In the Eye of the Beholder: Differences Across Ethnicity and Gender in Evaluating Creative Work

Creativity has been proposed as a supplement to ability tests as a way to reduce bias, as a result of the typical lack of ethnic or gender differences. Yet, creativity is usually measured through a consensus of rater judgment. Could there be implicit biases against people of different ethnicities or gender? This study examined stories and poems written by 205 students and rated by 108 different students. Females wrote poems that were judged to be more creative; there were no significant differences by ethnicity across all raters. Among notable findings, European Americans and African Americans both preferred stories written by European Americans. Reasons for this and other findings are discussed.     

Boarding School Attendance and Physical Health Status of Northern Plains Tribes

Our hypothesis was that boarding school attendance among Northern Plains tribal members was associated with lower self-reported physical health status controlling for demographic, socioeconomic variables, the number of mental health and physical health problems. This secondary analysis used the American Indian Service Utilization, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Risk and Protective Factors Project data collected from 1997 to 1999. This analysis included (n = 1638) Northern Plains tribally enrolled members, aged 15–54, who lived on or within 20 miles of their reservations. Using linear regression and path analysis we examined the indirect, direct, and combine associations of boarding school attendance and physical health status. Results confirm boarding school attendance contributed indirectly (beta = ?.83, CI = ?1.33,-.33, p. ≤ .001) through number of physical health conditions to lower physical health status. Combined direct and indirect results (beta = ?.39, CI = ?1.20, .42) show American Indians who attended boarding school have lower physical health status (beta = ?1.22, CI = ?2.18,-.26, p. ≤ .01) than those who did not. The relationship of American Indian boarding school attendance and physical health status is complex with more than one path existing. We need to better understand the relationship of boarding school attendance and American Indian health, identify risk factors, and develop interventions for families and younger generations.     

Increased risk of profound weight loss among women exposed to diethylstilbestrol in utero

We surveyed 1711 women exposed to diethylstilbestrol in utero, and 919 women not exposed, concerning lifetime weight loss histories. The prevalence of a history of unexplained profoundly low body weight (weight less than or equal to 80% of expected weight for age, sex, and height) was 18.7 per 1000 in the exposed group compared to 3.3 per 1000 in the unexposed group; a 5.72 to 1 ratio of increased risk.     

Issues in the identification and long-term management of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome within a clinical infant service

Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome is a version of Munchausen's Syndrome whereby a parent, usually the mother, simulates or fabricates disease in one or more of her children in order to seek medical attention. Because this disorder is usually identified in pediatric settings, current literature focuses on identification of the syndrome, with little discussion of treatment issues or management strategies other than confrontation of the parent and removal of the child from the home. With the increased availability of infant mental health services, infant clinicians are likely to be called on to evaluate and treat cases of this disorder. This paper reviews the Munchausen by Proxy literature for infant clinicians and describes the identification and long-term management of one Munchausen by Proxy case within the context of an infant home-visiting service. Pertinent issues that emerged included the difficulties inherent in documenting the mother's pathological behavior, the clinical tension between preventing flight from treatment but limiting harmful behavior, the need for a long-term collaborative relationship with a designated pediatrician, and the importance of further education of protective service workers about this syndrome.     

Joint factor analysis of the K-ABC and McCarthy Scales

A joint-factor analysis was conducted using three major scales of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities and eight Kaufman-ABC sub-tests as variables. Subjects were 90 children ages 4 to 8 1/2 yr. The screen test produced three significant factors, each interpretable from the Kaufman-ABC model. McCarthy Verbal scale was closely associated with the Achievement/Verbal factor; McCarthy Perceptual performance scale loaded highly on the Simultaneous Processing dimension; and McCarthy Quantitative was associated with all three factors. These results provide useful guidelines for interpreting a child's performance on each Index of the McCarthy scales in terms of the mental processing approach used to solve the task. However, the psychometric results must be coordinated with the examiner's clinical observations of the child's problem-solving strategies during administration of the McCarthy scales to understand more completely the processing demands of the Verbal, Perceptual performance, and Quantitative Scales.     

Group therapy with Vietnam veterans: A brief review

This paper reviews the benefits and general considerations regarding group therapy with Vietnam veterans. A review of veteran rap groups and traditional therapy groups highlights the similarities and differences between types of groups used to treat this population. The importance of countertransference reactions and the need to consider a variety of treatment approaches is emphasized.