DIFFERENTIAL ASSESSMENT OF FINANCIAL AND RELATIONSHIP DISTRESS: IMPLICATIONS FOR COUPLES THERAPY

The study examined the role of financial conflicts, problem-solving communication deficits, and global relationship distress among couples in marital therapy and couples seeking assistance at a nonprofit agency providing financial counseling services. Analyses comparing these two groups of couples with each other and with a third group of couples from the general community yielded a two-component model for differential assessment and intervention with couples experiencing financial concerns. Differences in findings for husbands and wives provided additional implications for effective interventions with these couples.     

Why are teenagers in the United States less likely to breast-feed than older women?

Teenage mothers are much less likely than older mothers to breastfeed their infants. The lower breastfeeding rate among teenagers aged 16-19, compared with women aged 20-29, is due almost entirely to the fact that teenage mothers tend to have characteristics associated with a lower likelihood of breastfeeding among all women, such as lower educational level, lower income, and being unmarried. Even so, nearly 40% of the difference between teenage mothers aged 15 or less and mothers aged 20-29 remains unexplained by these factors and may be due to developmental aspects of adolescence, such as greater egocentricity and greater concern about body image.     

Staying well. Factors contributing to successful community adaptation

1. Friends were rated as the most important factor in assisting former psychiatric patients to avoid rehospitalization. 2. When respondents were asked to comment on rehospitalization in their own words, the most frequent responses dealt with factors related to keeping active, developing a healthy lifestyle and positive self-image, and accepting their illness. 3. Self-help groups, community health workers, and community nurses were rated as the least beneficial in preventing rehospitalization.     

Defining terms in behavior analysis: Reinforcer and discriminative stimulus

Many definitions of reinforcer and discriminative stimulus found in behavioral texts include a requirement of temporal proximity between stimulus and response. However, this requirement is not consistently adopted. We present additional evidence from a questionnaire that was sent to members of the editorial boards of several behavioral journals showing that there is not universal agreement concerning the temporal parameters accepted in the definitions of reinforcer and discriminative stimulus. We suggest that the disagreement over the definitions of these essential terms ought to be at least addressed if not resolved. Because the discrepancy usually occurs when the behavior of verbal humans is at issue, we urge behavior analysts to be conservative when extending the terms reinforcer and discriminative stimulus from the behavior of nonhumans in the laboratory to human behavior where the effects of many stimuli may depend in part on sophisticated verbal repertoires.

     

Predictors of Student and Career Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy Among Nontraditional College Women

A study of 354 nontraditional college women found robust levels of confidence in their ability to manage the student role and pursue career‐related tasks. Findings indicated that perceived career barriers and social support accounted for variance in student and career decision‐making self‐efficacy for nontraditional college women with and without children. Social support added to the prediction of self‐efficacy over and above the contribution of perceived barriers. The discussion focuses on recommendations for career counseling interventions to facilitate educational and vocational success among nontraditional college women.     

The Family Life Cycle and Clinical Intervention*

With an aim toward encouraging more precise identification and treatment of familial dysfunction, the authors suggest combining the principles of first and second order change (Watzlawick, Weakland, and Fisch, 1974) with the concept of the family life cycle (Duvall, 1971). A theoretical discussion is followed by clinical case examples.     

Clinical trends on tendinitis

Tendinitis has dramatically risen over the last few years. Some instances of tendinitis are resistant to traditional management aimed at decreasing the inflammatory process leaving clinicians to wonder whether or not they are truly dealing with an inflammatory condition. An understanding is essential for the appropriate clinical management of tendon disorders. The focus of this article will be to review tendon injuries, their healing, and to present an illustrative case treated successfully with an innovative form of treatment.     

Female domestic violence offenders: their attachment security, trauma symptoms, and personality organization

Unlike male domestic violence offenders, female domestic violence offenders have traditionally been overlooked in research and theory, despite the fact that females also have high rates of domestic violence perpetration. Towards the aim of extending extant research on male and female pepetrators of domestic violence, we examined attachment style, trauma symptoms, and personality organization in 33 female offenders receiving mandated treatment for domestic violence. These offenders were compared to 32 nonoffending women receiving psychological treatment. The Experiences in Close Relationships Revised (ECR-Revised) was used to examine adult attachment, the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) was used to examine trauma symptomology, and finally, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III (MCMI-III) was used to examine cluster B personality traits. Analyses indicated that female domestic violence offenders reported less attachment security, more trauma-related symptoms, and more personality psychopathology (Antisocial, Borderline, and Dependent Subscales) than did nonoffender clinical comparison women.