In 1980 Jackson and Knowles presented a paper at the Australian Group for the Study of Mental Deficiency [A.G.S.O.M.D.] conference in Launceston, Tasmania. The paper, titled "Primary School Children's Perceptions and Understandings of Mental Retardation", reported in detail responses on twenty questions from the sixty-three item questionnaire instrument used in their study. These twenty questions reflected stereotyped responses of an alarming nature. If these responses were a reflection of how Australian children generally thought, then integration of the intellectually handicapped child into mainstream classes would be counter productive. The current study was initiated to help assess the attitudes of Australian Capital Territory children to the Intellectually Handicapped. The twenty significant questions from the Tasmanian study were formed into a questionnaire and administered to 769 children in Years 3 and 6 from six Government and two Catholic schools in the Australian Capital Territory. In most cases the results were in direct contrast to those obtained in Tasmania. At first glance this meant that the attitudes of Australian Capital Territory children towards the Intellectually Handicapped were much less stereotyped than those of Tasmanian children. Further investigation, however, led to the discovery that the results from the Tasmanian study were spurious. The date had not been accurately computerized, giving a result that was probably the reverse of what Tasmanian children actually thought. Four supplementary hypotheses, comparing the responses of Years 3 and 6 girls and boys, Government and Private schools, exposed and unexposed schools, were tested. The analysis of the data for these hypotheses supported, to some degree, past findings that older children and girls have less stereotyped attitudes towards the Intellectually Handicapped than younger children and boys. The responses of Government schools versus Private schools were varied. Three of the five significantly different responses indicated a less stereotyped view was held by Government school children, while two of these significant questions indicated a less stereotyped view was held by Private school children. With regard to exposed and unexposed schools, the two significantly different responses indicated less stereotyped views were held by the nonexposed children. Future directions are indicated in the sections dealing with Limitations and Future Directions.

African American women living in the U.S. face immense challenges to protect themselves from HIV infection. One in every 32 African American women is diagnosed with the disease and heterosexual contact is the primary mode of transmission. A better understanding of the African American woman’s beliefs and decisions related to safe sex practices can give direction to strategies to promote safer sexual behaviors. The purpose of this study was to explore the association of the African American woman’s attitudinal beliefs, normative beliefs, and relationship control beliefs with self-reported sexual behaviors. The Theory of Planned Behavior served as the study’s theoretical framework, supporting the premise beliefs are precursors to explanations and understanding human behavior. Using a cross-sectional, correlational design, a convenience sample of 95 African American women from the southeastern United States was obtained. Results confirmed a statistically significant 1) positive relationship between gender role beliefs and relationship power, (r = 0.354, p < .001); 2) negative relationship between gender ratio imbalance beliefs and relationship power, (r = -0.472, p < 0.001); 3) positive association between relationship power and avoidance of risky sexual behavior, (r = 0.340, p = 0.001); 4) negative correlation between gender ratio imbalance beliefs and risky sexual behaviors, (r = -0.235, p = 0.022); and 5) positive correlation between safer sexual behavior and peer perceptions of safer sex behaviors, (r = 0.475, p < 0.001). Results from a stepwise multiple regression indicated that relationship power (p = 0.001) and peer perception (p < 0.001) were significant predictors of sexual behavior, accounting for 31% (p < 0.001) of the variance.

To explore attributions about chronically ill peers, 545 older adolescents ages 17-26 read a short vignette describing a brief social encounter with a hypothetical peer suffering from a medical condition, and then responded to a series of questionnaires to assess their perceptions of that peer. Nine measures intended to assess perceptions of ill peers were developed and empirically validated. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency was moderate to good for all measures. Component structure of the Peer Acceptance Questionnaire (PAQ), Peer Acceptance Questionnaire ?? 3rd Person (PAQ-F), and Perceived Similarity Questionnaire (PSQ) were also evaluated. Principal components analysis yielded a 2-factor structure of Openness and Egalitarianism for both the PAQ and PAQ-F. A 6-factor structure of (a) Familial/Spiritual, (b) General Health, (c) Social, (d) Behavioral, (e) Physical, and (f) Educational was suggested for the PSQ. Results indicated an interaction between illness type and behavior on acceptance ratings, such that behavior potentiated the effect of illness type on acceptance. In addition, vignette characters with contagious illnesses were rated less favorably than those with noncontagious illnesses, and vignette characters displaying typical behavior were rated more favorably than either withdrawn or aggressive vignette characters. Illness-specific knowledge, ratings of perceived similarity, and ratings of assigned blame predicted acceptance ratings, whereas illness-specific knowledge and acceptance ratings predicted ratings of assigned blame. Finally, significant differences were observed between first- and third-person ratings of both acceptance and assigned blame.