In Search of Common Threads: Linking Multicultural,Feminist, and Social Justice Counseling Paradigms

Multicultural, feminist, and social justice counseling theories are often viewed as disparate helping models. This article examines the complementary nature of these models and discusses the need to promote a clearer understanding of the ways in which these common threads can be used in counseling practice.     

Study on the relations between temperament,aggression, and anger in children

The present work analyzes the relationships between the dimensions of temperament and the exteriorized emotions of aggression and anger. Temperament was assessed by mothers using the Dimensions of Temperament Survey‐Revised, while aggression and anger were self‐reported by the children using the Scale of physical and Verbal Aggression and the State–Trait Anger Expression Inventory for Children. The sample studied was made up of 293 children (49.83% boys; 50.17% girls) with a mean age of 11.13 years. The results showed that temperamental difficulties give rise to exteriorized emotions, especially anger. Predictive values of temperament on aggression and anger ranged from 1% to 7% of explained variance. Aggr. Behav. 32:207–215, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Acculturation and depression among Hispanics: the moderating effect of intercultural competence

In the present study the authors examined the relative contributions of typical acculturation indicators, general coping, and intercultural competence in predicting depression among 96 Hispanic adults. The results indicated that intercultural competence served to moderate the relationship between acculturation and depression. The combination of high acculturation and high intercultural competence was associated with fewer symptoms. General coping accounted for significant amounts of variance in predicting depression, over and above traditional acculturation variables alone, suggesting that an active problem-solving style was associated with a healthier outcome. The findings are discussed within the context of integrating competence-based variables into psychological conceptualizations of cultural adaptation and the importance of group-specific abilities as potential buffers against negative mental health consequences.     

Computer speech-based remediation for reading disabilities: the size of spelling-to-sound unit in a transparent orthography

This study was designed to assess the effects of four reading-training procedures for children with reading disabilities (RD) in a transparent orthography, with the aim of examining the effects of different spelling-to-sound units in computer speech-based reading. We selected a sample of 83 Spanish children aged between 7 years 1 month and 10 years 6 months (M = 105.2, SD = 7.8) whose pseudoword reading performance was below the 25th percentile and IQ > 90. The participants were randomly assigned to five groups: (a) the whole-word training group (WW) (n = 17), (b) the syllable training group (S)(n = 16), (c) the onset-rime training group (OR) (n = 17), (d) the phoneme training group (P) (n = 15), and (e) the untrained control group (n = 18). Children were pre- and post-tested in word recognition, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and orthographic and phonological tasks. The results indicate that experimental groups who participated in the phoneme and syllable conditions improved their word recognition in comparison with the control group. In addition, dyslexics who participated in the phoneme, syllable, and onset-rime conditions made a greater number of requests during computer-based word reading under conditions that required extensive phonological computation (low frequency words and long words). Reading time, however, was greater for long words in the phoneme group during computer-based reading. These results suggest the importance of training phonological processes in improving word decoding in children with dyslexia who learn in a consistent orthography.     

Three dimensions of coping and a look at their evolutionary origin

Serious problems persist concerning the conceptualization and measurement of the coping construct. This study examines the properties and factor structure of the COPE questionnaire, one of the most widely used instruments to measure coping, in a sample of 471 patients. A series of exploratory factor procedures are applied at the item- and scale-level, and the resulting solutions are tested both by their congruence with previously published structures and by confirmatory techniques. Our finding of three robust, generalizable, and parsimonious second-order dimensions—Engagement, Disengagement, and Help-Seeking—challenges the original structure. The results are discussed from an evolutionary perspective, on the assumption that the recognition of coping as the activation of vestigial defenses may make a substantial contribution to clarifying its functions and organization.     

Ethnic Diversity and the Use of Humor in Counseling: Appropriate or Inappropriate?

Humor can reflect the healthy release of feelings during the counseling process, the type of emotional release that leads to significant therapeutic gains. It can also be a disturbing distraction, possibly causing early termination, if used inappropriately. Counselors need to exert particular caution before attempting to apply humor in working with a client from a culture different from the counselor's. This article explores the available literature and offers contributions on the subject from 4 “ethnically diverse” perspectives. Finally, a general approach based on existential theory is presented along with 5 general conditions to ascertain the appropriate use of humor.     

Social stereotypes and judgments of individuals: An instance of the base-rate fallacy

Social stereotypes may be defined as beliefs that various traits or acts are characteristic of particular social groups. As such, stereotypic beliefs represent subjective estimates of the frequencies of attributes within social groups, and so should be expected to “behave like” base-rate information within the context of judgments of individuals: specifically, individuating target case information should induce subjects to disregard their own stereotypic beliefs. Although the results of previous research are consisten with this prediction, no studies have permitted normative evaluation of stereotypic judgments. Because the hypothesis equates base rates and stereotypes, normative evaluation is essential for demonstrating equivalence between the base-rate fallacy and neglect of stereotypes in the presence of individuating case information. Two experiments were conducted, allowing for normative evaluation of effects of stereotypes on judgments of individuals. The results confirmed the hypothesis and established the generalizability of the effect across controversial and uncontroversial, socially desirable and socially underirable stereotypic beliefs. More generally, an examination of the differences between intuitive and normative statistical models of the judgment task suggest that the base-rate fallacy is but one instance of a general characteristic of intuitive judgment processes: namely, the failure to appropriately adjust evaluations of any one cue in the light of concurrent evaluations of other cues.     

Catching up with wonderful women: The women‐are‐wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies

Inequalities between men and women are common and well‐documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies—there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women‐are‐wonderful effect—that women are evaluated more positively than men overall—is also common. Cross‐cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self‐reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women‐are‐wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.     

Infant-mother attachment can be improved through group intervention: a preliminary evaluation in Spain in a non-randomized controlled trial

The quality of infant-mother attachment has been linked to competence in different domains of child development. Research indicates that early intervention can enhance the quality of infant-mother attachment, though its efficacy in a group format has yet to be evaluated. The current study is aimed at examining the usefulness of a group intervention in enhancing infant-mother attachment. An intervention aimed at addressing aspects such as maternal responsivity, sensitivity and childrearing behaviour was developed by the researchers and experienced psychologists. The intervention spanned a period of 14 months starting from the third quarter of pregnancy. The intervention was evaluated among 24 mothers from the Basque region of Spain. The sample consisted of children of both genders in a similar proportion: 45.8% were boys and 54.2% were girls. The children in this sample were full-term born and did not present symptoms of any serious pre- or postnatal complications. The intervention had a statistically non-significant medium effect. Infants whose mothers had received the intervention showed higher rates of secure attachment compared to children from the control group, as assessed by the Strange Situation observation procedure. A potentially significant confounding variable, maternal attachment, was balanced across the intervention and comparison groups. We can tentatively point out that a group intervention may enhance the quality of infant-mother attachment. Nevertheless, because the study design was not randomized, the results of this study remain preliminary and need replication in a full randomized controlled trial designed study.