Preferences for Spousal Support Among Individuals With Cancer1

Although it is known that individuals have preferences for different forms or amounts of social support from others when dealing with life events, such preferences have not been subject to extensive empirical examination. We examined preferences for spousal emotional and instrumental support, as well as preferences for spousal control-encouraging responses, among 151 individuals with cancer. Dispositional and situation-specific factors were placed into a hypothetical model predicting support preferences. Results confirmed predictions: Preferences for emotional and instrumental aspects of support were related to dispositional (affiliative need), person (gender), and contextual (disease impairment) variables. As predicted, higher affiliative need predicted higher preference for emotional support. However, functional impairment did not predict preferences for more instrumental support, and this variable only predicted preferences for more emotional support among female patients. Individuals’ preferences for control encouragement from their spouses were associated with attributions of personal responsibility for solving general life problems and indirectly associated with internal locus of control. These results provide an initial conceptual model for understanding cancer patients’ preferences for support.     

Individual and developmental differences in working memory across the life span

The effects of secondary tasks on verbal and spatial working memory were examined in multiple child, young adult, and older adult samples. Although memory span increased with age in the child samples and decreased with age in the adult samples, there was little evidence of systematic change in the magnitude of interference effects. Surprisingly, individuals who had larger memory spans when there was no secondary task showed greater interference effects than their age-mates. These findings are inconsistent with the hypothesis that age and individual differences in working memory are due to differences in the ability to inhibit irrelevant information, at least as this hypothesis is currently formulated. Moreover, our results suggest that different mechanisms underlie developmental and individual differences in susceptibility to interference across the life span. A model is proposed in which memory span and processing speed both increase with development but are relatively independent abilities within age groups.     

Book reviews

Muhammad: a short biography.Martin Forward, 1997. Oxford, Oneworld. 131 pp., pb. £8.99, ISBN 1 85168 131 0

Image of the Prophet Muhammad in the West: a study of Muir, Margoliouth and Watt. Jabal Muhammad Buaben, 1996. Leicester, The Islamic Foundation. 394 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 0 86037 260 X, pb. n.p., ISBN 0 86037 261 8

Seven Doors to Islam: spirituality and the religious life of Muslims. John Renard, 1996. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press. xv + 333 pp., pb. £13.95, ISBN 0 520 20417 4

Global Communication in Transition: the end of diversity?. Hamid Mowlana, 1996. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications. 233 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 8039 4319 9

Islamic Fundamentalism. Abdel Salam Sidahmed & Anoushiravan Ehteshami (Eds), 1996. Boulder, Oxford, Westview Press. 284 pp. hb. £43.95, ISBN 0 8133 2429 7; pb. £14.95. ISBN 0 8133 2430 0

Political Participation and Identities of Muslims in Non‐Muslim States. W. A. R. Shadid & P. S. van Koningsveld, 1996. Kampen, KOK, Pharos. 239 pp., hb. FF69,50, ISBN 90 390 0611 3

Islams d'Europe: intégration ou insertion communitaire?. Robert Bistolfi & François Zabbal (Eds), 1995. Paris: L'Aube. 382 pp., pb. FF160, ISBN 2 87678 201 4

Sectarian Influences Within Islam in Britain: with reference to the concept of ’ummah’ and ‘community‘. Ron Geaves, 1996. Leeds, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Leeds. 319 pp., £8.00 ISBN 1871 363 047

Political Islam: essays from the Middle East report. Joel Beinin & Joe Stork (Eds), 1997 Berkeley, University of California Press 395 pp. pb.. Make a Shield from Wisdom: selected verses from Nasir‐i Khusraw's Divan. Annemarie Schimmel (Ed. and tr.), 1993. London and New York, Kegan Paul International. vii + 103 pp., n.p., ISBN 0 7103 0455 2

The Shape of the Holy: early Islamic Jerusalem. Oleg Grabar, 1996. Princeton, Princeton University Press. xiv + 232 pp. with 84 illustrations in color and black‐and‐white, hb. $65, ISBN 0 691036535     

SCORE ON THE EXAMINATION FOR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN PSYCHOLOGY AS A FUNCTION OF ATTRIBUTES OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY GRADUATE PROGRAMS

Graduate programs' correlates with doctoral recipients' scores on the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) were determined. Higher EPPP score was associated with larger faculty-to-student ratios, smaller clinical programs traditional as opposed to professional program orientation, and PhD rather than Psy D awarded Programs approved by the American Psychological Association and those that scored favorably on a number of objective indices also produced graduates with high EPPP scores Among the more frequently used admissions requirements median Quantitative score on the Graduate Record Examination correlated most highly with EPPP score.     

Parental Contributions to Preschoolers' Emotional Competence: Direct and Indirect Effects

The present study examines the contributions of (1) parental socialization of emotion and preschoolers' emotional interaction with parents to their emotional competence, and (2) parental socialization and child emotional competence to their general social competence. Both observational and self-report techniques were used to measure emotion socialization, emotional competence, and social competence of preschoolers (average age = 49.8 months) from 60 middle-socioeconomic-status families. Data were collected in both classroom and home settings. In general, the results suggest that parental modeling of expressive styles and emotional responsiveness to child emotions are important predictors of preschoolers' emotional competence and their overall social competence. Children whose parents were more affectively positive tended to display more positive emotion with peers, whereas children whose parents were more negative appeared less socially competent in the preschool. Parents who were better coaches of their children's emotions had children who understood emotions better. Age and sex moderated several of the study's key findings. The results are consistent with earlier research indicating that parental socialization of emotion impacts the child's emotional and social functioning both at home and in the preschool.     

False or recovered memories?: Legal and ethical implications for therapists

The allegation that therapists encourage false memories of abuse in their clients presents a challenge to practitioners in the UK and USA. The development of the debate over false or recovered memories is briefly placed in its social and historical context. Some of the ethical and legal implications of this area of work for therapists are identified, using the concept of the Drama Triangle. Therapists may become involved in ethical dilemmas, and even in legal proceedings, by unwittingly being perceived by third parties as having taken on the roles of 'rescuer', persecutor' or 'victim'. Responses by therapists to this potential development could include adopting defensive forms of practice, promoting self-regulation, and establishing a more active presence in this wider debate.     

Interparental Conflict and Youth Problem Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis

We examined the proposition that interparental conflict is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in youth ages 5 to 18. This examination was done by conducting a meta-analysis of 348 statistical effects from 68 studies. The average effect size (d-value) was .32. There was considerable variability among effect sizes and this variability was associated with the average time since separation for separated/divorced parents, the socioeconomic status composition of the sample, and average parental education in the sample. The variability among effect sizes also was associated with the source of the informant used to assess interparental conflict and youth problem behaviors. Surprisingly, many of the other study characteristics we coded were not associated with variability in the effect sizes.     

The relationship between social support and maternal behaviors and attitudes: A meta-analytic review

Used meta-analysis to analyze 66 studies that evaluated the relationship between social support available to the mother and maternal behaviors and attitudes. Investigators sampled relatively homogeneous populations of white, middle-class, married mothers of young children without physical or mental disabilities. A variety of instruments were used to assess key study variables. Significant correlations existed between both emotional and material support and maternal behaviors. Implications of these findings for funding of family support programs and for professionals working with mothers are discussed.