Gaze in married couples

This study examined the looking behavior of married couples during a 10 minute interaction segment. The variables examined included marital adjustment level, interaction role (speaking or listening) and type of message. Wives were more likely to look at their spouses than husbands were, and speakers were more likely to look at their partners than were listeners. While high marital adjustment spouses looked less over all types of mesages, low marital adjustment spouses particularly looked more than the highs on negative messages, suggesting either a confrontation component to the looking, or a strong need to monitor the partner's reactions in such situations. There was also evidence of more displayed competitiveness in the low marital adjustment couples. Correlational analyses revealed that there were different relationships between the looking behavior of the speaking spouse and the looking behavior of the listening spouse, and between the spouses' patterns of looking when speaking or listening and that these differences were dependent on marital adjustment level.     

Generality of observational skill across verbal and nonverbal modes: Literature review and experimental test

The resurgence of interest in observational skills and in the generality or specificity of those skills is credited to recent research on individual differences in abilities to decode nonverbal messages. The issues involved in identifying general and specific factors of accuracy are traced to developments in earlier research on observation and to events that shaped contemporary negativism toward observers. An experiment on observational generality, across two different observational settings and three types of observational cues illustrates how easily either bias — toward generality or specificity of skills — can be demonstrated.     

Mexican/Mexican American Adolescents and keepin' it REAL: An Evidence-Based Substance Use Prevention Program

A randomized trial tested the efficacy of three curriculum versions teaching drug resistance strategies, one modeled on Mexican American culture; another modeled on European American and African American culture; and a multicultural version. Self-report data at baseline and 14 months post-intervention were obtained from 3, 402 Mexican heritage students in 35 Arizona middle schools, including 11 control sites. Tests for intervention effects used simultaneous regression models, multiple imputation of missing data, and adjustments for random effects. Compared with controls, students in the Latino version reported less overall substance use and marijuana use, stronger intentions to refuse substances, greater confidence they could do so, and lower estimates of substance-using peers. Students in the multicultural version reported less alcohol, marijuana, and overall substance use. Although program effects were confined to the Latino and multicultural versions, tests of their relative efficacy compared with the non-Latino version found no significant differences. Implications for evidence-based practice and prevention program designs are discussed, including the role of school social workers in culturally grounded prevention.     

Early Indicators of Male Reproductive Toxicity

Longitudinal data were analyzed for seminal characteristics of rhesus monkeys and beagles. The monkeys were exposed to DBCP; the beagles were exposed to acute or chronic whole body gamma irradiation. The semen was analyzed for volume and sperm concentration. Sperm were measured for percent motility, swimming speed, and head dimensions. Abnormalities of the sperm tail were also noted. All treatments resulted in measurable effects on the semen parameters. Sperm production, as evaluated by seminal sperm concentration or total sperm numbers in the ejaculate, was as informative of testicular toxicity as any other parameter or combination of parameters. A consistent finding was that changes in sperm output occurred concomitantly with changes in sperm motility.