Performance-enhancing drugs in sport: a different form of drug abuse

The use and abuse of drugs in American society is recognized as a major issue among those who study youth. This paper addresses an often overlooked area of drug abuse: performance-enhancing drugs in sport. The reasons these vocational drugs are used by athletes are different from those of the recreational drug user. This paper examines the seriousness and prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs and presents the results of a series of interviews with steroid users to determine their attitudes. These attitudes and rationalizations suggest that an expanded view of drugs is required if performance-enhancing drug use is to be understood.     

A comparison of English and Spanish (Nuñez) translation of the MMPI

As more Hispanics seek help in mental health centers, the need arises for a reliable Spanish translation of the MMPI. This present research is a preliminary attempt to study the validity of the Nu?ez translation of the MMPI, the translation most widely used in Latin America. This translation and the English MMPI were administered to a volunteer sample of 18 teenaged bilingual Hispanic women. A split-plot factorial ANOVA with one between-subjects factor(form of test) was used to analyze the K-corrected T scorns from each scale separately. On scales F, K, Hs, Pa,.and Sc, the Spanish means were significantly (p < .05) higher than the English means. Order of administration had no significant effect, and there was no significant interaction effect. These findings demonstrate that the Nu?ez translation cannot be used interchangeably with the English form of the MMPI.     

Visual-motor ability of children with articulation disorders

The present study was done to assess differences between children with diagnosed functional articulation disorders and a control group on the variable of visual-motor ability. A group of 34 elementary children with articulation problems were matched with a control group of 34 for sex, age, and grade. Both groups were administered the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation and the Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic Test--Revised. Analysis indicated that children with articulation problems performed significantly lower on visual-motor skills.     

Septal lesions and behavior: effects of presurgical rearing and strain of mouse.

Male mice (C57BL/10J or SJL/J strains) were reared in either enriched social cages or restricted individual cages from 25 days of age until they underwent septal or control surgery 1 mo later. Enrichment differentially altered septal or control behavior as measured by: fluid consumption of water, saccharin, and quinine; performance on a rotorod; and the acquisition of an active avoidance task. The interactions of presurgical history with brain damage were manifested differently in the two strains of mice. The importance of attending more to genetic and presurgical history in attempts to define the effects of brain damage on behavior and to determine the function of brain structures is discussed.     

Coin value and perceived size: a longitudinal study.

Decimalization of the Irish currency presented an opportunity to study the perceived size of coins as they were introduced or withdrawn and to examine the accentuation of differences between coins. Estimates were obtained of the sizes of 4 coins from 478 subjects in 3 groups tested at different times: just after decimalization, 2, or 3 yr. later. A newly introduced coin was significantly underestimated in size at first but came to be significantly overestimated later, while all familiar coins were always significantly overestimated. The amount of overestimation of a coin depended on its value, not its size, leading to an accentuation of the difference between any two coins if the larger coin was also the more valuable but sometimes to the opposite if the smaller coin were of higher value than the larger member of the pair.     

Clothing: Communication, Compliance, and Choice

This study looks at some effects of five different styles of women's clothing: Formal Skirt, Formal Pants, Casual Skirt, Casual Pants, and Jeans. There were no significant differences in compliance to a request to fill out a questionnaire made by experimenters dressed in the five clothing styles, although experimenter age and sex effects were found. Ratings of photographs of the five dress styles indicate that a model was viewed by both male and female subjects as most happy, successful, feminine, interesting, attractive, intelligent, and wanted as a friend when wearing a Formal Skirt outfit and as least so when wearing Jeans. She was also seen as more active when wearing pants as compared with a skirt. Subjects' reasons for choosing what clothing to wear did not indicate that how one will appear to others is the major factor in clothing selection. It appears that clothing does communicate something about the wearer but may influence behavior toward her primarily in the absence of other information about her status.