Family system variables and the health status of adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

This study investigated the associations between important dimensions of family relations and the metabolic control of adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Participants were 94 intact families (mother, father, and adolescent) of adolescents with IDDM. Metabolic control was determined by the adolescents' level of HbA(1c), and family relations were assessed with the Marital Adjustment Scale and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales-II. Although zero-order correlations showed that good metabolic control was associated with high family cohesion, family flexibility, and high marital satisfaction, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that these associations were considerably attenuated when participant demographic variables, especially the duration of IDDM, were controlled. Follow-up analyses showed that the associations between family relations and metabolic control were mediated by the duration of IDDM. Under conditions of short duration, there were strong associations between family relations and metabolic control. As duration lengthened, however, these associations decreased substantially. These results suggest that the associations between family relations and health are relatively complex in this sample of adolescents with IDDM.     

Exposure effects on the psychophysical scaling methods of magnitude estimation and cross-modal matching for vibrotactile stimulation of the tongue and hand

The purpose of the present study was to investigate possible effects of exposure upon psychophysical scaling responses when vibrotactile magnitude estimation and cross-modal matching are conducted within the same experiment. Four groups of 10 subjects each, with an over-all age range of 18-23 yr., were employed. Groups 1 and 2 performed magnitude estimation for lingual vibrotaction and cross-modal matching with the lingual vibrotactile stimulus as the standard. Group 1 received the magnitude-estimation task first and Group 2 received the cross-modal-matching task first. Groups 3 and 4 performed magnitude estimation for vibrotaction applied to the thenar eminence of the hand and cross-modal matching with the vibrotactile stimulus applied to the thenar eminence of the hand as the standard. Group 3 received the magnitude-estimation task first and Group 4 received the cross-modal-matching task first. The psychophysical scaling methods of magnitude estimation and cross-modal matching showed very little exposure effect of one upon the other when used in the same experiment. Also, magnitude scaling responses tended to increase more rapidly with increases in vibrotactile stimulus intensity when the test site was the thenar eminence of the hand as opposed to the dorsum of the tongue.     

A further examination of the constructs underlying assessment center ratings

Previous factor analytic work (Sackett and Dreher, 1982) has found exercise factors, rather than the expected dimension factors, underlying ratings made in managerial assessment centers. The present paper responds to criticisms that inappropriate analyses were conducted and that unrepresentative assessment centers were studied. Exercise factors were found to predominate in two new sets of assessment data which we obtained and in three studies published by other authors, thus indicating that the results were not idiosyncratic to the three centers studied by Sackett and Dreher. Analyses using confirmatory, rather than exploratory, factor analysis also support the dominance of exercise factors. Although dimension factors were found in three of four data sets studied, variables loading on a dimension factor consistently loaded more highly on an exercise factor as well.     

An empirical approach to the classification and treatment of maximum security psychiatric patients

Treatment approaches with forensic patients have traditionally been nonspecific and have been based primarily on legal or diagnostic categories. The current study, stimulated by the need to reorganize treatment and assessment services, examined the incidence among 189 maximum security psychiatric patients of 70 problems commonly exhibited either in the community prior to admission or within the institution. Through a series of factor and cluster analyses, a model for the placement and treatment of these patients was developed that included assaultiveness, level of functioning, social withdrawal, and active psychotic symptoms.     

Physical Attractiveness and Psychological Adjustment Among Substance Abuse Inpatients: A Longitudinal Study1

Relations between psychological adjustment and physical attractiveness were examined longitudinally in substance abuse inpatients, controlling for the effects of length of drug abuse, length of inpatient stay, age, and socioeconomic status. Measures of adjustment and attractiveness were obtained during the first week of admission and six weeks later (within two weeks of discharge). Regression analyses indicated that initial attractiveness did not predict later adjustment, and initial adjustment did not predict later attractiveness. Partial correlation analyses revealed a positive association between attractiveness and adjustment at the first time point, but not at the later time point. These results suggest that physical attractiveness exerts only a temporary effect on judgments of adjustment in an inpatient setting. Attractiveness may affect decisions made when screening patients at mental health facilities, but may not affect decisions made over the full course of inpatient treatment.     

