Comparison of Schizophrenic Patients' Families and Normal Families in China,Using Chinese Versions of FACES-II and the Family Environment Scales

The lack of measures that systematically evaluate the characteristics and functioning of Chinese families is hindering the development of appropriate family interventions for schizophrenia in China. We assessed the reliability and validity of revised and adapted Chinese versions (CV) of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES-II-CV) and the Family Environment Scales (FES-CV) and administered these instruments to 120 respondents from families with a schizophrenic member and 126 respondents from control families. The psychometric properties of the FACES-II-CV and of the FES-CV Cohesion, Conflict, Intellectual-Cultural Orientation, and Active-Recreational Orientation scales are satisfactory, so they are appropriate for use in China; the remaining six FES-CV scales require further culturally appropriate revision. Compared to control families, families with schizophrenic patients in China have higher conflict, lower cohesion, poor adaptability, and are less likely to be involved in intellectual and recreational activities. These differences remained significant after adjusting for family and respondent characteristics.     

Counseling Rejected Applicants: Feedback for Career Development

In this article the author points out the need for more adequate counseling with an often neglected segment of the population: rejected applicants to higher education. He delineates the roles, functions, and problems of the counselor in this situation, using as an example current procedures for counseling rejected applicants in the Yale Physician's Associate Program. The article contains recommendations for counselors, so that they might become more familiar with the problems and functions of admissions committees, and for admissions committees, so that they might enlist the aid of those with counseling training in both the admissions process and the counseling of rejected applicants.     

Empirically Unbinding the Double Bind: Review of Research and Conceptual Reformulations

This article reviews the empirical research on the double-bind concept and describes the conceptual and methodological limitations of the studies. Because of the difficulty in defining and operationalizing the concept, most studies have not adequately tested substantive issues related to the double-bind hypothesis. The relationship of the concept to other family dynamics concepts is discussed and a reformulation of some of the basic tenets are presented. The article also attempts to clarify several of the theoretical and methodological issues related to the double-bind hypothesis, and specific recommendations are made regarding future research on this topic.     

PPS/SPS: similar but different

Pupil personnel services and student personnel services are compared on organizational patterns, professionalization problems, and relationship to counseling. Both entities have unique problems but are not without commonalities. Student personnel workers fare better in organizational patterning and counseling, while pupil personnel workers have fewer professionalization problems. Future prospects for both services have inherent promise.     

Counseling Regulations Regarding Sexual Misconduct: A Comparison Across States

Sexual relationships with clients, former clients, and supervisees are some of the most powerful and difficult clinical issues for counselors. These issues force counselors to examine the heart of the therapeutic process: the counseling relationship. The purpose of this study was to gather and analyze different approaches used by state counseling boards to deal with sexual relationships in counseling and supervision. This information affords counselors and state licensure board members a broader view of options and issues involved in this difficult area of ethical decision making.     

Patterns of Preference for Numerical and Verbal Probabilities

We report results of an experiment designed to test a principle formulated by Budescu and Wallsten (1995), that, when communicating uncertainty information, mode choices are sensitive to sources and degrees of vagueness. In addition, we examined subjects’ efficacy in using such uncertainty information as a function of communication mode, source, and vagueness. In phase one of the experiment, subjects in a dyad used precise (numerical) or imprecise (verbal) expressions to communicate to a remote partner precise or vague uncertainty about the likelihoods of events. Spinner outcomes were used to generate precise uncertainty while answers to almanac questions were used to elicit vague uncertainty. In phase two, subjects saw the events paired with their partners’ estimates of similar events, and were asked to gamble on one event from each pair. Communication mode preferences were measured as the relative frequency that subjects chose the numerical mode to either express or receive uncertainty information regarding the events. Efficacy was measured as the relative frequency that subjects choose from the pair the event associated with the objectively more probable uncertainty expression. Underlying uncertainty interacted with direction of communication to affect preferences for modes of expression of the probabilities. Subjects preferred precise (numerical) information, especially for precise events (spinners). For vague events (questions), their preference for precise (numerical) information was stronger when receiving than when communicating information. Similar preferences were reflected in the efficiency of subsequent gamble decisions based on the probability estimates. Specifically, decisions were more efficacious (i.e. consistent with Expected Utility) when degrees of precision in events and estimates matched. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.