Mothers of high-risk infants: Is their initial use of early intervention a predictor of later coping?

In a program for high-risk and handicapped infants that began at hospital discharge, mothers' initial use of intervention visits was investigated as a predictor of maternal functioning 9 months later. Measures included ventilation and advice seeking in the first month and 9-month maternal mood, coping, HOME scores, and use of intervention. Early ventilation and advice seeking were related significantly to mothers' self-reported confusion, but not to staff ratings of maternal mood. No significant relationships were found between early use of intervention and later coping, HOME scores, or use of intervention. Results are discussed in terms of mothers' generally good adaptation and the need for caution in drawing conclusions from their behavior soon after the birth of a high-risk or handicapped child.     

Perinatal positive parenting: Parent support groups

Parent-infant support groups offer first-time parents an opportunity to share their experiences and concerns with each other. This paper discusses the parent groups component of Perinatal Positive Parenting, a program for parents who deliver their first-born children at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. Formation of the support groups follows the program's hospital and in-home components. Group organization, structure, and meeting format are described and the volunteer group leader's role as facilitator is examined.     

Writing Discernment in Theological Education

How can we best address writing improvement for seminary students? This article describes the implementation of a Writing Assistance Program that teaches remedial skills in grammar structure and paper organization as well as mentors all students to develop their fullest writing potential. Four models of writing instruction are discussed and examples are given of the best use of each. The article concludes with lessons learned from the experience and tips for other seminaries.     

Illusory Personal Control as a Determinant of Bet Size and Type in Casino Craps Games1

Langer's (1974, 1975) theory regarding the conditions under which subjects performing a chance task will suffer from an illusion of control over the outcome has specified 6 conditions proposed to enhance the illusion ofcontrol in chance tasks. A number of studies have applied her theory and predictions to gambling, a real‐world arena of chance tasks where participants have been observed to act as if the outcomes are controllable by the use of various “logical” (acting on the “gambler's fallacy”) and superstitious strategies (e. g., blowing on dice). Thus far, however, these studies have not been conducted in naturalistic gaming environments and have yielded mixed results regarding the operation of the illusion of control. The present research offers the first study of the operation of the illusion of control in such a real‐world context. In order to examine the effects of active vs. passive task participation (a variable hypothesized by Langer to affect the illusion of control), patrons of Reno casinos were observed placing craps bets on their own and another yoked patron's dice rolls. It was hypothesized that subjects would (a) place higher bets and (b) place more “difficult” bets (e. g., where only one specific number, as opposed to any of several numbers, may win) on their own rolls (when they would experience the illusion of control over the outcome) than on other patrons' roles (when they would not experience such an illusion). That is, players were expected to generally adopt riskier betting strategies when throwing the dice. Results supported the hypotheses.     

The construction of counselling psychology in Britain: A discourse analysis of counselling psychology texts

Counselling psychology is a relatively recent arrival on the professional psychological scene in Britain. This paper examines the ways in which this new branch of professional psychology has been constructed by the counselling psychology community. Articles which embodied this construction process from the 1990 and 1996 volumes of the journal Counselling Psychology Review were subjected to discourse analysis. The main themes of the 1990 articles concerned the construction of identity and legitimation, achieved largely through representations of similarity with and difference from related professions at a general level, whereas in the 1996 articles, the emphasis was on more fine-grained constructions of similarity and difference. Implications for the future construction of counselling psychology are considered.     

Developmental Timing of Onsets of Disruptive Behaviors and Later Delinquency of Inner-City Youth

A longitudinal sample of 306 males were followed with annual interviews over 4 years to evaluate the role of the timing of onset of different types of disruptive behaviors in predicting later arrest rates. In particular, we applied the Developmental Pathways model to explain progressions from less serious to more serious behaviors and progression along three types of disruptive pathways defined as Overt, Covert, and Authority Conflict behaviors. Results indicated that the sequences and the prognostic properties hypothesized for the model were supported. Most youth showed a progression from behaviors expected to occur earlier to those expected to come later according to the model. In addition, these results showed that onset timing of most types of behavior as well as rapidity of reaching more serious behavior related to arrest rate. This cross-validation extends the model to a high risk inner-city population and to Latino youth. One notable exception to the general trend found was that violence did not always follow earlier involvement in less serious offenses and did not seem to show the same onset timing relation to risk for arrests. Social-ecological differences in the precipitants of violence in the inner-city compared to other developmental settings, as well as the possibility that multiple forms of violence have differing underlying causes, may explain this exception. The model's generality suggests it has utility for guiding and discriminating risk better than simply noting the frequency, seriousness, or onset timing of delinquency.     

Implementing skill-based treatment within a classroom setting for an adolescent with autism

Research exists to support the efficacy of the Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA) and skill-based treatment (SBT) to address problem behavior within a clinical setting. However, limited research is available to support their use in a classroom setting and especially as a tool to avoid the display of problem behavior altogether. In the current study, the IISCA, informed by an open-ended interview, was conducted with a single participant in the classroom after a prolonged absence from school due to COVID-19. Results of the IISCA were used to determine the multiple contingencies that were likely to evoke problem behavior upon re-introduction of academic task demands. A skill-based treatment was then developed based on these contingencies, which involved teaching the participant functional communication, delay tolerance, and following academic instruction in relevant contexts. After 25 treatment sessions, the participant had acquired and maintained all of these skills, including the ability to functionally communicate, tolerate removal of preferred items, and follow educational instructions within the typical classroom routine. This study shows the applicability of the IISCA and SBT when implemented within the classroom setting and when used to reintroduce educational instruction to an individual with autism after a prolonged break from school.