Adolescent pregnancy: effects of family support, education, and religion on the decision to carry or terminate among Puerto Rican teenagers

Why do some pregnant teenagers decide to carry to term while others terminate their pregnancy? This study examined the influence of family relationships and support, religion, and education on the decision to carry or to abort. A nonrandom sample of 43 pregnant Puerto Rican teenagers (21 who carried and 22 who aborted) were interviewed in 1982 using a 34-item interview schedule. It was found that girls in the carry group were more significantly influenced and supported by family and friends than were those in the abort group. Fathers were the least influential persons in both carry and abort groups, while mothers were the most influential in the carry group, and sisters in the abort group. Brothers, boyfriends, and best friends were more influential for carry girls than for abort girls. Contrary to expectations, girls in the abort group reported a greater degree of religiosity than did those in the carry group. Further, girls who received strong support from family and friends reported a higher degree of satisfaction with their decision than did those who received less support. Finally, girls in the abort group were more likely to continue their education than were those in the carry group. Overall, the findings of this study have immediate implications for research and counseling services. Practitioners should focus on the girls in conjunction with their families in order to achieve better results in both treatment and preventive services.     

Familial handedness and spatial ability: a study with Chinese students aged 14-24

This study tested Annett's right-shift theory on spatial ability with two samples from China. The Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test (MRT), Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, and Family Handedness Questionnaire were administered to 266 high school students and 297 undergraduates. We found very few r++ or r-- among Chinese students. Most Chinese are either moderately right-handed or ambidextrous. Consistent with Casey's finding, we found using different methods to classify handedness leads to different conclusions. However, we did not find the effect of familial handedness that Casey found. Visual strategy is related to success on the MRT but handedness is not.     

The paradox of countertransference: you and me,here and now

Abstract

I am moved to write by Stephen Gross's article ‘Revenge of the fathers: incest and the male therapist’, which appeared in the February 1995 issue of Psychodynamic Counselling     

The integrative attitude–a personal journey

The origins of clinical psychotherapy date from the beginning of last century and the development of broadly four foundational schools–psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioural, humanistic and transpersonal psychologies. The imperative to integrate these schools, however, is relatively recent and in the last 25 years a professional integration movement has developed, exemplified by the formation of SEPI and the UKAPI, and ‘integrative psychotherapist’ is now the most popular nomenclature used in the profession. This article gives a brief history of the integration movement, reviews some issues raised by developments so far, and discusses the personal dilemma that integration evokes in the would-be integrative practitioner. Using my own journey I espouse an integrative attitude that is based on the nature of integration as an evolving personal process rather than an ideal, fixed, profession-wide position. I describe three interweaving modalities of integration I call constructive, complicit and contiguous integration, which form a developmental framework that aims to encourage the individual activity of questioning, inventing, researching and interrogating the discipline within its philosophical, professional and social context. In concluding, this article exhorts the profession to see integration as a personal journey, as a way of being that is constantly becoming and unfolding in relation with the therapist's training, experience and interaction with peers and clients. The result is indefinable and unnameable, and perhaps represents the soul of integrative psychotherapy.     

Researching psychotherapy integration: A heuristic approach

Moustakas argues that questions and methodology in heuristic research flow out of inner awareness, meaning and inspiration. The approach might arguably embrace a combination of qualitative research methods, and constitute a kind of bricolage. This paper describes a heuristic enquiry into psychotherapy integration that used such a combination of methods – an interpretative phenomenological approach, case studies, reflexive action, and writing. It demonstrates how each of these methods contributed to the six phases of heuristic enquiry, from the initial engagement with psychotherapy as a trainee to the creative synthesis of published works and a PhD thesis, together with some reflection on the enquiry's limitations and rigour. Published texts, training, clinical practice and reflexivity constituted the material from which a new organizing framework for understanding psychotherapy integration was formulated. The author reflects on how the research design allowed deep engagement with this material, and changed his perspective of psychotherapy integration. In conclusion, this paper suggests that both psychotherapy integration and heuristic enquiry can only be conducted on an individual and personal basis, and that it is the quality of the relationship, with the client, or the research material, that produces results.     

