In keeping with increasing national demands on organizations to demonstrate effectiveness of mental health services for the chronically mentally ill (CMI) across the nation, Barren River Mental Health/Mental Retardation (BR MH/MR) undertook an assessment of programs which provide services to this population. This necessitated the employment of a client outcome measure to determine the effectiveness of these programs and services to the CMI's. After an extensive perusal of the instruments currently available, a decision was made to construct a new assessment instrument in a behaviorally anchored rating scale format to meet the unique needs of BR MH/MR. Prior to the development of this measure, the staff was using only a global index of client functioning. The initial utilization of this new scale which contained 29 items involved a purely descriptive analyses of client caseloads. The administration changed its focus to a utility analysis which necessitated the establishment of the scale's psychometric properties. Content-oriented test construction, i.e. content validity, was substantiated through the scale's developmental process and the inclusion of the therapists who would later be using the measure in the process of construction. An original sample of CMI clients (n=86) provided a set of ratings upon which principal component factor analysis and stepwise multiple regression procedures were computed. These analyses yielded five meaningful factors within the items of the new instrument. The results of these analyses were also used to construct three videotape interviews upon which indices of inter-rater reliability were computed (n=21). Internal consistency correlations were computed on the two samples yielding values for the dependent measures ranging from .605 to .958. Inter-rater reliabilities ranged from .048 to .87. The client outcome measure with the global measure provided minimal psychometric evidence for convergent validity. Within the client outcome measure, analyses indicated that 19 out of 29 items provided the best psychometric set as a total scale, while the inclusion of the other 10 items may be warranted for descriptive clinical information.

Fourteen female rats divided into three age groups of 110, 160 and 240 days old were compared for amount of barpressing in the Protestant Ethic Effect choice situation. All subjects were maintained on a 23 hour water deprivation schedule and trained to barpress for a 10% sucrose solution. Training consisted of one 12 hour massed practice session then 15 daily training sessions followed by 5 days of testing. During testing the rats were placed in the center of the cage and allowed to obtain the reinforcer from either the drinking tube attached to the barpress mechanism or from an identical free drinking tube introduced at the beginning of testing. The amount of liquid consumed at the free liquid tube and barpress tube was recorded for each animal. A repeated measures analysis of variance showed that barpressing differences between the three groups and across the trials were statistically significant. However, the hypothesis that the younger rats would barpress for more reward than the older rats was not supported. Older rats barpressed for more reward than the younger rats. It was suggested that the older less active rats may have spent their time barpressing while the active young rats may have spent more time exploring the cage environment.

The purpose of this study was to compare oral and written expressions of creative thinking which took the form of prose, e.g. stories. The Prose Quantification System (PQS) was the instrument of comparison. The PQS is an instrument developed to predict teachers' ratings of the creative quality of written prose. The study investigated the following: (a) interjudge agreement and intrajudge stability for oral and written stories, (b) Teacher Ratings of Story Creativity (TRSC) of oral and written stories, (c) alternate mode (i.e., oral vs. written) equivalence and (d) criterion validity of the PQS. PQS story-starters (unfinished opening lines to a story) were administered to 87 fifth-grade students enrolled in four classes in two schools located in Nashville, Tennessee. Each student received two story-starters about the same content or object (i.e., box) but in different contexts (usual vs. unusual settings). Students were asked to complete one story orally and the other in written form. Thus, a total of 174 stories were collected. The stories were then (a) blindly rated by eight teachers according to the creativity level of the stories using a seven point Likert Scale and (b) scored by five judges who were selftrained in the use of the PQS using the PQS Scoring Manual (Redfield and Martray, 1984b). Interrater agreement and intrajudge stability were comouted using an average correlation coefficient and percent agreement, respectively. Both interrater agreement and intrajudge stability were computed separately for the oral and written language samples. Results indicated that the PQS for oral and written language samples, used by judges self-trained with the Scoring Manual, is reliable across judges and over specified periods of time. Eight 2 x 2 x 2 ANOVAs were used to determine whether PQS judges and teachers allowed storv-starter context (usual vs. unusual setting), order of requested response (oral first vs. written first) and mode (oral vs. written) to influence their scores and ratings. Results indicated a main effect for mode for TRSC and the following PQS scores: elaboration, originality, organization, and total score. TRSC of written stories were significantly higher than TRSC of oral stories; PQS elaboration, organization and total scores of oral stories were significantly higher than PQS elaboration, organization and total scores of written stories; PQS originality scores for written stories were significantly higher than PQS originality scores for oral stories. ANOVAs indicated the following significant interaction effects: (a) PQS ideational fluency scores of written stories in a usual setting were significantly higher than PQS ideational fluency scores for oral stories in an unusual setting; (b) PQS associational fluency scores for written stories in an unusual setting were significantly higher than PQS associational fluency scores for oral stories in a usual or unusual setting and for written stories in a usual setting; and (c) PQS originality scores were significantly higher for written stories in either a usual or unusual setting than PQS originality scores for oral stories in a usual setting. Therefore, the PQS judges viewed the oral stories to be more creative overall than the written stories while the teachers viewed the written stories to be more creative overall than the oral stories. Multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship (a) between the PQS (subscale and total scores) and TRSC of oral stories and (b) between the PQS (subscale and total scores) and TRSC of written stories. These stepwise multiple regression ?rocedures indicated that PQS total scores of oral stories are the best predictors of oral TRSC and PQS total scores of written stories are the best predictors of written TRSC. Therefore, the PQS is an accurate predictor of TRSC of oral and written stories. Results of this study indicated that (a) the PQS is a reliable instrument when used as a measure of the creative quality of oral and/or written language samples by judges self-trained with the PQS Scoring Manual, (b) oral and written expressions of creative thinking differ, and (c) the PQS is an accurate predictor of TRSC of oral and/or written stories. It is suggested that future research include (a) reexamination of alternate mode equivalence of the PQS and (b) investigation of the reliability of TPSC.

