Clients' demographic characteristics and therapeutic treatment: Differences that make a difference.

Studied the relationship between clients' demographic characteristics (age, sex, education, income, marital status, and ethnicity) and services received (diagnosis, type of treatment, type of personnel rendering services, and type of therapy and number of sessions). Ss were 1,190 White and 1,294 minority-group community mental health center clients. Client attributes were related to services rendered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the impact of traffic environment and executive functioning on children's pedestrian behaviors.

The process of integrating visual information and planning a safe crossing is cognitively demanding for many young children. We assessed relations between traffic characteristics, aspects of children's executive functioning (EF), and pedestrian behavior, with the aim being to determine whether well-developed EF would predict safer pedestrian behaviors beyond the contributions of child demographic and traffic environment factors. Using the pretend road method, we studied a sample of 83 children aged 6–9 in a series of 5 crossing trials beside a real road in response to actual traffic conditions. Traffic characteristics and pedestrian behaviors were observed and measured across crossing trials. Both traffic characteristics and EF, most notably cognitive efficiency, were strongly related to children's pedestrian crossing behaviors. Traffic characteristics were also found to interact with children's ability to monitor their crossing performance. Examining developmental influences in pedestrian injury etiology broadens researchers' knowledge of and ability to prevent injuries by moving beyond describing what happens to children and examining why pedestrian injuries occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Minority curricula or a curriculum of cultural diversity? Differences that make a difference.

Suggests that the article by M. E. Bernal and A. M. Padilla (see record 1983-06520-001) is a useful reminder of the discrepancy between the American Psychological Association's (APA's) commitment to training clinical psychologists sensitive to the entire range of human diversity and the way in which clinical programs are structured and accredited. The present authors emphasize that a genuine commitment to cultural diversity is essential if training programs are to fulfill the long-range goals of the APA. An attempt is made to reframe the task from one limited to dealing with minority psychology to one that addresses the broader issues of cultural diversity. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student and faculty perceptions of student needs and the services of a university counseling center: Differences that make a difference.

800 university students and 400 faculty members were telephoned and asked to estimate how common 14 areas of concern were in the student body and to indicate how likely they would be to refer students to the university counseling service for assistance with those same concerns. Analyses revealed significant differences between the 2 groups on 8 of the 14 items. The 2 groups also differed significantly in their reasons for referring students to counseling. Students were more likely to refer on the basis of a pragmatic need such as finances and career planning. Faculty would refer for personal–social issues. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frequency of grandparent contact with grandchild sets: six factors that make a difference

PURPOSE: We hypothesize that regulated trabecular extracellular matrix (ECM) turnover, initiated by the matrix metalloproteinases, is critical for the maintenance of normal aqueous humor outflow rates. However, very little is known about the regulation of trabecular ECM turnover. To identify candidate trabecular regulators, we evaluated the effects of several growth factors and cytokines on trabecular matrix metalloproteinase and TIMP expression. METHODS: Porcine trabecular meshwork cells were treated with several doses of a variety of growth factors and cytokines and culture media was analyzed after 24, 48, and 72 h. Zymograms were used to evaluate stromelysin, gelatinase A and B activity levels, while immunoblots of Western transfers were used to evaluate stromelysin, collagenase, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 protein levels. RESULTS: A phorbol mitogen (TPA), and TNF alpha and beta, interleukin-1 alpha and PDGF BB stimulate gelatinase B, stromelysin, interstitial collagenase and TIMP-1 expression, while having negligible effects on gelatinase A expression; TIMP-2 levels are reduced by TNF but not affected by the other treatments. Acidic and basic FGF, IL-1 beta, TGF beta and PDGF AB produce similar but smaller effects, while HGF, VEGF, EGF, KGF, and LIF produce small to moderate elevations in stromelysin with minimal other responses. PDGF AA, gamma INF, oncostatin-M and endothelin-1 produce negligible changes in these proteinases and inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to providing potential ways to modulate trabecular metalloproteinase and TIMP levels, the responsiveness of these cells to some of these growth factors and cytokines suggests possible roles in normal or pathogenic trabecular cell regulation and some may affect aqueous humor outflow.     

Schools make a difference: Evidence, criticism, and new directions.

Examines recent research on school effectiveness and emphasizes how variation in school processes affect student achievement. Although the review indicates that there is meaningful variation across schools in student achievement, it is argued that there are conceptual and methodological limitations of the research, such as its atheoretical nature and the instability of outcomes, that must be considered when findings are used for policy and program development. New directions for school research are discussed, including the need to study a wide range of student outcomes other than student performance on standardized achievement tests and the need to identify how classroom and school processes combine to create an effective learning environment. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A difference that is not a difference: Reply to Vanderploeg and Logan.

