The Internet and sexuality education: Tapping into the wild side

To see whether observing information exchanges in “cyberspace” had a positive effect on computer usage and attitudes, students in an advanced undergraduate sexuality class were given an Internet project. Their pre- and postproject computer attitude and utilization reports were compared with those of a traditional computer usage research methods course taught by the same instructor. Overall, the e-mail/Internet project did not have a positive effect on computer usage and attitudes, whereas the more traditional computer as research tool usage taught in the methods class did have a positive effect.     

Kindergarten predictors of boys' stable behavior problems at the end of elementary school

This study predicted stable social maladjustment at ages 10, 11, and 12 from teacher behavioral ratings in kindergarten and a measure of family demographics. Kindergarten teachers rated 1,034 boys on hyperactivity, aggression, inattention, anxiety–withdrawal, and prosocial behavior. Sociodemographic information was collected from the parents. At ages 10, 11, and 12, teacher, parent, peer, and self-report behavior ratings were collected on 743 boys. School achievement was documented from school records. Boys whose average scores on each of the five behavioral ratings across ages 10, 11, and 12 were above the 90th percentile according to at least two informants were defined as having stable behavioral problems. From teacher ratings collected in kindergarten and family demographics, logistic regression analyses predicted stable social maladjustment. For each negative outcome there was a unique set of predictors. The results are discussed with reference to the early identification of children who are at risk.This research was supported by a grant from the Conseil Québécois de la Recherche Sociale. We would also like to thank H. Beauchesne, H. Boileau, P. Charlebois, L. David, L. Desmarais-Gervais, S. Larivée, and M. LeBlanc for their participation.     

Ritual experience and its emergence with story: An experience in meaning

The purpose of this research investigation was to understand the essential features and structures of ritual through the perceptions of 36 women's stories of their families of origin and how this may have had impact on their current sense of affiliation and meaning. Various theoretical perspectives were reviewed with a phenomenological lens. The study utilized findings from previous research in the areas of ritual, gender, and meaning. Results indicated a central theme of high ritual perspective affecting high current affiliation perspective. Ritual was a female-centered experience in the families. An experience of affiliation in one's family of origin seemed to indicate the creation of an affiliation template that allows one to recognize and experience a sense of relatedness in current connections.     

“That reminds me of a story...”: The therapeutic use of cautionary tales

This story about stories illustrates two kinds of cautionary tales and attempts to account for why and how they are useful in therapy.     

Co-constructed narratives around being “sick”: A minimalist model

The amount of physical damage may have no fixed relation to how much and in what ways a patient's life is disrupted. The authors discuss a model which addresses the bio-psycho-social complexity of a patient's illness and the narrative constructions which the patient, family members, and health care professionals influence to co-create the patient's identification with being sick. This minimalist model invites the reader to consider a variety of interrelated variable lenses through which to view the narratives around a patient's illness. Clinical case examples are used to illustrate the dominant story themes.     

Availability to peer group treatment in residential care as a function of relational ethics

Forty-five adolescent boys from abusive and depriving homes were not doing well in positive peer culture residential care. Despite their backgrounds, given a modified form of the Relational Ethics Scale, they indicated that their relational life with their families of origin was trustworthy, fair, and worthy of continued devotion. In contrast, on the Firo-B these same boys demonstrated distrust of others outside of their families and an unwillingness to get involved. These results support the inference from contextual family theory that peer group interventions cannot bypass identification and resolution of the injustices that took place in the family of origin.This project was fully supported by Teen Ranch, Inc., Marlette, MI 48453.     

A system for controlling the light output of a monochromator by any simple function and for temporally modulating the intensity

This paper describes an apparatus that controls the output of a monochromator so that the energies in each waveband can be equated according to any desired function. A photocell monitors the light from the monochromator and provides a feedback to the power supply driving the lamp. A function generatoris mechanically linked to the monochromator’s wavelength drive and provides the function for correcting the output spectrum. Once set, the light output remains constant even if the bulb ages or is replaced. If desired, a sinusoidalripple of variable frequency and amplitude can be imposed on the mean intensity of the light.