Community Development in Rural Mexico: The Social Psychological Effects of Adult Education1

A field study compared the social-psychological impact of two traditional adult education programs (certification and literacy) with a socio-ecologically oriented approach in three rural Mexican community types (Ejido, Hacienda, Cabecera) varying in structure and degree of isolation. The primary findings revealed interactions between community and program for the luck/fate dimension of locus of control and for a measure of social efficacy. Community type was the critical factor affecting program impact on luck/fate locus of control beliefs: Residents of the most unstructured and isolated community (Ejido) showed the greatest shift toward internality. Program focus produced significant changes in feelings of social efficacy in two of the three communities. The socio-ecological program contributed most to social competence in the Hacienda community, whereas the certification program had the greatest positive impact in the Cabecera community. The findings are discussed in terms of the relevance of the ecological approach to community intervention in developing countries such as Mexico.     

Physiological arousal of obese persons to food stimuli

Physiological arousal was measured in 20 obese and 20 normal-weight subjects during presentation of imagery tasks with food- and nonfood-related stimuli and during presentation and eating of food. No differential arousal, as measured by skin conductance, was obtained between the groups for any of the stimuli. Presentation and eating of the food did produce significant arousal in subjects.     

Effects of a televised smoking cessation intervention among low-income and minority smokers

In November 1985, a television smoking cessation program was broadcast for 20 days on the noon and 9 p.m. news. Smokers in West Garfield Park, an inner-city impoverished area of Chicago, were randomly assigned either to a comprehensive intervention or to a no-intervention control condition. Although 100,000 self-help manuals had been distributed throughout Chicago, none of the controls in this low-income area had obtained a manual. The intervention consisted of providing the smokers a self-help manual, the televised broadcast, weekly support meetings, and supportive phone calls. At a 4-month follow-up, 20% of treatment participants were abstinent compared to 9% of controls. The results indicated that intensive supplementary opportunities enhanced participation by low-income smokers in a media smoking cessation program.     

Disclosure and Self-Advocacy Regarding Disability-Related Needs: Strategies to Maximize Integration in Postsecondary Education

This article reviews issues related to disclosure of disability and disability related needs by students in postsecondary education. The first section familiarizes counselors with research related to disclosure; to benefits and concerns regarding disclosure: and to attitudes that are relevant to the issue of disclosure. The second section provides counseling and systems change strategies to enhance the disclosure and self-advocacy skills of students with disabilities regarding disabilily-related needs.     

‘Earwitness’ voice recognition: Factors affecting accuracy and impact on jurors

Two studies were conducted examining voice recognition testimony and its impact on jurors. In the first experiment, subjects listened to a tape recording of a brief sales pitch. After a retention interval of either 0, 7 or 14 days, subjects were unexpectedly asked to pick the salesperson's voice out of a five-voice taped lineup. Retention interval did not have a significant effect on hit rates or false alarms. Accuracy and pre-lineup confidence were not significantly correlated, although accuracy was related to post-lineup willingness to testify. In the second experiment, undergraduate subjects were asked to read a summary of a trial, describing a situation similar to that studied in experiment 1; the independent variables were the presence of an earwitness, the gender and confidence of the earwitness, and the retention interval. Only the presence of an earwitness had a significant main effect upon mock jurors' verdicts. However, there was a significant interaction between witness confidence and witness gender when an earwitness identification was presented.     

THE GLOBAL HEALTH BURDEN OF RAPE

Women's rights to be free from male violence are now recognized by the United Nations as fundamental human rights. Two parallel transformations in the understanding of rape have been central to the international effort to achieve this declaration. The first is increased recognition of the extent to which rape typically involves intimates. The second is the shift from regarding rape as a criminal justice matter towards an appreciation of its implications for women's health. The focus of this paper is the health burden of rape, which is addressed from the global perspective and includes discussion of its prevalence and psychological, sociocultural, somatic, and reproductive health consequences. Quantitative efforts to capture the relative economic impact of rape compared to other threats to women's health are also discussed. The paper concludes with an agenda for future research on rape that could enrich activists'efforts on behalf of women's health and development.     

Psychiatric and Psychological Morbidity as a Function of Adaptive Disability in Preschool Children with Aggressive and Hyperactive-Impulsive-Inattentive Behavior

Children with high levels of aggressive-hyperactive-impulsive-inattentive behavior (AHII; n = 154) were subdivided into those with (n = 38) and without (n = 116) adaptive disability (+AD/–AD) defined as a discrepancy between expected versus actual adaptive functioning. They were compared to each other and a control group of 47 normal children. Both AHII groups were more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder than control children; more symptoms of general psychopathology; greater social skills deficits; more parental problems; and lower levels of academic achievement skills. Compared to AHII – AD children, AHII + AD children had (1) more conduct disorder; (2) greater inattention and aggression symptoms; (3) more social problems, less academic competence, and poorer self-control at school; (4) more severe and pervasive behavior problems across multiple home and school settings; and (5) parents with poorer child management practices. Thus, adaptive disability has utility as a marker for more severe and pervasive impairments in AHII children.     

Community-referenced leisure skill clusters for adolescents with multiple disabilities

We evaluated the effectiveness of a training package used to teach student-selected community-referenced leisure skill clusters — ordering a pizza-to-go and renting a video from a local vendor — to two adolescents with multiple disabilities. The adolescents were taught the leisure skills (e.g., ordering the pizza) as well as related behaviors necessary to perform those leisure skills (e.g., using a phone, interacting with the delivery person, cutting and serving pizza, cleaning up). The students were taught functional skill clusters, problem-solving skills, and assistance-seeking skills. Training consisted of didactic instruction, feedback, a least intrusive prompting procedure for incorrect responses, and verbal praise and natural consequences for correct responses. Simulation training was conducted at school and in vivotraining was conducted in the local community. A multiple baseline design demonstrated the controlling effects of treatment. Also, follow-up probes conducted up to five months after treatment showed these students maintained treatment gains. Applied issues related to the efficiency of the training package, general and specific skills training, and factors influencing skill maintenance are discussed.     

Influence of manipulated category knowledge on prototype classification and recognition

The recognition and classification of category members was explored, following a variable number of learning trials. In Experiment 1, subjects received 1 or 9 learning trials, followed by a recognition-then-classification test containing old, new, prototype, and foil patterns. In Experiment 2, subjects received 1, 6, or 12 trials, and made either classification or recognition judgments. In each experiment, classification accuracy for all item types was at near-chance -performance after a single trial but steadily increased with increased learning trials. On the transfer test, oldness judgments were highest for the category prototype after a single trial. However, with increased learning trials, oldness judgments increased for old instances and decreased for the category prototype and new instances. We suggest that false recognition of the category prototype, especially after a single learning trial, need not reflect an abstraction process. We discuss the possibility that an abstracted prototype may emerge with additional learning as an unfamiliar, ideal point.