Multipotentiality makes career counseling with gifted students difficult. High-flat vocational profiles give the impression that gifted students can develop a wide range of abilities to an equally high level. High-flat vocational profiles may be due to assessments that consider abilities and disregard interests and values, and ceiling effects from the use of age-appropriate, rather than cognitively-appropriate measures. Subjects included 170 gifted students from a residential, early college entrance program (M=15.9 yrs., SD=.361). Subjects completed the Scholastic Aptitude Test, Self-Directed Search, and Study of Values. McNemar's Test of Correlated Proportions shows the proportion of multipotential profiles decreases significantly when cognitively-appropriate measures of interests and values are considered, in addition to abilities. Pearson Chi-square shows no ethnic differences.

The Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory was constructed to screen for substance abuse patterns despite non-admittance of respondents. Predictive validity studies of the SASSI are limited, and are not available for probationers. Participants were 147 male and 54 female probationers mandated to treatment. Overall differences among SASSI scales were significant for treatment compliance and outcome. Higher SASSI scales were found among those probationers who were compliant/successful. Individual scales were not significantly different, however, a trend was revealed; those respondents who scored higher tended to comply/succeed in treatment. The SASSI alone accurately classified 59.7% of respondents. In summary, the SASSI's use in predicting treatment outcome is limited and should be employed with concomitant data.

Distortions in the perception of time historically have been associated with dissociation and psychosis in clinical populations. However, the relations among dissociation, psychosis, and time perception in sub-clinical populations have not been investigated. In the present study, college undergraduates scoring either normally or deviantly high on the Per-Mag were given a Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and a computerized time-estimation/production task. Participants scoring high on the Per-Mag obtained higher scores on the DES than participants scoring low on the Per- Mag. Per-Mag scores also correlated positively with DES scores across 608 total participants screened. The relation between dissociative and psychotic symptomatology is discussed considering dichotomous versus continuous conceptualizations of psychopathology. The effects of intelligence, social desirability, malingering, gender, and post-traumatic stress on the measures used are also discussed.

Four hundred and thirty-eight participants who had lost a close friend or family in the last 2 years completed questionnaires regarding their experiences with the funeral. Results indicated individuals emotionally close to the deceased person reported higher levels of participation in funeral rituals and greater levels of bereavement adjustment. Those emotionally distant from the deceased person reported greater satisfaction with the funeral. Individuals who viewed the deceased person as a central figure in their lives had greater participation in the funeral. Those who viewed the deceased person as a peripheral figure had higher levels of bereavement adjustment. Additionally, those who viewed the death as unpreventable reported greater satisfaction with the funeral, and had higher levels of bereavement adjustment.

Organizational commitment is most commonly defined as a measure of an employee's commitment to the company or larger organization. In a longitudinal study, the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire was administered to 123 first line manufacturing supervisors in a defense contracting firm. After a one year check, subjects were grouped into categories of voluntary and involuntary turnover. The results suggest that significant relationships exist among the variables of departmental commitment, turnover and tenure. However, the study failed to show any relationship between organizational commitment and turnover.

Women in distressed relationships who had sustained severe psychological abuse and either no, moderate, or severe violence from their partner were included (N = 93). Men's and women's alcohol use did not differ with level of violence. Different patterns were found in the moderate violence group regarding women's beliefs about their partner's substance problem, men's psychological abuse, and the relationship of men's and women's quantity of alcohol use and times intoxicated. Uncertainty resulting from moderate violence may strengthen the emotional impact of psychological abuse. Even when psychological abuse is exacerbated by violence, women may use active coping techniques rather than drinking to cope with abusive relationships. The findings suggest that an inordinate focus on alcohol abuse may be ineffective in combating the problem of domestic violence.

Use of the term "ritual" in PsycLit from 1975-1995 was examined through an archival study. Abstracts identified as including any form of the term were coded for valence, target population, study type, and differential area of interest. Valence was predominantly positive, consistent across time, with a growing negative trend. Interest in ritual has increased. Key elements of adaptive ritual were identified as recurrence across time, shared symbolism and volitional participation. A Dynamic Process of Ritual is proposed which includes the individual, society, and chaos in a fluctuating relationship, all operating within an additional dimension of a continuum of ritualization in which the individual's position is determined by personal and societal complexity and individual response to crisis.

