Supervision groups for health advisers working with patients with HIV disease

This paper describes a case supervision group with health advisors working in a clinic specializing in the treatment of patients with HIV Infection. Themes discussed in the group are presented with an evaluation of the group intervention, some consideration of group process and the health advisers views on their work. This is discussed in relation to present research into occupational stress in this field.     

Locus of semantic priming effects in speeded naming

The locus of semantic priming effects was examined by measuring onset and rime durations as well as response latencies of words with consistent and inconsistent pronunciations, using the postvocalic naming task. We found that the effect of a semantic prime on naming duration was localized rather than spread across the entire word; onset durations were shorter in the related condition than in the unrelated condition, but rime durations were equal in the two prime conditions. Moreover, the priming effect on onset durations was larger for words with inconsistent than for those with consistent pronunciations. These duration results cannot be accounted for by previous proposals, but they can be accounted for by models in which phonemes are activated in parallel rather than serially from left to right and in which motor programs are based on phonemes rather than syllables. Contrary to previous reports of an interaction of prime and regularity (a factor closely related to consistency) on naming latency, we found no interaction of prime and consistency on response latency. We argue that this conflict is only apparent and arises because naming latency conflates response latency and initial phoneme duration for some targets.     

Gender Differences in the Suicide-Related Behaviors of Adolescents and Young Adults

Gender differences in suicide-related behaviorswere examined in an older adolescent and a young adultsample (primarily Caucasian). Suicide-related behaviorswere assessed by the Life Attitudes Schedule (LAS) as well as by measures of depressivesymptomatology and hopelessness. The LAS measures a broadcontinuum of potentially life-diminishing orlife-enhancing behaviors. There are four LAScontent-category subscales: overtly suicidal and death-related,self-related, risk and injury-related, and health-relatedbehaviors. As hypothesized, in both samples, genderdifferences in the expression of suicide-related behaviors were obtained. Males from both samplesendorsed substantially more risk-taking andinjury-producing behaviors than females. Males in bothsamples also reported more negative health-relatedbehaviors than females. In contrast, females reported moresymptoms of depression than males. Hopelessness scoresonly differentiated male and female young adults; maleand female adolescents did not differ significantly on the hopelessness measure. These findings areprimarily discussed in terms of gender-role socializationtheory. Implications for the treatment of suicidality aredrawn.     

Correlates of sociometric status in school children in Buenos Aires

Teacher ratings on Spanish translations of the Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale for Children and peer nominations were obtained for 110 school children (42 boys and 68 girls) in grades 2– 5 at a public elementary school in Buenos Aires. Nominations of likes best were negatively correlated with language processing deficits, attention problems, and sluggish tempo as rated by both teachers and peers, and positively correlated with teacher ratings of social competence, for both boys and girls. The reverse pattern was found for nominations of likes least. Children were assigned to sociometric status groups of popular (n=27), rejected (n=28), neglected (n=7) controversial (n=11), and average (n=37) based on number of LL and LB nominations. Rejected and popular children could be differentiated by teacher and peer ratings of linguistic information processing deficits, inattention, and sluggish tempo. Behavioral characteristics of motor hyperactivity, impulsivity, and aggression were significantly associated with being male but did not differ by sociometric status group.The assistance of Claudia Colon, Educational District of Buenos Aires, and Viviana Smith, Department of the Interior, Argentina, in the translation of measures is gratefully acknowledged. Particular thanks are also extended to the teachers and personnel of Escuela Normal 9 — Domingo F. Sarmiento.     

From sex differences to gender role beliefs: Exploring effects on six dimensions of religiosity

Regardless of the particular dimension of religiosity under consideration, women are generally found to be more religious than men. To date, empirical data has not been used to explore the importance of gender role ideology in explaining these differences. Using the 1988 Akron Area Survey, the effects of sex differences and gender role beliefs on six dimensions of religiosity are explored. The major findings include the following: (1) sex differences in religiosity are not supported for most dimensions of religiosity when other demographic variables are considered; (2) gender role ideology, while not sex related, does improve the explanation of variance in most dimensions of religiosity; and (3) sex is a predictor of the closeness of an individual's relationships to God, while gender role ideology is not. We suggest that stereotypes about women being more religious are misleading and that gender role ideology has an important effect on religiosity. However, sex is more indicative of the level of religious intimacy, measured by perceived closeness to God. We discuss the implications of this finding for changes in family structure and relationships between men and women.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Association for the Sociology of Religion annual meeting, Washington, DC, August 1990.     

Correlates of body satisfaction and self-concept in third- and sixth-graders

The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between body satisfaction and self-concept in elementary school children. Participants were twentythree boys and twenty-eight girls from the third and sixth grades of a rural public school. Demographic information, body satisfaction scores, self-concept scores, and measures of parental attitudes were obtained from the participants through a questionnaire. It was hypothesized that body satisfaction and self-concept would be related in elementary school children. It was expected that this relationship would be impacted by grade, sex, and parental attitudes. A significant relationship existed between body satisfaction and self-concept in girls, but not boys. No grade differences were detected in the relationship. Body satisfaction was significantly correlated with body criticism from peers among sixth graders. A parent's body satisfaction appeared to be a significant predictor of the body satisfaction of his/her opposite sex child for both third — and sixth-graders.