Sharing the holocaust experience: communication behaviors and their consequences in families of ex-partisans and ex-prisoners of concentration camps

This study concerns the manner in which the traumatic events suffered by the parent in the Nazi holocaust are communicated to the second generation born after the Second World War. Additionally we investigated the effects of differences in wartime experiences on subsequent communication behaviors. Communication behaviors in families whose parents had been prisoners in concentration camps were compared with those of families who had displayed active resistance (i.e., were partisans) during the Second World War. The data indicate greater legitimacy and openness in discussing holocaust-related issues in the homes of ex-partisans than in the homes of ex-prisoners in concentration camps. Also, sons and daughters of the former group have better knowledge of the holocaust and hold more favorable attitudes than do sons and daughters in the second group. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Our Personal and Professional Lives: Learning Positive Connotation and Circular Questioning

The work of the Center for the Study of the Family in Milan has had wide influence. We describe its influence on us--the positive connotation of many car journeys, our self-training, and changes in how we view, and function in, our personal and professional lives.     

Profiles of adolescents' clothing practices: purchase, daily selection, and care

The purpose of this study was to examine the clothing practices in the daily selection, care, and purchase of clothing by adolescents in order to determine the extent these practices are performed independently or influenced by others, and to identify the factors involved in the activities. Clothing Practice Profiles were developed for both sexes in the three age groups corresponding to divisions in the Oregon 4-H program. The age group comparison revealed increasing frequency of independent activity in all three clothing practice areas (selection, care, and purchase) as age increased. Parental influence appeared to decrease with increasing age. Siblings' influence was minimal. Peer influence on selection and purchase practices increased. Media influence on daily clothing selection practices and clothing purchase practices in terms of wearing or buying identical or similar clothing was minimal. Media influence in advertisements increased with age, but purchases of advertised clothing items remained about the same. Age group comparisons were also made for selection factors and other care and purchase practices, including responsibilities for care of the member's and family's clothing, planning clothing purchases, sources of funds and methods of paying for clothing, use of clothing label information, and purchase factors.     

The first 900: a nine-year longitudinal analysis of consecutive adolescent inpatients

Data for the presenting complaints, average age and sex distribution, average length of stay and the discharge diagnosis for 900 consecutive adolescents treated at the Adolescent Center of Houston International Hospital between 1974 and 1982 were reviewed. The number of cases remained fairly constant over the 9 years. As the males and females showed an increase in age, the increase in age for males (13.4 years to 15.2 years) was greater than that for females (14.4 years to 15.0 years). The average age for male admissions during 1974-1976 was significantly lower than 1980-1982 (p less than 0.03). The average length of stay for males during 1980-1982 was significantly greater than 1974-1976 (p less than 0.05). The most frequent presenting symptoms in decreasing order for 1974-1982 were depression, school problems, family problems, threatening behavior, runaway behavior, and suicidal ideation. Depression increased from 15.6% in 1974-1976 to 29.6% of presenting symptoms. Substance abuse increased from 4% (1974-1976) to 8.8% (1980-1982). Suicidal ideation increased three-fold over the same period (3.3% to 10.6%). A significantly greater number of males presented with 1) impulsivity, 2) aggressiveness, 3) withdrawal behavior, 4) stealing, and 5) disruptive behavior. A significantly greater number of females presented with 1) runaway behavior, and 2) suicidal ideation. The 10 most frequent discharge diagnoses are listed. Depression as a diagnosis increased almost four-fold between 1977-1979 and 1980-1982 (7.6% versus 27.5%).     

Symptomatology of adopted and nonadopted adolescents in a psychiatric hospital

This study compared the symptomatology and diagnoses of adopted and nonadopted adolescents in a psychiatric hospital. Data were gathered from the hospital charts of adolescents who already had been discharged from the hospital. Contrary to expectations, adoptees were no more likely than nonadoptees to have received personality disorder diagnoses, nor were they more likely to be hospitalized as the result of antisocial behavior. However, in comparison with nonadopted adolescents, the adopted adolescents were younger upon admission to the hospital, significantly less often diagnosed psychotic, and significantly more often diagnosed adjustment reaction. It was suggested that adopted adolescents may be less likely than nonadopted adolescents to require severe or prolonged pathology in order to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. It was also suggested that the antisocial symptomatology so frequently observed in adopted children in mental health settings does not account for the hospitalizations of those receiving inpatient treatment.     

The reliability of the Thematic Apperception Test

Controversy over the TAT's reliability may stem largely from the mis-application of traditional psychometric measures, which are inappropriate to this test. The TAT is implicitly based on a multiple regression model, for which coefficient alpha is not appropriate. Also, test-retest correlations may be adversely affected by the standard instructions to write a "creative" story. In a test-retest study, 47 high school students retook the TAT after a year with instructions designed to break the implicit set to produce a new and different story from that previously written. The test-retest correlations were r = .48 (need for affiliation) and .56 (need for intimacy), or approximately the same as those for, e.g., the MMPI, 16PF, and CPI, It was demonstrated that this high stability over time was not due to subjects' recalling and repeating previous responses. Finally, it was shown that alpha considerably underestimated the test-retest reliability, contrary to assumptions of classical psychometrics.