SOCIAL CLASS PERCEPTION AND SOCIAL STATUS AMONG SWEDISH YOUTH

Social class perception (identification) was studied as a function of ‘objective’ status (socioeconomic level) and class (occupational class) using a sample of Swedish high school students. Confirming the two minor hypotheses, the results disclosed that class perception was affected by both the ‘objective’ class and status of the subject: the manual occupational class, and those with low socioeconomic status, had in general a higher proportion of working-class identification than the nonmanual class, and those with low socioeconomic status, respectively. However, the major hypothesis, an interaction hypothesis stating that manuals are not affected by status in their class perceptions, was not confirmed. The results are discussed in the context of social psychological theory and earlier empirical research.     

Jewish medical ethics in the care of the cancer patient

The care of the patient with cancer requires the development not only of a medical plan, but an ethical plan as well. This plan should integrate the physician's and the patient's perceptions of medical and ethical propriety. Jewish biomedical ethical principles are based on the teaching of the Old Testament and its various interpretations. In this paper, I discuss how these principles can be used to help guide the physician caring for the patient with cancer. Other ethical systems could be applied in a similar fashion.     

Attempted suicide in youth: Its relationship to school achievement,educational goals,and socioeconomic status

Twenty-six suicide attempters, 9 to 18 years of age, were compared with 725 nonattempters on measures of school achievement, educational goals, socioeconomic status, and depression. As has been found in studies using clinical samples, suicide attempters in our communitybased sample had significantly lower school achievement than nonattempters. The relationship between attempted suicide and low school achievement seemed to be explained by the effects of depression. Lower-SES youth tended to be more likely to attempt suicide than higher-SES youths. However, SES appeared to have little effect on the relationship between attempted suicide and school achievement. Results also suggest that children of mothers with low educational goals for them may be more at risk for attempted suicide than youths whose mothers have higher educational goals for their children.This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, Grant No. MH36971.     

Efficient pain assessment in clinical settings.

The need for efficient and practical assessment techniques of the multidimensional nature of chronic pain remains paramount in clinical settings. Visual analogue scales (VASs) and simple behavioral observation methods have been proposed as efficient, reliable, and valid measures of the subjective (sensory and affective) and overt behavioral aspects of the pain experience. The relationships among VASs and the UAB Pain Behavior Scale were examined among 48 chronic pain patients. Ratings of overt behavior were significantly related to both the VAS sensory and VAS affective ratings. Regression analysis indicated that the VAS scores accounted for significant amount of the variance (27.7%) in UAB scores. Moreover, the affective dimension of self-reported pain tended to be more strongly related to the visible manifestations of pain than were ratings of pain intensity.     

Parent-tutoring procedures: Experimental analysis and validation of generalization in oral reading across passages,settings, and time

A study that involved parents as reading tutors was carried out at home during the summer with four elementary children, three with learning disabilities. One purpose was to determine the effects of tutoring in the basal reader on reading rates at home. Another purpose was to determine potential generalization effects as a result of parent tutoring on different academic tasks at home and, later at school, on different and similar tasks. A combination multiple-baseline and reversal design tested for replication and generalization effects. Increases in correct rates were noted for the targeted variables across conditions. The results indicated that parents tutoring with school basal texts during the summer produced marked increases in reading rates that generalized at home to different academic tasks and at school to different and similar tasks. This suggests that parents, when using specific tutoring procedures, can increase their children's academic skills.     

The Role of Sympathy and Altruistic Personality Traits in Helping: A Reexamination

The purposes of this study were (a) to examine the role of social evaluative concerns in the self-report of sympathy and in the relation of sympathy to helping; and (b) to determine the role of "altruistic personality" traits and situationally induced vicarious emotional responses in the intention to help. Dispositional and situational self-reports of sympathy and other vicarious emotional reactions were obtained for persons who also were given the opportunity to assist a needy other. Moreover, dispositional measures of concern with social evaluation and an altruistic orientation were obtained, and a bogus pipeline manipulation was instituted for half the study participants. Both dispositional and situational self-reported sympathy were positively related to helping, as were other personality indices viewed as reflecting altruistic characteristics. The relations for the dispositional indices of sympathy were not due solely to social evaluative concerns or to other egoistic concerns. The effects on intended helping of dispositional sympathy, perspective taking, and the tendency to ascribe responsibility for others to the self appeared to be both direct and mediated by situational sympathetic responding. Finally, situational sadness did not mediate the effects of sympathetic responsiveness.     

An introduction to organic brain syndromes

Organic brain syndromes are of forensic interest for several reasons. First, patients with organic brain syndromes may require judicial determination of competence in any of a number of areas, e.g., testamentary capacity, need for financial guardianship, or competence to make medical decisions. Second, any patient whose mental state is of legal interest will need evaluation for contributing organic factors; uncovering these factors may have considerable medical and legal consequence. Third, the discovery of organic factors may be decisive in the outcome of a judicial proceeding, where “hard” biological data are often accorded more weight, and are thus more persuasive, than “soft” psychological data. This article provides an introductory overview of the organic brain syndromes. For each syndrome, the clinical features are described and are illustrated with a case vignette, the more common etiologies are presented, and selected aspects to the evaluation are highlighted. In addition, since the detectian of malingered mental illness is a key component in many forensic contexts, characteristics are described which help to distinguish actual from malingered mental illness.     

Process parallels in related groups

The theoretical basis for the repetition of themes in related groups is addressed by describing similar processes in four systems: inpatient psychiatric ward, inpatient psychotherapy group, supervisory group, and group psychotherapy division. The principles of general system theory help explain process parallels in allied groups and illuminate group process.