Evaluating DISCOVER's Effectiveness in Enhancing College Students' Social Cognitive Career Development

College students (20 women, 14 men) seeking career counseling services at a university career center participated in this exploratory investigation. A 2 (DISCOVER treatment) × 2 (counseling treatment) research design was used to evaluate the individual and combined effects of DISCOVER (ACT, 1998) and counseling on participants' career decision‐making self‐efficacy and career decision‐making attributional style. Findings revealed a significant effect of the use of DISCOVER on participants' career decision‐making self‐efficacy and their sense of control over the career decision‐making process. Results are discussed regarding the implications for career counseling and ideas for further research in this domain.     

Longitudinal Links between Adolescent and Peer Conduct Problems and Moderation by a Sensitivity Genetic Index

The most extensively studied influence on adolescent conduct problem behaviors is peers, and the literature points to genetics as one source of individual differences in peer influence. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that an environmental sensitivity genetic index comprised of DRD4, 5‐HTTLPR, and GABRA2 variation would moderate the association between peer and adolescent conduct problems. Latent growth modeling was applied to PROSPER project longitudinal data from adolescents and their peers. Results showed the hypothesis was supported; adolescents with more copies of putative sensitivity alleles were more strongly influenced by their peers. The interaction form was consistent with differential susceptibility in follow‐up analyses. Strengths and weaknesses of genetic aggregates for sensitivity research are discussed.     

Couple and family interventions in health problems

Intervention research for couples and families managing chronic health problems is in an early developmental stage. We reviewed randomized clinical trials of family interventions for common neurological diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes, which is similar to the content of previous reviews discussed later. One overriding theme of these studies is that patients with chronic illnesses and their families face a variety of challenges to which researchers have responded with an array of treatment modalities. Very few of the interventions reviewed, with the exception of treatment for adolescents with diabetes, tested family psychotherapy models. Most interventions were time-limited therapeutic interventions that trained families to improve their communication and problem-solving skills, individual and family coping skills, and medical management. Researchers more clearly described mechanisms of change in intervention studies with cancer and diabetes than with other diseases, and not surprisingly, they found greater empirical support for their interventions. Family interventions show promise to help patients and family members manage chronic illnesses. To develop an empirical base for family approaches to managing chronic illnesses, interventions must be based on theories that delineate mechanisms of change in family processes and skills in medical management necessary to maintain patients' and family members' health.     

Romantic Partners' Contribution to the Continuity of Male and Female Delinquent and Violent Behavior

Using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study examined males' and females' criminality in young adulthood with models that considered the associations of both their own past delinquency and their current partners' criminality. Specific models considered the main effects of both previous adolescent delinquency and violence and current opposite sex romantic partners' criminality and violence, as well as the interaction of these with each other and by sex of primary participant. Main effects for adolescent delinquency and partners' criminality were significant; however, the results of the interactions by sex suggest different patterns of results for males and females. Models run separately by sex showed that having a prior delinquent history predicted adult criminality for males but not for females, while being in a relationship with a criminal partner increased the odds of criminal behavior in young adulthood for both males and females. A different pattern of results was found for violence in young adulthood. Having a prior violent history predicted adult violence for males and females. However, being in a relationship with a violent partner increased the odds of violent behavior for females only.     

The Continued Importance of Quality Parent–Adolescent Relationships During Late Adolescence

The quality of adolescents' relationships with residential parents has been found to predict many different health and behavioral youth outcomes; strong associations have also been found between these outcomes and family processes, and between relationship quality and family processes. Data from Rounds 1–5 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 were used to examine hypotheses about the influence of the parent–adolescent relationship on subsequent adolescent mental well‐being and delinquency, as mediated by family processes. Using structural equation modeling, we found that the influence of a positive residential parent–adolescent relationship on better mental well‐being and fewer delinquency was entirely mediated by family routines, parental monitoring, and parental supportiveness, net of sociodemographic controls.     

Attributional Retraining Increases Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy

This study examined whether 60 college students (41 women and 19 men), grouped according to their career locus of control, were differentially affected by a videotaped career intervention. The intervention was an attributional retraining procedure designed to persuade students to attribute low levels of confidence in making career decisions and career-related failures to a lack of effort. Results indicated that the career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) of students who initially exhibited an external career locus of control significantly increased after the attributional retraining procedure (p < .05), whereas the students who initially exhibited an internal career locus of control demonstrated no significant increase in CDMSE after attributional retraining.     

A genetic algorithm tutorial

This tutorial covers the canonical genetic algorithm as well as more experimental forms of genetic algorithms, including parallel island models and parallel cellular genetic algorithms. The tutorial also illustrates genetic search by hyperplane sampling. The theoretical foundations of genetic algorithms are reviewed, include the schema theorem as well as recently developed exact models of the canonical genetic algorithm.     

Graphical Methods for Data Presentation: Full Scale Breaks,Dot Charts,and Multibased Logging

Experimentation with graphical methods for data presentation is important for improving graphical communication in science. Several methods—full scale breaks, dot charts, and multibased logging—are discussed. Full scale breaks are suggested as replacements for partial scale breaks, since partial breaks can fail to provide a forceful visual indication of a change in the scale. Dot charts show data that have labels and are replacements for bar charts; the new charts can be used in a wider variety of circumstances and allow more effective visual decoding of the quantitative information. Logarithms are powerful tools for data presentation; base 2 or base e is often more effective than the commonly used base 10.