Replies to Vanderploeg and Logan's comment on Russell and Levy's (1987) article. We used statistics to support the contention that differences in the Revised Category Test (RCAT), which was introduced by Russell and Levy, did not change what the original Category Test (CAT) was measuring. Rather than being a substitute for the test–retest criterion method, rescoring items from the CAT eliminated much of the variance introduced by retesting. Two new forms of criterion testing that reduce error variance are suggested. Multiplying the RCAT raw score by 2.2 provides scores that are close to those derived from the CAT. Finally, evidence is presented that, for the subject, the primary difficulty in the CAT is making conceptual rather than perceptual shifts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of psychotherapy: A factor-analytic study of ratings of psychotherapy sessions.

Rated tape recordings of 60 early sessions of psychoanalytically oriented therapy on 110 process variables. The ratings of 3 Os were clustered and factor analyzed. 4 factors were rotated and interpreted as (a) patient health vs. distress, (b) optimal empathic relationship, (c) active directive mode, and (d) interpretive mode with receptive patient. For 27 of the 30 patients, outcome ratings were obtained from the therapist (patient improvement and success + patient satisfaction). Patient improvement was not predicted by any process ratings. Success + patient satisfaction, on which women scored higher than men, was predicted by patient health vs. distress. Patients rated in early sessions as healthy and low in distress had better prognoses. Optimal empathic relationship qualities related positively to success in therapies low in directive mode, but for relatively directive therapies, this relationship was negative. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Common comparison standards: An approach to improving agreement between self and supervisory performance ratings.

This study examined differential comparison standards (i.e., comparative bases for performance evaluation) and their effects on agreement between supervisory raters and self raters within the context of a performance appraisal system. The purpose of the research was to examine differential comparison standards as an underlying mechanism in the traditionally poor correlation between self and supervisor performance ratings. Supervisor and subordinate rater dyads (N ?=?106 dyads) evaluated job performance across 3 dimensions, using 5 different comparison standards (ambiguous, internal, absolute, relative, and multiple). Results support the hypotheses, indicating that more explicit and objective comparison standards produced higher levels of interrater agreement. The implications of these findings in terms of comparison standards being adopted in current research and future performance appraisal systems are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional reactivity across the adult life span: The cognitive pragmatics make a difference.

Previously, we found that during films about age-typical losses, older adults experienced greater sadness than young adults, whereas their physiological responses were just as large. In the present study, our goal was to replicate this finding and extend past work by examining the role of cognitive functioning in age differences in emotional reactivity. We measured the autonomic and subjective responses of 240 adults (age range = 20 to 70) while they viewed films about age-typical losses from our previous work. Findings were fully supportive of our past work: The magnitude of subjective reactions to our films increased linearly over the adult years, whereas there were no age differences on the level of physiological reactivity. We also found that the subjective reactions of adults with high pragmatic intelligence were of moderate size independent of their own age or the age relevance of the emotion elicitor. In contrast, the subjective reactions of adults low on pragmatic intelligence were more variable. Together, this evidence suggests that research on age differences in emotional reactivity may benefit from a perspective that considers individual difference variables as well as contextual variations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative supervisory events: Effects on supervision and supervisory alliance.

What are the consequences when a supervisee experiences a negative event in supervision? Supervisee developmental level, supervisory working alliance, trainee attachment style, and negative supervisory events were examined to determine their relationship with one another. Findings underscore the destructive impact negative supervisory events can have on supervision and supervisee development. This impact varies depending upon a supervisee's developmental level or the strength of the supervisor--supervisee working alliance. Supervisors are encouraged to be more supportive of supervisees in early development, and suggestions are offered on ways to ensure a strong supervisory relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do the ways in which psychotherapy process ratings are made make a difference? The effects of mode of presentation, segment, and rating format on interrater reliability.

52 Ss who had experienced the death of a parent or husband underwent 12 weekly psychotherapy sessions with 9 therapists. 208 sessions were rated. Compared were (a) ratings made from audiotapes vs videotapes; (b) ratings made from sessions 2, 5, 8, or 11; (c) ratings made from the 1st half vs ratings made from the whole session; (d) ratings made using a global response format vs a tally method of making judgments; and (e) ratings of therapist actions vs patient actions. Results indicate that small but significant differences in conclusions about process studies may emerge due to the operations of the conduct of the study and that these differences may have little relationship to the constructs being measured or their construct validity network. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive/affective reactions in the improvement of self-esteem: When thoughts and feelings make a difference.

