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.     

Creating false memories for events that occurred before versus after the offset of childhood amnesia

We examined whether false images and memories for childhood events are more likely when the event supposedly took place during the period of childhood amnesia. Over three interviews, participants recalled six events: five true and one false. Some participants were told that the false event happened when they were 2 years old (Age 2 group), while others were told that it happened when they were 10 years old (Age 10 group). We compared participants' reports of the false event to their reports of a true event from the same age. Consistent with prior research on childhood amnesia, participants in the Age 10 group were more likely than participants in the Age 2 group to remember their true event and they reported more information about it. Participants in the Age 2 group, on the other hand, were more likely to develop false images and memories than participants in the Age 10 group. Furthermore, once a false image or memory developed, there were no age-related differences in the amount of information participants reported about the false event. We conclude that childhood amnesia increases our susceptibility to false suggestion, thus our results have implications for court cases where early memories are at issue.     

Weight Halo Effects: Individual Differences in Perceived Life Success as a Function of Women's Race and Weight

The question of whether or not life success halo effects occur for weight for Black and White women was examined in an experiment using a 2 (race of woman) × 2 (weight of woman) × 2 (sex of participant) design and measures of perceived life success, attractiveness, and personality. The thinner White woman was expected to receive higher life success, attractiveness, and personality ratings than the heavy White woman. However, the heavy Black woman was expected to receive higher ratings than the thinner Black woman. The results were consistent with expectations. These results are discussed in terms of prior research on beauty, weight, and stereotyping.     

Parental assessment of early childhood development: biological and social covariates

This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (N=8605) to investigate the effects of unfavourable birth outcomes and dimensions of the family environment on the development of Canadian children aged 0–47 months. Among children under 24 months of age, it was found that sex of the child, birth order and low birthweight were significant covariates while the familial environment tended to have little influence. However, among children aged 24–47 months, effects of parenting style, social support, and positive social‐structural conditions of the family supplemented the effects of sex of the child and low birthweight. The results suggest that the cumulative effects of a positive family environment begin to occlude the neonatal disadvantages in the first 47 months of life. Copyright © 2003 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.     

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.