Construct similarity, self-meaningfulness, and interpersonal attraction

Self-meaningfulness, a concept arising from personal construct theory research, has been defined in terms of the importance of the self in the personal construct system Forty-two undergraduate volunteers completed Repertory Grid ratings of the self and 15 individuals (five liked, five disliked, and five toward whom the subject was neutral) It was found that high self-meaningfulness individuals' ratings of attraction were more strongly associated with the perception of similarity than were the ratings of low self-meaningfulness subjects High self-meaningfulness subjects saw liked individuals as significantly more similar to the self than did low self-meaningfulness subjects In addition, liked, neutral, and disliked figures were seen as significantly different from one another on the similarity to self-measure for high self-meaningfulness subjects Only disliked figures were judged as more distant from the self for low self-meaningfulness subjects These findings were discussed in terms of the importance of investigating individual differences in similarity-attraction     

Family characteristics as mediators of the influence of problem drinking and multiple risk status on child mental health

Structural equation modeling was used to test a theoretical model in which family cohesion and family reframing coping were hypothesized as mediators between family drinking problems, multiple risk factors, negative life events, and child mental health (conduct disorder, depression, anxiety) in two-parent families. Family cohesion mediated the relationships of family drinking problems and negative life events to child conduct disorder and depression. Negative life events mediated the relationships of family drinking problems and family multiple risk to child conduct disorder. Family reframing coping did not function as a mediator nor was it related to child mental health when other factors were considered simultaneously. Results indicate that increasing family cohesion and reducing sources of stress within the family (negative life events) represent promising areas for interventions for children with problem-drinking parents. Work on this study was funded in part by the National Institute for Mental Health Grant 2-P50-MH39246-06 to support a Preventive Intervention Research Center. The authors gratefully acknowledge contributions made by Rita Shell, Marcia Michaels, Joanne Gersten, George Knight, and Carolyn Berg.     

A Model Faculty Peer Review Process for Counselor Education Programs

The authors describe a counselor education faculty peer review model that addresses the professional functioning of each member of the counselor education faculty regardless of her or his rank, salary, status, or administrative responsibilities.     

Retention and treatment failure in Classwide Peer Tutoring: Implications for further research

Knowledge of basic arithmetic facts aids in the acquisition and speed of performance of arithmetic operations. A peer mediated instructional procedure, Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT), has been shown to increase the rates and accuracy of students responses to academic tasks and to improve student performance on a variety of academic tasks. The present investigation evaluated the retention of 100 subtraction items by primary grade-age children with mild disabilities using CWPT for 10 weeks. Short- and long-term retention of items, and rate of correct responding were assessed. Results indicated that the students' average pretest score was 58.0% correct, and their average weekly posttest score was 87.12 correct, a 27% improvement in accuracy. Short- and longer-term retention measured on posttests was 88.7 % and 85.0% correct, respectively. Improvement in students rate of accurate responding to subtraction items practiced during CWPT was obtained. Student failure to learn particular items was not attributable to fewer opportunities to practice these items, less accurate practice, or item difficulty. Students reported positive evaluation of CWPT and perceived positive social and self esteem outcomes. Directions for future research focusing on retention and analysis of treatment failure are suggested.     

Childhood amnesia and distinctions between forms of memory: A comment on Wood, Brown, and Felton

Recently, Wood and his colleagues (1989) presented a case of childhood amnesia as evidence against the distinction between declarative and procedural memory that has sometimes been applied to human amnesia. Their argument was based on the observation that their patient showed some progress in school over the years, i.e., acquired some declarative knowledge, despite severely impaired day-to-day memory ability. We briefly review their case, together with a carefully studied second case of childhood amnesia not mentioned by Wood et al. Their argument is wrong in several ways. First, the utility of the declarative/procedural distinction for amnesia, or the utility of any other distinction between memory systems, depends on whether or not one kind of memory is impaired selectively, not on the severity of the impairment. In particular there is no requirement that one kind of memory be totally absent. Second, they have not provided the data necessary to support their argument; namely, data showing that the amount of declarative knowledge accumulated during years in school was better than would have been expected given the capacity for moment-to-moment or day-to-day memory. Indeed, the patient's moment-to-moment memory ability is better than represented, and the patient's progress in school was abnormally slow. Third, it is not clear that academic achievement scores provide a direct measure of declarative memory abilities (skill learning and recovery of function may also have contributed). We conclude that the evidence from childhood amnesia is fully consistent with the proposal that amnesia reflects a selective impairment in the formation of long-term declarative memory.     

Developing Data-Based Communications in Social Psychological Research: Adolescent Smoking Prevention1

The present paper deals with how pre-intervention data were gathered from a sample of junior high school students to whom a smoking prevention program was addressed and how these data were used in the creation of trigger films which were an important element in the prevention program. The coping techniques used by students who are successfully able to withstand social pressures to smoke were determined from pre-intervention group interview-role-playing sessions with samples of students from two schools representative of the intended target population of the smoking prevention program. These data were used in the production and editing of ten-minute, sound, color films which reflected simulations of the student responses in the interview-role-playing sessions. Assessment of the impact of these filmed social-inoculation coping strategies indicates that they appear to be a promising component of smoking deterrent programs for adolescents.