The present study evaluated the effect of ethanol administration during prenatal and pre-weaning development on the maze learning (i.e., as assessed by performance on a pretrial and a Lashley III Maze) abilities of rat pups. The subjects consisted of 32 rat pups who were cross-fostered within and between the two dam conditions (i.e., alcohol and control) to produce the four groups: pups exposed to alcoholic mothers (1) during gestation and lactation; (2) gestation only; (3) lactation only; and (4) control pups from non-alcoholic mothers. A factorial split-ploy design was employed. Results indicated a significant main effect of the gestation condition of the dam on the running speed of the offspring F(1,28)=77.99, p<.01. The lactation conditions were also found to significantly influence the running speed of the offspring F(1,28)=13.44, p<.01. The number of errors made by the offspring before they reached learning criterion was analyzed by a factorial analysis of variance. The analysis Indicated there were significantly more errors made by the offspring of the alcoholic gestation condition than the offspring of the control gestation dams. The present study strengthens the hypothesis that when alcohol addiction occurs during gestation and lactation the maze running speed of the offspring will be slower than the offspring of dams who have not been exposed to ethanol during gestation and lactation. furthermore, extended exposure to the alcohol condition increases the amount of the learning disability (i.e., running speed in mazes) in the offspring.

The purpose of this study was to provide evidence for the model that the greater number of risk factors experienced by an individual, the greater the drug use. A series of questionnaires including a parental nurturance scale, the PRIDE College Drug Use Prevalence Questionnaire, a delinquency scale, the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale, a modification of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, and the Johns Hopkins Symptom Checklist were administered to 235 college students. The series of questionnaires measured ten risk factors used in the study that included high perceived distance from parents, early tobacco use, low religiosity, low academic motivation, sensation seeking, stressful life events, psychological distress, peer drug use, parental drug use, and disregard for rules. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients indicated relationships of r=.33 between number of risk factors and marijuana use to r=.48 between number of risk factors and beer use. Regression analyses indicated that sensation seeking and peer drug use accounted for the most variance in drug use. The relationships provide evidence for the predictive utility of the model in predicting those individuals at risk for drug use. Implications for further research are discussed.

In this study the causes of gambling fever in Taiwan were explored through an assessment of the perceptions of the members of six Taiwanese discussion groups. Each group consisted of six to eight concerned citizens who had a diiscussion meeting once a month for six consecutive months beginning in September 1988. During these discussions the members of the groups were allowed to discuss freely any issues of interest related to gambling in Taiwan. This study analyzed only the reasons for gambling. Three sociological perspectives were applied in this study for an explanation for gambling fever in Taiwan: (a) strain theory, (b) differential association theory, and (c) control theory. This study categorized ten individual reasons for gambling and twenty-five societal reasons for gambling from the thirty-two discussion meeting records. The category of "Desire for Wealth" is the most often mentioned in the individual reasons for gambling. The major societal reason for gambling is "Reduced Moral Pressure Against Gambling." The other relatively powerful societal reasons are "Lack of Recreational Activities," "Gambling as Element of Culture," "Peer Pressure to Gamble," "Speed of Social Change," "Lack of Government Prohibition," "Inadequate Education for Leisure Activities," "Increase in Social Freedom," "Inadequate Education in Finances," and "Social Nature of a Group Activity."

