OBJECTIVE OF STUDY: The objective of the study was to examine the quality of interactions occurring between pharmacists and clients, the facilitators and barriers shaping the way pharmacists communicate with clients, and the use of client satisfaction ratings as an outcome measure for pharmacist-client communication. METHODS AND MEASURES: Verbal exchanges between consenting pharmacists (n=100) and clients (n=786) were audio-recorded during four-hour, on-site, observation periods. Clients rated their interaction with the pharmacist using an 11-item Client Satisfaction Rating instrument, while pharmacists completed a questionnaire examining the factors predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing their communication with clients. Subsequent to data collection, an expert panel listened to the audiotapes and rated the quality of the interactions using a 9-item Quality of Communication rating scale. FINDINGS: The mean overall expert rating for the pharmacist-client interactions was 4.0 (out of 7), and represented a "satisfactory" rating. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the predisposing, enabling and reinforcing variables measured in the Pharmacists' Questionnaire accounted for 19% of the variance in pharmacists' technical quality scores. Client satisfaction ratings and expert ratings of communication quality were modestly correlated (r=0.14; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: While the 60% of consultations in this study met or exceeded the mandated communication requirements of pharmacy practice, pharmacists were uniformly weakest in their client assessment skills and in their discussions of medication precautions and non-pharmacologic approaches to symptom management. Most pharmacists in the study reported being highly predisposed to communicating with their clients, but many lacked the reinforcing factors, and to a lesser degree, enabling factors that are considered necessary to sustain quality communication in the workplace. Client satisfaction ratings were positively skewed with little variability, making it difficult to detect a relationship between the expert and client ratings. Reasons why the study was unable to capture more of the variance in its proposed relationships are provided, as well as areas for future research. KEY WORDS: pharmacist-client communication, client satisfaction, quality

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The role of social influences concerning gambling behavior was empirically examined. Children (N = 130) in grades 4 and 6 completed several questionnaires concerning their gambling behavior, risk taking, and locus of control and played a computer-simulated roulette game individually and in groups (same and mixed gender dyads or triads). Results reveal that during individual and group play, males consistently exhibit riskier behavior (higher average wagers) than females and mixed gender groups. However, average wagers of females and mixed gender groupings appear to be most affected by the group condition. All changes resulting from the group condition were generally maintained over a relatively short period of time in the post-test condition. No major developmental changes were noted nor was locus of control found to be a significant mediating factor. The results are interpreted with respect to the importance of the influence of the peer group on children's gambling behavior. Future directions for research are suggested.

In this study of 120 early adolescents (59 girls, 61 boys), 81 of whom were identified as gifted, overall psychosocial maturity (or social-perspective coordination) was measured and related to academic ability and adolescents' perceptions of friendship quality and self-concept. Gifted status, sex, and grade significantly* predicted overall psychosocial maturity in multiple regression analyses. Conversely, as a group, overall social-perspective coordination, perceptions of one's ability to make and keep friends (close friendship self-concept), academic ability, sex, and grade level predicted the overall quality of adolescents' friendships. Being a female, seventh grader, or adolescent not identified as gifted, significantly predicted friendship quality. In addition, higher developmental levels of psychosocial maturity and close friendship self-concept predicted higher levels of friendship quality. Finally, when a measure of interpersonal negotiation strategies in hypothetical situations was entered into the prediction model in place of overall psychosocial competence, it appeared to be a better predictor of friendship quality. Specifically, higher levels of psychosocial competence were associated with higher levels of help, closeness, and lower levels of social comparison in friendship experiences. Likewise, the ability to think of higher levels of negotiation strategies was associated with higher levels of closeness and help, and with lower levels of social comparison and conflict in friendship experiences. / *Throughout the text, the term significance refers to statistical significance, rather than a meaning of importance.

