The lady spaceman: Children's perceptions of sex-stereotyped occupations

In a study of perceptions of sex-sterotyping in occupations, children from first, fourth, and sixth grades in single-sex schools and a coeducational school were asked to name male and female occupants of traditionally male and traditionally female roles. Use of linguistic markers (e.g., lady doctor) or stereotypically inappropriate responses (e.g., naming a female doctor nurse, while correctly naming the male occupant of this role doctor) was associated with labeling female occupants of traditionally male roles and male occupants of traditionally female roles. The results from this study indicate that language subtly reflects children's perceptions of sex roles.This study was supported by a grant from the Melbourne State College Standing Committee on Research and Development.     

Prevention-centered science in mental health

Conclusion This special issue of AJCP is the first attempt to collectively publish some of the research generated by the PIRCs, an effort that we hope conveys the richness and sophistication of prevention research at its best. As seen in the papers, the work encompasses a broad multidisciplinary focus, including the domains of epidemiology, econometrics, sociology, community psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, and psychiatry. The rigor of the studies is sometimes astonishing given the complexities of implementing field-based research, and speaks to the creativity of the investigators at the PIRCs. The critical role they have carved out for prevention within the broader scientific enterprise should move the field toward greater acceptance by other scientists, and should hasten the achievement of its main goal and an important mission of the NIMH—the prevention of mental disorders and dysfunctions and the promotion of mental health. Editor's Note: This special issue of theAmerican Journal of Community Psychology was organized by Doreen Spilton Koretz, who introduces it with a commentary describing the National Institute of Mental Health program that supports the Preventive Intervention Research Centers. Editorial review was handled by Edward Seidman, Associate Editor, with the assistance of a special review board composed of people listed at the end of the issue.The opinions expressed in this chapter are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the support or endorsement of the National Institute of Mental Health; the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration; or the Public Health Service.     

The Effects of Demographic Variables and Stereotype Threat on Black/White Differences in Cognitive Ability Test Performance

The present study examined whether a set of demographic variables and stereotype threat could explain African-American/White mean differences in cognitive ability test performance. African Americans and Whites were found to significantly differ in stereotype threat and educational attainment of participants' fathers (i.e., father education). In moderate support of our study hypothesis, stereotype threat and father education partially mediated race differences in cognitive ability test scores. Implications for study findings are discussed, and limitations of the study are noted.     

Decision to Leave Scale: Perceived Reasons to Stay In or Leave Violent Relationships

The 30-item Decision to Leave Scale (DLS) was developed with 631 college women and 420 college women and women in shelters. Seven DLS subscales emerged for concerns in deciding to stay or leave: Fear of Loneliness, Child Care Needs, Financial Problems, Social Embarrassment, Poor Social Support, Fear of Harm, Hopes Things Change. Mean internal reliability was .73, mean test-retest reliability was .70. Discriminant validity was demonstrated by expected associations between DLS concerns and self-esteem, children, and violence. Criterion validity was demonstrated by greater DLS concerns for women in shelters than for college women. Women in violent relationships who decided to stay reported more Fear of Loneliness than women who decided to leave.     

Validity of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-64) for predicting assertiveness in role-play situations

The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-64; Horowitz, Alden, Wiggins, & Pincus, 2000) is a self-report measure of maladaptive relationship behavior. Ninety-five adult female participants completed the IIP-64 and then interacted with a same-sex confederate in three diagnostic role plays, designed to evoke assertive responses. After each role play, both the participant and the confederate judged how assertive the participant had been, using two subscales from the Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS; Wiggins, 1995). The participants' general self-images, assessed with the IIP-64, were quite congruent with how they judged their own assertiveness in the role plays. But when role-play assertiveness was judged by the confederate, the match with the participants' general self-images was considerably lower. Our results indicate that self-reported interpersonal problems do not converge well with external judgments of interpersonal behavior.     

Memory development in the second year: for events or locations?

We employed an object-placement/object-removal design, inspired by recent work on 'episodic-like' memory in scrub jays (Clayton, N. S., & Dickinson, A. (1998). Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays. Nature, 395, 272-274), to examine the possibility that children in the second year of life have event-based memories. In one task, a successful search could have been due to the recall of an object-removal event. In the second task, a successful search could only have been caused by recall of where objects were located. Success was general in the oldest group of children (21-25 months), while performance was broadly similar on the two tasks. The parsimonious interpretation of this outcome is that the first task was performed by location memory, not by event memory. We place these data in the context of object permanence development.     

Using a Multicultural Framework to Assess Supervisees' Perceptions of Culturally Competent Supervision

Multicultural competency has been identified as essential to effective and ethical practice, particularly in the area of trainee supervision. Yet little is known about how multicultural issues are addressed in the supervision process. Counseling and psychology trainees who indicated a high degree of interest in multicultural issues were interviewed about their supervisory experiences to assess their perceptions of culturally competent supervision. Constant comparative methodology was used to analyze the data. Limitations and implications for research are discussed.