Expectations of Psychotherapy Duration by Disorder: A Comparison Between Professional and Young Adult Expectations

Using more precise methodology, the current study investigated expectations of psychotherapy duration for specific disorders. Duration expectations were obtained for young adults and compared to those obtained from psychotherapists as reported by Lowry and Ross (Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training 34:272–277, 1997). Results revealed that expected duration for young adults by disorder was quite similar to the psychotherapists, where less severe psychological disorders and problems were expected to require shorter treatment durations than moderate and severe disorders and problems. For disorders and problems with which young adults were familiar, their expectations were essentially the same as psychotherapists. A meaningful difference was found for suicidal ideation, with young adults expecting significantly longer treatment duration.     

Sex Differences in Episodic Memory

ABSTRACT— Research shows sex differences in episodic memory. These differences vary in magnitude as a function of the type of material to be remembered. Throughout the life span, verbal episodic-memory tasks yield differences favoring women. In contrast, episodic-memory tasks requiring visuospatial processing result in differences favoring men. There are also sex differences favoring women on episodic-memory tasks requiring both verbal and visuospatial processing and on face-recognition tasks. Thus, there may be a small, general episodic-memory advantage for women—an advantage that can increase by the advantage women have over men in verbal production and can be reversed by the male advantage in visuospatial tasks. In addition, environmental factors affect the magnitude of the sex differences in episodic memory.     

Maternal speech style with prelinguistic twin infants

The mother–infant communicative speech of a group of mothers of 4‐month‐old first‐born twin infants was compared to the speech of a group of mothers of first‐born singleton infants. Maternal groups were matched on age, education level, mother–infant attachment status and infant gender, and maternal depression was assessed as a control variable. Maternal speech was coded for focus, content, complexity and syntax of mothers' utterances. The findings of earlier studies with toddler age twins, that maternal speech style was more directive and less infant‐focused, were replicated in this prelinguistic period of infancy. Compared to mothers of singletons, mothers of twins used less infant‐focused speech, were less responsive to their infants' cues, and attributed less agency to their infants. Mothers of twins also used fewer questions and requests but did not differ from mothers of singletons in their use of negatives and imperatives. These early differences in the language learning environments of twin and singleton infants may be due to the reduced opportunities that mothers of twins have to establish dyadic communicative routines with their infants and to familiarize themselves with their infants as interactive partners, and may have implications for the early language development of twins. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sexual harassment in the workplace: An ethical dilemma for career guidance practice?

Sexual harassment in the workplace poses something of an ethical dilemma for career guidance practice. This is because it is now known that about half of all working women in the UK are likely to be victims at some stage of their employment and that the effects on individuals are invariably negative and can be positively harmful. What, therefore, is the role for career guidance—if any—in preparing and/or supporting girls and women who might face, or who are suffering from, sexual harassment in the labour market? This issue is thrown into particularly sharp focus by recommendations from recent studies into gender inequality in the workplace which exhort practitioners to combat stereotyping by encouraging girls and women into non-traditional vocational education, training and jobs. Yet research into non-traditional occupational areas reveals that there are particularly high levels of reporting of sexual harassment by victims. This article examines some of the research evidence on workplace sexual harassment and begins to explore implications for guidance practice.     

A comparative,cross‐national analysis of partner‐killing by women in cohabiting and marital relationships in Australia and the United States

Using a national‐level United States database, T. K. Shackelford [Partner‐killing by women in cohabiting relationships and marital relationships. Homicide Studies 5: 253‐266, 2001] calculated rates of partner‐killing by women by relationship type (cohabiting or marital), by partner ages, and by the age difference between partners. Men in cohabiting relationships were 10 times more likely to be killed by their partners than were married men. Within marriages, the risk of being killed by a partner decreased with a man's age. Within cohabiting relationships, in contrast, middle‐aged men were at greatest risk of being killed by their partners. The risk that a man will be killed by his partner generally increased with greater age difference between partners. We sought to replicate the findings of Shackelford [2001] using national‐level data held as part of the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) at the Australian Institute of Criminology in Australia. The NHMP holds data on over 3,500 homicides that occurred in Australia between 1989 and 2000. Despite the higher rate of partner‐killing in the United States, and despite other cultural differences between the two countries (for example, the prominent gun culture in the United States), we replicated the key patterns with the Australian data. Aggr. Behav. 30:206–216, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Exploring self‐esteem of Hong Kong Chinese adults cardiac diseases

