Mentally retarded persons as parents: Prevalence and the situation of their children

This paper describes a research program on mentally retarded parents and their children. For this nation-wide study, two structured questionnaires were sent to all municipalities in Norway. Both questionnaires were sent to public health nurses and were followed-up by a structured telephone interview based on the questionnaires. The primary aim of the study was to survey the number of children born to mentally retarded parents. In addition, the children's needs and functional abilities were to be assessed. Twenty-three mentally retarded persons had given birth in the course of the past twelve months. A total of 126 children with mentally retarded parents were identified, with an incidence of 27 children per year, and a prevalence of approximately 430 children under 16 years of age in a population of 4 mill. People with a mean of 1.05 child per family. About 43% of the children of mentally retarded parents appeared to have learning difficulties. Forty percent of the children suffered from failures of care. Between 25% and 68% of the children with learning problems had poorly developed motor or language abilities, sense modalities or psycho-social status.     

Dysphoria and Children's Processing of Supportive Interactions

This study examined the processing of supportive interactions by dysphoric and nondysphoric preteens and early adolescents. Seventy-two youngsters between the ages of 10 and 13 evaluated the supportiveness and helpfulness of standardized, videotaped interactions between a distressed preadolescent and a maternal figure. The tape presentations varied in terms of the level of depicted maternal support and instructional condition (degree of self-reference). The results indicated that dysphoric youngsters evaluated both the supportiveness and helpfulness of interactions less positively than nondysphoric agemates. Group differences in support evaluations were most pronounced in the self-referenced condition. The level of depicted support did not affect processing differences. Dysphoric subjects reported lower levels of emotional support in prior relationships and a greater tendency to view supportive behavior as ingenuine than nondysphoric peers. Variation in prior support experiences accounted for group differences in the evaluation of the supportiveness of new interactions.     

Informal Caregiving to Persons with AIDS in the United States: Caregiver Burden Among Central Cities Residents Eighteen to Forty-Nine Years Old

Characteristics and caregiving experiences of friends and family members caring for people with AIDS (PWAs) were examined. Based on a probability sample of informal AIDS caregivers ages 18–49 living in central cities of the United States (n = 260), analyses were conducted to (a) identify the sociodemographic characteristics of young central city caregivers; and (b) examine the effects of caregiver characteristics (relationship to PWA, gender, race/ethnicity, income, sexual orientation, HIV status, perceived susceptibility), and level of objective caregiving demands, on subjective caregiver burden. Results indicate that the largest group of caregivers in this age category are male friends of the PWA—a group not typically found among caregivers to persons with other types of illnesses. In general, gay or bisexual caregivers, caregivers who have traditional family ties to the PWA, men relative to women, and lower income caregivers, report the greatest burden. While level of caregiving demands represents the most influential predictor of caregiver burden, white and male caregivers experience greater burden, independent of level of involvement and other caregiver characteristics. Receiving instrumental support with caregiving buffers the impact of high objective demands on subjective burden.     

群体绩效和团队效能研究的新进展

近几年来 ,在群体和团队方面的研究比较活跃 ,并取得了不少新的进展。本文在近几年的国内外文献的基础上 ,着重讨论几个与群体绩效有关的长期存在的问题 ,主要包括群体构成、凝聚力、激励、领导、群体目标等因素。同时探讨团队与组织之间的内在联系。然后 ,讨论团队效能研究中的几个开放性问题 ,以及将来研究的新动向新趋势。最后 ,对影响团队效能的几个关键的调节因素作一简要的讨论。     

计算机支持下协同工作的心理学研究

计算机支持下协同工作（ｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒｓｕｐｐｏｒｔｅｄｃｏｏｐｅｒａｔｉｖｅｗｏｒｋ,简称ＣＳＣＷ）是计算机科学和认知科学的新兴交叉研究领域,主要研究在高技术支持下的群体协作。ＣＳＣＷ中蕴含着大量的心理学研究问题。心理学家需要更好地理解群体协作的性质以评估新技术是否与群体协作相适应,其研究成果会有助于理解如何构建技术和哪些技术可能成功。本文首先从分析ＣＳＣＷ的领域维度入手,然后讨论与之相关的一些重要的心理学研究问题,最后简要介绍国外在该领域进行的研究工作     

The creative potential of play and regression in analytical training: a personal reflection

The seminar group can serve as a framework in which to meet the fear generated during training. The group can become a maddening environment, but on occasions when it is experienced by the trainee as good enough, it can act like a playgroup which facilitates development. Experiences in the group can be viewed from the perspectives of group dynamics or of transference phenomena which embody regression. When this regression enables scope for play it can serve in the interests of ego development in the process of discovering the sort of analyst the trainee is becoming as the training unfolds. During play aspects of oneself can merge, then differentiate again. They can have different meanings at the same time. The rational and emotional, the adult and the childlike are all given a place in play.     

A preventive,psychoeducational approach to increase perceived social support

Investigated the effects of a 13-week preventive, psychoeducational intervention program to improve perceived social support. Fifty-one, low-perceived support, community residents were randomly assigned to an intervention or wait-list control condition. Intervention subjects received training in social skills and cognitive reframing regarding the self and social relations. The intervention led to increased perceived social support from family, but not from friends. As hypothesized by social cognition models, increases in perceived support appeared to be mediated by changes in self-esteem and frequency of self-reinforcement. Further, such changes in cognition about the self were larger than the changes observed for perceived support, suggesting that it may be easier to change cognition about the self than perceptions of support.     

Cooperative learning revisited

The endeavor to teach academic skills known as cooperative learningis of interest to behavioral educators due to its record of effectiveness, its use of behavioral procedures, and its relatively widespread adoption by regular educators. All forms of cooperative learning emphasize operations that encourage students to work together to achieve commonly held goals rather than competing with or ignoring the efforts of others. Despite the apparent soundness of the approach, the present commentary raises several issues. First, it states that some cooperative learning proponents fail to describe the behavioral processes underlying the approach. Second, it is pointed out that it is unclear whether cooperative learning is an independent or dependent variable. Given that cooperative learning applies group contingencies to academic behavior, the question is raised as to whether group contingencies do, in fact, produce desirable social interactions, and whether group contingencies are appropriate for academic behaviors. A concern is also raised as to whether the spontaneous peer tutoring generated by cooperative learning compares favorably with planned peer tutoring. Finally, it is claimed that the minor variations from academic group contingencies that cooperative learning proponents have introduced do not require identifying a new process.     

Optimism and coping as determinants of psychosocial adjustment to rheumatoid arthritis

Psychosocial adjustment in 66 patients with chronic rheumatoid arthritis, with a mean duration of 12 years with the disease, were evaluated in a prospective design, with 62% of the sample followed up 16 months later. It was predicted that dispositional optimism would predict adjustment over time and that perceived support and perceived control would be related to psychosocial adjustment at the time of concurrent measurement. At Time 1, psychosocial adjustment was associated with greater optimism and perceived support and less disability. Optimism at Time 1 was the only significant predictor of changes in adjustment at Time 2 controlling for Time 1 adjustment and Time 2 disability. It was found that optimism temporally precedes increases in psychosocial adjustment. In terms of coping strategies, wishful thinking was related to poorer social adjustment, whereas problem-focused coping was marginally related to positive adjustment. Neither coping strategy predicted adjustment across time. Optimism at Time 1 did predict problem-focused coping at Time 2. Perceived social support regarding a specific circumstance at a given point in time enables one to persist in solving a task. Interventions to enhance the quality of life of individuals coping with progressive deteriorative disease must look at the influence of their behavior and attitude on those who provide care for them.