"Mom and dad": views on the relationship between direct-care staff and therapists in residential, adolescent treatment facilities

Some of the common conflicts that occur between therapists and direct-care staff in residential, adolescent treatment facilities are highlighted. These conflicts often parallel those occurring between an adolescent's parents. Common issues include the amount of time spent with the adolescent patient, questions of authority, and communication difficulties. These conflicts can have positive consequences, if each party recognizes that the other brings a needed perspective to adolescent treatment.     

Updating Norman's "Adequate Taxonomy": intelligence and personality dimensions in natural language and in questionnaires

Research on the dimensions of personality represented in the English language has repeatedly led to the identification of five factors (Norman, 1963). An alternative classification of personality traits, based on analyses of standardized questionnaires, is provided by the NEO (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness) model (Costa & McCrae, 1980b). In this study we examined the correspondence between these two systems in order to evaluate their comprehensiveness as models of personality. A sample of 498 men and women, participants in a longitudinal study of aging, completed an instrument containing 80 adjective pairs, which included 40 pairs proposed by Goldberg to measure the five dimensions. Neuroticism and extraversion factors from these items showed substantial correlations with corresponding NEO Inventory scales; however, analyses that included psychometric measures of intelligence suggested that the fifth factor in the Norman structure should be reconceptualized as openness to experience. Convergent correlations above .50 with spouse ratings on the NEO Inventory that were made three years earlier confirmed these relations across time, instrument, and source of data. We discuss the relations among culture, conscientiousness, openness, and intelligence, and we conclude that mental ability is a separate factor, though related to openness to experience.     

Another look at sex stereotypes and social judgments: an analysis of the social perceiver's use of subjective probabilities

Locksley, Borgida, Brekke, and Hepburn (1980) assert that subjects fall prey to the base-rate fallacy when they make stereotype-related trait judgments. They found that subjects ignored their stereotypes when trait judgments were made in the presence of trait-related behavioral information. The present article reexamines those findings with respect to two issues: (a) the use of a normative criterion in comparison with subjects' judgments and (b) the level of analysis (group vs. individual) of subjects' judgments. We conducted a replication of the Locksley et al. (1980) Study 2, and the results were examined with respect to these two issues. We found no support for the base-rate fallacy. When a Bayesian normative criterion was constructed for each subject based on the subject's own stereotype judgments and was compared with assertiveness judgments made in the presence of individuating information, there was no evidence that subjects ignored or underused their stereotypes as the base-rate fallacy predicts.     

Effect of alcoholic intoxication on the appreciation of different types of humor

Male subjects were placed into one of three intoxication conditions (no ethanol, low dose, high dose) and were exposed to humorous segments from television programs. During manifest intoxication or the corresponding period in the no-intoxication control condition, they were exposed, in a balanced order, to a segment containing blunt (i.e., unsophisticated, raw) humor and to a segment containing subtle (i.e., sophisticated, refined) humor. Subjects' facial reactions to the humorous stimuli were unobtrusively recorded and later analyzed by judges who were naive about the experimental conditions. Subjects also rated the funniness of the segments. The perceived funniness of blunt humor was found to increase with ethanol intoxication. For subtle humor, in contrast, perceived funniness was found to decrease with intoxication. This divergent interaction of reported humor appreciation was less apparent in the analysis of facial expressiveness. Although correlations between ratings and aspects of facial expression were generally positive, clearly corroborative support for the humor appraisals was found only in the frequency of smiles in response to subtle humor.     

Evaluation of the BSRI masculine and feminine items using desirability and stereotype ratings

This study empirically tested Bem's (1974) assumption that the BSRI Masculinity and Femininity scales measure sex-typed standards of desirable behavior for men and women in American society. The adequacy of items in the two scales was evaluated by Bem's (1974) criteria using two types of desirability and stereotype ratings. Results obtained in all the experimental conditions except one involving Bem's desirability instructions and Bem's rating scale did not support the tested assumption. Implications of these results for revising the BSRI scales were discussed.     

Distinguishing child diagnostic types with early memories

The present study attempts to correct design weaknesses in earlier studies which assessed the use of early memories (EMs) in identifying psychopathology in children. A new EM scoring system, the CEMSS, was developed to provide an objective, comprehensive analysis of the reported EMs. Subjects were 64 boys, SES IV and V, 8 through 12 years old from four diagnostic groups--Delinquent, Hyperactive, Somatic Complaints, and Schizoid. Overall, the CEMSS provided an effective means to distinguish the diagnostic groups, p less than or equal to .01. The results suggest that content variables best distinguished the type of presenting psychopathology, whereas an earlier study found that structural EM variables most reliably identified the degree of psychopathology.     

If it changes it must be a process: study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination

This natural experiment provides substantial evidence for the following major themes, which are based on a cognitively oriented, process-centered theory of stress and coping: First, a stressful encounter should be viewed as a dynamic, unfolding process, not as a static, unitary event. Emotion and coping (including the use of social support) were assessed at three stages of a midterm examination: the anticipation stage before the exam, the waiting stage after the exam and before grades were announced, and after grades were posted. For the group as a whole there were significant changes in emotions and coping (including the use of social support) across the three stages. Second, people experience seemingly contradictory emotions and states of mind during every stage of an encounter. In this study, for example, subjects experienced both threat emotions and challege emotions. The complexity of emotions and their cognitive appraisals reflects ambiguity regarding the multifaceted nature of the exam and its meanings, especially during the anticipation stage. Third, coping is a complex process. On the average, subjects used combinations of most of the available forms of problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping at every stage of the exam. Different forms of coping were salient during the anticipation and waiting stages. Problem-focused coping and emphasizing the positive were more prominent during the former, and distancing more prominent during the latter. Finally, despite normatively shared emotional reactions at each stage, substantial individual differences remained. Using selected appraisal and coping variables, and taking grade point averages (GPA) into account, approximately 48% of the variances in threat and challenge emotions at the anticipation stage was explained. Controlling for variance due to the grade received, appraisal, and coping variables accounted for 28% of the variance in positive and negative emotions at the outcome stage. Including grade, 57% of the variance in positive emotions at outcome and 61% of the negative emotions at outcome were explained.     

Adolescent self-disclosure and loneliness: private self-consciousness and parental influences

Using structural equation techniques, we tested a theoretical model designed to describe the causal relations existing among loneliness, self-disclosure to peers and parents, and specific antecedent variables. Participants were 350 high-school students who answered questions concerning themselves and their interpersonal relationships. Results generally indicated a good fit between the theoretical model and the observed relations. In addition to replicating the findings of previous studies concerning the relation between self-disclosure and loneliness, results also indicated an indirect relation between private self-consciousness and loneliness via peer self-disclosure; that is, high private self-conscious adolescents' greater willingness to self-disclose to peers resulted in their feeling less lonely. Results are discussed in terms of current theory in related fields.