeasured social behaviors are being exchanged between roommates to enhance their friendship. Future research should examine these other behavioral mediators of friendship, so that we can develop a behavioral topology for this important social relationship and link these behaviors to dimensions of interpersonal perception.