Rape Myth Acceptance and Sociodemographic Characteristics: A Multidimensional Analysis

Many myths have been identified surrounding rape, rapists, and rape victims. This study reexamines the acceptance of rape myths across gender role ideologies and selected demographic characteristics to identify core myths. Three myth categories were established and investigated: blaming the woman, excusing the man, and justifications for acquaintance rape. Findings indicate that rape myths remain prevalent and adherence to myths is related to demographic factors and gender role attitudes. Overall, respondents tend to excuse the man more than blame the woman. Males accept rape myths more than females. Racial differences emerged most strongly on the justifications for acquaintance rape dimension. Individuals with a conservative gender role ideology believe rape myths more than those with more liberal ideologies. While core myths did not emerge from the data, the most revealing finding is that summative scaling techniques used in previous studies may mask important differences, between and within the three dimensions, in rape myth acceptance among the groups studied.     

CLASSWIDE PEER TUTORING: AN INTEGRATION STRATEGY TO IMPROVE READING SKILLS AND PROMOTE PEER INTERACTIONS AMONG STUDENTS WITH AUTISM AND GENERAL EDUCATION PEERS

A multiple baseline design across subjects with a reversal was used to examine the effects of classwide peer tutoring relative to traditional reading instruction on reading skills and social interaction time for 3 high-functioning students with autism and their typical peers in integrated, general education classrooms. Traditional reading instruction consisted largely of teacher-led instruction with individual student participation and seat work. Classwide peer tutoring consisted of 25 to 30 min of well-specified instruction in which tutor—learner pairs worked together on a classwide basis on reading fluency and comprehension skills. All students participated in 15- to 20-min unstructured free-time activities immediately following reading instruction. Results of reading assessments demonstrated that classwide peer tutoring increased reading fluency and correct responses to reading comprehension questions for students with autism and their peers. The procedure further increased the total duration of free-time social interactions for students with autism and typical peers, with individual variation in performance.     

Yes,but how?: Development and evaluation of careers education in higher education by careers advisers

Contrasting approaches to the evaluation of careers education activities are outlined, one based on the organisational needs of careers services (an 'accountability' model), the other based on individual needs of careers advisers (a 'developmental' model). The case is considered for adopting educational research methods developed from the ethnographic research tradition, such as action research, to help careers advisers meet the challenges facing them in the development, delivery and evaluation of careers education in higher education. Practical experience is cited, together with some positive outcomes that have arisen from undertaking fieldwork research. The difficulties and dilemmas in carrying out such research are presented.     

VICARIOUS TRAUMA The Effects on Female Counselors of Working with Sexual Violence Survivors

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effects on counselors of working with sexual violence survivors. Members of a women psychologists' organization and a group of sexual violence counselors completed questionnaires regarding the extent of their work with survivors and their psychological functioning. Counselors who had a higher percentage of survivors in their caseload reported more disrupted beliefs, (particularly about the goodness of other people), more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and more self-reported vicarious trauma. Symptomatology was not related to counselors' own history of victimization. Qualitative data regarding difficult and enjoyable aspects of working with survivors also were gathered, along with data on the strategies used by counselors to cope with work-related stress. implications for counselor training are discussed.     

Marriage and Family Counseling

This article provides an overview of marriage and family counseling, including the growth and interest of this specialty within the American Counseling Association (ACA). Areas discussed include the evolution of marriage and family counseling within ACA, standards for training, credentialing, and unique ethical considerations when counseling couples and families.     

African-American Women and the Male-Female Relationship Dilemma: A Counseling Perspective

This article focuses on the historical origin of the African-American male-female relationship dilemma and contemporary forces that have an impact on opportunities for intimacy and marriage among African-American women. Specifically, loss, communication, and stereotypes are examined as counseling issues that are relevant to African-American women in relationships. Implications for counseling and research are also discussed.     

Abstractionist versus episodic theories of repetition priming and word identification

This paper reviews research relevant to the question of whether words are identified through the use of abstract lexical representations, specific episodic representations, or both. Several lines of evidence indicate that specific episodes participate in word identification. First, pure abstractionist theories can explain short-term but not long-term repetition priming. Second, long-term repetition priming is sensitive to changes in surface features or episodic context between presentations of a word. Finally, long-term priming for pseudowords is also difficult for pure abstractionist theories to explain. Alternative approaches to word identification are discussed, including both pure episodic theories and theories in which both episodes and abstract representations play a role.     

Are microsaccades responsible for the gap effect?

Extinguishing a fixation point shortly before, or concurrently with, the onset of a peripheral visual target reduces the latency of saccades to that target. Saslow (1967) hypothesized that thisgap effect might occur because fixation point offsets reduce the incidence of corrective microsaccades with an associated saccadic refractory period. In the present study, a robust gap effect was obtained. However, using a Purkinje image eyetracker with 1 arcmin of resolution, we found that fixation point offsets had no effect on the occurrence of microsaccades and that the occurrence of microsaccades had no impact on the magnitude of the gap effect. Microsaccades therefore do not appear to play any part in the production of the gap effect.     

MENSTRUAL JOY The Construct and Its Consequences

Fifty female college students participated in a study of women's health. In a counterbalanced design, half of the participants completed the Menstrual Joy Questionnaire (MJQ) and the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ) in the first testing session. A week later they completed the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) and the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire. The other participants completed the MDQ and MAQ in the first session and the MJQ and MAQ in the second. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that those who received the MJQ first reported more positive cyclic changes on the MDQ and more positive attitudes on the MAQ. A follow-up study of 40 college students examined their responses to the MJQ. Participants reported that they were surprised or incredulous; most had not previously considered positive aspects of the menstrual cycle. Thirty percent reported that the MJQ had caused them to look at menstruation in a different way.     

Evaluation of a Coeducational Interactive Rape Prevention Program

This article illustrates one way in which counselors can contribute to victim services on campus besides providing direct remedial services. Specifically, the authors describe a project in which they designed, implemented, and evaluated a rape prevention program. The program was coeducational and interactive and was presented to members of sororities and fraternities. Those who participated in the program endorsed fewer rape-supportive attitudes than did the control group immediately following the program, although the two groups no longer differed at the one month follow-up. Recommendations are provided for counselors interested in developing and evaluating similar programs.