The importance of similarity and understanding of partners' marital ideals to relationship satisfaction

This article extends earlier work on the association between relationship partners' similarity and understanding about marital ideals and relationship satisfaction by controlling for individual differences in stereotype endorsement or typical responding. For heterosexual couples we separated a measure of understanding into the general understanding of partners and understanding that is unique to the specific relationship partner. The measures of similarity and understanding were also separated into general similarity and understanding and into those that are unique between partners. We examined the contribution of each type of similarity and understanding to relationship satisfaction in 238 dating and married couples. Findings indicate that the more satisfied individuals believe that the partner endorses a “female” stereotype. Understanding does not relate to length of the relationship or satisfaction, but similarity in values does There is some indication that marital discord decreases with an increase in the male partners' understanding of their female partners.     

Ordinary People: Using a Popular Film in Group Therapy

A time-limited, topic-oriented counseling group using the popular film Ordinary People prepared adolescents in residential treatment for reentry into their families and communities.     

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A COMPUTERIZED INTERPRETATION SYSTEM FOR PERSONNEL TESTS

A computerized system was developed for generating narrative interpretations of scores from a battery of personnel screening tests. The report structure and interpretive statement library were designed to capture the test expertise and interpretive strategies of a panel of testing experts. This was accomplished by enumerating the questions that the experts believed the battery could answer, developing answers to these questions, and devising rules for selecting the appropriate answers based on test-battery scores. The accuracy, thoroughness, readability, and coherence of the computer-generated reports were evaluated in comparison to reports generated by human experts for the same examinees. Results of the evaluation showed the computerized reports to be more accurate and thorough, as readable, and somewhat less coherent than interpretations generated by the typical human expert. The computerized system development and validation strategies described are useful for other applications in which numbers are interpreted in a narrative report format.     

School and Rehabilitation Counselor Preparation: Meeting the Needs of Individuals With Disabilities

In preparing students to work with individuals with disabilities, school and rehabilitation counselor educators face a number of challenges. Highlighting the major changes that have occurred in the 10 years following Hosie's (1979) recommendations for counselor preparation, this article suggests many competencies that are required to meet these challenges and describes how they can be integrated within the applicable accreditation guidelines.