A psychometric analysis of a college counseling center intake checklist.

A psychometric analysis was conducted on a university counseling center intake problem checklist. Results indicated adequate internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis revealed 5 factors that were congruent with those in a replication data set: Psychological Disorders, Interpersonal Concerns, Career/Academic, Family, and Acting Out. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a hierarchical solution with these five 1st-order factors and a 2nd-order factor labeled Distress. Cluster analysis suggested 5 client profiles, with implications for treatment planning and outreach efforts. Cluster 1 described a low distress group. Cluster 2 seemed to represent moderate distress. Cluster 3 displayed elevations on all factors except Acting Out. Cluster 4 had elevations on all factors, with extreme elevation on Acting Out. Cluster 5 described clients with a Career/Academic focus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situational specificity in assessment center ratings: A confirmatory factor analysis.

Assessment center ratings of eight abilities from each of five situational exercises were examined for their cross-situational consistency and discriminant validity. A series of confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the ratings were largely (if not totally) situation specific, and that assessors failed to distinguish among the eight target abilities. These results combined with previous research suggest that the assessment center method measures mainly situation-specific performance, not cross-situational managerial abilities. We suggest that the intended constructs might be better measured if more ability-related behaviors were elicited within each exercise and if the cognitive demands placed on assessors were reduced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing diversity of the U.S. population

Demographic changes have shaped the nation's past and will continue to shape its future. During the first half of the 1990s, the U.S. population grew, on average, by 2.7 million people each year, reaching 262.8 million in 1995. Population growth is projected to continue for the next 50 years, although at a slower rate. The forecast is for more than 390 million Americans by the year 2050. As the U.S. population grows, it will increasingly become more diverse along many socioeconomic dimensions. This increasing diversity will represent an historic shift in America's racial and ethnic composition with long-range implications for how we view racial issues, how we define racial categories and how the political landscape will be refashioned. By the middle of the 21st century the "minority" population will almost equal the size of the non-Hispanic white population. The minority population grew 14 percent during the first half of the 1990s compared with a 3 percent growth in the non-Hispanic white population. But even within the minority population, growth rates varied. Between 1990 and 1995, the Asian population grew 23 percent, the Hispanic population 20 percent and the African American population increased their numbers by 8 percent. Hispanics are projected to outnumber African Americans within the next 15 years. In part, these demographic changes are shifting because of U.S. immigration policies. Until the early 1960s, immigrants to the United States were primarily of white, European stock. Nowadays, Europeans account for about 20 percent of the immigrants. Three-quarters of legal immigrants in the mid-1990s now come from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. The increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the United States will create both challenges and opportunities for U.S. schools and businesses in the future. The magnitude of these numbers and their geographic location will be important factors to consider as we prepare for the 21st century.     

Stability and severity of presenting problems at a university counseling center: A 6-year analysis.

Professional psychologists on college campuses and independent practitioners in university communities have expressed concerns that the problems of university students who seek counseling have worsened in recent years. Initial client intake data gathered from 2,326 students during 1989 to 1995 at a large Midwestern university counseling center were analyzed using P. P. Heppner et al's (1994) multivariate classification scheme. Patterns of serious client concerns were evident over the 6 years analyzed. Findings suggest that professional training for psychologists who will work with university populations should include training on suicidality, psychopathology, and crisis intervention as well as working within a team or community-based orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Childhood abuse and current psychological functioning in a university counseling center population.

84 university counseling center clients (61 women and 23 men) self-reporting childhood physical, sexual, or emotional abuse (n?=?30) or no childhood abuse (n?=?54) completed 3 measures of psychological functioning. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that clients reporting abuse were more depressed (with the mean Beck Depression Inventory score in the borderline clinical depression range), had more symptomatology (with the mean Global Severity Index of the Brief Symptom Inventory at about the average level of a psychiatric outpatient population), and scored higher on the Borderline Personality scale of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (with the mean base-rate score near the cutoff score for presence of borderline personality features). 19 clients reporting emotional abuse only did not differ on any measure from 11 clients reporting sexual or multiple forms of abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Geographic distribution of U.S. psychologists: A human ecological analysis.

Characteristics of cities and states were correlated with measures of the geographic distribution of US psychologists. Correlations for psychologists providing mental health services were compared with correlations for psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and school guidance personnel. Population size was the strongest correlate of the absolute number of psychologists in various states and cities. When number relative to population was considered, psychologists were concentrated in affluent urban states and in university towns. The same pattern was obtained for all the groups providing mental health services. No evidence was obtained that any of these groups are distributed in a way offering special advantages for serving groups such as poor, Black, or rural people, who appear to need better access to mental health services. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Margaret S. Mahler, M.D.: In memoriam.

Remembers the late Margaret S. Mahler, a central figure on the world stage of psychoanalysis who was concerned with symbiosis and separation-individuation in mother child interactions. The author discusses two qualities of Mahler's thinking: creative ignorance and impassioned study of microscopic detail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Glutathione transferase T1 and M1 genotype polymorphism in the normal population of Shanghai

Glutathione transferases are known to be important enzymes in the metabolism of xenobiotics. In humans genetic polymorphisms have been reported for the hGSTM1 and hGSTT1 genes leading to individual differences in susceptibility towards toxic effects, such as cancer. This study describes the distribution of the two polymorphisms of hGSTT1 and hGSTM1 in the normal Chinese population of Shanghai. Out of 219 healthy individuals having been genotyped for GSTT1 and GSTM1, 108 (49%) were identified to be homozygously deficient for the GSTT1 gene and 107 (49%) for the GSTM1 gene.     

