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As children are becoming more involved in the judicial process, attention must be given to the environment in which they testify and the possible reduction of system induced anxiety. The existing literature supports that children demonstrate higher levels of anxiety in a courtroom environment. Studies have also shown that in assessing anxiety in children, physiological measures and self-report measures are inconsistent. Further research needs to be done with multiple measures of anxiety. This study attempts to demonstrate that 1) children show greater anxiety in a courtroom setting compared to children in a non-courtroom setting, 2) that females will perceive the court experience to be more stressful and 3) children who show a discrepancy by reporting less anxiety than their body is physiologically experiencing will also demonstrate higher levels of social desirability. Thirty-two children, aged 8-10 years, from middle class elementary schools participated in this study. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two conditions; interview in a courtroom setting or interview in a non-courtroom setting. The children participated in a staged event at their school, and two weeks later were interviewed about the event in either a courtroom or non-courtroom setting. Among the measures administered prior to and/or immediately following the interview were: Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, The Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire, and the "What Do You Think?"/Court Experiences State Anxiety Questionnaire. In addition, heart rates were recorded on each child during the interview. Contrary to previous research, the results of this study did not support the first hypothesis that children will show greater levels of anxiety in a courtroom setting as opposed to a non-courtroom setting. Significant results were found when testing the second hypothesis. Females were found to perceive the court experience as more stressful than males. In testing the third hypothesis, significant differences between children's social desirability scores and discrepancy between a low score on a self-report measure of anxiety and a high score on a physiological measurement of anxiety were absent as well. Although no statistically significant findings resulted, a trend was shown in social desirability scores. Children who reported less anxiety than they were actually experiencing had higher social desirability scores than children who reported higher or equal anxiety than they were physiologically experiencing. If the sample size was increased in future research, it is possible that findings would reach statistical significance.

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This study examined the hypothesis that trait anger, defined as an individual's disposition to experience anger, is related to marital distress. Fifty-four (54) married couples completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STA.XI) and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS). Female trait anger was found to be a significant deterninant of marital distress while the same was not found of male trait anger. Also tested was the hypothesis that no gender differences exist for the experience or expression of anger. Results supported this hypothesis for all anger characteristics including anger proneness, anger suppression, and anger control. Additional demographic variables were correlated to marital distress including the presence of children, the number of times the man had been married, and the man's level of religiousness.

The purpose of this study was to identify personal variables that tend to predict biases toward judgment of innocence or guilt in high profile, ambiguous cases of alleged sexual harassment. The following variables were found to be significantly correlated with biases toward judgments of innocence: a belief that "there is too much emphasis on victimization these days"; and, being of the male sex. Variables that were correlated with biases toward judgements of guilt included: being of the female sex; a belief that "political correctness" is a good social trend; a belief that men should act "protectively" or "chivalrously" toward women; having been upset in the past because a relative or close friend had been a victim of physical sexual assault or harassment; and the identification of one's self as a feminist. The findings suggest that errors of judgment often reflect stereotypes, on the part of the judges. alleged sexual assault or harassment, personal biases, or In ambiguous cases of such biases may have important consequences and should be assessed as part of the voir dire process.

Interpersonal theories of depression suggest that behaviors of an individual, and others in the environment, serve to elicit and/or maintain depressive symptomatology. The present study examined the association between depressive symptomatology and social support behaviors in marriage. It was hypothesized that as depressive symptomatology increased, there would be a decrease in positive social support behaviors and an increase in negative support behaviors. Participants were 172 newlywed couples recruited through public records. Couples completed questionnaires assessing depressive symptomatology and marital satisfaction and participated in 2 social support interactions which were coded using a microanalytic coding system. Results indicated that as depressive symptomatology increases, helpers and helpees give more negative and less positive responses. When effects of marital satisfaction are extracted, depressive symptoms do not predict behavior. Further examination revealed that depressive symptomatology and marital satisfaction together are predictive of · behavior, while neither variable alone gives significant information. Future research clarifying the relationship between marital distress, depression, and social support is recommended.

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Earlier studies have shown that women appear freer in their individual role choices than men, however, family roles still remain constricting. This study measured the societal norms for family roles (provider or housekeeper) by manipulating job statuses. Short descriptions varying employment status of a husband and wife were presented to college students and older participants (ages 32-55) to measure generational differences in approval and beliefs about the execution of household chores of targets when in traditional and nontraditional roles. Both age groups rated the male target as acceptable in the worker role (traditional), and females as performing more housework than males. Also, the husband's work status accounted for more variation on the dependent variables than the wife's work status. Overall, _the picture of women, as shown in this study, is one of mixed progress with greater role choice freedom, but with greater role responsibilities. Males, however, have made little progress. in either role.

The academic outcomes of Asian American students can be interpreted as retention and achievement in the university setting. The present study examined the correlates of these academic outcomes among Asian American undergraduates at a small private university. Retention was measured at three time periods: After the freshman year, sophomore year and junior year at the university. Two sets of analyses on retention were performed at those three time periods. One set included achievement based variables and the second set excluded achievement based variables. Achievement was examined at two time periods, after the first semester of the freshman term and after the junior or senior year, depending on when students first enrolled. Over the three years, age, cumulative college GPA, high school GPA, a prior residency in Hawaii, a major in liberal arts, comfort with other racial groups, and a Japanese ethnicity were all found to. influence retention. A major in science and engineering, family influences, high school experiences, a Catholic religious preference and no religious preference were all related to achievement. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study examines the long-term impact divorce has on children as they enter adulthood and begin to develop their own relationships. Previous studies found young adults from divorced families to have a common difficulty with intimate relationships, trusting others, sexual permissiveness, and viewing marriage negatively. This study found a significant difference between males and females and participants from divorced and intact families in sexual permissiveness. Four dominant theories (Abandonment, Modeling, Conflict, and Socioeconomic) were also examined in an attempt to discover which would best predict sexual permissiveness among the subjects from divorced families. The Conflict Theory proved to be the most significant predictor of sexual permissiveness. A child, from a divorced family, is less likely to suffer from long term effects in dating relationships, such as sexual permissiveness, if their parents undertake divorce thoughtfully; uphold parenting expectations and maintain a good parent-child and parent-parent relationship.