Antecedents of information-processing skills in infants: Habituation, novelty responsiveness, and cross-modal transfer

Three skills which characterize cognitive functioning in human infants in the middle of the first year of life—habituation, novelty responsiveness, and cross-modal transfer—predict mental ability in later childhood. Antecedents of each skill at 5 months postnatal were examined in a short-term prospective longitudinal study of infant ability and maternal intelligence and interaction style. Infant perceptuocognitive performance at 2 months, maternal intelligence, and maternal responsiveness at 5 months relate to the expression of the three infant cognitive skills, but in different ways. Variation in infant information-processing abilities can be explained by specific child and maternal factors that are evident soon after birth.     

The Older Native American Indian With Disabilities: Implications for Providers of Health Care and Human Services

This article presents a review of the literature as regards the older Native American Indian, as well as a report of health care and human service needs based on a recent study of urban Native American Indians with disabilities in the Denver metropolitan area.     

Moderation and Mediation of HIV-Prevention Interventions: Relationship Status,Intentions, and Condom Use Among College Students1

This study examined the effects of 2 HIV prevention interventions on condom use and mediators of condom use. College students were randomly assigned to a control condition or an intervention (communication skills or technical skills). Those who received either intervention had greater condom use self-efficacy, more positive condom use attitudes, and stronger intentions to use condoms than did controls. Furthermore, 3-month follow-up data revealed that students in either intervention who were not in a steady dating relationship reported more consistent condom use than did those in the control condition, whereas students who were in either intervention and in a relationship reported somewhat less consistent condom use than did those in the control condition. Analyses suggested that effects of the interventions on condom use were mediated by increased intentions to use condoms.     

Treatment of traumagenic beliefs among sexually abused girls and their mothers: An evaluation study

The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of two short-term individual therapy interventions for sexually abused girls and their nonoffending female caretakers. Thirty-two girls, ages 8 to 13, and their caretakers from primarily low-income, African-American families were randomly assigned to a theoretically based, structured experimental treatment program or to a relatively unstructured comparison intervention. Measures of child outcome were completed before and after the treatment program by each parent and child, and by a clinician blind to treatment condition. Pre- and postmeasures of maternal outcome were completed by the caretaker and a clinician not involved in the treatment. Both treatment programs yielded decreases in children's posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and traumagenic beliefs reflecting self-blame and powerlessness, and increases in children's overall psychosocial functioning. The experimental intervention was more effective than the comparison program in increasing abuse-related caretaker support of the child and in decreasing caretaker self-blame and expectations of undue negative impact of the abuse on the child. Clinical impfications of these findings include the development of interventions targeting sexually abused children's traumagenic beliefs and nonoffending parents' support of their victimized children.This research was supported by the Emory Medical Care Foundation and the Children's Trust Fund of Georgia. Preliminary findings were presented at the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, March 1993.The authors thank the clinic families, volunteer therapists, and project staff members whose work together made this research possible. Core project staff members other than the authors include Milonne Ambroise, Mary Lynn Dell, Sherry Dey, Beth Dreelin, Jenny Gould, Katherine January, Suzann Lawry, Marie Simmons, and Lisseth Rojas.     

Cultural specificity of support sources,correlates and contexts: Three studies of African-American and Caucasian youth

Levels and correlates of parental support, peer support, partner support, and/or spiritual support among African American and Caucasian youth were examined in three contexts: adolescent pregnancy (Study 1), first year of college (Study 2), and adolescence and young adulthood (ages 15–29; Study 3). Partially consistent with a cultural specificity perspective, in different contexts different support sources were higher in level and/or more strongly related to adjustment for one ethnic group than the other. Among pregnant adolescents, levels of spiritual support were higher for African Americans than Caucasians; additionally, peer support was positively related to well-being only for African Americans whereas partner support was positively related to well-being only for Caucasians. Among college freshmen, family support was more strongly related to institutional and goal commitment for African Americans than Caucasians; conversely, peer support was more strongly related to institutional and goal commitment among Caucasians. Among 15 to 29-year-olds, levels of parental support and spiritual support were higher among African Americans than Caucasians; additionally, spiritual support was positively related to self-esteem for African Americans but not for Caucasians. Implications and limitations of the research are discussed. The third study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant RO1 MH40963. We thank Monica Greene, Shea Lyda, Wendy Stevenson, and the many undergraduate students who contributed to the three research projects. We also acknowledge the very thoughtful and helpful comments of the anonymous reviewers and the editor, Edison Trickett.     

Career change and congruence of personality type: An examination of DOT-derived work environment designations

Holland's theory of congruence of work environments was examined by analyzing the career redirection of 62 men of managerial and professional level who changed occupations between the ages of 33 and 54. Three-letter personality codes for each subject were obtained by administering the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory. Dictionary of Occupational Titles codes for first and second occupation were obtained and then translated into Holland codes. These were compared to the personality code for each man to determine whether the first or second job was more congruent. It was found that 26 men changed to careers more congruent with their personality, 25 to careers less congruent, and 11 made no change. The results of the study do not lend support to Holland's theory, probably because of the imprecision of DOT categories for research purposes. The need for a more reliable means for coding work environments is discussed.     

Mental comparisons involving abstract attributes

Adult subjects in two experiments were presented pairs of stimuli that differed in varying degree on an abstract semantic attribute, and were required to choose the one with the higher value on the given dimension. Subjects in Experiment 1 chose the more pleasant member of a pair of pictures, concrete nouns, or abstract nouns. Those in Experiment 2, presented a pair of pictures or concrete nouns, chose the one whose referent had the higher monetary value. Theoretical interest centered on the effects of semantic distance, stimulus mode, and individual differences in imagery and verbal ability on choice time. In both experiments, response times (1) decreased with increases in semantic distance, (2) were faster for pictures than words (and for concrete than abstract words in Experiment 1), and (3) were faster for high- than for lowimagery participants. The results are completely consistent with a dual-coding (image vs. verbal) interpretation: Pleasantness and value, though conceptually abstract, are attributes of things rather than words, and they are accordingly represented in and processed by a system specialized for dealing with nonverbal information.