This study was designed to determine the Key elements of team performance measurements systems: in relation to effectiveness and satisfaction.

The purpose of this study was to examine language organization in the brain by using a series of three tasks concurrent with event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate both hemispheric differences and interhemispheric reactions. Overall, the findings from this study support a relative rather than absolute hemispheric specialization for language processing. Despite an overall RVF (LH) advantage, both hemispheres were capable of performing the tasks and benefited from semantic priming.

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.

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between organizational support and Effectiveness, Empowerment, and team characteristics. Support was operationalized by nine systems: Executive Management, Direct Supervision, Group Design, Performance Definition, Performance Review, Training, Rewards, Information, and Integration. Support was rated in two ways: how important is support for performing work (Importance scales), and how does support describe work environments (Presence scales).

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.

Gender role issues have been an integral part of psychology since the 1970s. More recently, theories and research have surfaced concerning the issues of maleness in our society. Most of these theories focus on masculine gender role and how it affects men in various ways, e.g., their psychological well-being, substance use, relational abilities, and help-seeking behaviors. One area of maleness that has consistently been left out of the Masculine Role Conflict (MRC) debate is that of homosexuality. As a gay man develops, he finds himself at odds with society over something that he experiences biologically as normal and appropriate. It is the contention of this paper that MRC is an issue related to psychological distress among gay men and not psychological weakness in gay men, per se.

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.

Recently, multi-source feedback has been a popular way of providing performance-related feedback to individuals in many organizations. Many who use multi-source feedback consider Rating Convergence, others seeing target individuals as they see themselves, to be a positive outcome of this process. However, the variables that account for Rating Convergence are not known. This study investigated whether the personality factor Extroversion and Behavioral Consistency, acting as a moderator variable, could account for Self-other Rating Convergence, particularly the Convergence between self and peer Ratings. The sample consisted of 235 mid-level managers from a variety of industries who were participants in individual career development workshops. Using structural equation modeling, the results indicated that a model consisting of a single Extroversion factor could account for the convergence of self-peer ratings. This finding calls into question the significance of Rating Convergence when using multi-source rating instruments that provide feedback on trait characteristics since it may be heavily influenced by a single personality factor rather than observers' comprehensive understanding of the ratee's performance.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of parental divorce and family conflict during adolescence on young adult females' social support and psychological adjustment. The three areas explored were perceptions of relationship satisfaction and closeness, sources and amount of social support and adjustment. One hundred and forty-one female undergraduates, 53% from families in which their parents are still married and 47% from families in which a parental divorce occurred during adolescence, completed the following measures: the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), the Social Provisions Scale-Source Specific (Cutrona, 1989), the Inventory of Common Problems (Hoffman & Weiss, 1986), the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981), and the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985).

In a small, owner-managed, knowledge work firm, assessments were completed on the owners as a method to complete job analysis—surfacing tacit knowledge such as personal characteristics, cognitive style, values and philosophy that contributed to success. Business strategy is often strongly influenced by the tacit knowledge and competencies of the owners, and their unique perspective on the company and marketplace.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is surrounded by confusion and controversy regarding its definition, course, etiology and treatment. Among adults, ADHD is rarely considered a diagnostic reality of primary importance and is often overlooked. This study provides descriptive validity for adult ADHD in distinguishing it from controls, and identifying both a pure condition and one wrought with comorbidity.

The McCarron-Dial System (MDS) has successfully predicted vocational and independent living outcomes with neuropsychologically disabled individuals receiving rehabilitation services. In addition, preliminary validation studies suggest that the abbreviated MDS is useful for clinical neuropsychological diagnosis. The present study represents part of an ongoing research project aimed at validating the expanded version of the MDS for diagnosis of neuropsychological dysfunction. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the expanded MDS would be able to accurately discriminate between brain-damaged and non-brain-damaged individuals. Accurate diagnosis facilitates rehabilitation efforts for individuals with neuropsychological disabilities and the data profile provided by the expanded version of the MDS can consequently form the basis from which more complete individual treatment and rehabilitation plans can be conceptualized.

Psychological assessment ofjuveniles being considered for waiver to adult criminal courts often requires systematic evaluation of dangerousness, maturity-sophistication, and amenability to treatment (ATX). Despite the importance of these constructs to the evaluation of juveniles, little is known about the criteria that constitute these three constructs. This study was designed to assist in clarifying the constructs of dangerousness, maturity-sophistication, and ATX that typically guide juvenile transfers. Generally, prototypicality ratings were aligned with the current literature on dangerousness, sophistication-maturity, and ATX.

