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 assess the outcome of a therapeutic horseback riding program on physically disabled.

This study was designed to evaluate: (a) teachers' behavior when they are confronted with potential cases of child abuse and (b) the information teachers require to make accurate decisions regarding the reporting of suspected child abuse. Teachers were presented with three vignettes describing cases of varying levels of suspected maltreatment, and different amounts of additional information. They were then asked to indicate how likely they would be to report the case to Child Protective Services (CPS). It was expected that reporting behavior would increase as available information increased. The results generally did not support this hypothesis. No significant impact on reporting behavior was found when teachers were presented with either the symptom list or the legal interpretation; however, there was a trend toward an interaction with the level of abusive indications in the case. These results are discussed in the context of the need for further training.

This study related length of residency, motivational style, and the resident's role in deciding to move to a nursing facility to adjustment, represented by a number of variables (e.g., desired control, expected control, life satisfaction, and affect). Fifty-five residents of nursing facilities and assisted-living apartments were given an interview, compiled of a number of brief measures relating to aspects of adjustment. While results from multivariate analyses of variance failed to support any of the hypotheses, post-hoc univariate analyses of variance and regression analyses revealed important relationships between motivational style and voluntariness regarding the move and factors of adjustment. Overall, post-hoc findings indicated that, in the relatively constrictive environment of the nursing home, persons with a non-self-determined motivational style and persons who decided themselves to come to the nursing home had higher scores on various factors related to adjustment.

Existing studies of people who are homeless provide descriptive information about the heterogeneity of the population. Families who are homeless are the fastest growing subset of this population. This study examined the variability in psychological and social functioning among homeless mothers and attempted to identify risk factors that predict level of adult functioning. Data was collected from 76 homeless mothers with minor aged children receiving services at area shelters. The sample was divided between highly structured and unstructured shelter environments. Each participant completed an extensive interview which included measures of personal and family history, risk factors and current psychological and social functioning. Social functioning was able to be predicted by a number of these risk factors.

Sixty-two mothers of childhood cancer patients completed questionnaires on family demographics, parental stress, sense of parenting competence, self esteem, health locus of control, attitudes toward cancer, life events, social support, and psychological symptomatology. Correlation and regression procedures were used. Time since diagnosis and the severity rate of a child's illness did not predict the mother's sense of parenting competence, but a negative correlation at the $p<.01$ level between mothers' report of self esteem and their distress was revealed. Social support was negatively correlated at the $p<.01$ level with psychological distress, but life events were positively correlated at the $p<.01$ level. Internal locus of control was positively correlated with psychological distress, but attitudes toward cancer did not correlate with psychological distress.

Stress responses and coping strategies were assessed for 155 fire fighters who worked during and immediately following Hurricane Andrew in Dade County, Florida in 1992. The participants were surveyed approximately two months after the hurricane, and again one year following the hurricane. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the amount of emotional social support received and the amount of symptomatology the participants experienced. This study also introduced empathy as a form of perceived emotional social support and examined the relationship between the empathy felt by the participants and the symptomatology they experienced. For this study, empathy was defined as a participant's ratings of feeling that others truly understand what he or she has been through and is feeling. While other forms of received motional social support were related to an increase in symptomatology, more empathy was related to less symptomatology, in some cases significantly.

Only a limited amount of research exists which addresses low self-esteem, poor self-concept, and distorted self-image in ADHD children. The most urgent task is to test assumptions regarding self-perception and to assess the dimensions of self-concept of ADHD children. The Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) was used in the proposed study to assess those dimensions. Subjects of this study are 8- to 12- year-old boys diagnosed with ADHD and the same age boys who exhibit no symptoms of psychopathology. Results of analyses of covariance indicate that ADHD boys tend to view themselves as significantly less competent in the areas of scholastic competence and global self-worth in comparison to their normal counterparts. Differences between means of ADHD and normal boys on the social acceptance subscale of the SPPC approached significance. Intelligence and social status also had a significant impact on some of the differences noted between the two groups.

The purpose of this study is to show principles of TAT card pull are applicable to object relations theory, and card pull effects are greater in subjects with greater impairments. Stories of physically abused and control child and adolescent subjects were evaluated on object relations scales of the SCORS (Westen et al., 1985). Scores varied systematically as a function of card stimulus characteristics. Analysis of scales assessing internalization of self supported stimulus inhibition interpretation while scales measuring views of others or individual affective experiences advanced stimulus pull explanation. Abused individuals' response patterns were similar to controls except on CR. Results of this study may increase TAT utility for evaluating object relations functioning by guiding card selection.