Is Love Seen as Different for the Obese?1

In order to assess how actual obesity and stereotypes of obesity affect perceptions of love, 222 college students completed an anonymous questionnaire concerning their experiences with love, including the Love Attitudes Scale (LAS) of Hendrick and Hendrick (1986). They then saw a photograph of a male or female who appeared fat or normal weight and responded to an identical questionnaire as they thought the pictured person would. Subjects' obesity was unrelated to dating or marital experience, self-esteem, or LAS subscales. However, fatter stimulus persons were judged to be less attractive, lower in self-esteem, less likely to be dating, less Erotic, less Ludic, and more Manic on the LAS, and to deserve a fatter, uglier love partner. Gender differences were similar to those found in previous studies, with gender stereotypes generally reflecting an exaggeration of actual sex differences. These findings were consistent with the theory that obese people are stereotyped as having fewer resources to contribute to a relationship.     

The timing of psychosocial changes in women's lives: the years 25 to 45

Sixty women, aged 30, 35, 40, and 45, participated in a retrospective interview concerning psychosocial changes in their adult lives. Subjects' responses provided self-report data concerning specific psychosocial changes, and judges who read the interview protocols provided independent ratings of major psychosocial transitions. The distributions of self-reported changes and rated transitions across both chronological age and family cycle phases were examined statistically. Rated transitions were found to be reliably related to chronological age but not to family cycle phase. Specifically, 78% of the subjects manifested a major transition commencing between ages 27 and 30. That transition was characterized initially by personal disruption, followed by reassessment and finally by increased psychological well-being. Both chronological age and family cycle phase were reliably related to a variety of self-reported changes. The implications for conceptions of adult developmental changes are discussed.     

TEACHING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM TO SEEK INFORMATION-ACQUISITION OF NOVEL INFORMATION AND GENERALIZATION OF RESPONDING

A time delay procedure was used to teach 3 children with autism to ask the question “What's that?” when novel stimuli were presented during an instructional task. Once the ability to ask the question was acquired, the children's ability to learn novel information by asking the question was assessed. The children were then taught to ask the question within a less structured context. All three studies used a multiple baseline across participants. Generalization was assessed in a different room, to a new person, and to novel stimuli. All of the children learned to ask the question within the instructional context, while on a walk in the school building, and to request information about three-dimensional objects. The acquisition of novel information was consistent for receptive and expressive tests for 2 of the children, with varied results for the 3rd. These studies indicate that children with autism can be taught to ask questions that lead to the acquisition of new information.     

FAMILY, SELF, AND SOCIOCULTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO BODY-IMAGE ATTITUDES OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN

This study examined factors that influenced body-image attitudes of 90 African-American college women. Participants completed two instruments assessing body image attitudes and measures of social self-esteem, racial identity attitudes, and family and personal characteristics. Data analyses indicated that self and sociocultural variables were associated with evaluations of physical appearance, fitness, and investment in health. Dissatisfaction with the total body was predicted with family variables, whereas family and self variables were related to satisfaction with body areas. Fathers' education; body mass and fathers' education; body mass and social self-esteem; internalization of racial attitudes; and social self-esteem best predicted body areas satisfaction, appearance evaluation, fitness evaluation, and health orientation, respectively. Implications for the divergence/convergence of subjective measures of body image are discussed and suggestions offered for future studies.     

An evaluation of the long-term outcomes of small-group work for counsellor development

A questionnaire was designed which enquired into the long-term professional applications and outcomes of Rogerian small-group and Tavistock Group Dynamics training. The 92 respondents were graduates of either a Master's degree or a Diploma in Human Relations or Counselling Studies in a university course where a 'small-group' module was a compulsory element of the taught course. Respondents were drawn from graduates of these one-year full-time or two-year part-time courses over a 21-year period. All respondents were involved either directly in professional or voluntary counselling, in the application of counselling skills in their work, or in training in counselling and counselling skills at work. The respondents reported no loss of learning gains over time: ascribed the application of many specific counselling skills to the small-group training process; reported on the affective component of the learning process; and provided only minimal evidence of forms of psychological damage which could be directly ascribed to the experience. These outcomes have to be considered in the light of the relatively low response rate of 33% and the difficulties in monitoring the precise behaviour of the facilitators in the groups.