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This study investigated the reliability and validity of the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS; Hopko, Bare, & Hunt, 2003) and the Math Anxiety Scale – Revised (MAS-R; Bai, 2009) across race and gender as well as the extent to which race and gender predict learning math anxiety and math evaluation anxiety at both the secondary level, which includes middle and high school students, and the tertiary level, which includes college/university students. Cronbach’s Alpha scores were compared across race and gender subsamples, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted for the theoretically aligned structures of the AMAS and MAS-R, multi-group confirmatory factor analyses were conducted across race and school level for the AMAS, and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with learning math anxiety and math evaluation anxiety as predicted variables and race and gender as predicting variables. Findings from this study suggest that the AMAS and MAS-R are sufficiently reliable across race and gender subgroups, that the theoretical factor structure of the AMAS fits the data from this study, while that of the MAS-R does not, and that the AMAS is non-invariant across White/European American and Black/African American racial groups as well as secondary level and tertiary level students. Results of the hierarchical regression analysis indicate that race and gender are not predictive of learning math anxiety or math evaluation anxiety. Taken together, these results suggest that math anxiety may not be a significant factor in the development of differences in attrition and retention rates across race and gender in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs, but that the AMAS is a valid measure to use with Black/African American students, secondary level students, and tertiary level students. Implications and future directions are discussed. / School Psychology

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In recent years workshops have been developed to assist professionals in dealing with issues related to human sexuality. Called Sexual Attitude Reassessment workshops (SAR's), they are designed to impart relevant information concerning sex functioning and to provide an opportunity for personal exploration of attitudes and values. While much attention has been directed at providing sex education to a variety of groups across the country, few programs have focused on improving attitudes toward sexual expression in the aged, and increasing understanding of their sexual needs.;The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not nursing home staff differed in their perceptions, attitudes and knowledge as a result of exposure to either implicit or explicit sex related materials. Participation in the two experimental SAR's (implicit or explicit) was voluntary and open to all nursing home staff at a downtown Norfolk nursing home. of the 45 staff who applied for the workshop, 32 attended the two-day training. Workshop participants ranged in age from 18 to 62, and represented a variety of educational backgrounds.;The research design used was the posttest only control group design. The study design first divided nursing home staff into two groups. Group assignment was based upon scores obtained on Rokeach's (1960) Dogmatism scale. Subjects who scored above or below the dogmatism scale mean were assigned to either a high dogmatism or low dogmatism group, respectively. Staff in the high dogmatism and low dogmatism groups were then randomly assigned to three treatments: implicit, explicit, and control.;The format used for both the implicit and explicit workshops was similar to that of the Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR) process developed by the National Sex Forum. For the implicit group participants were exposed to sexually implicit materials (usually films) and encouraged to react to these materials in small groups. Implicit materials were defined as those films and slides which did not graphically depict sexual behavior of "live" actors. Except for the film materials, the explicit group was conducted in exactly the same way. Participants were exposed to sexually explicit materials (usually films) and encouraged to react to these materials in small groups. Explicit materials were defined as those films and slides which graphically depict the sexual behavior of "live" actors. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between eliciting the relaxation response in first year law students and academic performance.;First year law students at Southern Illinois University ware chosen for this study. Law students were chosen because their course of study was rigorous and stress producing and every student had the same courses during the first year.;There were two treatment groups and a non-treatment control group. One treatment group was taught Benson's Relaxation Procedure and the other was taught a classical eye fixation, self-hypnosis technique. Stress assessments were conducted every other week for an entire semester.;It was hypothesized that (1) the students would be able to lower their anxiety levels from the beginning of the term to the end of the term, (2) that the treatment groups would have lower stress levels than the non-treatment group and (3) that the self-hypnosis group with its motivational statements would show the greatest improvement in academic performance over the other two groups.;It was concluded that there were no significant differences between any of the groups. The treatment groups did not practice enough to be able to assess whether either of the techniques was helpful in reducing stress or in improving academic performance.;Further study is needed to determine if these techniques when used conscientiously will reduce stress and improve academic performance. In addition, comparisons between self-hypnosis and Benson's relaxation procedure still need to be made to determine the role of relaxation in hypnosis.