Sex-Related HIV/AIDS Prevention Among African American College Students: Issues for Preventive Counseling

This study examined condom use during oral and anal sex among 1,593 African American male and female college undergraduates. Findings suggest a high level of concordance between men and women on several measures. However, female participants were more likely to use condoms during oral and anal sex than were male participants.     

Speech impairment in a large sample of patients with Parkinson's disease

This study classified speech impairment in 200 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) into five levels of overall severity and described the corresponding type (voice, articulation, fluency) and extent (rated on a five-point scale) of impairment for each level. From two-minute conversational speech samples, parameters of voice, fluency and articulation were assessed by two trained-raters. Voice was found to be the leading deficit, most frequently affected and impaired to a greater extent than other features in the initial stages. Articulatory and fluency deficits manifested later, articulatory impairment matching voice impairment in frequency and extent at the 'Severe' stage. At the final stage of 'Profound' impairment, articulation was the most frequently impaired feature at the lowest level of performance. This study illustrates the prominence of voice and articulatory speech motor control deficits, and draws parallels with deficits of motor set and motor set instability in skeletal controls of gait and handwriting.     

The relationship of attributional style to agoraphobia severity, depression, and treatment outcome

The present study examined the relationship of attributional style, as measured with a revised version of the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) and measures of agoraphobia severity, depression, and treatment outcome in 73 Ss who met DSM-III criteria for agoraphobia with panic attacks and participated in one of three 13-week treatment conditions: paradoxical intention, graduated exposure, or progressive deep muscle relaxation training. Subjects completed assessments at four periods: pretreatment, midtreatment, posttreatment, and at 3 month follow-up. In addition to the three dimensions typically examined on the ASQ, this revised version also measured Ss' estimates of the perceived importance, and future likelihood for both positive and negative events. Congruent with previous research, moderate but somewhat inconsistent associations were observed between attributional style and depression both within and across assessment periods. Predictions about associations between attributional style and agoraphobic severity were not supported; however, an interaction was observed between depression and attributional style with respect to severity of agoraphobia. There was no evidence of group differences across treatment types, although there were several significant changes in attributional style across time. Attributions for health related events were also examined. Conceptual, clinical, and research issues related to the findings are discussed.     

University Student Attitudes Toward American Indians

This study measured racial attitudes of 201 students toward American Indians in a variety of social-interpersonal and educational situations. Student's racial attitudes were generally positive except in a situation involving an American Indian student receiving free health care. Results are discussed in the context of the current sociopolitical climate.     

NATURAL MUSICAL INTERVALS:

Abstract— Ancient and medieval scholars considered tones related by simple (small-integer) ratios to be naturally pleasing, but contemporary scholars attribute the special perceptual status of such sounds to exposure. We investigated the possibility of processing predispositions for some tone combinations by evaluating infants' ability to detect subtle changes to patterns of simultaneous and sequential tones Infants detected such changes to pairs of pure tones (intervals) only when the tones were related by simple frequency ratios. This was the case for 9-month-old infants tested with harmonic (simultaneous) intervals and for 6-tnonth-old infants tested with melodic (sequential) intervals. These results are consistent with a biological basis for the prevalence of particular intervals historically and cross-culturally.     

Sex differences in graduate student ambition: Do men publish while women perish?

This paper compares men and women graduate students at one university and identifies conditions under which women students equal or surpass men in ambition. Men and women were broadly similar in background characteristics, though different in current family status. They studied different subjects, aimed for different degrees, and were concentrated in different years in the university. If women were to equal the most highly ambitious men on ambition to publish and engage in related behaviors, they had to aspire to a doctorate, survive past the second year of study, and have nontraditional attitudes toward women's role. The results are discussed in terms of differential student careers and barriers to the development of ambition in student women.The research upon which this paper is based was carried out with the assistance of a Lena Lake Forrest Fellowship from the Business and Professional Women's Foundation, Washington, D.C.The author wishes to thank G. L. Millerson and C. T. Husbands for comments on the draft, and Beryl Collins and Bryn Saunders for help with the typing.     

The effect of environment on visual cliff performance in the Mongolian gerbil

Depth perception in the Mongolian gerbil was investigated as a function of age and environment. Thirty-two gerbils were raised in either a cliff or flat environment, and half the gerbils in each condition were tested on the visual cliff from 21 to 57 days of age. All gerbils were tested at 60–61 days on a standard visual cliff, a barrier cliff which prevented movement along the centerboard, and a jumping platform. While the gerbils did not display a preference for the shallow side when tested at 21 days, those living in a cliff environment showed rapid acquisition of such a preference, whereas those living in a flat environment did not. By 60–61 days, however, all gerbils demonstrated a strong preference for the shallow side on both versions of the visual cliff, regardless of environment or pretesting experience.     

Sex differences in perceptions of familial and occupational roles

Women's lower achievement level in the professions is explained by the Multiple Role Negotiation perspective as resulting from the difficulty in balancing the “active” or demanding roles of wife/mother and a high level professional role. The Value Difference perspective, on the other hand, explains this differential achievement as resulting from differences in degree to which women value professional roles and their familial role, with perceptions of “demand” serving only as “excuses” to mask values. To explore the assumptions of each position three research questions are posed and 33 first-year students in a professional program are surveyed. The findings reveal that neither males nor females perceive the female familial role as the “more active” one; females, however do anticipate less career advancement, value the higher level role less, and also perceive it as a more demanding role than the lower level role.