The purpose of this study was to empirically examine two empirically examine two main areas of concern in selecting criteria for validation studies: the development of the criterion and the multiple criteria versus composite criterion debate. Evidence was found for the ability of the various weighting schemes used to generate composites that were statistically and conceptually different from one another. Knowledge of the nature of each composite, along with the multiple criteria approach, proved essential to understanding the composite criterion to the validation process. Selection and treatment of the criterion apparently consist of judgment and individual estimations.

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.

The relationship of coronary-prone behavior, hostility, and defense style to atherosclerosis was examined. Subjects were 1,271 patients who underwent coronary angiography at Duke University Medical Center between 1974 and 1980. Type A behavior was assessed using both the Structured Interview and Jenkins Activity Survey. The Cook and Medley Hostility scale and Byrne's Repression-Sensitization scale, both subscales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, were employed to measure hostility and defense style. The results revealed no significant association between the disease end-points CADSEV, history of myocardial infarction, and history of angina pectoris and either the Structured Interview Type A, hostility, or repression-sensitization, Jenkins Activity Survey defined Type B's, however, were found to more frequently complain of angina. It was suggested future research employ longitudinal or process designs to focus on adaptive functioning from a transactional and developmental perspective which may serve to promote coronary resistance.

This study proposed that the perceived quality of the custodial grandparent/grandchild relationship in step families will not be interrupted by the parental separation and remarriage and that the determinants of the quality of this relationship would be similar to that associated with the grandchild/grandparent relationship in intact families. The research by Shoire and Hayslip (1988) who studied grandparenting indicates that four variables are significant in this perceived relationship (in order of magnitude): kinship position (maternal versus paternal), grand parenting style, parent/grandparent bond, and influence the grandparent has on the grandchild. There same four variables were proposed to predict the perceived quality of the custodial grandparent/grandchild relationship in step families. Grandparenting style, as defined bu Shore and Hayslip (1988), is comprises of three variables, parentlike behaviors provided, services provided, and visitation patterns. To have a continuous rather than nominal value for grandparenting style and to determine which aspect of grandparenting style is most important, these three variables, parentlike behaviors, services, and visitation were used in place of grandparenting style. Therefore, this study proposed that the following variables would predict perceived quality of the custodial grandparent/grandchild relationship: kinship position,parentlike behaviors provided, services provided, visitation patterns, parent/grandparent bond, and influence the grandparent has …

A limited amount of research exists that addresses low self-esteem, poor self-concept, and distorted self-image in children with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The most urgent task is to test assumptions regarding self-perception and to assess the dimensions of self-concept influenced by this disorder. The Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) was used in the present study to assess those dimensions. Participants included 34 boys with ADHD, 27 boys with LD, and 33 boys without any diagnosed psychological or learning problems. Results were analyzed using Pearson's product-moment correlation, analyses of variance (ANOVA), and analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and did not support the hypotheses.

Raters' response toward victim and perpetrators in the context of rape is examined. More blame is attributed to a female than a male victim by all raters, particularly if the female victim is described only as being raped. Detailed description of different forms of injury resulting from the rape tends to act as a mediating factor in the amount of blame assigned to victims. Whereas the delineation of injury tends to decrease the amount of blame assigned to the female victim, this pattern is reversed for the male. Raters also claim a physically injured rape victim would require a substantially longer recuperation time than one whose injuries are psychological or unspecified.

The purpose of this study was to document and assess the consequences of implementing employee involvement in a manufacturing setting. Using a quasi-experimental design, the study utilized information from various sources of data including archives, interview, and questionnaire data for a three to four year period. Time series comparisons were used. The results indicated that production increased initially, but then dropped back to original level. Quality of products increased and continued to improve gradually. The highest rate of improvement was observed in safety. An attempt was made to measure current level of commitment at the plant but was unsuccessful due to a low return rate of questionnaires. Overall, data collected partially support the hypotheses. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.

