Counselor Interventions with Low-Achieving and Underachieving Elementary,Middle, and High School Students: A Review of the Literature

The author reviews experimental studies and evaluates the effects of counselor interventions on the grade point averages of underachieving or low-achieving students in elementary, middle, and high schools. Characteristics of programs associated with improved achievement included directive and behavioral rather than person-centered approaches, lengthy rather than brief treatment, group rather than individual counseling, voluntary rather than nonvoluntary participation, counseling with study skills instruction, and parental involvement.     

Childbirth pain,attachment orientations,and romantic partner support during labor and delivery

Attachment anxiety is associated with greater perceived physical pain, whereas social support is associated with lower pain perceptions. Few studies, however, have examined the joint effects of attachment and support on acute physical pain in a dyadic context. In this study, first‐time expectant mothers (N = 140) and their male partners completed romantic attachment measures (prenatally) and postnatal assessments of women's pain and men's emotional support during labor and delivery. More securely attached women benefited from emotional support in terms of reduced pain, more avoidantly attached women reported greater pain when given more support, and more anxiously attached women reported greater pain, regardless of their partners' support. These results advance our understanding of which women are most vulnerable to painful childbirth.     

Testimony Validity as a Function of Question Form, Atmosphere, and Item Difficulty

The effects of five kinds of questioning, two interpersonal atmospheres of interviewing, and five levels of item difficulty on the accuracy and completeness of testimony about a short film were tested in a legal interrogation setting. Subjects enjoyed the supportive style of interviewing more than the challenging style, but atmosphere had no important effect on recall performance.
The type of questioning produced almost no differences in affective or cognitive reactions. However, as the specificity of questions increased, so did the completeness of testimony. Accuracy of testimony showed slight decreases for more specific questions. The trade-off between accuracy and completeness was mediated by item difficulty. It was very pronounced for items of high difficulty and not apparent for items of low difficulty.
Leading questions by themselves or in interaction with atmosphere did not produce special distortions in accuracy.     

THE PERCEIVED VALUE OF FRINGE BENEFITS

One hundred eighty-two University of Arizona employees each participated in one of two field studies of the valuation of fringe benefits. Findings included: (a) a lack of employee knowledge regarding employer cost and market value of the studied benefit, and (b) significant undervaluation of the benefit by employees. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that employee benefit valuations anchor on employee contributions. Implications for practitioners and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

UNEQUAL ATTENDANCE: THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RACE, ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY CUES, AND ABSENTEEISM

Although prior evidence has demonstrated racial differences in employee absenteeism, no existing research explains this phenomenon. The present study examined the roles of 2 diversity cues related to workplace support—perceived organizational value of diversity and supervisor–subordinate racial/ethnic similarity—in explicating this demographic difference among 659 Black, White, and Hispanic employees of U.S. companies. Blacks reported significantly more absences than their White counterparts, but this difference was significantly more pronounced when employees believed their organizations placed little value on diversity. Moreover, in a form of expectancy violation, the Black–White difference was significant only when employees had racially similar supervisors (and thus would expect their companies to value diversity) and perceived that the organization placed little value on diversity.     

Children's Cognitive and Emotional Responses to the Portrayal of Negative Emotions in Family-Formatted Situation Comedies

This experiment assesses children's cognitive and emotional responses to negative emotions in family-formatted situation comedies. Boys and girls from two grade levels (Grades K-2 vs. Grades 3–5) viewed a family sitcom that featured one of two negative emotions (anger, fear) and varied the inclusion of a positive, humorous subplot (no, yes). Results revealed that inclusion of the subplot reduced comprehension of the major story line for younger children as well as for boys. Among all children, the presence of the positive subplot also distorted perceptions of how negative and persistent the main character's emotions were, finally, children who perceived the family sitcom to be highly realistic were more concerned about similar negative emotional events in their own lives than were those whoperceived theprogram to be less realistic. The findings are discussed in terms of children's social learning from television and emotional development.