The Embree/Butler scoring system served as criterion for ascertaining brain dysfunction on the protocols of 100 subjects--50 had been diagnosed by health professionals as having brain dysfunction, and 50 had been diagnosed as having no brain dysfunction. In comparing the hospital's diagnoses with those of the Embree/Butler method, the data strongly supported the hypothesis that the Embree/Butler scoring system did effectively discriminate (chi square of 77.99 < .01) between those with organic brain syndrome (or cerebral dysfunction) and those with psychiatric classification. A point-biserial correlation was used to distinguish the relationship between diagnosis and the score. A cutoff score of above 14 produced the least false-negative or false-positive evaluations.

The present study evaluated offender characteristics associated with completion of halfway house placement by the inclusion of additional offender characteristics for analysis in addition to those studied in previous research, the analysis of a large number of representative cases, and the use of statistics allowing clear conclusions upon which to base decision making. Data analysis was done in three steps. The first Step was to identify offender characteristics which were associated with completion in halfway house placement. The second step was to see how accurate the offender characteristics identified were in predicting completion of an offender's halfway house stay. The third step was to identify any possible factors which underlie the offender characteristics identified. Discriminant analyses identified ten offender characteristics which were associated with completion of halfway house placement for 521 male offenders and four offender characteristics which were associated with halfway house completion for the group of 33 female offenders studied. These offender characteristics resulted in 75.38 percent correctly classified cases for the male offender group and 96.9 7 percent correctly classified cases for the group of female offenders. Factor analyses resulted in the identification of four factors for the group of male offenders and two factors for the …

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive and emotional functioning of neglected, physically abused, and clinical control children between six and thirteen years of age who were referred for testing at the Dallas Child Guidance Clinic.

This study explored the usefulness of the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) as a screening device for minimal brain injury. It was hypothesized that brain injured (BI) children would score significantly lower on Test Six of the MRT than non-brain injured (NBI) children. Test Six is a visual-motor perceptual task.

The problem of assessment and diagnosis of depression in the elderly begins with the definition of depression being indefinite. In this study, the theory of learned helplessness was chosen because of its value in organizing research within a learning theory framework. The Beck Depression Inventory, measures of fluid and crystallized intellectual ability, locus of control, and attribution of success and failure were chosen as variables for an exploratory factor analysis. The purpose of selecting these variables was to assess the cognitive, motivational, and affective components of learned helplessness as they affected the responses of elderly subjects to depression items. Self report measures of income, education, and health, were included to assess the relationship of these variables to depression. A somatic factor was predicted to correlate with an affective factor of depression.

This study investigated the effect of cost-of-escape on helping among children. Forty-four children between the approximate ages of six and twelve served as subjects. The experiment was performed in a natural setting using an ice cream truck. The driver (experimenter) manipulated the cost-of-escape and then had an "accident." The easy-to-escape group received their ice cream before the driver spilled 300 spoons on the ground. The difficult-to-escape group had paid for their ice cream but had not received it before the "accident" occurred. The number of spoons picked up by each condition and the lapse time before a member of each group began to help was recorded. No differences were found between the groups (all ps > .05). Implications for cost-of-escape were discussed.

Although much research has examined the impact of life stress and the subsequent development of health symptoms, most of this research has been done with White middle class adults. Similar to the adult research, life stress research with children and adolescents has focused on White middle class individuals. The present study expands the knowledge about the stress process in ethnic/racial adolescents while controlling for the effects of SES. A sample population consisting of 103 Black students, 129 Hispanic students, and 105 White students was compared with respect to stressful events experienced, coping strategies, and social support. Students from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds were included within each ethnic/racial group studied. After experimentally and statistically controlling for the effects of socioeconomic status, significant differences were observed. Black and Hispanic students reported receiving higher levels of Enacted Social Support (actual support) than White students. Contrary to what has been previous suggested, Black and Hispanic students reported having experienced fewer stressful life events than White students. Other ethnic/racial group differences that emerged included differences in ways in which specific patterns of moderator variables served to enhance the relationship between life stress and psychological symptomatology.

This purpose of this study was to investigate and examine the attitudes of therapists who treat HIV-positive (HIV+) clients. Specifically, therapists' perceptions of their own preparedness in dealing with specific issues and emotions of HIV+ clients were examined. Also, therapists' evaluation of their own efficacy of specific therapeutic approaches with HIV+ clients was examined. These therapists' perceptions and evaluations of all their clients in general were compared to their HIV+ clients. Comparisons were also made within the two groups.

Sexual abuse of children has profound negative effects on psychological development. This study examined the effects of sexual abuse on object relations functioning by using the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MAS, Urist, 1977) to score Rorschach protocols of 63 abused children and 60 non-abused clinical controls. The hypothesis that abused children would have less developed object relations than their non-abused counterparts was not supported. Neither was the hypothesis that children who experienced greater severity of sexual abuse would exhibit more malevolent object relations. The hypothesis that mean and modal MAS scores would be highly intercorrelated and interchangeable as research variables was supported. Comparisons of this sample to a normative sample are discussed.