Low self‐esteem appears to be both a vulnerability factor for cardiac diseases and a result of cardiac diseases. Thus enhancing self‐esteem might facilitate recovery and/or help to prevent recurrence. Since some evidence suggests that self‐esteem might even serve as an important gauge of cardiac rehabilitation, it is therefore important to know more of the construct of self‐esteem to enable the planning of a more promising rehabilitation process. This paper explores the source and basis of the self‐esteem of Hong Kong Chinese with cardiac diseases. One hundred and fifty‐two adults with cardiac diseases and 146 adults not suffering from any major illness participated in this study. The Adult Source of Self‐Esteem Inventory (ASSEI) (Elovson & Fleming, 1989), open‐ended questions on self‐evaluation, and interviewing were the major procedures used to identify the sources and basis of the self‐esteem of persons with and without cardiac diseases. The subjects' important life aspects were identified through interpreting their responses to open‐ended questions and interviews. Moreover, a structured questionnaire on their subjective perceptions of importance and satisfaction in different life areas was used to identify the relationships between discrete self‐concept variables. Factor analysis of their responses to the 20 ASSEI items revealed four factors, namely, Interpersonal Relationship, Personal Quality, Physical Self, and Personal Achievement. We also examined and compared the means and ranks of the ASSEI items as indicated by the subjects. Content analysis of open‐ended questions further confirmed the self‐esteem domains of persons with cardiac diseases. The discrepancy of ideal‐actual physical abilities was found to be more prominent in the cardiac group. It was also found that family is an important entity to Chinese individuals with cardiac diseases. Implications of the findings to rehabilitation of persons with cardiac diseases were also discussed.     

Inner-City Children Living with an HIV-Seropositive Mother: Parent–Child Relationships, Perception of Social Support, and Psychological Disturbance

Despite ongoing concern about the well-being of HIV-seronegative children living in urban poverty with a seropositive mother, very little is known about this expanding population of children. In this cross-sectional study, the psychosocial adjustment of 60 ethnic minority children 11 to 16 years of age who were living with an HIV-seropositive mother was compared with that of 108 children attending public school in the same community. Results of three multivariate analyses of covariance indicated that, after allowance for differences associated with age, gender, ethnicity, and family structure, the HIV-affected group confirmed (a) greater disturbance in the parent–child relationship, (b) less social support, and (c) greater disturbance in psychological functioning. Secondary analysis of the multivariate findings indicated that the differences were characterized primarily by (a) perception of more indifference and hostility in the mother–child relationship, (b) perception of less social support available from parents, friends, and teachers, and (c) less self-esteem. The findings suggest that HIV infection and concurrent problems may compromise parent–child relationships and perception of social support in ways that leave older, seronegative children living with an infected mother at risk for psychological disturbance.     

Driving Under the Influence (of Stress): Evidence of a Regional Increase in Impaired Driving and Traffic Fatalities After the September 11 Terrorist Attacks

ABSTRACT— Did the September 11 terrorist attacks elicit a subsequent increase in traffic fatalities? Gigerenzer (2004) argued that decreases in flying and increases in driving in the 3 months after the attacks led to 353 "surplus" traffic fatalities. We applied a more systematic analysis to the same data and found no evidence of a significant increase in miles driven or of a significant increase in traffic fatalities. However, we did find evidence for a regional effect of the attacks on driving behaviors. We hypothesized that geographic proximity to the attacks increased stress, which in turn decreased driving quality. Our analyses revealed that in the last 3 months of 2001, the Northeast exhibited a significant increase in traffic fatalities, as well as a significant increase in fatal accidents involving an alcohol- or drug-related citation. Increased stress related to physical proximity to the attacks may explain the increase in traffic fatalities.