The “Circular” Problems of Calculating Risk: Dealing with Consanguinity

An ongoing problem in the genetics clinic is the calculation of inbreeding coefficients and recurrence risks for complex pedigrees, particularly when multiple loops are present. Although the Human Genome Project promises information about more of our genes in the foreseeable future, the actual assignment of disease status to specific loci will continue at a slower pace, so that accurate risk calculations are needed. In the past few months several families with consanguinity were referred to us to confirm the calculations performed by the genetic counselor, and we became aware of some confusion in the field. We present here both (a) a clarification of definitions and concepts and (b) a review of how to perform the calculations, for several quantities (coefficient of relationship, coefficient of inbreeding, coefficient of kinship, and recurrence risk), in complex pedigrees. We discuss the availability of computer algorithms to assist in these calculations, and we encourage counselors to call on a reliable computer program for any but the simplest cases. At the same time, we reiterate our belief that computer algorithms do not relieve the counselor of the responsibility of knowing what to calculate and when.     

Expansion of Genetic Services Utilizing a General Genetic Counseling Clinic

We established a general genetic counseling clinic (GCC) to help reduce long wait times for new patient appointments and to enhance services for a subset of patients. Genetic counselors, who are licensed in Tennessee, were the primary providers and MD geneticists served as medical advisors. This article describes the clinic referral sources, reasons for referral and patient dispositions following their GCC visit(s). We obtained patients by triaging referrals made to our medical genetics division. Over 24 months, our GCC provided timely visits for 321 patients, allowing the MD geneticists to focus on patients needing a clinical exam and/or complex medical management. Following their GCC visit(s), over 80 % of patients did not need additional appointments with an MD geneticist. The GCC allowed the genetic counselor to spend more time with patients than is possible in our traditional medical genetics clinic. Patient satisfaction surveys (n?=?30) were very positive overall concerning the care provided. Added benefits for the genetic counselors were increased professional responsibility, autonomy and visibility as health care providers. We conclude that genetic counselors are accepted as health care providers by patients and referring providers for a subset of clinical genetics cases. A GCC can expand genetic services, complement more traditional genetic clinic models and utilize the strengths of the genetic counselor health care provider.     

DO THE BSRI AND PAQ MEASURE THE SAME OR DIFFERENT CONCEPTS?

The present article assesses Frable's (1989) contention that the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) measures only desirable instrumental and expressive characteristics, whereas the Bem Sex Role inventory (BSRI) measures gender schema and related gender concepts. Comparison of the two instruments indicates, first, that they are similar in content and that the parallel M and F scales are substantially correlated. Further, the results obtained with the two instruments in three areas (self-esteem, sex-role attitudes, and gender-schematic processing) suggest that both are valid measures of desirable instrumental and expressive traits. Sexrole attitudes, however, tend to have small and typically nonsignificant relationships with both sets of scales, whereas few studies of gender schematic processing have produced replicable results even with the BSRI. However, Bem and her associates have reported positive results using other designs that have yet to be replicated using either the BSRI or the PAQ. Thus, in response to Frable's (1989) assertion, it seems at best premature to come to any conclusion about whether one, both, or neither of the questionnaires measure broad gender constructs.     

Social skills training with adolescent male offenders—II. Short-term,long-term and generalized effects

Seventy-six young, male offenders, attending a Community Home School, were randomly assigned to social skills training (SST) incorporating training in basic and more complex interpersonal skills, attention placebo (APC) and no treatment control (NTC) groups. Within subject changes in specific social skills were monitored in the SST group using a multiple baseline design. The results showed that SST led to definite improvements in some but not all the basic skills, and that these improvements were maintained at 3-month follow-up. In a between groups design SST was found to be significantly superior to APC and NTC groups on the performance of basic skills at posttest. Although the SST group reported significantly less social problems on a social problems questionnaire after training, a similar, though lesser reduction was found for the APC group and the NTC group. On a staff questionnaire of social problems, and independent ratings of social skills, friendliness, anxiety and employability. social workers' ratings of work, school and family relationships, self-reported offending and police convictions, there was no evidence that SST was differentially more effective than the comparison groups. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms both of current research into SST and the treatment of delinquency.     

Collective Apologies and Their Effects on Forgiveness: Pessimistic Evidence but Constructive Implications

In the last three decades, there has been an explosion in the frequency with which leaders of groups have issued official apologies for collective transgressions. These apologies are commonly assumed to lay a pathway to forgiveness and reconciliation, but empirical examination of the downstream consequences of collective apologies is still in its infancy. In this article, we review a series of studies—including interview studies, survey studies, and experiments—that question the assumed wisdom that collective apologies lead to intergroup forgiveness. Reasons for the muted evidence of an apology–forgiveness link at the intergroup level are elaborated, and implications for how best to issue gestures of reconciliation and remorse are discussed.     

THE ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN SCALE AND ATTITUDE CHANGE IN COLLEGE STUDENTS

To determine cohort changes in gender-role attitudes, responses to the 15-item form of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence & Helmreich, 1972a, 1978) were compared for students at the same university tested in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1992. In both males and females, members of the 1992 cohort were the most egalitarian, and members of the 1972 cohort were the least egalitarian. In all groups, women were significantly less traditional in their attitudes than men. As has been found in previous studies, detailed analyses of the data from the 1992 cohort revealed that the scale was unifactorial, but that the score distributions were skewed. There was also some indication of ceiling effects at the egalitarian end of the scale, particularly in women. The implications of these latter results for the usefulness of the AWS in current research were explored.     

Is Technology Good for Us? A Eudaimonic Meta-Model for Evaluating the Contributive Capability of Technologies for a Good Life

The title refers to the question addressed in this paper, namely, to what degree if any technology, including nanotechnologies, in the form of products and processes, is capable of contributing to a good life. To answer that question, the paper will develop a meta-normative model whose primary purpose is to determine the essential conditions that any normative theory of the Good Life and Technology (T-GLAT) must adequately address in order to be able to account for, explain and evaluate the Contributive Capability of Technology for a Good Life (CCT-GL). By CCT-GL understand the capability of any technological product or process in its design and/or its use to contribute in some way, if any, to the good life of individuals and society at large. In this paper, the all-embracing term “technology” will be used to refer to both the products and processes of different technologies.     

Shared attentional resources for processing visual and chemosensory information

For many years, researchers have argued that we have separate attentional resources for the processing of information impinging on each of our sensory receptor systems. However, a number of recent studies have demonstrated the existence of shared attentional resources for the processing of auditory, visual and tactile stimuli. In the present study, we examined whether there are also common attentional resources for the processing of chemosensory stimuli. Participants made speeded (left vs. right) footpedal discrimination responses to an unpredictable sequence of visual and chemosensory stimuli presented to either nostril. The participants' attention was directed to one or the other modality by means of a symbolic auditory cue (high or low tone) at the start of each trial, which predicted the likely modality for the upcoming target on the majority (80%) of trials. Participants responded more rapidly when the target occurred in the expected modality than when it occurred in the unexpected modality, implying the existence of shared attentional resources for the processing of chemosensory and visual stimuli.