FEMALE VS. MALE ABSENCE RATES: A TEMPORAL ANALYSIS

The purpose of this research is to test the importance of temporal trends within absenteeism data for males and females. The data support previous findings of higher absenteeism rates for women when compared to men. The data also indicate the importance of temporal trends as suggested by Dansereau, Alutto, and Markham (1978). Conclusions are drawn concerning the use of absence rates as dependent variables.     

ON THE ETIOLOGY OF CLIMATES

A review of some of the conceptual and methodological progress that has been made in the area of climate research is presented. A discussion of current thinking on the etiology of climates follows, and an integrative conceptual scheme is developed. This perspective is based on Mead's (1934) symbolic interactionism as the process through which individuals come to attach meaning to events. Implications of this approach to the etiology of climates are discussed with respect to measurement issues, the management of climate acquisition in organizations, and the change and development of climates over time.     

Personality Profiles of Recently Terminated Executives

Empirical comparison of terminated executives' personality profiles with employed controls revealed no pathological indicators in those terminated.     

The Dissolution of the Self in Unsettled Times: Postmodernism and the Creative Process

How does culture affect creative behavior? This question forms the background for this essay, which investigates commonalities between creative processes and features of an impending “postmodern” age. Specifically, recurring themes in discussions of the creative process — the combining, ordering, and integration of disintegrated elements — appear also to be standard features of postmodern consciousness. This essay draws from contemporary fiction-writing; popular culture; and postmodern psychology, which views the self as a work-in-progress, to demonstrate these affinities. Postmodern consciousness, it is argued, heralds an era of renewed creativity partly because the fractured view of the self it promotes, with its emphasis on paradox and irony, appears well equipped to encourage creative expression.     

Personality Correlates of College Age Bulimics

This study was conducted to examine the relationships between bulimia and the personality characteristics of assertiveness, masculinity, femininity, masculinity-femininity, and externality. The results showed low but statistically significant negative relationships between assertiveness, masculinity, and masculinity-femininity and high bulimia test scores, and even greater predictive ability was obtained when these variables were combined.     

The Family Therapy of Attempted Suicide

Suicidal behavior is a multidetermined act based upon a variety of factors among which family tensions and patterns of interaction predominate. Family therapy, nevertheless, is underutilized for suicidal situations because too few practitioners possess the requisite skills in both suicidology and family treatment. This paper attempts to integrate the two fields, describes some assessment procedures, and presents an account of the method of family therapy utilized by the author with suicidal persons. The basic goals of therapy are to help initiate and to catalyze a healing process that will enable the participants to accept changes in both individual and family existence; to decrease the amount of destructive family interaction; to deal with the inevitable anxiety that accompanies growth and development; to make contact with and among the family members; and to provide hope.     

Retention,Role Modeling,and Academic Readiness: A Perspective on the Ethnic Minority Student in Higher Education

This article discusses retention, role modeling, and academic readiness as these issues relate to ethnic minority students in higher education. The central points of the discussion revolve around the need to stem the unusually high rates of attrition of minority students through academic role modeling and recognition of the concept of delayed academic readiness. Methods of implementing a mentor-student program are also suggested.     

PERSON-SITUATION SELECTION: A REVIEW OF SOME ABILITY-SITUATION INTERACTION RESEARCH

A review of literatures thought to be relevant for understanding situational contributions to ability-performance relationships was conducted. The review suggested that only three sets of variables, incentive systems, job characteristics, and leadership style/management philosophy ("climates") have recieved research attention from an ability/situation vantage point. It was also shown that in both experimental and survey research these three factors can moderate ability-performance relationships. Because these same three sets of variables are also known to have main effects on average performance levels, an hypothesis is presented that when organizations establish work conditions which facilitate the display of task-relevant individual ability, then validity for ability measures, average performance levels, and general levels of satisfaction will all be high.