Peer relationships of students with developmental disabilities in self-contained classrooms were investigated. Eighteen boys enrolled in three separate classrooms participated in the study. The mean chronological age of the boys in each class were 6.7, 8, and 7.7 years, and their mean mental ages were 4.6, 5.8. and 6.7 years. Peer relationship measures included sociometric measures such as peer ratings and sociograms and observational measures such as coordinated group activity and dyadic interaction. Spearman rank correlation coefficients were obtained. Peer ratings shared high correlations with cognitive variables such as I.Q., for the middle mental age class. Behavioral variables were correlated to peer ratings for the middle and the highest mental age classes. Dyadic interaction variables were correlated to peer ratings for the lowest and the middle mental age classes. The importance of including observational variables in addition to sociometric variables and the possible effects of group characteristics such as cohesiveness on the variables that determine peer ratings are discussed.

This study first investigated the association between individuals' chronic regulatory styles and their attachment models in adult close relationships, and then looked at how individuals' chronic regulatory styles interact with their attachment models to influence relationship maintenance strategies (RMS) such as accommodating one's partner's transgressions and making personal sacrifices for the relationship. One hundred twenty-one dating-students completed the computerized Selves Questionnaire (Higgins et al., 1997) assessing ideal and ought discrepancies and their chronic accessibility (promotion and prevention focus strength), and then answered questions addressing attachment, accommodation and willingness to sacrifice. Results revealed that ought discrepancies were associated with avoidant attachment for high prevention focus strength individuals, whereas ideal discrepancies were associated with anxious attachment for low promotion focus strength individuals. Furthermore, prevention focus strength interacted with avoidant attachment, such that individuals with a strong prevention focus engaged in RMS to the extent that they were not avoidantly attached.

The present study was designed to examine whether social organization influences children's desire to compete and to achieve valued outcomes in important areas of life. One hundred and fifty-eight participants (71 males and 87 females) from three classes of grade 4 and four classes of grade 6 children participated in this study. Children completed a two-part questionnaire. The first part assessed their desire to play competitive and cooperative versions of an actual game in two types of social organizations, with their one closest friend and with their group of three closest friends. The second part measured children's beliefs about the effect of social organization on the children's achievements in four life domains. For part one, results indicated that children preferred to compete in a group versus a dyad, but the social organization had no effort on the desire to play a cooperative game. For part two, children believed their groups of friends would be happier for them if they were successful in a social situation; however, they believed their one closest friend would be happier for them if they were successful in either an academic or athletic situation. Results are discussed in terms of the educational and therapeutic implications of differing social organizations.

A number of theories have suggested a relation between depression and several cognitive and behavioral variables. The present study investigated how depressed and nondepressed individuals differ in the way they perceive others, and what they remember about others. Depressed and nondepressed college students were selected based on their Beck Depression Inventory scores. Subjects read one of two scenarios. One scenario was a description of a person who received predominantly positive outcomes, the other was a description of a person who received predominantly negative outcomes. Later, subjects were asked to rate the target person on several dimensions, and were asked to recall as much as possible from the scenario. The results suggest that: a) depressed subjects found the negative target as more enjoyable than did the nondepressed subjects; b) depressed subjects found the negative scenario target as more similar to them than nondepressed subjects did, with the reverse occuring for the positive scenario target; and c) depressed subjects recalled more negative intrusions than the nondepressed subjects. / Department of Psychological Science

This thesis explores "reciprocity" as the distinctive feature of human communication. Herein are operational and ontological descriptions of reciprocity in the psychodynamics of the interpersonal, interexperiential communication system that is uniquely operative in human life. The main parts of this study are entitled: (1) The Reciprocal Event, (2) The Intentional Being, and (3) Communication.The operational definition of interhuman communication, about which this thesis revolves, is the five-dimensional Reciprocal Event. Sequentially, these five are as follows: (1) Natural integration of reciprocal endowment and relational uniqueness of persons, (2) Intentional Reciprocity, (3) Consummate Reciprocity, (4) Reciprocal Transformation, and (5) Natural expansion of reciprocal and relational endowments and potentialities. This ReciprocalEvent and its development are unique in the literature of this field. However, the import of this thesis is the crystallization of the research and communication inquiries from the concerned disciplines: psychology, sociology, biology, anthropology and philosophy. From George Herbert Mead and John Dewey to Ronald D. Laing and Carl Rogers, this thesis draws upon major insights since the 1940's--attempting to give them their most salient focus.Finally, this thesis establishes a clear foundation for communications research, therapy, and training.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.