Race bias in diagnosis and treatment of juvenile offenders: Findings and suggestions

There is evidence that Black juvenile delinquents have received biased differential treatment in mental health care systems. Research shows that the White juvenile offender often is assessed as having a psychological problem while the Black juvenile offender is more often seen as exhibiting behavior characteristic of his culture and more often than not receives inadequate psychological counseling. This article integrates information on juvenile delinquency, interracial diagnosis, and cross-cultural understanding. It is hoped the information will aid the forensic psychological professional to better understand culturally different children and youth as well as examine his or her own cache of cultural baggage which may interfere with the appropriate assessment and treatment of Black juvenile offenders.     

Relationship between scores on developing cognitive abilities test and scores on medical college admissions test for nontraditional premedical students

The relationship of students' performance on the Developing Cognitive Abilities Test (DCAT), a test of scholastic aptitude, and their subsequent performance on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) were examined for 122 nontraditional premedical students who participated in a medical educational preparatory program. A stepwise multiple regression analysis produced moderate, though significant multiple correlations among subscores on the two tests. While there were a few exceptions, for the most part all of the subscores on the Developing Cognitive Abilities Test made a significant contribution to the regression equation in the prediction of scores on MCAT subtests. Implications for the value of the Developing Cognitive Abilities Test as an admissions tool as well as providing direction for possible intervention are discussed.     

The two hermeneutics of psychotherapy

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Placement or placebo: Does additional information change special education placement decisions

The effect of relevant information on the decision to place pupils in special education services was investigated. Ten placement decision committees were given information on 12 referred pupils, half of which included social history information on the pupil and orthogonally half of which were recommended for special education services by an outside psychologist. Analysis of the committee's 120 decisions revealed no significant relationship either between the psychologist's recommendation and the committee's decisions or between the presence of social histories and the committee's decisions. The results are discussed in terms of information advocacy within the committees.