Gender Bias in the Evaluation of Female Faculty at The Citadel: A Qualitative Analysis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of gender bias in student ratings of female faculty at The Citadel. Four (Caucasian) female faculty members, one at each level of academic rank, and four (Caucasian) male cadets were interviewed to determine their views on bias in the instructional process, especially with regard to ratings of faculty by students. From the data we concluded that there is a contradiction between beliefs about gender bias and the actual presence of bias for both faculty and students. Women are subjected to a double standard, and in the military setting of The Citadel, nontenure track female faculty are doubly penalized. Faculty women believe gender bias is part of the institutional culture, and contrapower harassment in ratings of female faculty by male students is likely.     

The role of exposure to isolated words in early vocabulary development

Fluent speech contains no known acoustic analog of the blank spaces between printed words. Early research presumed that word learning is driven primarily by exposure to isolated words. In the last decade there has been a shift to the view that exposure to isolated words is unreliable and plays little if any role in early word learning. This study revisits the role of isolated words. The results show (a) that isolated words are a reliable feature of speech to infants, (b) that they include a variety of word types, many of which are repeated in close temporal proximity, (c) that a substantial fraction of the words infants produce are words that mothers speak in isolation, and (d) that the frequency with which a child hears a word in isolation predicts whether that word will be learned better than the child's total frequency of exposure to that word. Thus, exposure to isolated words may significantly facilitate vocabulary development at its earliest stages.     

Impact of Huntington Disease Gene-Positive Status on Pre-Symptomatic Young Adults and Recommendations for Genetic Counselors

Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant, progressive neurodegenerative disorder for which there is no cure. Predictive testing for HD is available to asymptomatic at-risk individuals. Approximately half of the population undergoing predictive testing for HD consists of young adults (≤35 years old). Finishing one’s education, starting a career, engaging in romantic relationships and becoming a parent are key milestones of young adulthood. We conducted a qualitative study to explore how testing gene-positive for HD influences young adults’ attainment of these milestones, and to identify major challenges that pre-symptomatic young adults face to aid the development of targeted genetic counseling. Results of our study demonstrate that 1) knowing one’s gene-positive status results in an urgency to reach milestones and positively changes young adults’ approach to life; 2) testing positive influences young adults’ education and career choices, romantic relationships, and family planning; 3) young adults desire flexible and tailored genetic counseling to address needs and concerns unique to this population. Findings of this study contribute to the understanding of the impact of predictive testing for HD on young adults, and highlight issues unique to this population that call for further research, intervention and advocacy.     

Psychological skills and mindfulness training effects on the psychological wellbeing of undergraduate music students: An exploratory study

This study explored the efficacy of psychological skills and mindfulness training intervention on the psychological wellbeing of undergraduate music students. Participants were undergraduate music students (n = 36) from the Department of Music at a South African university, 21 of whom were elected to take the psychological skills and mindfulness training intervention. Data on their self-reported psychological wellbeing, psychological skills, mindfulness and performance anxiety levels were collected pre-and post-intervention. The analysis applied non-parametric procedures to determine changes in students’ psychological wellbeing after the seven-week intervention programme. Findings suggest improvements in psychological wellbeing, psychological skills, mindfulness and performance anxiety with training. Psychological skills and mindfulness training may have benefits to the psychological wellbeing of music students.