Comparison of Cuban and Anglo-American cultural values in a clinical population.

Attempted to replicate an earlier study investigating cultural differences between Cuban immigrants and Anglo-Americans. Whereas the earlier study used a nonclinical adolescent population, the current study used 52 adults in outpatient treatment. Ss were given a biographical questionnaire and the Value Orientation scales. Results indicate that the groups differed in relational, temporal, and person–nature orientations, confirming previous findings and clinical observations. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral behavior as rule governed behavior: Person and situation effects on moral decision making.

Examined the use of a psychosocial role-theoretical approach to moral decision making intended to provide a conceptual framework for accounting for both person and situation effects on moral decision making. According to this approach, moral decisions are influenced both by individual differences in the use of moral rules and principles and by complex contextual cues associated with type of moral decision-making situations. Three studies with a total of 205 undergraduates were conducted to examine the empirical utility of the approach. Exp I focused on the development of a procedure for assessing the effects of situation context on the use of moral rules and principles by presenting Ss with 6 hypothetical situations that varied the type of moral decision required: behavioral and distributive. Exp II focused on the development of a measure of moral value preference (MMVP), and Exp III examined the effects of both person- and situation-related variables on moral decision making and assessed validational evidence for the MMVP. Results illustrate that a psychosocially integrated conceptual framework allows the integration of both person- and situation-related variables and makes possible the development of explanatory models that are empirically more powerful than models that focus on either person or situation variables. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural family versus psychodynamic child therapy for problematic Hispanic boys.

Structural family therapy, psychodynamic child therapy, and a recreational control condition were compared for 69 six-to-twelve-year-old Hispanic boys who presented with behavioral and emotional problems. The results suggest that the control condition was significantly less effective in retaining cases than the two treatment conditions, which were apparently equivalent in reducing behavioral and emotional problems as well as in improving psychodynamic ratings of child functioning. Structural family therapy was more effective than psychodynamic child therapy in protecting the integrity of the family at 1-year follow-up. Finally, the results did not support basic assumptions of structural family systems therapy regarding the mechanisms mediating symptom reduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conjoint versus one-person family therapy: Some evidence for the effectiveness of conducting family therapy through one person.

Hypothesized that it would be possible to achieve the goals of family therapy (structural family change and symptom reduction) by working primarily with 1 family member. 37 Hispanic families with a drug-using member were assigned to conjoint or 1-person therapy. Data were analyzed using a mixed-design (repeated measures plus a between-group independent variable) ANOVA, with treatment as the between-group independent variable and time of assessment (intake, termination, and follow-up) as the repeated measure. Results indicate that both conditions were highly effective in improving family functioning and that 1-person family therapy was slightly more effective in reducing identified patient symptomatology. Clinical and practical issues and implications for the current theory and practice of family therapy are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality dynamics of heroin use.

Compared 59 white male heroin addicts with 26 psychiatric patients, 142 incarcerated delinquents, 37 undergraduate marihuana users, and 108 police officers using the California Psychological Inventory. Results suggest that the heroin users were relatively normal in terms of social poise and self-esteem; however, they were significantly more hostile, rebellious, and irresponsible than any of the comparison groups. The addicts seemed relatively well adjusted, suggesting that their drug use is symptomatic not of neurosis but of a generalized antisocial disposition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Engaging adolescent drug abusers and their families in treatment: A strategic structural systems approach.

This article presents evidence for the effectiveness of a strategy for engaging adolescent drug users and their families in therapy. The intervention method is based on strategic, structural, and systems concepts. To overcome resistance, the identified pattern of interactions that interferes with entry into treatment is restructured. Subjects were 108 Hispanic families in which an adolescent was suspected of, or was observed, using drugs. Subjects were randomly assigned to a strategic structural-systems engagement (experimental) condition or to an engagement-as-usual (control) condition. Subjects in the experimental condition were engaged at a rate of 93% compared with subjects in the control condition, who were engaged at a rate of 42%. Seventy-seven percent of subjects in the experimental condition completed treatment compared with 25% of subjects in the control condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy of intervention for engaging youth and families into treatment and some variables that may contribute to differential effectiveness.

This study reports data on the efficacy of Strategic Structural Systems Engagement (SSSE), which is designed to bring hard-to-reach families into treatment. The study also explores variables that may contribute to differential effectiveness. Participants were 193 Hispanic families, who were randomly assigned to either experimental or control conditions. Several important findings emerged. First, the overall results replicated earlier findings showing the superiority of SSSE: 81% of SSSE families, compared to 60% of control families, were successfully engaged, χ–2(1, N?=?193)?=?7.5, p?N?=?51)?=?7.53, p?=?.006. Third, an analysis of intervention failure suggests a mechanism by which culture and ethnicity influence clinical processes (resistance to engagement) and may result in differential effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of conformity in unsocialized college students.

Identified 130 male undergraduates (from a total sample of 594) whose scores on the Socialization scale of the CPI matched those of 119 incarcerated delinquents. It was hypothesized that these poorly socialized but apparently nondelinquent Ss were, as a group, relatively empathic and that this empathic disposition compensated for their poor socialization. Evidence is presented which supports this explanation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Science and morality: The role of values in science and the scientific study of moral phenomena.

This article contributes to the debate over values in science. A critical co-constructivist framework is proposed for conceptualizing the role that debate over values plays in all science. Using the psychological literature on moral development, it is shown that although debate over values is an integral part of all scientific discourse, it plays a more explicit role in fields within the human sciences (e.g., anthropology, psychology, sociology, etc.) that touch on moral phenomena. Debate over values thus raises a central issue for modern science, namely the need to develop consensually agreed-on methods for resolving such debate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of completers and noncompleters of exposure-based cognitive and behavioral treatment for phobic and anxiety disorders in youth.

This article examined sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of child treatment completers, and noncompleters who received exposure-based cognitive-behavioral treatment. A total of 137 children (46% girls) and their parents (predominantly Euro-American and Hispanic/Latino) participated in this study (106 completers, 31 noncompleters). The majority of noncompleters, received an average of 5 sessions. Findings were generally consistent with past research in terms of lack of differences between completers; and noncompleters. Results are discussed in the context of previous child attrition research and directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)