Psychosocial Impact of Tubal Ligation in Alabama Women1

The prevalence of female sterilization has grown rapidly throughout the world, especially in the United States. Yet the psychosocial impact of tubal ligation is incompletely understood. Most previous research has been retrospective and has lacked comparison groups of women using other birth control methods. This study used procedures developed in World Health Organization research to study the impact of voluntary tubal ligation on Alabama women. The design was prospective, included a comparison group, and called for 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Tubal ligation reduced follow-up pregnancy rate and scores on a measure of fear of pregnancy. Sterilization also produced a small increase in menstrual distress but did not affect sexual satisfaction or mental health nor did it increase regrets about contraceptive choice over other methods. These results imply women attained the goals that led them to choose sterilization.     

TEACHING ADULTS WITH SEVERE AND PROFOUND RETARDATION TO EXIT THEIR HOMES UPON HEARING THE FIRE ALARM

Prompting, modeling, and differential reinforcement with client-chosen rewards were used to teach 3 nonverbal people with severe to profound mental retardation to exit their group homes at the sound of the house fire alarm, using a multiple baseline design. All 3 participants learned to exit independently in less than 2 min in all experimenter-initiated surprise fire drills and in the majority of staff-initiated surprise fire drills. Each participant was also able to exit from five areas of the house from which teaching was not done.     

A new strategy for studying spatial aptitude

A new approach to testing for and training in spatial aptitude is described. Figurai analogy problem terms from the cognitive abilities test are photodigitized and arrayed in zones on the computer screen; they can be seen only when selected with the mouse (i.e., one at a time). Viewing patterns and durations can then be analyzed to assess problem encoding and solution strategies. Implications are discussed.     

Death, sex, love, and neuroticism: why is sex such a problem?

Terror management theory posits that sex is a ubiquitous human problem because the creaturely aspects of sex make apparent our animal nature, which reminds us of our vulnerability and mortality. People minimize this threat by investing in the symbolic meaning offered by the cultural worldview. Because people high in neuroticism have difficulty finding or sustaining meaning, sex is a particular problem for them. In Study 1, mortality salience caused high-neuroticism participants to find the physical aspects of sex less appealing. Study 2 revealed that for such individuals thoughts of physical sex increase the accessibility of death-related thoughts. This finding was replicated in Study 3, which also showed that providing meaning by associating sex with love reduces the accessibility of death-related thoughts in response to thoughts of physical sex. These findings provide insight into why people high in neuroticism have conflicting thoughts about sexuality and why sexuality is so often regulated and romanticized.     

A Concurrent Validity Study Applied to a Secretarial Position in a State Universities Civil Service System

In a concurrent validity study, a comprehensive job analysis of a mid-level secretarial position resulted in the development of highly valid employment selection instruments. Six hundred fifty-nine supervisors and 883 incumbents in 20 locations participated in the job analysis. Scores from the selection test correlated with composite ratings from a research performance appraisal (RPA) .41 (p<.001). Two forms of the test (A and B) were developed. Form A and Form B test scores and RPA composite ratings correlated .55 and .48 (p<.001) respectively. The unbiased estimate of equivalence reliability of Form A and Form B was .94. The two tests correlated .89 (p<.001).     

Exploring collaborative problem solving in adulthood

Collaborative problem solving occurs in situations in which two or more individuals cooperate in appraising, representing, and solving a variety of cognitive tasks. Collaborative groups are the context for much everyday cognitive activity in adulthood. Collaboration has been explored as a means through which older adults may maintain high levels of performance, perhaps compensating for individual-level cognitive and neurological decline. This study explored the effects of collaboration (group size) and adult age on solving both fixed- and unrestricted-alternatives 20 Questions tasks. Younger (M=24.3 years) and older (M=67.9 years) adults were randomly assigned to one of three homogeneous group size conditions: individuals, dyads, and tetrads. Results indicated some dissociation between individual-level performance (poorer for older adults) and collaborative performance (better for older adults). For the fixed-alternatives task, older adults produced more of the relatively inefficient hypothesis-scanning questions than did younger adults. In contrast, older collaborative groups produced more of the efficient constraint-seeking questions than hhpothesis-scanning questions, and an amount equivalent to that of younger adults. Overall performance for the difficult unrestricted-alternatives task was less efficient for both younger and older adults. The roles of task type, group characteristics, and adult age are discussed.     

Reactivation-induced interference in a short-term retention paradigm

In Experiment 1 it was demonstrated that interference with a rat's retention of a target spatial cue decreases as the interval between prior conflicting cues and the target increases. Experiment 2 showed that interference can occur even when the interstimulus interval is long, if the memory of a conflicting cue is reactivated just prior to exposing an animal to the target cue. A third experiment suggested that these findings could not be easily interpreted in terms of a stimulus satiation effect. The implications of these findings for a trace decay model of short-term retention were discussed.     

ASSESS: Adjustment Scales for Sociometric Evaluation of Secondary-School Students

The Adjustment Scales for Sociometric Evaluation of Secondary-School Students (ASSESS) was designed to assess peer ratings of the behavior of male and female adolescents. Five scales were developed and crossvalidated: Aggression-Disruptiveness, Withdrawal, Anxiety, Social Competence, and Academic Difficulty. Evidence of adequate internal consistency and testretest reliability was presented. Evaluations by male and female classmates were highly correlated. Sex and age differences accounted for only a small proportion of the total variance.This research was supported by Grant MH-21145 from the National Institute of Mental Health and funds from W. T. Grant Foundation. We wish to acknowledge the assistance of Ronda Brooks, Lina Jandorf, and Jean Sullivan in conducting the data collection, as well as the many school districts that have cooperated.