Racial Identity Development Among Gifted Black Students: Counseling Issues and Concerns

A review of the literature suggests that a paucity of information exists regarding how culture-specific issues such as being both Black and gifted influence the psychological needs and personality development of gifted Black students. Stellar attempts, however, are currently underway to develop theories and perspectives of racial identity development among Black students. These theories and perspectives are discussed in an attempt to understand and address the psychological and social needs of gifted Black students.     

Employment and Roles of Counselors in Employee Assistance Programs

The authors studied employment and roles of master's-level counselors in employee assistance programs (EAPs) and the services offered by different types of EAP organizations. The study focused on programs, workshops and seminars: assessment; counseling; consultation; and evaluation and marketing services offered by EAPs. Master's-level counselors were found to be similar to those with Master's of Social Work (MSW) degrees in employment rate and percentage of EAP staff. Both groups were the most frequently employed and constitute the greatest percentage of the professional mental health staff in EAPs. Also, counselors were found to be involved in all of the service areas studied within each type of EAP. Differences in counselors' roles among EAP types are discussed.     

Experimental Construct Validity of the Outcomes of Study Skills Training and Career Counseling as Treatments for the Retention of At-Risk Students

The authors evaluated the separate and combined effects of study skills training and career counseling on student retention. Participants who were at high risk for dropping out of college were randomly assigned to one of four treatment or control conditions. The study-skills-alone treatment had a significant impact on retention; all of these participants continued their enrollment in the following two semesters. Career-counseling-alone and a combined (study skills plus career counseling) treatment did not register significant effects. Participants who received the study-skills-alone treatment also achieved significantly greater academic success; 88% had grade point averages (GPAs) equal to or greater than 2.0, whereas most other treatment and control participants had GPAs lower than 2.0 and were placed on academic probation. Issues relevant to the construct validity of these changes are discussed.     

The concurrent validity of three self-report measures of borderline personality

The recent accumulation of self-report measures of borderline personality disorder (BPD) affords the opportunity to evaluate both the construct validity of the concept and the quality of these measures. This study examines the relationship among three recently developed self-report instruments for assessing BPD from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991), the MMPI Personality Disorders Scales (MPD; Morey, Waugh, & Blashfield, 1985), and the Bell Object Relations Inventory (BORI: Bell, Billington, & Becker, 1986). Data on the three measures were provided by 119 undergraduate subjects from a southeastern university. A correlational analysis addresses the convergence of these measures of BPD, their divergence from measures of different but related traits, and their independence from variance due to method. Application of the Campbell-Fiske (1959) criteria indicates adequate convergence for all the BPD measures but a lack of discriminant validity for the BORI scales. The fit of the data to a structural model of construct validity is tested using confirmatory factor analysis, and these results are consistent with the hypothesis of a latent borderline trait factor independent of measurement method factors. In sum, the construct validity of the borderline personality concept using self-report methodologies receives support, and a strong association between borderline personality and paranoid phenomena is also suggested.     

Effects of vowel variety and sample lenght on identification of a speaker in a line-up

Subjects (average age 21 years, recruited by personal contact and through a school) were presented with a spoken sentence on tape and then heard six speakers of the same sex, including the original speaker, say the same sentence. They were required to indicate which was the original speaker. The task was repeated with seven different sentences and sets of speakers. One group of subjects heard short sentences containing an average of 2.14 different vowel sounds and 6.28 syllables, another group heard short sentences containing an average of 6.14 vowel sounds (7.28 syllables) and a third group heard longer sentences containing an average of 6.28 vowel sounds (11.00 syllables). Accuracy of speaker identification improved significantly when more vowel sounds were heard, but increased sentence length had no significant effect on performance. Performance was significantly better when the listener was the same sex as the speaker than when the listener was of the other sex.     

A comparison of Guided Imaginal Coping and imaginal exposure in the treatment of panic disorder

The present study evaluated the efficacy of a new intervention, Guided Imaginal Coping (GIC), compared to imaginal exposure (IEX), and a waiting-list control (WLC) condition among 24 clinic outpatients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder (PD) or PD with agoraphobia. GIC was the more consistently effective intervention, with individuals demonstrating significant improvement in frequency and severity of panic attacks (Pas) as well as significant reductions in physiological and subjective arousal to provocative imagery. Individuals in the IEX intervention demonstrated less consistent improvement on the dependent measures, while individuals in the WLC condition essentially remained unchanged. Both GIC and IEX were effective according to a composite measure of clinically significant improvement. However, only GIC was superior to the WLC condition when clinical improvement was defined as zero PAs at follow-up. These findings, while preliminary, suggest that GIC can be added to the armamentarium of effective approaches to treating PD.     

The Continuum of Consciousness

Research in a wide variety of domains provides converging evidence for the psychological unconscious—percepts, memories, and other mental contents that influence experience, thought, and action outside of phenomenal awareness. Studies of preconscious processing indicate that two continua underlie conscious experience—one having to do with the quality of the stimulus event or its mental representation, and the other having to do with the cognitive resources brought to hear on the processing of that representation. However, evidence of subconscious processing violates these conclusions and suggests that something more is involved—perhaps a link between mental representations of events and of the self as the agent or experiencer of them.     

Using self-evaluation to improve difficult-to-read handwriting of secondary students

We used delayed multiple-baseline and multiple-probe techniques to assess the effects of self-evaluation training on the legibility of cursive handwriting. Five secondary special education students with difficult-to-read handwriting served as participants. All participants improved the legibility of their handwriting during self-evaluation training. A systematic withdrawal of the training package demonstrated maintenance of treatment effects. For the most part, the students' handwriting remained at least 90% legible to judges following the systematic withdrawal of the self-evaluation training.