Subjects in this study were 5,523 respondents from a survey which was sent to households throughout the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine two basic components of career orientation: career indecision and career insight. Correlational analyses found relationships between career indecision and average job tenure, industry leaving intentions, industry staying intentions, and job satisfaction. Correlational analyses found relationships between career insight, industry staying intentions and job satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses were run using both career indecision and career insight as independent variables found that they had useful levels of incremental validity in predicting industry leaving intentions and job satisfaction. Potential uses of the two-dimensional career indecision - career insight model are discussed.

The sexual identity development process in gay men was the focus of this study. It was theorized that, as a result of negative experiences with the dominant heterosexual culture, gay men might feel mistrustful of heterosexuals in various settings. A new theoretical construct, that of heterosexual mistrust, was identified and explored. A new scale, the Heterosexual Mistrust Inventory (HMI), was created to measure this construct. Gay male subjects' stage of homosexual identity formation (HIF) was also determined. Results indicated that heterosexual mistrust existed to a significantly stronger degree among gay men than among heterosexual men. Heterosexual mistrust was strongly related to stage of HIF. The various settings in which heterosexual mistrust was found to occur were discussed. Implications for current knowledge about HIF and about cultural belief systems unique to gay men were identified and explored.

Relationships between body dissatisfaction, dieting methods, father absence, and puberty timing were investigated in this study. Participants included adolescent females from Wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health. Logistic regression results indicated that girls without a biological father in the home were significantly more likely to have an early onset of puberty than on-time or late. Girls who experienced early puberty exhibited higher levels of body dissatisfaction, but didn't use more dieting methods. Early onset girls more likely used dieting methods if their biological father was present than absent; however, no significant difference in body dissatisfaction was shown. A negative relationship with fathers indicated more body dissatisfaction. None of the attained findings were found when the biological mother was absent, and having a stepfather did not seem to matter. Evidence was revealed that fathers play a role in their daughters' view of their own bodies.

The present study was designed to look at inhibition of return within a schizophrenic population for the first time. Inhibition of return is an attentional phenomenon that has been studied with a number of populations, and has been shown to be present in normal individuals. Based on the disattention hypothesis put forth by Cromwell and colleagues (e.g., Cromwell & Dokecki, 1968), it was hypothesized that patients with schizophrenia would show an impaired inhibition of return. Twenty-eight inpatients with schizophrenia, and 19 normal comparisons were evaluated on a visual inhibition of return task. Consistent with hypotheses, schizophrenia patients have significant impairments in inhibition of return compared to normal comparison participants. Further, the relative lack of inhibition of return in the schizophrenic group was found to be strongest to stimuli in the left visual field. These results provide initial support for a reconceptualization of the disattention hypothesis.

Psychopaths constitute only an estimated 1% of the population, yet they are responsible for a disproportionately large number of violent and nonviolent crimes. The literature addressing this syndrome among male offenders is quite extensive. In contrast, psychopathy and its underlying factor structure remains understudied among female offenders. Research has suggested marked gender differences in the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and underlying dimensions of psychopathy. This study examined the dimensions of psychopathy in a female offender sample. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and the Self Report Psychopathy-II (SRP-II) were administered to 119 female inmates at Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, TX. Confirmatory factor analyses of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) did not support the use of the traditional two factor male model or a recently proposed two- factor female model. This thesis also addressed females' self-appraisal of PCL-R Factor 1 characteristics as well as the usefulness of the self-administered Self-Report Psychopathy-II as a screen for psychopathy.

Depressive symptomology was examined in this study as a function of conflict and intimate support with parents, friends, and siblings among a non-clinical sample of 223 predominately white sixth-grade early adolescents. Moreover, sixth-graders' depressive symptomology was examined as a function of conflict management self-efficacy and intimate support self-efficacy. The purpose of the present study was twofold: 1) to explore the effects of intimate support and conflict in family and friend relationships on sixth-grade early adolescent depressive symptomology, 2) to determine whether poor conflict management skills self-efficacy and poor intimate support self-efficacy are linked with depressive symptomology in sixth-grade early adolescents. Friend relationship qualities had little impact on depression in sixth-graders. However, the presence of conflict and deficits in family intimate support, especially from parents, was associated with increased depression. Increased levels of depression also corresponded with lower ratings of conflict management self-efficacy and intimate support self-efficacy. Moreover, relationship difficulties combined with self-efficacy deficits to affect depression.

