Purpose. Youth suicide and child abuse are major societal problems of the late twentieth century, with alarming rates of occurrence and significant negative effects. Prevention and treatment programs exist for students once they are identified as abuse victims or at high risk for suicide. However, the identification process is made difficult by the lack of discriminating signs and symptoms. Peers are often the first to hear about a friend's abuse or intent to suicide, but may not share that information with an adult. The purpose of this study was to determine whether exposure to information on reporting personal knowledge of abuse or suicidal intention affects the inclination of middle school students to report such knowledge to adults. Procedures. Three hundred and twenty three middle school students in public school classes in San Joaquin County (California) were included in the sample. A total of 14 classes (seven control and seven experimental) were used. A questionnaire (Peer Confidant Survey) developed to measure students' inclination to report peer disclosures was used in the study. During the study the questionnaire was administered three times to each classroom: pre-training, immediately following training and one month after completion of the training. The Peer Confidant training for the experimental group consisted of information on discrimination of disclosures, listening skills, training on whom to tell and what to tell, and discussion of what constitutes being a friend (not betraying a confidence versus reporting). Findings. Results of the study suggested that middle school students are already inclined to report knowledge of abuse and suicidal intent among their peers to adults. They also demonstrated the ability to discriminate between reportable and non-reportable disclosures. After exposure to the training program designed to increase inclination to report knowledge of abuse and suicidal intent, students appeared to temporarily increase their inclination to report knowledge of suicidal intent but not knowledge of abuse. No significant group differences were found among sixth grade, eighth grade, special education and gifted students. Implications of the study and areas for further research are discussed.

No description available.

The aim of this study was fourfold: (1) to measure the extent to which select circumstances weighed in driving-under-the-influence (DUI) offenders' intentions to drive after drinking; (2) to assess the impact of formal sanction, informal sanction, and moral inhibition with respect to intentions to drive after drinking; (3) to investigate the likelihood of each of fourteen rationalizations to represent a justification to drive after drinking; and (4) to examine possible associations between DUI offender characteristics and the factors indicated above. The offender characteristics of age, prior DUI offenses, and motor vehicle accidents involving alcohol were statistically significant, yet showed negligible relationships with intentions to drink and drive. Age, motor vehicle accidents involving alcohol, and "feeling mildly relaxed" were negatively, yet weakly, correlated with the Decision to Drink and Drive rating scale; that is, when these characteristics or factors were present, there was a weak association with the intention to drive. In general, the offenders disagreed with the rationalizations to drive after drinking and to a statistically significant degree. Notable exceptions were as follows: males agreed that it was not so wrong to drive after drinking if a sick friend needed to be taken home or if one had a tolerance for alcohol. Males (59%) and females (45%) tended to agree that it was not so wrong to drive while under the influence of alcohol on an open highway with no traffic. Tentative conclusions were offered: (1) the results may suggest a "treatment effect" related to the stringent enforcement efforts and the recency of conviction of 54% of the sample; (2) completing the survey provided information the offenders did not have at the time they drove after drinking, as well as, a symbolic opportunity to avoid the arrest and consequences for driving after drinking; (3) a demand characteristics effect may have been operating in that socially desirable responses were selected; (4) the number of vignette factors used may have been excessive and contributed to errors on the rating task.

Students have reacted positively to personal contact with school counselors in regard to learning about themselves in relationship to potential career goals. There appears to be a need, however, to ascertain the effect of career counseling at the upper elementary grades upon career awareness and development at a later secondary grade. In addition, there is a need to study the effects of individual versus group career guidance at the upper elementary grades with reference to the career choices selected at a later secondary grade.

