Adolescent Attachment,Identity, and Adjustment to College: Implications for the Continuity of Adaptation Hypothesis

We examined the concurrent relationship between late adolescent attachment to parents and peers and two broad indices of adolescent adaptation—personal and social identity and adjustment to college. Participants included 130 college freshmen and 123 upperclassmen. Although freshmen were disadvantaged relative to upperclassmen with respect to social and personal-emotional adjustment, there were no group differences on the attachment measures, on the measures of academic adjustment and goal commitment, and on the measure of social identity. Freshmen scored higher on personal identity than did upperclassmen. Women reported less alienation from peers, had more trust and better communication with peers, and had higher scores on personal and social idenitity than men. The attachment variables were significant predictors of personal and social identity. Pervasive relations were also found between attachment and adjustment to college, particularly for the upperclassmen sample.     

A Japanese Perspective on Client Inaction: Removing Attitudinal Blocks Through Morita Therapy

Seven self-defeating attitudinal factors contributing to client inaction and procrastination are discussed from the Morita therapist's perspective. Morita therapy is briefly described, and ways of facilitating desirable action and reducing self-preoccupations are suggested. The suggested approach challenges the client's assumption that resisting and removing the unwanted feelings and imperfect psychological conditions is a prerequisite for implementing necessary action. The counselor's reinforcement of clients' mood-governed action style is also discussed as a factor contributing to the client's inaction.     

Relations between source amnesia and frontal lobe functioning in older adults

A study is reported in which the relations among normal aging, source amnesia, and frontal lobe functioning were explored. Twenty-four older adults (aged 60-84 years) were tested on their ability to remember where they had acquired new factual information; they were also given the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), a test of verbal fluency, and other psychometric tests. The degree of source amnesia in this normal sample correlated with age, verbal fluency, and some measures from the WCST. Source amnesia was not related to Performance IQ, however, or to a measure of fact recall. The implications for the relations among aging, memory, and frontal lobe functions are discussed.     

Reading Disability: A Model for the Genetic Analysis of Complex Behavioral Disorders

Family, linkage, and twin studies of reading disability are briefly reviewed, and evidence is presented from the twin component of the Colorado Reading Project that implicates genetic factors in the expression of reading disability. Recently developed behavioral genetic methodology is outlined, which provides an estimate of the magnitude of these genetic effects. The present report details the application of this methodology to reading performance data obtained from 96 identical twin pairs and 72 fraternal twin pairs in which at least one member of each pair was identified as reading disabled. Results indicate that approximately 50% of the reading deficit observed in the probands may be attributed to genetic factors. Although such an analysis assumes that reading disability is a homogeneous disorder, there may exist alternative forms with differing genetic etiologies. To test this hypothesis, the methodology can be extended to assess differential genetic etiology in alternative subgroups of disabled readers.     

Critical flicker fusion in normal elderly subjects; a cross-sectional community study

Critical Flicker Fusion Thresholds (CFFTs) were measured in 644 elderly people identified from community-based general practice records, and the relationship of CFFT with age was investigated. The CFFT was measured using the method of limits with mean scores for three ascending (flicker/fusion) and three descending (fusion/flicker) presentations being recorded. The difference between the ascending and descending means was found to be significantly correlated with age (r=−0.131,P<0.001) and may reflect a reduced sensitivity of the Central Nervous System to suprathreshold flicker with increasing age. The results suggest that CFFT measurement has an important role to play in gerontological research as an objective measure of cognitive aspects of the ageing process.     

Attitudes,Knowledge, and Sexual Behavior of High-Risk Adolescents: Implications for Counseling and Sexuality Education

A survey was conducted to examine high-risk sexual behavior in a large group of adolescents who were involved with the juvenile justice system. The findings showed that these youth are at high risk for unintended pregnancy and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Compared to national norms, the sample reported a very early mean age at first intercourse and a high rate of pregnancy. Those who had been involved in a pregnancy reported having begun sexual activity the earliest of those surveyed. Most participants reported an extremely unreliable use of birth control, with this unreliable use of birth control being strongly associated with espousal of high-risk attitudes but generally unassociated with factual knowledge regarding pregnancy and contraception. These findings support the argument for expanding the scope of traditional sex education and beginning sexuality education programs earlier than they usually are in this country.     

Psychological distress and somatic symptoms after natural disaster: differential vulnerability among older adults

In a panel study, more than 200 older adults were interviewed before and after a severe flood in southeastern Kentucky in 1984. The issue in this study was whether older adult flood victims were differentially vulnerable to increases in psychological and physical symptoms on the basis of their age, sex, marital status, occupational status, education level, and preflood symptom levels. Flood exposure was related to increases in depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms at 18 months postflood. Within this older adult sample, men, those with lower occupational status, and persons aged 55-64 were at significantly greater risk for increases in psychological symptoms. Sociodemographic status did not moderate the impact of flood exposure on physical health. Implications for crisis-intervention services to older adult disaster victims are discussed.