Parents of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are often reported as experiencing more stress than parents of normal children. The bulk of this research has been conducted primarily on a Caucasian population, however, providing little information regarding multicultural aspects of parenting stress. Research has also been lacking in attention given to the stress related to parenting a child with internalizing disorders. The purpose of this study was 1) to compare parenting stress reported by mothers of children with ADHD to parenting stress reported by mothers of children with depressive disorders, and 2) to compare parenting stress as reported by Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic mothers. Results indicated that mothers of ADHD children experienced more parenting stress related only to their children's hyperactive and distracting behaviors. Contrary to previous research, Caucasian mothers reported significantly more overall and parent-related parenting stress than African American mothers.

The goals of revision for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition included enhancement of the factor structure, improvement of subtests, and revision of norms. The researchers reported that the very few items that were found to be biased were replaced. The WISC-III performance of a clinical sample of African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic children was analyzed to determine if the test bias was eliminated as claimed in the goals of the revision.

Little research has addressed the degree to which domestic violence is mutual and whether patterns are stable across women's relationships. Studies that exist have conflicting results. This study addressed these issues and the effects of sustaining past violence on women's expressions of violence in their current relationship. Archival data from a sample of severely psychologically abused community women (N = 92) and a sample of low-income community women (N = 836) were analyzed. Results showed the presence of mutual violence in women's current relationships which was not related to past partners' violence. Results regarding the stability of violence are weak, but indicate that the frequency and severity of violence across relationships sustained by women does not decrease across relationships. Overall, results supported the hypothesis that violence is mutual in the relationships of community women, although specific patterns may differ by ethnicity.

Meta-analyses with 144 correlations from 44 studies to assess the relationship between experienced, father-to-mother, and mother-to-father violence in the family of origin and partner violence for males and females in clinical, community and student samples.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of parental divorce, level of family conflict, and family history of alcoholism on the alcohol use patterns of college students. Gender differences were also explored. Multivariate Analysis of Variance revealed mixed results. Parental marital status was found to have no significant effect on college students' alcohol behavior. High family conflict had a significant impact on both level of current alcohol use and level of alcohol related problems. A positive family history of alcoholism was found to have effects on the level of alcohol related problems encountered by students. Gender played a significant role, with males reporting higher levels of alcohol-related problems. No significant interactions were found. Results, contributions and limitations of the study are discussed.

An abundance of theories exists on what constitutes appropriate team leadership; What seems to be lacking is how the "followers" react when exposed to their tenets. This particular study involves testing a contemporary model (Stewart & Manz, 1995) via interview statements that seem to indicate that a certain form of team leadership is taking place. Once determined, the effectiveness of the leadership "style" that is in effect is assessed using ten different performance dimensions to determine if that style is successful (or detrimental) in any of those areas. Leadership "tools" from other theories and models are examined as well.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the current process research by investigating a psychotherapist's experience during psychotherapy. Massage therapy and relaxation therapy were used to manipulate psychotherapist's bodily focus, physiology, and affective state. Topics discussed include: the bodily focus of the therapist, neurobiological models of experience, mind-body boundary issues, and a present-time focus. Doctoral level Counseling and Clinical graduate students were used as participants.

The purpose of this study was to explore regular education student perceptions of the effects of implementing behavioral interventions for seriously emotionally disturbed students (SED) in the regular classroom. Student perceptions of classroom friction or disruptiveness, apathy, and general enjoyment or satisfaction were evaluated. It was predicted that regular education students would report more classroom friction, increased apathy, and less satisfaction when interventions were implemented in the regular classroom for a target SED student.

Standard psychological assessment instruments have not produced consistent results by which decisions can be made regarding the appropriate placement and legal disposition of an individual who has committed a sexual offense. The purpose of the present study was to systematically investigate deception and dissimulation as measured by three assessment instruments commonly utilized with sex offenders. A denial classification system was utilized in order to classify offenders into categories based on their level of admission to the legal system. The four group classification system did not produce significant differences on all measures of deception and dissimulation. Contrary to previous research, admitters were found to respond more defensively than deniers on one of the assessment instruments. In addition, partial deniers were identified as responding significantly differently from both admitters and deniers on a separate instrument. The differences found suggest that sex offenders' level of deception is multifaceted. Difficulties in identifying classificatory strategies and implications for theoretical conceptions of denial within this population are discussed.

The purpose of this project was to examine team compensation systems and to evaluate the impact of their critical elements--level (what to motivate), compensation mixture (what rewards motivate), and employee perceptions (how to motivate)--on team effectiveness. Twenty-three organizations, 108 teams, and 769 team members participated in this study. Project results found that teams that utilized team level rewards, especially when associated with a complete compensation mixture, had significantly higher team effectiveness scores compared to teams that utilized only individual level rewards. With respect to employee perceptions, results found that: (a) perceptions of system understanding, measure controllability, pay-for-performance, and payout frequency, particularly, were significant components of employee compensation system satisfaction; and (b) employee compensation system satisfaction and perceptions of compensation system effectiveness were significantly related.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role that specific factors play in the quality of life (QL) for women with recurrent breast cancer.