This study utilized a disproportionate stratified random sample of 161 students (22 schools) identified as gifted according to Louisiana guidelines. The underachieving and achieving groups were each divided into a latency-aged group and an adolescent group, allowing for a four group design. Each student was administered a self-perception profile which assessed perceived competence in five specific domains in addition to a general self-worth domain. It was hypothesized that underachievers as a whole would report lower perceptions of scholastic competence, social acceptance, behavioral conduct, and general self-worth. The data supported this hypothesis. Additionally, it was hypothesized that adolescent underachievers would report significantly higher perceptions of social acceptance than would latency underachievers. Although the data did not support this hypothesis, it did reveal differences between the two latency groups with regard to perceptions of social acceptance. This study suggests that, among the gifted population, high achievement during latency is associated with higher perceptions of social acceptance / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

This research was an exploratory study into the attitudes and models about mental illness held by social workers employed in fourteen mental health settings located throughout the greater metropolitan areas of New Orleans, Louisiana The purposes of this study were: (1) to identify and describe the attitudes and models about mental illness held by social workers, (2) to study the relationship between attitudes and selected demographic variables; and (3) to investigate the relationship between attitudes toward mental illness and models held by social workers about mental illness Data were collected from 95 social workers who worked directly with mental patients and were employed in public, private and university related mental health settings. The study was conducted over a consecutive twelve week period beginning March and ending June 1979 Three instruments were used in the study to collect the data: (1) a fifty-one item questionnaire, Opinions about Mental Illness (OMI), developed by Cohen and Struening (1963) to measure attitudes toward mental illness; (2) a twenty-four item questionnaire developed by the investigator and derived from the work of Siegler and Osmond (1974) to study models of mental illness; and (3) a six item questionnaire designed to measure selected demographic information of the subjects. Attitudes were studied in terms of the positive attitudinal factors of Benevolence, Mental Hygiene Ideology, and Interpersonal Etiology and the negative attitudinal factors of Authoritarianism and Social Restrictiveness. Models of mental illness were studied in terms of the continuous (Psychoanalytic, Social, Conspiratorial, Psychedelic, and Family Interaction) models and the discontinuous (Medical, Moral, and Impaired) models Mean scores and analysis of variance were used in describing and analyzing the data. In addition, Kendall's tau correlation coefficients were computed for relevant pairs of variables In this exploratory study several major findings were cited. In regards to attitudes, the social workers agreed more with the positive attitudes than the negative attitudes toward mental illness. In studying the relationship between attitudes and demographic variables, the findings varied. While age and education were not significantly related to any of the five attitudes, the demographic variable of years of service in an agency was found to be strongly correlated to the negative attitudinal factor of Social Restrictiveness. In terms of models, the social workers agreed slightly more with the continuous models than the discontinuous models The findings also indicated that the study of attitudes and models about mental illness held by social workers is a complicated issue that involves many unknown factors and deserves more extensive research. Recommendations for additional research projects were made / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

This study compared the effects of race, socioeconomic status, and marital status on a family's relationship with their extended family. A purposive sample was obtained from families of elementary school children in New Orleans Public Schools. Sixty-eight families representing combinations of black, white, working, middle, single, and married families were interviewed in February and March of 1987 using a scale which elicited detailed information about contact and assistance An analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and regression analysis were used to determine the effect of the predictor variables. Distance from the extended family was the variable that accounted for the appearance that black and working class families had more contact with their extended families than white and middle class families. When distance was controlled the difference in amount of contact was not statistically significant. Single families were not found to have higher rates of contact and assistance than their married counterparts / acase@tulane.edu

The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the relative effectiveness of two types of child-caring facilities, mediatory institutions and group homes, in order to establish a basis for determining the differential use of these programs in the continuum of care. A nonequivalent control group design was used to compare the effects of these two residential settings on the remediation of behavior control and socialization problems for sixty adolescents in nine group homes and five institutions in Louisiana. Goal Attainment Scaling was employed as the measurement of effectiveness It was hypothesized that group homes would be more effective than institutions in modifying behavior control problems while the converse would be true for socialization problems. Although subjects did demonstrate significant progress in goal attainment, no outcome differences were observed between groups. Several factors--disposition after termination, length of stay, and the reasons for placement and termination--did significantly affect treatment outcomes. The structural and functional equivalency of group homes and institutions contributed to the lack of outcome differences. Three factors--race, gender, and socioeconomic status--determined residents' placement regardless of other factors that would indicate that another type of facility was more appropriate / acase@tulane.edu