A Preliminary Investigation of Factors Affecting Appraisal of the Decision to Take Early Retirement

This study examines why individuals elect to take the early retirement package offered by their employer, as well as factors affecting their appraisal of that decision. Content analysis, t tests, and regression analysis were used to examine the data. Results suggest that all early retirement decisions are not voluntary. Individuals who did not desire to retire and who had lower self-esteem, fewer financial resources, and plans to continue working were more likely to appraise the early retirement as harmful. Employment counselors can assist individuals with preparing for early retirement by providing resources such as financial counseling and outplacement services just as they do for individuals who involuntarily lose their jobs.     

Work and Family: Satisfaction,Stress, and Spousal Support

Married veterinarians (N = 242) provided information regarding work satisfaction, work‐related stress, marital‐family stress, and spousal support for career. Female veterinarians reported significantly greater effect of marital/family stress on career and less perceived spousal support for career than did their male counterparts. Areas of greatest work dissatisfaction for both genders were income and time required at work. No differences emerged between men and women on various measures of work satisfaction. In addition, no difference was found between the genders in the effect of work‐related stress on career.     

The Psychological and Physical Weil-Being of Women in Sex-Stereotyped Occupations

The authors examined the perceptions of women who work in three sex-specific occupational categories and the effects of their participation in these occupations on several psychological and physical health variables.     

Child Abuse: Group Treatment for Parents

Group counseling, structured to maximize peer support and to reduce social isolation, provides a context in which parents can make changes in cognition and behavior.     

THE "BIG FIVE" PERSONALITY FACTORS IN THE IPI AND MMPI: PREDICTORS OF POLICE PERFORMANCE

Rational and empirical linkages were formed between the "Big Five" personality factors and two personality inventories: the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI), which is a personality inventory designed especially for use in the selection of corrections officers, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). A criterion-related validation of the study was then conducted to assess the validity of these two measures of the Big Five in predicting various measures of police performance. Results indicated that while both inventories provided adequate measures of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, neither inventory consistently contributed incremental validity over the Civil Service exam.     

Impacting Awareness of Child Abuse through a Spiritually Based Performing Arts Project

Using indigenous religious folklore images, a folk opera explored issues of child abuse, sexual assault and violence through a psychologically fictionalized character of Mary Magdalene. Befriended by an understanding Mary, Mary Magdalene is healed of her childhood ‘wounds through a religious conversion after almost refusing to encounter Jesus. Six hundred secondary students attended three daytime performances and 486 returned a Likert‐scaled questionnaire. The results indicated that most students perceived abuse as a personally relevant social problem, with this felt relevance increasing with age. Significant trends supported initial expectations that the play may help increase community and personal awareness of child abuse and sexual assault and that the play may also help increase a personal and community interest and effort toward helping others. Perplexing differences in school responses suggest that the schools in which prior discussion occurred may have led to students gaining more social insight and benefit from the play, although some of these same schools also tended to reject the personal relevance of the play. The latter may indicate community risk factors contributing to denial. More Hispanics responded positively to the sense of benefit, which may reflect the fact that there is a Hispanic Catholic majority in the community that sponsored the play itself. Overall, the findings suggest that performing arts can help increase awareness of child abuse as well as personal and community interest in helping and that this benefit increases with teacher discussion and age. In spite of procedural deprivations, the authors felt it was a relatively rare and useful effort to collect some data, hopefully to inspire more social scientists with more resources to consider collaborating with socially and spiritually meaningful fine arts productions in order to document scientifically the impact of the arts on human attitudes and behaviour. The reader's tolerance for the obvious limitations of investigation are requested and appreciated. A discussion of psychospiritual models of creativity and healing concludes the paper.     

Addiction Counselors Can Benefit From Appropriate Humor in the Work Setting

Using humor in therapy has been controversial. However, recent studies indicate that addiction counselors use humor effectively in therapeutic approaches. Given the high rate of stress-related turnover in the addiction field, counselors need to learn ways to manage their personal and professional stress. Integrating humor in daily work activities reduces stress and increases the ability to have fun at work.     

Psychological and Social Ramifications of Battering: Observations Leading to a Counseling Methodology for Victims of Domestic Violence

This article offers a profile of men who batter, a set of the common characteristics observed among victims and an analysis of the destructive forces that keep the victims captive.