Ecological interventions and the process of change for prevention: Wedding theory and research to implementation in real world settings

Considers a preventive intervention effort designed to modify the characteristics and regularities of the school environment so as to enhance the expectations conveyed to high risk students. Employing this case effort (Weinstein et al., 1991) as a base, several issues are highlighted that deserve greater attention in the design, implementation, assessment, and reporting of other preventively-focused social interventions. These issues include: (1) the degree of program implementation fidelity, (2) the impact a lack of attainment of program fidelity may have on arriving at erroneous evaluation conclusions about social programs, (3) the ways in which the theory and basic research employed in the program rationale is appropriate to and reflected in the program as designed, (4) issues of program potency and dosage, (5) the ways in which quantitative and qualitative evaluation data can enhance each other, and (6) the import of evaluability assessments of programs prior to moving to outcome evaluations. In addressing these issues, the importance of developmentally- and ecologically-informed program formulations is underscored. Finally, the critical role that program reports such as the Weinstein paper, with its careful discussion of both the process of implementation and outcome assessments, can play in the development of more effective prevention program implementation efforts is highlighted.     

Popular and aggressive boys' initial social interaction patterns in cooperative and competitive settings

Thirty-two third- and fourth-grade popular and aggressive boys were observed individually attempting to enter a game being played by a mixed-status unfamiliar-peer dyad in both competitive and cooperative game settings. Consistent with previous findings, popular entry children were accepted more readily into the game situation than were aggressive children. Popular children tended to approach the situations using more prosocial questions while their aggressive peers tended to use demands. More differences in entry strategies were noted in the competitive than in the cooperative game setting. While most entry children directed their first entry bid toward the aggressive game host, they reported having liked the popular game host best when the game was finished. Additionally, the quality of game interactions was observed to become more positive following a popular child's entry, while becoming more negative following an aggressive child's entry. The results are discussed in terms of leadership roles and implications for both assessment and intervention settings and strategies.The authors wish to acknowledge the support and cooperation of the Greensboro, North Carolina, public and parochial schools, and the assistance of William Livingston.This paper was presented at the 19th Annual Convention of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Houston, Texas.     

Controlled attending as a function of melodic and temporal context

Melodic and rhythmic context were systematically varied in a pattern recognition task involving pairs (standard-comparison) of nine-tone auditory sequences. The experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that rhythmic context can direct attention toward or away from tones which instantiate higher order melodic rules. Three levels of melodic structure (one, two, no higher order rules) were crossed with four levels of rhythm [isochronous, dactyl (A U U), anapest (U U A), irregular]. Rhythms were designed to shift accent locations on three centrally embedded tones. Listeners were more accurate in detecting violations of higher order melodic rules when the rhythmic context induced accents on tones which instantiated these rules. Effects are discussed in terms of attentional rhythmicity.     

Relating early child adjustment to infant and parent temperament

The central question at issue was the role of both infant and parent temperament in determining child adjustment at age 4. Within the conceptual framework of the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS), both infant and parent temperament were assessed. Factor analyses yielded three comparable infant and parent temperament factors: Mood, Energy, and Consistency. Correlations with teacher ratings of child adjustment indicated the most significant relationship to be with the infant girls' Mood factor (comparable to the NYLS high-risk "difficult" infant factor). No infant factors were found to relate to boys' adjustment, while maternal Mood was significant across sexes. Indices of the temperamental similarity within families also revealed sex differences relative to adjustment, with similarity across all family members significantly related to adjustment for girls and boy-father dissimilarity significant for boys. Discussion centered around continuity-discontinuity issues relevant to sex differences.     

Skill-set,success outcome,and mania as determinants of the illusion of control

The illusion of control, the tendency for individuals to approach chance tasks with skill-appropriate strategies, was studied. Subjects premeasured on a mania scale were classified as either high (HM) or low (LM) in mania. In the first phase of the study, HM and LM subjects performed 30 trials on either a skill (verbal associates) or chance (coin-toss) task and were given either 20, 50, or 80% success feedback. After Task 1 was completed, subjects filled out an attribution questionnaire. In the final phase of the study, subjects anticipated 30 more trials either on a skill or chance task. Subjects' predicted successes were measured. It was hypothesized that predicted successes on anticipated skill and chance tasks would be affected more by outcomes on a previous skill task than by outcomes on a previous chance task. The results for the anticipated skill task directly supported the hypothesis. On the anticipated chance task, the hypothesis was confirmed for HM subjects only. The results are discussed in terms of how previous skill experiences may induce a set to control ungovernable situations for individuals with manic reactions.     

The Mexican American in Higher Education: Implications for Educators

From a review of literature and an examination of data from the Counseling Services at the University of Texas - El Paso, the authors conclude that Mexican-American students place more emphasis on cooperation and group achievement than on individual achievement, and that the education of Mexican Americans may be enhanced when teachers properly reinforce “successful behavior.” In addition, it seems that problems may arise in using U.S.-based theories of “democratic” leadership styles because the Mexican-American culture places more emphasis on traditional leadership roles.