Intelligence and fertility in the United States: 1912-1982

Results are presented for the 1st analysis of the relationship between IQ and completed fertility using a large, representative sample of the US population. Correlations are predominantly negative for cohorts born between 1894 and 1964 but are significantly more positive for cohorts whose fertility was concentrated in the baby boom years. Previous studies reporting slightly positive correlations appear to have been biased in their restriction of samples to atypical cohorts. The National Opinion Research Center (NORC), a nonprofit research organization affiliated with the University of Chicago, conducted the General Social Survey (GSS) in the US each year from 1972 to 1982, except for 1979. A combination of block quota and full probability sampling was employed. Hour-long interviews were completed with 12,120 respondents who were English-speaking, noninstitutionalized adults (18 years or older) living within the continental US. Such questions as age, place of birth, income and occupation, were asked in each interview. Other questions about attitudes on various social, political, and moral issues were rotated in different years. The unique opportunity this data set affords is an overview of the relationship between intelligence and fertility for a nationally representative sample of Americans whose major reproductive years fell between 1912 and 1982. Data were consolidated from the 4 surveys in which the vocabulary test was given (1974, 1976, 1978, and 1982). Respondents were divided into 15 birth cohorts of 5-year intervals ranging from before 1894 to 1964. Correlations between vocabulary scores and number of siblings are markedly negative across all 15 cohorts. Vocabulary sibling correlations are more negative in every cohort than vocabulary offspring correlations. Previous reports of a neutral or slightly eugenic relationship appear to be due to the nature of the samples used, in part because the cohorts chosen were atypical, and in part because they did not include nonwhites. Childless respondents averaged slightly higher scores than did those with 1 or more children, indicating that the automatic exclusion of the childless from sibling-IQ studies has not spuriously inflated negative correlations.     

A survey of student counselling in higher and further education in the United Kingdom

All higher and further education institutions who reported having a student counselling service were surveyed, using a postal questionnaire, during 1985. Information from 212 institutions is presented. It describes what services exist, how long they have existed, their staffing and their workload (in terms of numbers counselled and type of service offered). Comparisons between universities, polytechnics and colleges of higher and further education are made. The stated objectives of the counselling services are summarised, together with identified priorities in counselling functions. Some of the characteristics of counsellors are outlined, including hours worked, training and qualifications.     

Attitudes to new technology in relation to social beliefs and group memberships: A preliminary investigation

Though the term “new technology” is widely used and discussed, there has been very little systematic study of attitudes to technology and their relation to other beliefs and group memberships. This article describes an initial investigation into the nature of attitudes towards new technology (n=534 undergraduates) and demonstrates that, as yet, these attitudes are only weakly structured and are not fully integrated with other social beliefs. General evaluations of the benefits of technological advance appear to be almost unrelated to beliefs about the inevitability of these advances or the desire to acquire training to deal with them. Contrary to popular expectations, evaluations of video games are unrelated to other beliefs about technology while other social beliefs are, as yet, only weakly integrated with these attitudes. This study also identifies gender differences in the assessment of potential benefits and highlights other differences attributable to academic group memberships. These finding are discussed with reference to the literature on sex-role stereotyping and group socialization processes.     

Explaining the Psychological Effects of Unemployment for Young People: The Importance of Specific Situational Factors

Evidence of the effects of duration of unemployment and gender upon the psychological response to unemployment is reviewed. It is suggested that many of the apparent contradictions in this evidence can be resolved by reference to situational factors which shape how stressful unemployment is for a particular individual. The study reported tested the effects of a stressful period of unemployment on the psychological well-being, self-esteem and life-satisfaction of young people. No sex differences in response to unemployment were found, and this is explained in terms of the similarity of their experiences. The relevance of these findings for counselling the unemployed is discussed.     

Measurement error in direct observations: a comparison of common recording methods

Videotapes of three brief duration, three medium duration and three long duration types of stereotyped behaviour (of eight severely retarded children) were analysed to provide a criterion record of the true percentage duration of the behaviour. The criterion record was compared with the records produced by four time-sampling methods: a whole-interval method, two partial-interval methods and a momentary time-sampling method. As predicted, the whole-interval method grossly underestimated and the partial-interval methods grossly overestimated the true percentage duration of the behaviour, except when the duration of individual responses was much longer than the observation interval. Momentary time-sampling was not an errorless method but was consistently superior to the other methods.The implications of these findings for the detection of treatment effects by direct observations are discussed.     

Naturalistic Partial Sleep Deprivation Leads to Greater Next-Day Anxiety: The Moderating Role of Baseline Anxiety and Depression

The detrimental effects of insufficient sleep on emotional functioning have been well established. Total sleep deprivation usually leads to increased anxiety and depressive symptoms the following day. However, no study has yet examined the relationships between unmanipulated partial sleep deprivation and next-day symptoms of anxiety and depression in everyday life, which this study sought to characterize. Participants (N = 94) completed daily diary surveys twice per day for 2 weeks without instructions to alter their sleep in any way. Nights of spontaneous, naturally occurring partial sleep deprivation were followed by increased levels of self-reported symptoms of anxious arousal the next day, but were unrelated to next-day symptoms of anhedonic depression or general distress. The relationship between partial sleep deprivation and next-day anxious arousal was found to be moderated by both baseline depressive symptoms and anxiety such that individuals reporting higher levels of depression or anxiety at baseline showed relatively greater increases in symptoms of anxiety following partial sleep deprivation. These results suggest that partial sleep deprivation occurring in everyday life can lead to higher next-day levels of anxious arousal, a relationship that is particularly deleterious for individuals with higher overall levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms.