Counseling Status and Academic Achievement of College Freshmen

Baccalaureate- (four-year) and associate- (two-year) degree students counseled prior to registration and after registration, and those not counseled were compared on the basis of ability and first-term grade point average. The time of counseling was not significantly related to the achievement of baccalaureate students with high ability or those with low ability. However, significant differences were found between high and low ability associate students in favor of high ability associate students who were counseled during the summer over those who were counseled during the fall, or who were not counseled. Both baccalaureate- and associate-degree students with low ability more frequently earned lower grades and were more concerned about academic probation than students with high ability.     

Reviews of current books

Pastoral Psychology -     

Introducing the super consumer

The purpose of this study is to propose a new perspective on classifying or segmenting consumers by describing a minority of them who are uniquely motivated by high levels of status seeking, brand identification, and materialism. We term this segment of individuals “super consumers.” The data came from an online survey of 351 adult US consumers. A cluster analysis using these three variables as criteria produced a two‐cluster solution. Comparing mean scores between these two groups of consumers on measures of market mavenism, shopping frequency, amount of spending, age, and gender showed that the super consumers were significantly more likely to be market mavens, to shop more frequently, and to spend more than the other consumers were. The super consumers were younger in age as well, but there were no gender differences between the two groups. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neuropsychological profiles of children with depressive and anxiety disorders

The neuropsychological functioning of 56 children and young adolescents with diagnoses of unipolar depression (n = 17), anxiety disorder (n = 19), or comorbid anxiety/depressive disorder (n = 20) was examined. The neuropsychological profiles of the three groups were parallel, but not equal in level of performance. The three groups displayed similar patterns of performance with profiles suggesting diminished attention abilities. The groups, however, were not equal in level of performance. While subjects with an anxiety or a depressive disorder were similar in level of performance, subjects with a comorbid anxiety/depressive disorder generally performed worse than those with either an anxiety or depressive disorder alone. There was no significant evidence of asymmetrical cerebral dysfunction in any of the diagnostic groups. Results are discussed in relation to adult models of psychopathology with an emphasis on the importance of considering developmental factors when formulating models of childhood psychopathology.     

Predicting retirement preparation through the design of a new measure

Researchers' capacity to investigate retirement planning behaviour is impeded by the lack of rigorous measurement within the literature. For this study, a comprehensive measure based on the reflexive planning domains of public protection, self‐insurance, and self‐protection was developed and evaluated in a sample of 174 employees aged ≥45 years. Variables of gender, age, income and core self‐evaluations were examined for their influence on planning effort in each of the three domains. Results indicated a clean, three‐factor structure for retirement planning behaviours. All variables emerged as predictors of planning effort in one or more domains. Implications of results for future research into retirement planning and the targeting of planning interventions are discussed.