Student attitudes regarding the temporary closing of a major university.

Describes a set of attitudes linked to the temporary closing of a major university. Data came from 434 students who completed questionnaires sent to their homes prior to the reopening of the university. Results indicate that the average student was concerned, yet moderate in his views. A minority of students, however, (from 19-44%) gave answers to key questions which seemed to represent a "change at any price" syndrome: drastic educational change, overturn of the administration, and violence. A final portion of the questionnaire elicited attitudes presumed to be held by significant others. Students believed that parents, relatives, and friends agreed with them about most issues other than the justification of the student actions. Specific changes in student attitudes during the 10-day closing are enumerated and thought to result from the interaction between students and significant others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Suicide and Self-Damaging Behavior: A Sociobiological Perspective.

Reviews the book, Suicide and Self-Damaging Behavior: A Sociobiological Perspective by Denys deCatanzaro (1981). Ultimately, it seems to me, this book does not persuasively present and support a useful, new approach to suicide. The author seeks to understand how self-destructive behaviour has existed in more or less constant frequency throughout human history, given evolutionary pressures toward species survival. His basic argument, elaborated extensively throughout the book, is that "those committing suicide are generally those with relative difficulties in reproductive and socially productive activities" and thus do not contribute as much to the "inclusive fitness" of the population. Even given the accuracy of his generalizations, the author must account for the seemingly maladaptive exceptions to the rule--that is, self-destructive behaviour among those who can still contribute positively to the population gene pool. In so doing, he turns to so many exceptions as to make the argument almost meaningless. The book concludes with suggestions for further research. Some of these suggestions (e.g., the role of ecologically novel environments on suicide) are promising. Others sound naive ("We need data allowing a partitioning of learned and nonlearned aspects of suicidal behavior"). It is not clear how the suggested research studies would demonstrate the validity of the sociobiological model, which seems incapable of empirical disproof. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stockholm and Los Angeles: A cross-cultural study of the communication of suicidal intent.

Studied the communication of suicidal intent in 50 consecutive cases of confirmed suicide selected from coroner's records in both Stockholm, Sweden, and Los Angeles, California. Using the "psychological autopsy" method, intensive interviews were conducted with a close friend or relative of the decedent approximately 2 mo. after the suicide. Results indicate that at least 60% of the victims in both cities had made direct verbal threats prior to taking their lives,while more than 80% had voiced direct or indirect threats. Responses to the suicidal communications were generally maladaptive. Cross-cultural differences in the data, and the need for better understanding of suicide dynamics among laymen are discussed. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Societal reactions to a child's death by suicide.

80 14–67 yr olds responded to newspaper accounts of a 10-yr-old girl who died either from a bone marrow disease, an automobile accident, a drug overdose, or by hanging. The child and her family were perceived as most disturbed and her parents as most blameworthy in the case of suicide. Results are consistent with the view that parents of children who kill themselves experience stress from external sources as well as internal grief. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical and psychological responses to suicide in the family.

Used the psychological autopsy method to examine the effects of suicide on surviving family members. Structured interviews with 39 families consecutively selected from coroner's records focused on the immediate impact of death; current understanding; and social, vocational, physical, and psychological effects 7 mo after the death. Results suggest that physical and emotional reactions among individual survivors were severe and enduring, whereas family relationships were frequently strengthened. Suggestions are made for responding therapeutically to the needs of survivors. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distributed Education and the Role of Online Learning in Training Professional Psychologists.

Distributed learning and its allied concept, distance education, have the potential to move graduate training beyond the physical classroom, providing "anytime" and "anyplace" educational opportunities to new groups of learners as well as to students in traditional campus-based programs. It is argued that the focus on online learning activities found in distributed learning institutions is most compatible with a model of pedagogy that emphasizes, among other things, asynchronous small group discussions, collaborative problem solving, reflective inquiry, competency-based outcomes, and the facilitator role of the instructor. The article concludes with suggestions for and challenges regarding the application of computer-based learning tools to the training of clinical psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multivariate analysis of the early dropout process.

Performed principal-component factor analyses on patient input (demographic and pretherapy expectations), therapist input (demographic), and patient perspective therapy process variables that significantly differentiated 71 early dropout from 110 nondropout outpatients at 2 community mental health centers. At 1 setting results confirm (a) the presence of selection factors in the intake process whereby the more disturbed patients, who subsequently drop out, are assigned to lower level trained therapists and (b) the proposition that many patients unilaterally terminate despite the perception of the initial session as being an overall positive experience. Findings at the 2nd setting support the more traditionally held view of "dropout" as related to patient dissatisfaction with received services. Differences in the dropout process at the 2 settings were attributed to empirically demonstrated differences in the therapists' theoretical approach to the initial interview. The proclivity of earlier investigators to conceptualize dropouts as being characteristic of a single type of patient seems to be another unfounded homogeneity myth. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)