Self-report schedules for use in assessing the marital adjustment of abusive and nonabusive parents

Abstract

Abusive parents and nonabusive parents were compared on three self-report behavioral marital questionnaires. The questionnaires—the Marital Status Inventory, the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, and the Areas of Change Questionnaire—have been used in pre-post evaluations of treatment and in the discrimination of distressed from nondistressed marriages. The results indicated that both groups reported having only mildly distressed marital relationships. The report presents initial normative data on the questionnaires for abusive parents and nonabusive parents who were seeking help with child management problems.     

Effects of Solution Elicitation Aids and Need for Cognition on the Generation of Solutions to Ill-Structured Problems

Numerous techniques have been proposed to assist problem solvers in the solution generation process. We empirically examined the effectiveness of a solution elicitation technique based on the presentation of problem objectives and also examined whether the technique was effective across individual differences in need for cognition (NC). We found that when two conflicting objectives were presented successively, more solutions, more categories of solutions, and more effective solutions were generated than when the same two objectives were presented simultaneously or not at all. However, the results indicated that effective solutions may be more efficiently generated by considering objectives simultaneously. Need for cognition was positively related to measures of divergent thinking, and the presentation of objectives was particularly effective as a solution elicitation aid for individuals with low NC. Implications for creative problem-solving research and practice are discussed.     

The psychological impact of facial changes in scleroderma

The physical disabilities associated with scleroderma are well known but the psychological impact of the condition has received less attention. Few studies have examined appearance related issues, most notably of the face. The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychological impact of facial, aesthetic and functional changes in scleroderma. One hundred seventy-one patients with a clinical diagnosis of scleroderma were recruited into the study. Digital photographs were objectively graded into groups based on severity of disfigurement as judged by an observer. Facial movement was recorded using a modified House-Brackmann Grading Scale. Psychological evaluation comprised the Derriford Appearance Scale short-form (DAS), the Noticeability and Worry score and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Severity of disfigurement predicted decreased mouth opening, the extent to which participants judged their appearance as noticeable to others, and the level of appearance-related concern as measured by the DAS24. There was an inverse relationship with age. Facial changes were ranked as the most worrying aspect of the condition. This study shows facial disfigurement impacts on patient with scleroderma independent of functional changes related to systemic disease. The major difficulty is with the perceived noticeably of the condition to other people and the resulting self-consciousness in social encounters.     

Capoeira as a Clinical Intervention: Addressing Adolescent Aggression With Brazilian Martial Arts

Aggression in adolescents is harmful and emotionally devastating to youth and surrounding communities. This article integrates martial arts and therapeutic principles into a culturally sensitive model that cultivates change in the aggressive behaviors of disenfranchised adolescents. The art form of Capoeira is proposed for promoting positive behavioral change. La agresión en los adolescentes es dañina y emocionalmente devastadora para los jóvenes y sus comunidades. Este artículo integra artes marciales y principios terapéuticos en un modelo culturalmente sensible que cultiva el cambio de los comportamientos agresivos de los adolescentes marginalizados. Se propone el arte de la Capoeira para promover un cambio positivo en el comportamiento.     

Processing of form: further evidence for the necessity of attention

Using the materials and general procedure described by Rock and Gutman (1981), 160 subjects were required to attend selectively to a series of 10 red or green outlines of two overlapping contours. Immediately afterwards, six groups of 20 subjects were administered various kinds of recognition tests involving attended, unattended, or new figures, and two groups of 20 were asked to provide affect ratings of the test stimuli. Consistent with the findings of Rock and Gutman in 1981, attended outlines were selected as old more often than unattended or new ones. Although some data in a single-stimulus condition suggested that the unattended forms were "discriminated negatively," this effect was not replicated with forced-choice testing. Over-all, there was little evidence that, on unattended forms, subjects were significantly more accurate, differentially confident or displayed more liking than on new ones. These results are interpreted as supporting the view that attention is required for the cognitive representation of form.     

Gender and sex-role attributes as predictors of utilization of natural support systems during personal stress events

This study was an empirical investigation of gender and sex-role attributes as they relate to the utilization of natural support systems during personal stress events. Compared to male subjects, female subjects reported significantly higher levels of requested assistance and perceived more help as being available from their natural support systems during the most stressful event encountered during the previous year. Subjects' scores on the femininity dimension of the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire were significantly correlated with amount of support asked for during stress events. Along with the variable of perceived level of stress, gender and femininity score accounted for 36% of the variance of natural support system utilization during a personal crisis. The results of the study are discussed in the context of current research on (a) the utilization of natural support systems and (b) the relationship between person variables and psychophysiological disease.     

Expectancies of reinforcer location and quality as cues for a conditional discrimination in pigeons

Experiment 1 demonstrated that reliably correlating different reinforcer locations (top vs. bottom) with sample stimuli markedly enhanced the performance of White Carneaux pigeons in a spatial conditional discrimination. This differential outcome effect was more evident at longer retention intervals. In Experiment 2, pigeons were given the opportunity to learn about two redundant reinforcer features--location (top vs. bottom) and quality (grain vs. chow). Which reinforcer feature exerted control over choosing depended on task structure. In the congruent task, where pecks to the top key operated the top feeder and pecks to the bottom key operated the bottom feeder, reinforcer location exerted predominant control. In the incongruent task, where pecks to the top key operated the bottom feeder and vice versa, reinforcer quality exerted exclusive control. These results have implications for the nature of reinforcer representations in instrumental learning.