Reviews

E schenbach , J. Das Symbol in therapeutischen Prozess bei Kindern und Jugendlichen .
E dinger , E dward F. Melville's 'Moby Dick': A Jungian commentary .
B oston , M. and D aws , D., Ed. The child psychotherapist and problems of young people .
F irestein , S. K., M.D. Termination in psychoanalysis .
H ägglund , T or -B jorn . Dying .     

Contributions of school classification,sex, and ethnic status to adaptive behavior assessment

This study investigated the contributions of school classification (regular, EMR) and sex and ethnic status to domain scores from the Public School Version of the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale. For this investigation data were available from a sample of more than 1,600 regular and EMR subjects approximately equally distributed between the sexes among white, black, and Spanish-background subjects from ages 7 to 13. The results replicated earlier findings that domain scores were valid for differentiating among children of different adaptive behavior levels as inferred from school classification status. Ethnic status was not a unique contributor to Part One domain scores when the effects of classification were accounted for. On the Part Two domains, ethnic status was a significant contributor to some domain scores, but not at all age levels. Similarly, sex made few unique contributions to domain scores on Part One of the Scale, but it was a significant factor on some domains of Part Two at some age levels.the author concluded that the Scale was valid for differentiating among pupils assigned to regular and EMR classes from ages 7 to 12. The failure of sex and ethnic status to make contributions to Part One domain scores suggests that there are common expectancies for personal independence and responsibility between boys and girls from different ethnic groups.From the analysis of the contributions of sex and ethnic status to the Part Two domains, the author inferred that difference in environmental tolerance for affective or emotional responses to the school or community environment was a more reasonable explanation than the inference that girls and boys or children grom different cultural backgrounds were inherently different with respect to these behaviors. The Public School Version of the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale is valid for assessing adaptive behavior of children in public school and relatively independent of effects attributable to sex or ethnic status.     

Differential cerebral involvement in the cognitive functioning of bilinguals

The cognitive processing strategies of two groups of French-English bilinguals were studied by means of an auditory Stroop test designed to evaluate cerebral hemispheric involvement. An “early bilingual” group were bilingual before the age of 5, and a “late bilingual” group were bilingual after the age of 10. Stimuli were words uttered in pitches that were related to word meanings either congruently (as in the word “high” uttered in a high pitch) or incongruently (the word “haute” uttered in a low pitch). In one condition, subjects were to differentiate low from high pitches, disregarding meaning, while in a second condition, they were to disregard pitch and respond to word meanings. Measures of field independence were also taken. Results of data analyses suggest that male early bilinguals—the most field independent subgroup—process meaning efficiently in both cerebral hemispheres, but process pitch better in the right hemisphere. However, male late bilinguals and female bilinguals, both early and late, process meaning more rapidly in the right cerebral hemisphere and pitch equally rapidly in both hemispheres. The findings are interpreted as reflecting hemisphere-based strategy and sex differences in information-processing by the two bilingual groups.     

Psychometric properties and correlates of three computer aversion scales

Investigators have employed a variety of constructs and measures to examine individuals’ discomfort with computer use. Models and instruments for measuring constructs such as computer anxiety, computer phobia, and computer aversion have been employed to investigate negative reactions that slow individuals’ acceptance and useful application of computers. Using a large college student sample, we sought to compare the psychometric properties of three computer aversion scales and to investigate their relationships to gender, age, cognitive abilities, and experience with computer use. The results indicated good reliability, good validity coefficients, and similar factor structures for the scales. Younger students, female students, and students with lower mathematical skills and less computer experience were more likely to experience discomfort with computers. Implications include the possibility that if software and hardware alter subjects’ expectations about the difficulty of completing tasks, individual differences in computer aversion are likely to become a source of additional unexplained variance. Such differences must be heeded in software design and in the design of experimental research involving computers as stimulus controllers and response recorders.     

Social Validation of the Outcome Questionnaire—45: An Assessment of Asian and Pacific Islander College Students

This study tested the appropriateness of Outcome Questionnaire‐45 norms for Asian and Pacific Islander students. Both groups scored higher, based on participants' self‐reported general functioning, than the norms and more frequently met criteria for clinical classification, a possible indication of greater distress. The authors discuss findings and therapeutic applications. Este estudio probó la conveniencia de Resultado del Cuestionario—45 normas para los estudiantes Asiáticos y Isleño Pacífico. Los dos grupos estubirieron un puntaje alto, basado en la función general de ser‐informó, que las normas, y con más frecuencia encontró los criterios para la clasificación clínica, una indicación posible de anguista más alta. Los autores discuten los hallazgos y las aplicaciones terapéuticas.     

Perceptions of Chaplains’ Value and Impact Within Hospital Care Teams

Many scholars have written about the role of spirituality in health care. One mechanism for incorporating spirituality into the care of patients is to integrate clinically trained chaplains into hospital care teams. We examined in a mixed-methods fashion, the effects of this type of integrated care team within a teaching hospital setting. The quality and impact of chaplain involvement were studied from patient and physician-in-training perspectives, using data from more than 200 patients and physicians in training. Findings clearly show that clinically trained chaplains can contribute meaningful expertise and real value to the quality and comprehensiveness of patient and physician experiences.     

Compound-Schedules Approaches to Noncompliance: Teaching Children When to Ask and When to Work

Researchers have demonstrated for practitioners how to use multiple-schedules preparations to thin initially dense schedules of reinforcement during functional communication training, without sacrificing benefits associated with dense schedules of reinforcement for manding. However, special considerations may be required for practitioners to successfully apply this strategy to noncompliance. The purpose of our study was to evaluate whether multiple-schedules preparations could maintain contextually prescribed compliance and manding during interventions for noncompliance. For one participant, a multiple-schedules intervention was sufficient to establish socially valid outcomes. For the other, chained-schedules modifications were required before compliance emerged in relevant components.