Psychopathy, as conceptualized by Cleckley (1941), describes a constellation of psychological and behavioral correlates including superficial charm, untruthfulness, lack of remorse or shame, poor judgment, and failure to learn from experience. Based on Cleckley's initial work, Hare (1991) developed a two-factor model of psychopathy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles that sensation seeking, impulsivity, ADHD, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder have on adolescents classified as psychopaths. The participants consisted of 79 adjudicated male adolescents in a maximum-security facility. As hypothesized, adolescent male psychopaths had higher levels of sensation seeking, impulsivity, conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. A discriminant function analysis found that sensation seeking, impulsivity, ADHD, Conduct Disorder, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder was moderately useful in classifying adolescent psychopathy. The results suggest that behavioral dysregulation is an important aspect of adolescent psychopathy. The relationship of these data to theories of adolescent psychopathy is discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of juvenile offender assessments. Data from 104 juvenile offender assessments were analyzed and followed up with placement, subsequent offending, and outcome data from the juvenile and adult systems. Constructs consistently assessed included intellectual functioning, academic achievement, and personality functioning; however, under-diagnosis of intellectual deficits, learning disabilities, and personality disorders was found. Results indicated the assessment of family functioning, substance use, and social functioning should be included in comprehensive assessments, as they may result in alternative placement and treatment options of benefit to the juvenile offender. A juvenile offender typology proposed by DiCataldo and Grisso (1995) was successfully utilized and proved predictive of recidivism, future harm to others, and outcome.

A biodata based personnel selection measure was created to improve the retention rate of Catalog Telemarketing Representatives at a major U.S. retail company. Five separate empirical biodata scoring methods were compared to examine their usefulness in predicting retention and reducing adverse impact. The Mean Standardized Criterion Method, the Option Criterion Correlation Method, Horizontal Percentage Method, Vertical Percentage Method, and Weighted Application Blank Method using England's (1971) Assigned Weights were employed. The study showed that when using generalizable biodata items, all methods, except the Weighted Application Blank Method, were similar in their ability to discriminate between low and high retention employees and produced similar low adverse impact effects. The Weighted Application Blank Method did not discriminate between the low and high retention employees.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of women's anger and religiosity on their expression of violence toward their partner. The sample consisted of the 664 women who completed three interviews for Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women, a study of low-income, ethnically diverse women in Dallas county. Across the waves, women completed measures of relationship violence, anger, and religiosity. Religiosity was not found to moderate the relationship between women's anger and their use of violence. When partners' threats and violence were included in the regression equations, these variables were consistently related to women's behavior. Due to several methodological limitations, clinical implications of the results should be considered with caution.

Deciding to exercise requires trade-offs between immediate and delayed benefits. These momentary decisions may be moderated by personality such that patterns of individual behavior emerge. The aim of the current study was to determine if higher levels of optimism and lower levels of delay discounting were related to exercise frequency. A sample of 360 undergraduate students completed a survey study related to understanding the choices made by undergraduates and how other factors relate to their decision-making. The survey included measures of optimism, delayed discounting, and self-reported exercise frequency in four domains: cardiovascular, resistance, sports, active lifestyle. Hierarchical linear regression was used to examine optimism and delay discounting as predictors of exercise frequency. Optimism and delay discounting were negatively correlated, but neither was related to exercise frequency. Furthermore, optimism and delay discounting were not significantly related to frequency spent in cardiovascular, resistance, or active lifestyle exercise. However, women scoring higher in delay discounting were more likely to participate in physical sports. The present study helps inform future research by showing potentially important psychosocial variables related to optimism, delay discounting, and exercise.