The purposes of this exploratory study were to determine whether behavior modification procedures interrelated with group meeting experiences could be used effectively with boys on probation in their natural social environment to influence the frequency of: (1) school attendance, (2) promptness to classes, ( 3) disciplinary referrals , ( 4) violations of probation, and (5) attendance at group meetings. A final purpose. of the study was the development of a group meeting system using school counselors as cooperative treatment personnel with probation officers to increase rehabilitation contacts with delinquent youth. The study was based upon the assumptions of behavioral psychology. Thus, focus was on the observable interactions of human beings and environmental events, the experimental field study as an objective measure of this functional relationship, and the management of reinforcement contingencies to increase desired behaviors. An intrasubject replication design was used with the experimental group. In the first phase of the study, lasting eight weeks, baseline data on the four behaviors, school attendance, promptness to classes, disciplinary referrals and violations of probation were collected. During the second phase, a six-week reinforcement procedures, the experimental subjects were offered the opportunity to attend group meetings conducted by the probation officer and school counselor. The subjects could earn points for attending group meetings and for their performance relative to the four behaviors. These points could be exchanged later for days off probation at a prescribed ratio. At the end of the six-week phase, all reinforcement procedures were terminated temporarily; the weekly meetings continued, however, using conventional group counseling methods. This four-week non-reinforcement condition served as a second baseline phase alter which the positive reinforcement system was re-instituted for another six weeks. In addition to the experimental group, a control group of subjects was offered the opportunity to meet with a probation officer and school counselor using conventional group counseling methods. Data on the four behaviors and attendance at group meetings were recorded for both groups over the twenty-four weeks of the study. Two types of analysis were reported for the data. First a detailed presentation of the findings was made with both groups analyzed for intrasubject and intersubject effects. A two-factor "mixed" design was used in the analysis. Second, the various components of the cooperative group meeting system were descriptively analyzed. Also, individual subject profiles and profile assessments were included as a function of the intrasubject replication methodology. Several conclusions were reached as a result of this study. First, school attendance, classroom promptness and discipline referrals were not significantly altered through the use of behavior mortification techniques. Second, probation violations were significantly reduced through the use of behavior modification techniques. Finally, group meeting attendance was significantly higher during the reinforcement phase than during the non-reinforcement phase and also higher than for the group using conventional group counseling. The group meeting system offers an approach in which public schools and correctional agencies could cooperate in the rehabilitation of delinquent youth.

Purpose . The purpose of this study was to determine (a) the perceptions of teachers concerning the desirability and effectiveness of selected alternatives to social promotion and grade retention, (b) the perceptions of elementary school principals toward selected alternatives to social promotion and grade retention, and (c) compare the differences and similarities of perceptions of teachers and elementary school principals toward selected alternatives to social promotion and grade retention. The rationale for this investigation was derived from empirical research demonstrating retention's negative impact on retained students. Procedure . The sample population in the study included 114 second and third grade teachers and 36 elementary school principals. The study determined and compared the effectiveness of alternatives to social promotion and grade retention as perceived by representative samples of second and third grade teachers and elementary school principals from Stockton Unified, Manteca Unified, Lincoln Unified and Lodi Unified School Districts of San Joaquin County, California. Data for the study were collected through mail survey, which contained 29 items. Participants in the study expressed their degrees of agreement or disagreement regarding each item by selecting the appropriate response on a four-point Likert-type scale. Data collected through the survey were statistically analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) on a personal computer. Means, standard deviations, and rankings were computed for each survey item. A series of independent sample t tests were performed to determine if any significant differences existed between teachers' and school administrators' perceptions with regard to selected alternatives to retention. Findings . Principals and teachers strongly endorsed parental involvement, early identification and timely intervention, providing high-quality curriculum and instruction, high-quality professional development for teachers, and recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers as the best alternatives to social promotion and grade retention. Conclusions and recommendations . Schools need to identify at-risk children early and provide targeted intervention. Parental involvement in the education of their children is crucial. School Districts should also strive to hire, and retain well-trained teachers and equip every classroom with high-quality curriculum and rich learning environment.

While research has been conducted concerning the general public's attitudes toward mental illness, no work has been done specifically with the business community. I tested an intervention designed to increase the likelihood of the hiring of the mentally ill by San Joaquin Valley business community members. A pretest-posttest-control group design was used in which the treatment group received a presentation based on Rokeach's Value Self-Confrontation method. As hypothesized, the treatment group changed its values toward greater acceptance of mental illness. However, results of a test designed to measure likelihood of hiring the mentally ill revealed that the treatment group felt no differently about hiring persons with a mental illness than they did before the intervention. In addition, these results did not differ significantly from those of a control group that was not exposed to the self-confrontation method.

