General Education Participation Improves the Social Contacts and Friendship Networks of Students with Severe Disabilities

One desired outcome of inclusive education is the enhanced social development of students with disabilities. Some have suggested that planned and systematic support of students with severe disabilities in general education environments may lead to greater social interaction between these students and their peers without disabilities. In an effort to analyze this proposition, we studied two students with severe disabilities as they began participating in general education classrooms. Using within-student multiple baseline designs across class periods, the effects of participating in general education were studied across a range of social participation indicator variables. Our results suggest that planned and systematic efforts to include students with severe disabilities into general education courses can have positive effects on their social contacts and friendship networks. Our findings are discussed in relation to policy efforts to establish inclusive education in public schools, strategies for structuring general education participation, and the potential effects such efforts can have on the social inclusion of students with disabilities.     

Between Two Worlds: Counseling South Asian Americans

This article examines some of the mental health issues associated with counseling South Asian immigrants in the United States. A profile of the South Asian family is developed. Its structure and values are examined in relation to those of the American counseling community.     

The transition from expectancy to parenthood: Impact of the firstborn child on men and women

In this short-term longitudinal study, 31 middle-class primigravidae and their husbands were seen once during the last trimester of pregnancy and again when their infants were 6 months old. At both times, a common core of self-assessment instruments was administered: mood scales, social change ratings, anticipation/experience of parenthood, and a modified Bem satisfaction scale. Some additional items were given at parenthood. For both men and women, expectancy was marked by optimism and contentment, despite some emotional and physical strain. Similarly, as parents of an infant, subjects rated the experience as highly positive. However, the transition to parenthood involved major role upheaval with both more positive and more negative changes reported by women than men. Despite these changes, women displayed considerable stability in mood and self-satisfaction over time and situation. In contrast, measures of the anticipation and self-reported experience of parenthood revealed no consistency for women; the types of mothers they turned out to be were unrelated to their expectations. Men successfully predicted their parenting behavior on more than half of the dimensions measured. The results were discussed in terms of the stresses inherent in role changes encountered during transitions from one stage of life to the next.This research was supported by funds from the Boystown Center for the Study of Youth Development at Stanford University. Special thanks to Barbara Aschenbrenner for her assistance in all phases of the research.     

M.T.S.: An adaptable microcomputer-based testing system

An Apple II + computer-based human testing system is described. The system, which was developed using the Pascal language, provides library units of low-level procedures to rapidly access a clock, collect responses, control video output, control a touch-sensitive monitor, and display high-resolution graphics. Built-in hardware and software checks provide a high degree of system reliability. Use of easily altered text files for control of trials within a task and inclusion of and ordering of tasks within a session allows the system to be readily adapted.     

A neural activity interpretation of luminance effects on infant pattern preferences

Visual pattern preferences were established for 9- and 13-week-old infants (N = 96) using stimuli varying in contour density presented either at a low, moderate, or high luminance level. Age differences in the maximally preferred patterns across stimuli and luminance levels indicated that luminance interacts with contour density in determining stimulus preference functions for a given age. A neural activation model based on synchronous neural activity was advanced to describe these results.     

Metamemory for narrative text

In this experiment, we investigated metamemory for narrative text passages. Subjects read two stories and made memory predictions for the idea units in one and rated the importance of ideas in the other. Half of the subjects were asked to recall the story immediately after reading the passages and half were asked to recall 1 week later; half received passages with single inconsistent idea units and half received passages with corresponding consistent idea units. All subjects made confidence judgments about the accuracy of their recall. Subjects’ prediction ratings were related to recall, as shown by significant prediction accuracy quotients. Importance ratings were related to recall on the delayed test but not on the immediate test. Memory prediction ratings predicted recall better than did importance ratings. The absolute level of memory predictions did not differ with delay, but subjects did give higher confidence judgments on an immediate than on a delayed test. Subjects recalled the inconsistent idea better than the consistent idea for one story but not for the other. For both stories, subjects predicted that they would remember the inconsistent ideas better, suggesting that they have avon Restorff-type view, rather than a schema view, of memory. We conclude that subjects can predict their memory for the idea units in narrative text.     

Spouse criticism and support: their association with coping and psychological adjustment among women with rheumatoid arthritis

Examined whether psychological adjustment of women with rheumatoid arthritis would be related to the support and criticism the patient received from the husband. Interviews were conducted with the husbands of 103 women with rheumatoid arthritis. Spouse interviews were content coded for critical remarks. Wives completed a revised version of the Ways of Coping Scale and a scale of the perceived supportiveness of the spouse. Husbands completed rating scales assessing their perceived vulnerability to illness and the degree of burden they experienced in providing assistance to their wives. Path analyses revealed that patient adjustment was significantly related to the attitude of the spouse. Patients with a highly critical spouse engaged in more maladaptive coping behaviors and reported a poorer psychological adjustment. Independent of spousal criticism, patients who perceived their spouse as being supportive engaged in more adaptive coping. A path model was fit to the data that suggested that the spouse may affect adjustment indirectly through influencing the patient's selection of adaptive or maladaptive coping responses.     

Sexism in the pictures of children's readers: East and West Germany compared

School readers from East and West Germany were analyzed to test the hypothesis that children's literature in both socialist and capitalist societies shows stereotyped sex-role bias favoring males, but that socialist literature shows less bias. A content analysis of pictures was done for grades 1 through 4, using a sample of approximately 22% of West German readers and all four of the universally used East German readers. West German books increased in bias from the 1960s to the 1970s. Both countries showed patterns of increasing bias from grades 1 through 4. West Germany was significantly more biased than the East on nine variables. The hypothesis was thus confirmed.The author would like to express gratitude to Dr. Norbert Siara, Ms. Göldner, and the staff of the Institut für Bildungsmedian in Frankfurt (M) for their assistance and the use of their library, from which the BRD sample was taken.     

Responsiveness to babies: Life-situation specific sex differences in adulthood

Responsivity to babies was observed in 96 mature adults representative of three junctures of parenthood: parents of infants, parents of 8-to-9-year-olds, and parents of adolescents. Among the measures used were reactions to an unfamiliar infant in a waiting room, interest in pictures of babies versus other objects, and sex-role concept and attitudinal questionnaires. Stage of family life cycle affected women's responsivity, but not men's. New mothers displayed a heightened generalized interest in babies which is optimally timed and functional in terms of sex-differentiated role requirements. A possible confounding between cohort effects and stage in the family life cycle was examined and rejected. Traditionally sex-typed behaviors were reinterpreted as life-situation specific rather than general traits.This study was supported by grants from NIMH (1 R03 MH28264-01) and from Boys Town Center for the Study of Youth Development, Stanford University. The authors thank Barbara Aschenbrenner for her invaluable assistance in all phases of the research.