Misspecification in Latent Change Score Models: Consequences for Parameter Estimation,Model Evaluation,and Predicting Change

Latent change score models (LCS) are conceptually powerful tools for analyzing longitudinal data (McArdle & Hamagami, 2001). However, applications of these models typically include constraints on key parameters over time. Although practically useful, strict invariance over time in these parameters is unlikely in real data. This study investigates the robustness of LCS when invariance over time is incorrectly imposed on key change-related parameters. Monte Carlo simulation methods were used to explore the impact of misspecification on parameter estimation, predicted trajectories of change, and model fit in the dual change score model, the foundational LCS. When constraints were incorrectly applied, several parameters, most notably the slope (i.e., constant change) factor mean and autoproportion coefficient, were severely and consistently biased, as were regression paths to the slope factor when external predictors of change were included. Standard fit indices indicated that the misspecified models fit well, partly because mean level trajectories over time were accurately captured. Loosening constraint improved the accuracy of parameter estimates, but estimates were more unstable, and models frequently failed to converge. Results suggest that potentially common sources of misspecification in LCS can produce distorted impressions of developmental processes, and that identifying and rectifying the situation is a challenge.     

Evidence in support of a model that predicts how biological and environmental factors interact to influence spatial skills.

It was proposed, based on M. Annett (1985), that individuals biologically predisposed to poorer spatial skills are less likely to capitalize on opportunities to develop these skills. Using an analysis of variance design assessing mental rotation skills in 2 cohorts of 8th graders (365 students), the authors found a significant 3-way interaction (Brothers x Family Handedness x Gender). For the girls with brothers, those from all right-handed families had lower mental rotation scores than did the other girls. For the 2nd cohort, among those children who participated in mental-rotation-type activities with their brothers, both boys and girls from all right-handed families performed more poorly on the mental rotation test than did the other children with brothers. Thus, compared with other children, the children from all right-handed families do not appear to be able to use their spatial experiences with male siblings to increase their spatial skills.     

Foreign brands in local cultures: A socio‐cultural perspective of postmodern brandscapes

The aim of this paper is to explore how the consumption of foreign brands may operate in a local culture (specifically, the consumption of Western luxury fashion brands among Muslim women in Kuwait). Field observations were conducted in Kuwait, and a qualitative questionnaire was administered to 50 Muslim female consumers. Although not a common method for qualitative research, the benefits of using a qualitative questionnaire are highlighted. The findings show that the socio‐cultural dynamics in Kuwait (mainly religion and tradition) may restrict the expression of certain behaviour (such as female sexuality and dating). However, Muslim women make use of Western luxury fashion brands as postmodern brandscapes (fragmented and constantly negotiated use of a symbolic brand to actively construct lifestyle orientations and personal meanings among one's neo‐tribe) to manifest their expressions of sexuality in alternative ways. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attitudinal and behavioral resistance: A marketing perspective

Resistance to ritual practice and related consumption behavior has been under‐researched in both marketing and consumer research, although it has significant implications for business and consumers. In this paper, the authors offer an explanation of attitudinal and behavioral resistance by reporting on the findings of a qualitative interpretative study of those self‐identifying as high school prom resistors. Four types of resistance are posited, that is, identity‐positioning resistors, identity‐protecting resistors, emotional resistors, and apathetic resistors. Characteristics of the typology are developed and consequences of their behaviors discussed. Theoretical and managerial consequences are proposed. Understanding resistance to prom may lead to improved service provision, better targeting of communication messages (e.g., advertising), overcoming event dilution as well as generating positive word of mouth, and reducing consumer regret. This research expands the theoretical understanding of attitudinal and behavioral resistance by bringing new evidence as to the individual and social identity processes by which resistance develops. This study helps to better understand opposition to positional consumption as well as extending our understanding of why individuals resist consumption and related practice. Two new concepts are also identified and discussed, namely “event dilution” and “regret through resistance”. Managerial implications (contextual and for marketplace rituals) are posited. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Book Review: Contemporary Perspectives on Psychotherapy and Homosexualities

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to illustrate some of the ethical and clinical difficulties which may arise when student counselling takes place under conditions which pay insufficient attention to the ground rules of therapy. It considers the importance of the frame in psychotherapy and the implications for this of working in an institutional setting. It also looks at the changes that may be made in the way the counsellor functions in the institution in order to secure the best conditions for effective counselling work with students, based on the author's personal experience.