A situational interview was developed for use in the selection of convenience store cashiers. One hundred two newly hired cashiers were interviewed using the situational interview. Ninety days later, a performance appraisal was completed for all subjects who were still employed. There was no significant difference in interview scores between those still working 90 days after hire and those who were not (t = 1.14, df = 100, n.s.). Correlations between the total interview scores and the total performance appraisal scores were generally very low or negative. Potential explanations for the failure of the interview to predict turnover or job performance are discussed

The influence of cognitive organization, dysfunctional attitudes, and depressive "subtype" on the perceptions of negative life events is explored. BDI scores are used to delineate symptomatic and non-symptomatic groups. Construct content (sociotropic versus autonomous, as first defined by Beck) is used to identify predominant schema-type. Subjects completed a Problematic Situations Questionnaire with Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale. Results indicate that depressed individuals display more dysfunctional attitudes and negative affect in all types of negative situations; further the endorsement of dysfunctional attitudes is significantly more likely to occur in the context of schema-congruent situations. Findings are discussed a) in terms of the utility of personal constructs in the assessment of schema-type and b) in accordance with a person-event interactional model of depression.

The Aronson Cognitive Residual Evaluation Scale (ACRES) is a new, relatively short neuropsychological test which attempts to measure residual cognitive skills. This study evaluated the ACRES test-retest reliability over a one to twelve month interval. The Trail Making Test (TMT) was included as a validation measure. Subjects were 58 males and females, aged 68 to 94, living in a retirement center or in the community. The ACRES exhibited moderate to strong reliability correlations and the TMT demonstrated low to moderate correlations with the ACRES. There was no time interval effect. Age had a negative effect on four of five ACRES subtests and gender was significant for one ACRES subtest and the TMT Part B. Percent of subjects classified as brain impaired using traditional cutoffs was higher than when age-corrected norms were used. Clinical utility of the ACRES and the TMT is discussed regarding need for age-corrected norms.

Two interviews were conducted with 20 participants from a Mental Health and Mental Retardation (MHMR) crisis house. Subjects were classified as good or poor premorbid level of functioning using a case history form and information from their social history charts. The study employed a self-narrative method to direct self disclosure. In the first interview, participants were asked to describe themselves. In the second interview they were asked to identify what they would change about their histories and to describe how this would make a difference in how their lives turned out. Support was not found for the hypothesis that those with the higher premorbid functioning would be better able to shift perspectives and use more positive self constructs. Methodological, theoretical and future research areas are discussed.

This study identified and defined leader behaviors with two levels of leadership in a self-managed team organization. Job analysis methodology was used. A comparison of task importance values was made within groups and between hierarchical levels in the organization. Identified leader behaviors were compared with effective, traditional leader performance. Qualitative data collected throughout the investigation clarified an integrative model for effective organizations developed from the literature. The model included leader characteristics and team member behaviors when using self-managed teams.

Parents and professionals are concerned about the long-term effects of language problems on later academic, communicative and behavioral functioning of children. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of level of language impairment with type of class placement, reading achievement, and social emotional functioning. Subjects were 19 children, aged 4 years, 10 months through 10 years, 4 months, who had previously been enrolled in a preschool language development program. Statistical analyses were performed on data from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC), Test of Early Reading Ability (TERA), and the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBC). Results do not support a relationship between level of language impairment and academic or social/emotional functioning.

Immunological correlates of anger conditions were investigated. Participants were 33 females and 36 males, ranging from 25 to 55 years old. Percentages of total T-lymphocytes, suppressor-T, helper-T, and ratio of helper-T to suppressor-T cells were measured. Differences were found between males and females for Anger Control and Anger Expression. For females, total T-cell percentages correlated with State Anger, Angry Temperament, Anger Out, and the combination of State Anger/Angry Reaction. Suppressor-T cell percentages correlated with State Anger, Trait Anger, Angry Temperament, Anger Out, Anger Expression, and the combination of Angry Temperament/Anger In. Helper-T cells correlated with State Anger, Angry Temperament, Angry Reaction, Anger Out, and Anger Control. Mindbody appears to function in a unified fashion.

The present study investigated the relationship between level of security clearance in engineering occupations and stress. A total of 63 male employees in the field of engineering and design with varying levels of security clearance employed by a large Southwestern defense company participated in the study. Data was obtained utilizing the Engineering Stress Questionnaire which measures sources of stress, work locus of control, social support, job difficulty, job characteristics, perceived stress, and demographic variables. T-tests revealed no statistically significant differences between employees with low security clearances and high security clearances with regard to perceived stress level. However, correlational support was found for hypotheses involving social support, job difficulty, job characteristics, sources of stress, and perceived stress. Path analysis was performed to investigate the impact of variable relationships.