The role of theory in treating adolescent substance abuse

The adolescent substance abuser, like adult addicts, is most commonly considered from the perspective of the disease model. The usefulness of the disease model in conceptualizing adolescent substance abuse is questioned, and an alternative view of the topic is set forth. Substance abuse, is regarded as an adaptive aspect of the ongoing interactive processes within the family. The developmental process of the adolescent substance abuser is seen as a functional dynamic in the family's preservation. Three characteristic elements of parental interaction common to the development of adolescent substance abuse are highlighted.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy annual conference on January 28, 1993 in Houston Texas.a research associate and director of the Don D. Jackson Archive at the Mental Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA. Authors are listed alphabetically.     

The ecological context of family ministry: the cambridge model revisited

Family ministry in the local church occurs in an ecological context characterized by a diversity of family types. A viable ministry to families must be able to address this diversity at different levels within the social system: the types of nuclear and extended families within the congregation; the type of congregation itself considered as a family; and the minister's own family type. A comprehensive family typology is needed to conceptualize this notion. The Cambridge model of closed, open, and random families, created by David Kantor and William Lehr, is summarized and then applied to an understanding of the ecology of family ministry.     

Victim-Blaming and Society-Blaming Scales for Social Problems

Until now, no general scales have been available for measuring victim or society blaming. This constraint has been an impediment to policymaking with regard to those who are affected by social problems. Four scales were constructed: stable victim-blaming scale, unstable victim-blaming scale, stable society-blaming scale, and unstable society-blaming scale. Based on the results of the preliminary exploratory factor analysis and the reliability coefficients, the unstable society-blaming scale was deleted from further analysis. Then, a confirmatory factor analysis using the LISREL 7 program was conducted to evaluate the parameter estimates of the scale items and examine the construct validity of the 3 scales. The scales were judged to have construct validity with satisfactory reliability.     

Individual and age-related differences in children’s working memory

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which age-related and individual differences in children’s working memory (WM) are due to a general or task-specific capacity system. Experiment 1 correlated children’s (N=146; age range 5–19 years) verbal and visual-spatial working memory performance with various intelligence and achievement measures. The results supporting a general system were that (1) visual-spatial and verbal WM measures were significantly intercorrelated with and without age partialed out and (2) both verbal and visual-spatial WM measures were significantly correlated with diverse achievement and intelligence measures. Experiment 2 compared three age groups (N=192; 7-, 10-, and 13-year-olds) on working-memory performance tasks under initial, enhanced (cued), and maintenance conditions. The results supporting a general capacity system were that (1) age-related performance differences in WM were found on all conditions and not isolated to specific processes, (2) the maintenance measures (high-load condition) predicted the variance better in age-related performance than process measures, and (3) although individual differences in WM performance reflected two independent operations, these operations produced similar correlations to achievement within age groups. Overall, the results support a general capacity explanation of age-related and individual differences in children’s WM performance.     

Attentional Focus of Students with Hyperactivity During a Word-Search Task

Mirrors have been used to focus attention to aspects of the self (e.g., to known strategies, standards). We hypothesized that this could be important for students with hyperactivity/inattention, who typically direct attention outward to external novelty. In this study, we administered a partially solvable word puzzle to 43 middle school students, with and without hyperactivity/inattention, in the presence and absence of a mirror, counterbalanced for condition and form order. Differences between students with hyperactivity/inattention and comparisons in accuracy were found only in the no mirror condition. Furthermore, the beneficial effect of the mirror for children with hyperactivity/inattention was most pronounced for those who looked at the mirror. Findings were interpreted in terms of their potential to remedy the production deficits of these children.     

Group Consensus and Psychological Well-Being: A Large Field Study1

Models of group process propose that stressful social environments develop when there is a lack of consensus among group members about issues of relevance to the group. Based on these models, we expected that levels of consensus would be positively related to the average levels of psychological well-being in naturally occurring work groups. An examination of data from 3,546 respondents within 73 work groups revealed that levels of consensus about leadership and peer relations were positively related to the average psychological well-being of the group members, even after controlling for absolute level effects and covariates. In contrast, levels of consensus were not related to the average psychological well-being of group members when identical analyses were conducted using pseudogroups.     

Components of Burnout,Resources, and Gender-Related Differences1

The present study examined gender-related differences in the ways social support and coping contribute to burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Specific hypotheses were made regarding relationships between antecedent conditions and MBI subscales, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. Respondents were teachers, and data from 2 waves (1 year apart) were examined. Using LISREL structural equation analyses, results were that in women, co-worker support led to lower emotional exhaustion, and in men, supervisor and co-worker support led to higher personal accomplishment. Higher levels of internal control were associated with greater accomplishment in men only. Results were discussed from a gender role perspective.