Midlife divorce initiation: From crisis to developmental transition

The midlife phase in the marital relationship is a complicated transition period, challenging the flexibility and coping skills of every couple. Separation-Divorce Initiation (S/DI) at this time can serve a special function in the change process required in this stage. A comprehensive therapeutic model for S/DI couples is described. It includes (1) assessment of the relationship's stamina and the function of the S/DI; (2) treating symptoms and reactions to the traumatic event in an emergency intervention mode; (3) steps and techniques to help the couple overcome the traumatic effects of the SD/I and to rebuild their relationship on a more appropriate basis.     

Perceptions of primary supervisor interpersonal skills: A critical incident analysis

This study surveyed a randomly selected group of Approved Supervisors of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (n = 280) and their supervisees (n = 266) on their perceptions of the primary supervisor interpersonal skill used in supervisory incidents that had a positive effect on supervisee development. Supervisor directiveness was the most identified skill by both supervisors and supervisees.This study was funded in part by grants from the Research Committee of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy; the Agricultural Experiment Station, Purdue University; and the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Purdue University Calumet.     

Gender in family therapy supervision

While gender has taken its place as a fundamental construct in family therapy theory, little has been written about gender in family therapy supervision. This paper attempts to redefine gender as it pertains to families, family therapy, and family therapy supervision; call attention to aspects of gender as they apply to training in family therapy and family therapy supervision; and suggest ways that family therapy supervisors can sensitize themselves to issues of gender so that they can be more effective in supervision.The author gratefully acknowledges her husband, Victor Nelson, STM, and Eric McCollum, PhD, for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper and for helping with the idea that men are raised to fix things, women to make them better.     

Self-image formation in adopted children: The environment within

Adoption of a child is an event in which a number of crises have converged. Both the biologic and adoptive families have contributed their failures and crises, and the subsequent interpretations of these by the adopted child can lead to polarized themes of goodness and badness. The absence of the biologic parents and of a coherent history reinforces the tendency to splitting. This paper explores these operations and raises questions about prevailing adoption practices.Paper presented at Spence-Chapin Symposium on Identity Problems of Children in Non-Nuclear Families, April 11, 1981.     

The Primary Mental Health Project (PMHP): Evaluation of current program effectiveness

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Primary Mental Project (PMHP), a program for early detection and prevention of school adjustment problems. Pre- and postprogram assessments were done with 215 primary-grade children seen in PMHP, usig teacher ratings of problem behaviors and competencies, and child-aide ratings of problems. School mental health professionals judged educational and behavioral changes in project children during the year. Significant across-the board improvements were found on all criterion measures. Modest intercorrelations among criterion change estimates suggested that the observed changes were due to program, rather than halo, effects. PMHP children also improved significantly more than matched, retrospective controls.     

Identification of familiar and unfamiliar faces from internal and external features: some implications for theories of face recognition

Three experiments are reported in which recognition of faces from whole faces or internal or external features was compared. In the first experiment, where the faces were of famous people, an advantage was found for identification from internal features. In the second experiment involving unfamiliar faces, however, no difference was found in recognition rates when subjects were given the internal or the external features. In a third experiment famous faces were presented and mixed with other famous faces for a recognition test. As in experiment 1, better recognition occurred from internals as compared with external features. It is argued that the internal representation for familiar faces may be qualitatively different from that for face seen just once. In particular some advantage in feature saliency may accrue to the internal or 'expressive' features of familiar faces. The implications of these results are considered in relation to general theories of face perception and recognition.     

A machine-level software program for the generation of aversive conditioning schedules using the KIM-1 microprocessor

A microprocessor system can be used both to control aversive conditioning (classical, signaled and Sidman avoidance, and conflict) experiments and to acquire behavioral data in multiple subjects at a fraction of the cost of solid state systems. The software described in this paper can be used to program tones and shocks and count responses, independently, in up to 12 animals simultaneously.     

A critique and extension of Bronfenbrenner's Moral Dilemma Test

Critical reading of Bronfenbrenner's Moral Dilemmas Test (MDT) suggests that it measures two basic kinds of moral dimensions: (1) “Negative-passive” moral choices which require the child to resist peer pressure to violate conventional norms in situations fraught with potential adult sanctions, and (2) “Positive-active” moral choices which require performance of an act that affirms a moral principle and implies a benefit for recipients of the act. To test the validity of these distinctions, additional positive-active type dilemmas were constructed to balance the overemphasis on negative-passive situations found in the original MDT. This expanded MDT was then administered to samples of Mormon, Catholic and public school children. Responses from all samples were subjected to factor and cluster analyses and then to a “multitrait-multimethod matrix”. These analyses provide support for the need for making moral sub-distinctions by producing item clusters that are consistently based on the a priori defined negative-passive and positive-active dimensions. A third dimension is also discernable among certain of the original MDT items, but it represents an achievement orientation of only-secondary moral significance. Implications of these conceptual distinctions for linking different kinds of moral responses to different kinds of social contexts are discussed.