The basic psychometric characteristics of the Common Belief Scale (CBS) of the YIPTIS, Your Irrational Personality Trait Inventory Score, were investigated. The CBS was formulated within Ellis's conceptual framework of Rational Behavior Therapy. Designed for use with adults of at least normal intelligence, its purpose is to evaluate the strength of identification with a specified set of common irrational beliefs which are hypothesized to lead to emotional disturbance. Subjects taking part in this study were volunteers ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-seven. The total sample of 186 subjects was composed of 105 female- and 81 males. Approximately one half of the subjects were administered the CBS and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMAS. The remaining subjects were administered the CPS in a two week test-retest design. Item means, standard deviations, and item-total correlations were computed for each item on the CBS. The reliability of the scale was investigated by test-retest and split-half procedures. The structural validity of the instrument was investigated through a factor analysis procedure conducted to determine the number and strength of the factors measured. The concurrent validity of the CES was investigated in a correlate design between the CBS and the TMAS. The results indicated that the majority of items were reliable indicators of the total score and contributed to the reliability of the instrument. Suggestions were made to improve weak items. The reliability procedures all yielded coefficients of approximately .80. Structural validity was investigated by a factor analysis which yielded fourteen reliable factors; ten of these factors were conceptually related to specific irrational beliefs or to the central concepts of the RBT theory. The concurrent validity of the instrument was supported by a low but significant correlation between the CBS and the TMAS. It was concluded that in its present form the CPS of the YIPTIS is an adequately reliable instrument for its intended use as an aid in identifying irrational beliefs in a therapeutic setting. Recommendations for improvement of the scale and further research are discussed.

Since social identity theory and authoritarian personality theory have been presented as opposing theories of discrimination, the present experiment explored whether authoritarianism could explain discrimination in social identity theory's minimal group paradigm. High, high average, low average, and low authoritarians were given three measures of in-group favoritism in minimal groups (two point -distribution tasks and a group -rating task). An authoritarianism main effect and an authoritarianism by order interaction on the point -distribution tasks indicated that authoritarianism significantly enhanced discrimination, but only when these tasks followed the group-rating measure. This interaction indicates that authoritarianism has greater influence on discrimination as in-group/out-group distinctions are made more salient. Authoritarianism did not influence discrimination in group ratings. Social identity theory proposes that individuals use discrimination to enhance their self-esteem, but only high authoritarians appeared to do so in this study.

In using the BASIC I.D. profile as an assessment tool, seven modalities of the client are assessed: Behaviors, Affect, Sensations, Imagery, Cognitions, Interpersonal relationships, and Drugs (physiological condition). The purpose of this s•udy was to assess the interrater agreement of the BASIC I.D. profile when used as an assessment approach in psychotherapy. The raters were 15 graduate students in clinical and school psychology at Western Kentucky University. Six actors served as subjects who simulated clients coming to a psychotherapist for his/her initial interview. Two experienced interviewers portrayed therapists conducting the initial interview with the subject. The interviews were videotaped and, after a training session explaining the use of the BASIC I.D. approach, the raters prepared BASIC I.D. profiles for each of the subjects. The seven BASIC I.D. modalities yielded kappa coefficients ranging from .59 for Sensations to .42 for Affect. The correlation between the raters' own BASIC I.D. profiles and the number of problems they identified in the BASIC I.D. profiles of the subjects was nonsignificant. In conclusion, interrater agreement for the BASIC I.D. profile method of clinical assessment appears to be acceptable. Furthermore, it does not appear that the personal BASIC I.D. profile of a therapist influences his/her assessment of others.

A sample of 32 Ss were drawn from the third through sixth grades and success or failure conditions were experimentally induced. The effects of these conditions were then determined on a subsequent, non-related task; the Block Design subtest of the WISC. Results indicated that these conditions do have a significant (p<.01) effect on the subsequent performance, although, this significance diminishes rapidly over a period of delay (24 hours). The study is limited in scope and in sample, but research implications are numerous and should include varied exposure to the success-failure conditions and the related effects of varied time-lapse intervals. Attention should be given to the differential effects of the two conditions and to the possibility that success-failure orientations may be significant factors in determining the quality of subsequent performance.