Tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment: explication and age-related analysis of assimilative and accommodative strategies of coping

Crises and critical life transitions activate 2 distinct but complementary modes of coping, (a) transforming developmental circumstances in accordance with personal preferences (assimilative tendency) and (b) adjusting personal preferences to situational constraints (accommodative tendency). Assimilative and accommodative tendencies were measured by a questionnaire comprising 2 independent scales (Tenacious Goal Pursuit and Flexible Goal Adjustment). Both scales predict high life satisfaction and low depression and are positively related to generalized internal control beliefs. The scales evinced an opposite relation to age: Cross-sectional analyses on a sample of 890 Ss in the age range from 34 to 63 years revealed a gradual shift from an assimilative to an accommodative mode of coping. Implications for theories of depression and successful aging are discussed.     

The value of relative-time-spent ratings in task-oriented job analysis

Recent studies have called for the abandonment of the relative-time-spent scale in task inventories. This recommendation is based on findings that the job profile created with the scale data is highly correlated with the profile created from a much simpler “Do you perform this task?” checklist. We examined this issue using 3 inventories and 42 jobs (N=2252). Profile correlations were computed on only the tasks actually performed by incumbents to avoid possibly inflated rs due to including irrelevant tasks. The specificity of task inventory items was proposed as an explanation for the high correlation between the two job profiles. Specificity of items was examined by looking at both the type (job duties versus tasks) and the amount (number of items in job profile and average number of items relevant to each job) of items used in the inventory. Correlations between time spent and checklist profiles were in the .80's and .90's regardless of the number of irrelevant tasks or the specificity of tasks. We agree with previous military research and conclude that the relative-time-spent scale has limited incremental utility beyond a dichotomous checklist.     

HIV and the obligation to treat

The paper is an attempt to review the basis for the claim that physicians have a professional obligation to treat AIDS patients. Considered are the historical record, two professional codes of ethics, and several recent articles. The paper concludes that the arguments considered, which attempt to support the claim that physicians have an obligation to treat, fail. It is suggested, rather, that common humanity, which physicians share with those who suffer from AIDS, ought to be the basis for engaging in the care of AIDS patients.