Investigated the hypothesis that in some contexts people may give more weight to their cognitive-affective reactions than to their behavioral reactions when making self-evaluative inferences. 69 university students who participated as Ss were administered the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories and a self-concept inventory. In 1 of 2 contexts, Ss recalled either their positive cognitive-affective reactions, their positive behavioral reactions, or their unspecified positive reactions to several standard situations; these were reactions that had led them to feel a special appreciation for their own personal qualities. The experimental context of these recollections involved either private rehearsal, in which Ss simply thought about their past reactions, or public expression, in which they presented their reactions verbally while being tape-recorded. The impact of Ss' recollections on their subsequent self-esteem in each context was assessed. Results show that recalling positive cognitive-affective reactions had a significantly greater impact on self-esteem than did recalling positive behavioral or unspecified reactions when these recollections took place in a private, nonevaluative context, but not when they took place in the more public context in which the perspective of outside observers was likely to have been salient. Findings are discussed in terms of theories of self-inference processes and of actor–observer differences. Probable limitations of the findings are outlined. (73 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Costs of hysterectomy: does surgical approach make a difference?

We wanted to determine the direct cost of hysterectomies by surgical approach and to estimate the impact on costs if more vaginal hysterectomies were substituted for abdominal hysterectomies for women under 50 years of age. Eleven Ontario (Canada) hospitals provided 1994 cost data based on 1376 hysterectomies. These data were applied to all hysterectomies performed in the province for women under 50 to estimate the cost of subtotal, vaginal (VH), or laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH) relative to total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH). We determined the change in costs if TAHs in Ontario in 1994-1995 had been substituted by VH or LAVH. Teaching and community hospitals were considered separately. VH was less costly than TAH, subtotal, or LAVH. The direct cost for TAH at teaching hospitals was much higher than at community hospitals. Costs relative to TAH were higher for LAVH at community but not at teaching hospitals. From the population baseline rate of 25% VH, 5% LAVH, 10% subtotal, and 60% TAH, we estimated that increasing VH to 45% would lower costs by 2.4%; increasing LAVH to 25% would increase costs by 4.4%. VH is associated with lower costs than TAH or LAVH. However, the magnitude of the substitution and the extent of cost savings should ultimately be based on evaluation of patient outcomes.     

Examining the impact of administration medium on examinee perceptions and attitudes.

The present study explored the impact of administration medium on examinees' affective reactions. The research compared managers' reactions with 3 versions of the Conflict Resolution Skills Assessment (J. B. Olson-Buchanan et al., 1998) that were identical in content but varied in terms of the level of technology used: a paper-and-pencil form, a written form administered by computer (i.e., a computerized page-turner), and a multimedia form administered by computer. Managers completing the multimedia assessment perceived the assessment as more face valid and had more positive attitudes, relative to managers who completed the other 2 assessments. Computerization, however, was not enough to make a difference; instead, it was the multimedia nature of the computer presentation that resulted in the most positive affective reactions. Study limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervisor and subordinate work-family values: Does similarity make a difference?

Supervisor-subordinate similarity affects a number of workplace outcomes, but the effect of similarity in work-family values is not well understood. Our sample consisted of 209 participants (121 female and 88 male) from a range of occupations. A structural model was tested in which subordinate perceptions of supervisor work-family value similarity predicted increased supervisor support and reduced family conflict, with an indirect effect through these variables to job satisfaction. Higher work-family conflict and lower job satisfaction had significant paths to emotional exhaustion, as a key indicator of burnout. Structural equation modeling indicated a good fit to the model for both men and women. Similarity of work-family values influenced emotional exhaustion through its impact on work-family conflict and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Avoiding the horrid and beastly sin of drunkenness: Does dissuasion make a difference?

Nearly 3 centuries ago, an anonymous English author prepared an educational brochure to dissuade problem drinkers from the "horrid and beastly sin of drunkenness" (Anonymous, 1705). During the past 2 decades, more than 25 randomized trials have been conducted in 12 countries to evaluate 2 basic questions: (a) Does dissuasion make a difference, and (b) What kinds of dissuasion work best? In response to the first question, studies indicate that dissuasion does make a difference with heavy drinkers who have not developed severe alcohol dependence. In response to the second question, the evidence is more equivocal because of the practical and methodological problems encountered in the comparison of different interventions. It is concluded that changes sometimes attributed to specific behavioral and psychological interventions may be due to a combination of advice, individual motivation, and nonspecific social influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)