The California Family Health Project: VII. Summary and Integration of Findings

In a series of reports, we have observed the relationships between four domains of family life (World View, Emotion Management, Structure/Organization, Problem Solving), and the health of husbands and wives in a community-based sample of 225 families. In this final article of the series, we provide an overview and summary of the results, by gender, including the structure and patterning of variables both within each family domain and among all four family domains analyzed together. In addition, we review the associations between each family domain and adult health (unidomain analyses), and among all four family domains taken together and adult health (multidomain analyses). Prominent differences in family and health relationships based on gender are described from the perspective of socially and culturally supported sex-role expectations and behavior. The results support the use of a multidimensional family assessment framework in health research that can lead to the further development of empirically based models of family process.     

Philosophy,Religion and Education American Style: A Literature Review

This literature review presents an overview of Christian higher education in the United States with particular attention to philosophical trends and their influence on institutions of Christian origin. This literature review is situated in the context of the discussion of the need, or lack thereof, for helping students integrate their faith with the learning they acquire in colleges and universities.     

Cognitions,coercion, and IPV: Sex differences in pursuing resisted physical intimacy

Communication in close relationships impacts social development and the meeting of personal desires and wants. Since interpersonal violence (IPV) is common in close relationships, this study investigated the extent to which context‐relevant cognitions were associated with use of verbal IPV (e.g., coercion) when communicating for resisted physical intimacy. Based on a convenience sample of U.S. college students, results confirmed that a constellation of cognitions related to the use of coercion and that the rate of use and set of cognitions related to use of coercion differ between males and females. Discussion suggests that examination into the complexities of the cognition–behavior relationship will advance understanding of communication processes related to goal pursuit and use of verbal IPV in interpersonal contexts.     

Believing in Make-Believe: Looking at Theater as a Metaphor for Psychotherapy

In this essay, I explore the theatrical dimensions of psychotherapy. I argue that many of the historical, practice-related, and conceptual connections between theater and therapy often are only alluded to in the literature, but rarely made explicit. In doing so, however, it seems apparent that, as a metaphor for psychotherapy, theater perhaps offers a more appropriate fit than those narrative and conversational metaphors that have been employed so far. Proposing that theater is, in fact, the metaphor on which psychotherapy bases itself, I briefly examine some of its implications for how therapy might be conceptualized and performed. I conclude by inviting other therapists to consider — by openly acknowledging theater as a metaphor for psychotherapy — if they might then become more engaging, creative, and imaginative in their work.     

Karl Marx and Group Therapy: An Old Warning about a New Phenomenon

Marx's classic critique of religion is used to explore the social function of many therapy groups. The manner in which groups can act as a conserving force for the status quo is investigated. The argument is made that the Marxist critique can help promote a more realistic social awareness and a more effective perception of groups. A set of questions is provided for group leaders who want to avoid apolitical, asocial, and ahistorical thinking.     

INTERVIEWER DECISIONS AS A FUNCTION OF APPLICANT RACE, APPLICANT QUALITY AND INTERVIEWER PREJUDICE

This study investigated the impact of the racial attitudes of interviewers, applicant race, and applicant quality on the ratings given applicants. This study used a posttest-only control group approach which was analyzed by a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial ANOVA design. Subjects were 176 white business administration students from a large urban university.
Videotapes of simulated job interviews were produced to control applicant quality and applicant race. A black male and a white male each role-played both a high and a low quality applicant. The main effect for applicant quality was significant, accounting for 50% of the variance in applicant ratings. The main effect for race was significant but not in the predicted direction. Black applicants were rated higher than white applicants. While high quality applicants were rated highly regardless of race, the low quality black applicant was rated higher than the comparably performing white applicant. The interaction of race and interviewers' level of prejudice was significant but not in the predicted direction. Highly prejudiced subjects rated black applicants higher than white applicants. The implications of these results for further research were discussed.     

THE PROCESS OF RETIREMENT: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE INVESTIGATION

Since the average ages of many industrialized nations' workers are increasing, it is important to know (1) the causes of employees' decisions to retire early and (2) the effects of retirement on the lives of retirees and on their employing organizations. The fields of gerontology and of social, clinical, and developmental psychology have investigated retirement, usually focusing on individual well-being as a criterion. Industrial/organizational psychology generally has not delved into the topic. A review of the empirical literature and theories regarding the two retirement issues leads to conclusions that are very tentative due to the nature of the research methods used until now. I/O psychologists have the opportunity to contribute to knowledge about retirement because of their dual interests in both individuals and organizations and because of their tradition of scientific rigor. Propositions are provided for future research.     

A Counselor's Guide to the Assessment of Depression

This article discusses various methods and procedures for assessing depression in clients. The following eight clinician rating and client self-report measures of depression are reviewed on the basis of their psychometric properties and applied pragmatic utility: the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Scale 2 (Depression), the Depression Adjective Checklists, the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-90, and the Children's Depression Inventory.     

An Inductively Derived Typology of Verbal Aggression and Its Association to Distress

Threats elicit distress in the form of negative affect. To examine how communication functions as a threat, this study developed a typology of verbal aggression and then examined its association to distress. To develop the typology, similarity data for 100 written aggressive messages were submitted to a hierarchical cluster analysis. The results revealed messages clustered into three broad domains of attack: group membership, personal failings, and relational failings. The typology demonstrated reliability, predictive validity, and content validity. In addition, a multidimensional scaling was conducted on an audiotaped subset of the 100 messages. The results revealed aggressive messages can be characterized along three dimensions (disposition, target, and force) that define the nature of an attack. These three dimensions elicited different emotional reactions in recipients and suggest nonverbals allow recipients to discriminate aggressive messages in terms of the tone and the force of an attack.     

DEVELOPMENT ENGAGEMENT WITHIN AND FOLLOWING DEVELOPMENTAL ASSESSMENT CENTERS: CONSIDERING FEEDBACK FAVORABILITY AND SELF–ASSESSOR AGREEMENT

This study sought to understand employees' level of behavioral engagement in response to feedback received in developmental assessment center (DAC) programs. Hypotheses were drawn from theories of self‐enhancement and self‐consistency and from findings in the multisource feedback and assessment center literatures regarding recipients' perceptions of feedback. Data were gathered from 172 U.S. middle managers participating in a DAC program. Results suggested that more favorable feedback was related to higher behavioral engagement. When discrepancies between self‐ and assessor ratings were examined, overraters (participants whose overall self‐ratings were higher than their assessor ratings) tended to show less engagement in the program compared to underraters. However, pattern agreement on the participant's dimension profile did not significantly correlate with behavioral engagement. Based on these findings, avenues for future research are presented and practical implications are discussed.