This research explored the connection between the level of moral reasoning in rehabilitation professionals and their supervisors' judgment of them as more or less successful in providing services. Professionals from three work settings (private for-profit, private not-for-profit, and public) in two states (California and Texas) were categorized by supervisors into two research groups. Moral reasoning was assessed by the Defining Issues Test. A demographic questionnaire provided information on factors such as age, sex, exposure to previous ethics training, years in the field of vocational rehabilitation, and identification of the professional as an individual with a disability. Relevant data was obtained from 61 supervisors and 122 rehabilitation professionals. The research sample provided 20 matched pairs (one more successful and one less successful) from both the private for-profit and private not-for-profit settings and 21 matched pairs from the public work setting. This sample included 73 females and 49 males. Analysis found that rehabilitation professionals identified as being more successful had significantly higher moral reasoning scores on the Defining Issues Test than peers identified as less successful. This finding was not affected by sex, work setting, years in the field of vocational rehabilitation, or prior exposure to training in ethics. The factor of age was identified as having significant interaction with the level of assessed moral reasoning. A positive correlation was identified between age and supervisors' selection of more successful professionals. This research identified moral development as a factor in being judged by supervisors as successful in vocational rehabilitation services. It also discussed alternative criteria for success other than the “rehabilitated” status of the client, the role of moral development in successful case management, the need for assessing moral development in candidates for graduate school, and the place of moral development in hiring and training rehabilitation professionals. Several recommendations are made for additional research that include adding the supervisor's age as a research factor; focusing on rehabilitation counselors rather than including the general population of rehabilitation professionals; and comparing competitive closure rates of rehabilitation professionals with their levels of assessed moral reasoning.

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the types of coping styles used by stroke patients and their caregivers following a stroke. The main objective was to examine the relationship of these coping styles as well as the relationship of physical functional impairment and time since stroke to depression in stroke patients and their caregivers. A sample of sixty subjects, including thirty stroke patients and their respective caregivers, volunteered to participate in the study. Two-way analysis of variance, one-way analysis of variance and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. The results of the study indicated that stroke patients who used problem-focused coping were less depressed than patients who used emotion-focused coping as a way of managing the stress following a stroke. Results, however, did not indicate that coping style was a statistically significant factor in determining depression in caregivers of stroke patients. Further analysis of the Coping Responses Inventory showed that certain coping style sub-scales played a role in determining depression scores in both patients and caregivers. As patients' scores on the problem-focused sub-scales of Positive Reappraisal and Problem Solving increased, their depression scores decreased. As patients' scores on the emotion-focused sub-scales of Cognitive Avoidance, Acceptance or Resignation and Emotional Discharge increased, their depression scores also increased. Caregiver scores on the problem-focused sub-scales did not indicate a statistically significant relationship with depression scores. As caregiver scores on the emotion-focused sub-scales of Cognitive Avoidance and Acceptance or Resignation increased, however, their depression scores also increased. Results also revealed that patients with lower levels of physical functioning, along with their respective caregivers, had higher depression scores than patients with higher levels of physical functioning and their caregivers. Finally, the results indicated that time since stroke was not a statistically significant factor in determining level of depression following a stroke. Implications for clinical practice are discussed as well as recommendations for further research.

The Problem. The women's movement calls for social change and new options for women in society among these options are career options which women never had before. High school counselors make career suggestions for both male and female counselees. This study attempted to examine if these counselors who agreed with the aims of the women's movement would offer more non-traditional career options for both male and female twelfth grade counselees. Procedures. CPGA's list of names of 839 School Counselors was used to survey the attitude toward the feminist aims. Dempewolff's Feminist Scale--Form A (1972) was used to measure counselor's attitude toward the aims. To obtain the career options offered by counselors, Counselor's Estimate Questionnaire was devised by the researcher. Questionnaires were mailed to all 839 since there was no way to only choose twelfth grade counselors. Data were analyzed using analyses of variance and chi-square. Only counselors who had twelfth grade students were used in this study. Students cumulative grade point average, ethnicity, and career interests were also examined. Findings. Analysis of the data indicated that women counselors tended to support the feminist aims more than male counselors. Support or opposition for the aims did not however influence counselors tendency to offer more non-traditional career options to their counselees. Female counselees more than male counselees expressed a non-traditional career interest. The higher the G.P.A. for both male and female students more non-traditional career interests were expressed. Conclusions. The study supports the hypothesis that women more than men support the aims of the feminist movement. The study did not show that support for the aims of the feminist movement also increased the tendency to offer more non-traditional career options. Twelfth grade female students did show more of a tendency toward a non-traditional career interest. NOTE: The copy held by University of the Pacific library was missing page 111 in the document.