Malingering is the deliberate production of feigned symptoms by a person seeking external gain such as: financial compensation, exemption from duty, or leniency from the criminal justice system. The Test Translation and Adaptation Guidelines developed by the International Test Commission (ITC) specify that only tests which have been formally translated into another language and validated should be available for use in clinical practice. Thus, the current study evaluated the psychometric properties of a Spanish translation of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS). Using a simulation design with 80 Spanish-speaking Hispanic American outpatients, the Spanish SIRS was produced reliable results with small standard errors of measurement (SEM). Regarding discriminant validity, very large effect sizes (mean Cohen's d = 2.00) were observed between feigners and honest responders for the SIRS primary scales. Research limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in how parents of ADHD children and non-ADHD parents attribute undesirable and prosocial child behavior, and to determine if attributions about undesirable child behavior influence parents' perceived levels of parenting stress. Parent attributions from 69 parent-child dyads, half with a child ADHD diagnosis, were measured coding videotaped interactions. Results indicated that parents of ADHD children do not make significantly more stable attributions about undesirable child behavior than non-ADHD parents. Additionally, compared to non-ADHD parents, parents of ADHD children did not make significantly more unstable attributions about their children's prosocial behaviors. Regarding parenting stress, individuals who generated higher frequencies of stable attributions also appeared to maintain more negative views of their children's behaviors in comparison to other children.

Psychological and behavioral characteristics of female undergraduates with varying levels of disordered eating, as measured by the Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnoses (Q-EDD; Mintz, O'Halloran, Mulholland, & Schneider, 1997), were investigated. Results suggest that the Q-EDD is an appropriate instrument for measuring eating disorder symptomatology. Greater disordered eating was associated with more bulimic, dieting, and weight fluctuation symptoms, higher impression management and approval-seeking needs, more dichotomous thinking, self control, and rigid weight regulation, and increased concern with body shape and dissatisfaction with facial features. Eating-disordered and symptomatic women evidenced more severe eating disorder behaviors and psychological distress than asymptomatic women. Findings are congruent with a redefined discontinuity perspective of eating disorder symptomatology. Treatment implications and campus-wide preventions are suggested.

Two constructs, vicarious trauma (VT) and secondary traumatic stress (STS), describe therapists’ reactions to clients’ traumatic material. VT (TSI Belief Scale [BSL]), emphasizes cognitive belief system changes resulting from cumulative exposure to survivors. STS, (Compassion Fatigue Self-test for Psychotherapists [CFST]) combines PTSD and burnout symptomatology explaining sudden adverse reactions to survivors. Burnout (BO; Maslach Burnout Inventory [MBI]), links emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and deficient personal accomplishment to inadequate institutional supports in interpersonally demanding work. This study investigated BSL and CFST validity, counselor trauma history, and client exposure-related VT, STS, and BO in 105 trauma counselors. Results demonstrate concurrent validity between BSL and CFST; other results dispute adequate validity. BO, and client exposure were related. Traumatized counselors scored higher than non-traumatized counselors on CFST, BSL, and SCL-90-R.

In this study 2 groups of adults, those with and without ADHD, were studied in terms of cognitive functioning and symptoms of ADHD, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Due to the difficulties in diagnosing ADHD in this population three methods of diagnosis were used and the resulting findings presented. The groups did not differ in measures of depression, anxiety, substance abuse or age. Those adults who met criteria for ADHD showed worse performance on a measure of response inhibition compared to those without ADHD. The patterns of correlations among the cognitive measures differed between the two groups. The conclusions from the findings are discussed in relation to Barkley's (1997) self-regulation model of ADHD.

A model for health care utilization was applied to a sample of low income women. Demographic Predisposing, Psychosocial Predisposing, Illness Level, and Enabling indicators were examined separately for African American (n = 266), Anglo American (n = 200), and Mexican American (n = 210) women. Structural Equation Modeling revealed that for African American and Anglo American women, Illness Level, the only significant path to Utilization, had a mediating effect on Psychosocial Predisposing indicators. The model for Mexican Americans was the most complex with Enabling indicators affecting Illness Level and Utilization. Psychosocial Predisposing indicators were mediated by Illness Level and Enabling indicators which both directly affected Utilization. Implications of the results for future research are addressed.