Evaluative Concerns and Personal Standards Perfectionism: Self-esteem as a Mediator and Moderator of Relations with Personal and Academic Needs and Estimated GPA

We examined the mediational role of self-esteem in the relation between evaluative concerns (EC) and personal standards (PS) perfectionism, and measures of personal concerns, academic concerns, and estimated grade point average (EGPA) in 386 university students. Self-esteem partially mediated the relation between EC perfectionism and students’ personal and academic concerns. EC perfectionism was a weak predictor of EGPA. PS perfectionism was not related to academic concerns. Although PS was associated with personal concerns both directly and indirectly through low levels of self-esteem in women only, these findings did not hold when controlling for EC perfectionism. PS perfectionism had a direct positive relation with EGPA. Neither PS nor EC perfectionism interacted with self-esteem to predict unique variance in personal or academic concerns or EGPA. The results are consistent with our view that a perfectionism dimension that is primarily maladaptive can be distinguished from a dimension that can be adaptive. The implications for research and treatment are considered.

Engaging Nurses in Genetics: The Strategic Approach of the NHS National Genetics Education and Development Centre

The UK government announced the establishment of an NHS National Genetics Education and Development Centre in its Genetics White Paper. The Centre aims to lead and coordinate developments to enhance genetics literacy of health professionals. The nursing program takes a strategic approach based on Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior, using the UK nursing genetics competences as the platform for development. The program team uses innovative approaches to raise awareness of the relevance of genetics, working collaboratively with policy stakeholders, as key agents of change in promoting competence. Providing practical help in preparing learning and teaching resources lends further encouragement. Evaluation of the program is dependent on gathering baseline data, and the program has been informed by an education needs analysis. The challenges faced are substantial and necessitate international collaboration where expertise and resources can be shared to produce a global system of influence to facilitate the engagement of non-genetic nurses.     

A national survey of U.S. statutes on juvenile transfer: implications for policy and practice

A survey of the statutes on juvenile transfer and cecertification in the U.S. federal and 50 state jurisdictions, and the District of Columbia, was performed. Relevant information was obtained on the procedures in each jurisdiction by which a juvenile can be tried in criminal court, whether there are applicable decertification (“transfer back”) procedures in jurisdictions permitting criminal court processing through automatic file or prosecutorial discretion, and the burden and allocation of proof in relevant proceedings. We also identified four criteria relevant to the mental, emotional, and developmental functioning of juveniles that are used in various jurisdictions in making transfer and decertification decisions: treatment needs and amenability, risk assessment of future criminality, the presence of mental retardation or mental illness, and certain kinds of offense characteristics. The majority of jurisdictions now allow 14-year-old juveniles to be tried in criminal court. Treatment needs/amenability and risk assessment are set forth as criteria relevant to transfer in the majority of jurisdictions as well, with the presence of mental retardation or mental illness explicitly relevant in a small number of jurisdictions. The patterns of these findings are discussed in their implications for social policy and for the forensic mental health assessment of juvenile transfer and decertification, with needed areas of research identified within each. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Study of Generative Partnership

This phenomenological study suggests that generativity, long conceptualized as a stage of individual psychosocial development, is a collaborative experience in the developmental trajectory of some marriages and long‐term partnerships. This new knowledge was developed through exploring the lived experience of 10 middle‐aged and older couples who participated in this research. Termed “generative partnership,” this collaborative experience includes 3 facets: embracing generative identity, contributing talents and resources, and passing it on. Findings suggest that generative partnerships enhance satisfaction and vitality in relationships at midlife and beyond as couples encounter the opportunities and challenges of growing old together.     

Reinforcement Without Awareness: I. Voice Level

Although some studies have reported that reinforcement can strengthen people's behaviour without their awareness, most studies that have incorporated adequate procedures for assessing awareness have been unsuccessful. Using rigorous procedures, we report two studies designed to provide more scope for learning without awareness by making the reinforcement contingency as unobtrusive as possible. Subjects were told that the experiment was on ESP, and that they were to say which of two words the experimenter was thinking about. In fact, reinforcement was contingent on the loudness of the subject's voice when responding. Even though subjects reported no awareness of a relationship between trial outcomes and their behaviour, the probability of the reinforced responses increased significantly over trials in both experiments. These results support the view that reinforcement can occur without awareness.     

Assessing changes in performance and monitoring processes in individual and collaborative tests according to students' metacognitive skills

This study assessed students' test performances and metacognitive processes in real classroom settings. Psychology undergraduates were categorised according to their metacognitive skills (high vs. low) and had their test performances and monitoring processes in two different types of tests (multiple-choice and short-answer tests) compared in individual and collaborative test conditions. Students' test preparation practices, attributions, and regulatory processes during test-taking were also compared by using open-ended questions. In the collaborative tests, three types of metacognitive pairings were made (high/high vs. high/low vs. low/low). Results showed that: (1) in individual tests, high-metacognitive students presented better performance and higher confidence levels due to their more effective test preparation practices and regulatory skills; (2) Differences in performance and confidence levels due to metacognitive skills disappear when students take tests collaboratively; (3) Over time, collaborative testing had particular positive effects on the low/low metacognitive pairings. Results are discussed focusing on their educational implications.     

Personality Characteristics of Eating-Disordered Outpatients as Measured by the Hand Test

The Hand Test was administered to 34 eating-disordered and 26 noneating-disordered college-age women to determine discriminating projective personality features. Eating-disordered women scored higher on response time, overall pathology, and passivity. Anorexics present more tension, aggression, and acting out potential whereas bulimics demonstrate significantly more passive responses. The more severely affected women scored higher on crippled, passive, and withdrawal variables. Similarities as well as differences between the groups may have important implications for the diagnosis of subgroups of eating-disordered women and for treatment planning.     

Item-Cued Directed Forgetting of Related Words and Pictures in Children and Adults: Selective Rehearsal Versus Cognitive Inhibition

The main purpose of this study was to compare the relative importance of selective rehearsal and cognitive inhibition in accounting for developmental changes in the directed-forgetting paradigm developed by R. A. Bjork (1972). In two experiments, children in Grades 2 and 5 and college students were asked to remember some words or pictures and to forget others when items were categorically related. Their memory for both items and the associated remember or forget cues was then tested with recall and recognition. Fifth graders recognized more of the forget-cued words than college students did. The pattern of results suggested that age differences in rehearsal and source monitoring (i.e., remembering whether a word had been cued remember or forget) were better explanatory mechanisms for children's forgetting inefficiencies than retrieval inhibition was. The results are discussed in terms of a multiple process view of inhibition.     

Potential for crime and knowledge of legal sanctions

The importance of knowledge of legal sanctions for deterrence is debatable, but the debate can be resolved only through exploratory research on the subject Using survey data, this research compares individuals in terms of the degree to which they accurately perceive statutory maximum prison sentences for 19 types of crimes. Contrary to expectations, evidence that high‐potential offenders perceived statutory maximums significantly more accurately than low‐potential offenders is rather limited, with most respondents unaware of maximum prison sentences. The empirical results also show that respondents apparently derive their perceptual estimates of the maximums from shared beliefs about what ought to be done to criminal offenders, not knowledge of what actually can be done to them, as indicated by the significant relationships between individual perceptions of maximum prison sentences and individual preferences for those sentences. The implications of those findings for developing and testing a theory of deterrence are discussed.