Professional preparation of individuals who provide genetic counseling services

An unprecedented increase has occurred in demand for genetic counseling services during the current decade. This study examined the complex issue of who currently provides genetic counseling services and the professional preparation of these personnel. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 325 genetic counseling professionals in the southeastern United States who were members of the Southeast Regional Genetics Group (SERGG), National Society of Genetic Counselors, or American Society of Human Genetics States; 204 completed the questionnaire (63%). Seventy percent of respondents were female and 30% were male. Thirty percent of respondents held MD degrees; nine physicians held PhD degrees. Most physicians were male. Thirty-two percent of respondents held master's degrees in genetic counseling; five counselors held PhD degrees. Twenty-three percent of respondents were nurses; eight nurses held master's degrees. Three percent of respondents were social workers. Individuals with other degrees, such as an associate of science in medical technology and a doctoral degree in education, also provided genetic counseling. Genetic counseling typically involved a team effort, consisting mainly of physicians and genetic counselors. Most respondents reported college coursework in human genetics, supervised training, and seminar/workshop training. Thirty percent reported college coursework in counseling techniques, supervised training, and seminar/workshop training. Policy recommendations are offered concerning professional preparation of genetic counselors.     

The development of procedural knowledge: An alternative explanation for chronometric trends of mental arithmetic

In a review of the Chronometrie literature, M. H. Ashcraft (Developmental Review, 1982, 2, 213–236) concluded that the development of number fact efficiency is due to a shift from relying on procedural knowledge such as counting to relying on declarative knowledge (a stored network of facts). This model assumes that all procedural processes are slow or remain slow, which is probably not the case. An alternative account posits that the key change in number fact efficiency involves a shift from slow counting procedures to principled procedural knowledge. As rules, heuristics, and principles become more familiar and interconnected, their use, for example, in producing the number facts becomes more automatic. The use of such procedural knowledge would be cognitively more economical than storing individual facts in long-term memory. Finally, existing Chronometric data can readily be interpreted in terms of this alternative model.     

Knowledge of the world of work: A test of occupational information for young men

The study evaluates a test of occupational information administered to a national sample of 5000 young men, aged 14–24 in 1966, as part of the National Longitudinal Surveys of employment behavior. The predictive validity of the test score is assessed by reference to multiple regression analyses which confirm the significance of the score as an independent predictor of subsequent hourly earnings and occupational status. Correlation and factor analyses are used to examine the quality of the measurement instrument. All in all, the instrument is judged to exhibit desirable characteristics in terms of internal consistency reliability, discriminatory power, and level of difficulty. The test's reliability compares favorably with a commercially produced test designed to be used in counseling as a measure of occupational knowledge. With the possible modification of deleting a section relating to knowledge of earnings differentials, the test is commended to those involved in assessing and counseling the occupational choice process.     

Socialization and career orientation among black and white college women

In a study of career orientation among black and white college women, support was found for hypotheses derived from postulates of Rotter's Social Learning Theory. Compared to whites, (1) blacks were less likely to expect the level of work involvement preferred; (2) blacks expected more employment; and (3) blacks were more likely to prefer less employment than they realistically expected. Antecedents of career expectation were categorized as internal, external, or neutral. As hypothesized, variables expressive of external control predicted level of career expectation among blacks, whereas variables expressive of internal control predicted high career expectations among whites.     

The effects of classification structure on organized free recall in children

A sorting presentation procedure was used to study the effects of three classification schemes (self-generated, thematic, or taxonomic) on the organized free recall of second and fifth graders. Recall and clustering were significantly higher for subjects who used self-generated organizations than for subjects given the experimenter-prescribed taxonomic classification. The results indicated that memory performance benefitted when the organization of stimulus materials was consonant with children's personal classification structures.     

Age trends in children's time-sharing performance

To investigate developmental differences in time-sharing performance, 60 boys, 20 in each of three age groups (7-, 10-, and 13-year-olds) performed an auditory matching task and a tracking task alone and concurrently, the latter under two sets of instructions. Decrements produced by concurrent performance were compared for the three age groups. When the time-shared tasks were presented as equally important, time-sharing produced significantly greater proportional decrements in the tracking performance of the younger children and for all age groups tracking task decrements were directly related to matching task difficulty. Subsequently, the children were instructed that one or the other of the tasks was more important and that they were to improve their performance on that task. All three age groups showed a significant improvement on the task emphasized by instructions. The relationship of the results to two models of information processing is discussed.     

Sex differences in the structure of intelligence: A confirmatory factor analysis

The LISREL model of Jöreskog and Sörbom was used to perform a comparative factor analysis on intelligence data from four sex by generation groups. The covariance matrices for 10 psychometric ability measures were used to isolate Spatial and Verbal Intelligence factors. Results from a series of factor analysis models indicated substantial invariance in the factor pattern and factor covariance matrices, although the hypothesis of complete invariance in factor pattern was rejected. The groups did differ in observed and unique variances. The results were basically consistent with the hypothesis that males and females have similar intellectual structure, which would have been obscured had standardized factor analysis been employed. There were also sex and generation differences in the Spatial and Verbal factor means.     

The effect of lateral visual fixation on response latency to verbal and spatial questions

The results of several studies have suggested a relationship between lateral eye movements and contralateral hemispheric activation or ipsilateral inhibition. The present study investigated the effects of lateral and central eye fixation on response latency to verbal and spatial questions. Response latencies for verbal questions were significantly longer when subjects fixated to the left or centrally, as compared to the right. On spatial questions, response latencies were significantly longer in the right fixation condition than in the other conditions. The results indicate that visual fixation ipsilateral to hemispheric activation is related to slower problem solving, and suggest that eye movements during cognitive activity may have functional significance.     

Communicative gestures of the hand and arm when 4-year-old sons and their mothers interact

This study investigated a wide range of communicative hand/arm gestures of 4-year-old males when interacting with their mothers. The types of gesture categories observed were in keeping with the predicted encoding ability of this aged child. Pantomimic and deictic gestures were observed in significantly greater numbers than semantic modifying and relational gestures. Although it was found that the mothers' gestural usage reflected the type of gesture categories seen in the children's group, no correlation was found between gesture usage of individual mother-child pairs.