Differentiation of Mycobacterium ulcerans, M. marinum, and M. haemophilum: mapping of their relationships to M. tuberculosis by fatty acid profile analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization, and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis

Although Mycobacterium ulcerans, M. marinum, and M. haemophilum are closely related, their exact taxonomic placements have not been determined. We performed gas chromatography of fatty acids and alcohols, as well as DNA-DNA hybridization and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, to clarify their relationships to each other and to M. tuberculosis. M. ulcerans and M. marinum were most closely related to one another, and each displayed very strong genetic affinities to M. tuberculosis; they are actually the two mycobacterial species outside the M. tuberculosis complex most closely related to M. tuberculosis. M. haemophilum was more distinct from M. ulcerans and M. marinum, and it appeared to be as related to these two species as to M. tuberculosis. These results are important with regard to the development of diagnostic and epidemiological tools such as species-specific DNA probes and PCR assays for M. ulcerans, M. marinum, and M. haemophilum. In addition, the finding that M. ulcerans and M. marinum are more closely related to M. tuberculosis than are other pathogenic mycobacterial species suggests that they may be evaluated as useful models for studying the pathogenesis of M. tuberculosis. M. marinum may be particularly useful in this regard since strains of this species grow much more rapidly than M. tuberculosis and yet can cause systemic disease in immunocompromised hosts.     

Effect of T.M.T. on the structures and mechanical properties of martensite in a few Fe-Mn-Ni base maraging alloys

Low temperature and room temperature thermomechanical treatment of four Fe-Mn-Ni alloys. Mechanical properties and electron microstructures of martensite in worked and unworked alloys. Attempts to correlate properties with structures.     

Tobacco and alcohol habits in a hospitalized population in a third level center. Region of Murcia

BACKGROUND: The aims of this paper are twofold: to closely study tobacco and alcohol consumption among the adult population in the Autonomous Community of Murcia and to observe the relation between such habits and the morbidity of the population polled. METHODS: We study 1,128 patients admitted to the Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital, the centre of reference in this Community, in 1992. The survey is done in all the hospital departments on patients and eighteen years and over. RESULTS: 37.4% of the persons polled are smokers, and 67.4% consume alcohol. The prevalence of smokers decreases with age: 57.4% of the patients aged under 30 years are smokers, compared to 14.7% of those aged over 70 years. The prevalence of tobacco-related malignant tumours is 0.6% in the non-smokers, and 8.0% in the smokers and ex-smokers with a consumption of more than 10 cigarettes/day. The prevalence of malignant tumours in the digestive organs is 7.9% in patients consuming alcohol daily and 1.8% in non-drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: We note a decrease in tobacco consumption in the patient population, which is in line with the decrease in tobacco consumption in the general population of Spain as stated in the literature. Wine is the preferred drink of the study population overall, and beer in those aged under fifty years.     

Assessment center validity: A longitudinal study.

Data on 254 managers attending an assessment center were examined for changes in validities over time. 24 predictors were correlated with a criterion of salary growth measured 1, 3, and 5 yrs after Ss were assessed. Before conducting the analyses, Ss were grouped into 3 generations based on the year they were assessed. Peer and assessor ratings, along with linear combinations, were significantly correlated with the criterion. The multiple correlations generalized well across time and generations. A general increasing trend in the validity coefficients was noted over time. Comparison of overall assessor rating with multiple correlation did not indicate any marked superiority for actuarial prediction. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural malpractice: The growing obsolescence of psychology with the changing U.S. population.

With the changing demographics occurring in the United States, psychology must make substantive revisions in its curriculum, training, research, and practice. Without these revisions, psychology will risk professional, ethical, and economic problems because psychology will no longer be a viable professional resource to the majority of the U.S. population. In particular, this article discusses the need for psychology to address issues of ethnicity/culture, gender, and sexual orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A theoretical analysis of the binding of methyl derivatives of uracil at the contact portion of the active center of ribonuclease S

Increased entry of deoxy[3H]cytidine begins at about 12h after addition of phytohaemagglutinin to peripheral pig lymphocyte cultures, and is accompanied by a parallel stimulation of deoxycytidine kinase up to the beginning of DNA synthesis at 24h. The increased deoxycytidine uptake is characterized by an increase in Vmax. without alteration of the apparent Km (0.7 +/- 0.11 muM). Although the entries of both nucleosides are promoted at the same time, the stimulation of deoxycytidine uptake is less than that of thymidine, and the two nucleosides are transported by separate systems. In addition to deoxycytidien kinase, the synthesis of deoxycytidylate deaminase and thymidylate synthetase are stimulated after addition of phytohaemagglutinin, but to a lesser extent than that of thymidine kinase. The importance of the latter enzyme in forming dTMP, and of thymidylate kinase in providing dTTP, is discussed.     

A house is a center is a house: participatory design for a community counseling center

Using an environmental-design concept called pattern language, an architectural design group worked with five mental health center staff members to locate, design, and move into a setting for a satellite counseling center. The group first identified environmental problems, especially the lack of privacy, that existed in the counselors' previous setting, a remodeled storefront. However, in their new quarters, a two-story house, staff decided against having private offices; they used the upstairs rooms for counseling and the downstairs for shared spaces and work stations--inexpensive, individual cabinets with desk space that were placed to allow privacy for the user, yet permitted the communication essential for work as a team. After 18 months of use, staff's and clients' reactions to the setting continued to be favorable.     

Assessment center correlates of women's advancement into middle management: A 7-year longitudinal analysis.

Assessment center predictions of the potential of 1,097 women managers were found to be significantly related to career progress 7 yrs later. In addition, comparisons of specific dimension ratings made in the assessment center and those made by D. W. Bray et al (1974) for men in the Management Progress Study were conducted. Similar rating distributions of potential for men and women were noted. Substantial similarities were also found in the relationships between specific dimension ratings and the progress of men and women. It appears that differences in management potential are far more attributable to individual rather than sex differences. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)