Introduction—Accountability or A-ccount-ability?

Guest Editors Larry Ellis and William Prochnow introduce this special issue of JEC by raising questions and issues of accountability that affect all professionals in employment counseling. Past accountability definitions hare been narrowly defined using accomplishmen/cost approaches. The Manpower Administration has attempted to use this approach in the provision of and justification for counseling services. Positive outcome data have been obtained for counseled applicants, but the counseling function is still being questioned. This article proposes expanding the concept of counselor accountability and introduces a multi-approach to accountability.     

Mexican American emerging adults' relationships with siblings and dimensions of familism values

We used a person‐oriented approach to describe the profiles of Mexican American emerging adults' relationships with siblings using affective/behavioral qualities (e.g., positivity) and relationship maintenance strategies (e.g., communication frequency) and to examine how profiles of sibling relationships were related to dimensions of Mexican American emerging adults' familism values. Using data from 186 Mexican American emerging adults (M_age = 21.56), we conducted latent profile analyses and identified three profiles of emerging adults' relationships with siblings: moderate (n = 106), positive/involved (n = 64), and negative/distant (n = 16). Our findings suggest that the majority of emerging adults in our study reported close relationships with siblings and dimensions of familism values were differentially associated with profiles of sibling relationship qualities.     

Intimate partner support: A comparison of gay,lesbian, and heterosexual relationships

In this investigation, intimate partner support, relationship satisfaction, and separation proneness were assessed for four types of people: men in a relationship with a woman (MRW), men in a relationship with a man (MRM), women in a relationship with a man (WRM), and women in a relationship with a woman (WRW). Men and women in same‐sex relationships received more support, were more satisfied, and reported fewer thoughts of separating than their counterparts in opposite‐sex relationships. The effect of relationship type on satisfaction was not significant once the amount of received support was controlled. The implications of these findings for understanding the support process in same‐sex relationships are discussed.     

Parent Characteristics as Antecedents of Maternal Gatekeeping and Fathering Behavior

The present study examined the role of prebirth parent characteristics as predictors of maternal gatekeeping (mothers' attempts to encourage or discourage fathers' interaction with their infant) and fathering behavior. Parents' idealization of their relationships within their families of origin, beliefs about the roles of fathers, and personality attributes (negative emotionality and communion) were assessed before their infant's birth. At 3.5 months postpartum, maternal gatekeeping behaviors (negative control, facilitation) and fathers' involvement and competence with their infants were assessed during observation of triadic play and child care. Results suggest reciprocal relations between maternal gatekeeping and fathering behavior. Furthermore, greater paternal communion was associated with greater paternal competence during play, whereas greater maternal communion was associated with lower paternal competence during child care. Greater maternal communion and greater maternal idealization related to fathers' lower relative involvement during play. As for maternal gatekeeping behavior, high negative emotionality in 1 parent was only accompanied by high levels of inhibitory maternal gatekeeping when the other parent had less progressive beliefs about the father's role. The implications of these findings for clinicians and practitioners are discussed.     

The Delivery of Manpower and Supportive Services to Rural Areas

This study identifies problems encountered by state employment service agencies and other organizations in the delivery of equitable manpower and supportive services to rural and migrant workers and recommends solutions to these problems.     

Searching for the Glass Slipper: A Case Study in Midlife Career Counseling

There seems to be a paucity of counseling reports written from the perspective of both counselor and client. This article is presented as a case study of the first author's experience as a career counseling client of the second author. It is intended to illuminate for students and practitioners some typical counseling practices and the theoretical foundations from which they spring, as well as how the client reacted to them.     

Developing and Using Educational and Psychological Tests and Measures: The Unificationist Perspective

This article presents a critical review of traditional testing practices and offers the unificationist perspective as the next logical step in the evolution of psychological and educational measurement. Building on the notion that any activity involving testing should be unified under the rubric of the scientific method, the unificationist view is defined and contrasted to traditional test validation strategies. Implications for test development and for the use of tests and measures in counseling (e.g., interest inventories, personality measures) are delineated from the unificationist perspective.