Patterns of drug use and criminal activities among latino arrestees in California: Treatment and policy implications

This study examined the patterns of drug use and criminal activities among Latino arrestees. The findings indicate that while the prevalence of drug use at time of arrest, and in the prior 12 months were significantly lower for Latinos compared to Whites and Blacks, drug use still is of concern for this ethnic group. Almost 50% of Latinos reported drug use in the last year, and more importantly, they were more likely to report using dangerous drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and PCP than any other ethnic group. These findings are even more alarming considering that, for the most part, Latino drug users were treatment-naive, and that less than half perceived a need for drug treatment. Regarding criminal activities, Latinos were less likely to have a history of prior arrests and to have been arrested in the year prior to the interview than any other ethnic group. Interestingly, those immigrants who have resided in the U.S. for less than 1 year were significantly more likely to have been charged with drug-related crimes. U.S. born Latinos were more likely to have been arrested for property crimes, while Central American immigrants were more likely than any other Latino group to have been arrested for violent and domestic violence crimes. Treatment and policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Legitimizing the Leader: Endorsement by Male Versus Female Authority Figures

Subjects viewed a videotaped group discussion by a leader and four other group members and evaluated each of them for leadership competence. The leader, either a man or a woman, was either personally endorsed ("legitimized") or unendorsed by either a male or a female authority figure. Legitimation raised both leaders' performance evaluations. Legitimation by the female authority affected the leaders' evaluations, overall, as much as legitimation by a male authority. For the male leader, legitimation by the male and female authority figures produced equal impact. However, legitimation by the female authority figure produced significantly greater impact on evaluations of the female leader's performance than the same legitimation by a male authority figure. The data suggest that female authority figures can be effective legitimizers of both sexes, but male authority's endorsements of a female subordinate may be viewed as suspect.     

Some differences between phonetic and auditory modes of perception

When third-formant transitions are appropriately incorporated into an acoustic syllable, they provide critical support for the phonetic percepts we call [d] and [g], but when presented in isolation they are perceived as time-varying ‘chirps’. In the present experiment, both modes of perception were made available simultaneously by presenting the third-format transitions to one ear and the remainder of the acoustic syllable to the other. On the speech side of this duplex percept, where the transitions supported the perception of stop-vowel syllables, perception was categorical and influenced by the presence of a preposed [al] or [ar]. On the nonspeech side, where the same transitions were heard as ‘chirps’, perception was continuous and free of influence from the preposed syllables. As both differences occurred under conditions in which the acoustic input was constant, we should suppose that they reflect the different properties of auditory and phonetic modes of perception.     

Law,professional practice,and professional organizations: Where do we go from here?

The ethical dilemmas presented to the practicing school psychologist by the plethora of laws that dictate procedures, policies, and instrumentation are discussed. The function of professional organizations, both national and state, is described as (a) anticipating legislation, (b) developing political impact, (c) affecting existing laws, and (d) affecting proposed legislation. Coordination of efforts among various groups and development of political expertise is urged as a way to approach issues of concern to both psychologists and their clients.     

Sex-role orientation and achievement context as determinants of the motive to avoid success

Seventy-two female high school students with cumulative GPAs of 3.0 or above were administered the Wellesley Role Orientation Scale and four verbal cues used to measure success-avoidant imagery in response to feminine competitive achievement in a variety of contexts. Results indicated that the arousal of success-avoidant imagery was partially a function of the role orientation (traditional vs. nontraditional) of the students and the context within which the success was presented. As hypothesized, nontraditionally oriented students generated fewer success-avoidant responses across cues than either moderate or traditionally oriented students. However, differences in the proportion of imagery across cues was carried by the differential responses of the nontraditional students, suggesting that the inhibition of achievement behavior among women may be differentially moderated as a function of the salience of the achievement context and their definitions of sex-role-appropriate success.     

Understanding female careerism

Horner's fear of success construct rests on the assumption that women react negatively to achievements which violate their definition of appropriate gender-role behavior. Consistent with this assumption, the present investigation attempted to determine whether fear of success imagery expressed in response to different achievement-related cues would covary with (a) a woman's own gender-role orientation and/or (b) the perceived gender-role norms of her significant male. One hundred female honors students completed the Maferr Inventory of Feminine Values and responded to projective cues depicting competitive success characterized as (a) traditionally male, (b) traditionally female, (3) social—domestic, and (d) vicarious. Only one relationship reached significance. Women who perceived the significant male in their life as endorsing nontraditional gender-role behavior were more likely to respond negatively to vicarious success. Fear of success bore no relationship to the gender role of the subject herself. In view of these findings it is considered unwise to regard fear of success as the single, most powerful determinant of a woman's role choices. A more generalized cognitive model which incorporates additional intrapsychic as well as situational factors is proposed.     

Problem solving in hyperactive,normal, and reading-disabled boys

Diagnostic problem solving was examined in groups of hyperactive, normal, and nonhyperactive reading disabled boys matched on age and verbal IQ. On the matrix solution task employed (a version of the game of 20 Questions) hyperactives used less efficient questions and strategies than the other two groups, in spite of the task being designed to maximize the performance of the hyperactives. Readingdisabled children were not significantly worse than normal children on the task. The results were interpreted as suggesting that the attentional difficulties of hyperactives retard the development of strategies for solving complex problems. Nonhyperactive reading disabled children may be less affected in this area because of the absence of significant attentional difficulties.This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research of McGill University by the first author. We are grateful to the students, teachers, and principals of the following schools in the Montreal area: Allancroft, Beacon Hill, Briarwood, Cedar Park, Greendale, Hillcrest, Lakeside Heights, Martinvale, Sunny Dale, Thomas H. Bowes, and Vivian Graham. Special thanks are due Rhonda Amsel, John MacNamara, and Chet Olsen for their help and advice.     

Human taste response as a function of locus of stimulation on the tongue and soft palate

Taste recognition thresholds and psychophysical intensity functions were determined for NaCl, sucrose, QHC1, urea, and citric acid for four loci on the tongue and on the soft palate. The results showed greater differences between loci than previously reported. Contrary to older data, the threshold for bitter was found to be lower for the fungiform papillae at the front of the tongue and for the soft palate than for the vallate papillae. For all compounds, the slopes of the intensity functions varied with the locus of stimulation. The functions for most compounds were steepest at the vallate and foliate loci.