Content scaling of affect in adolescent speech samples

Data are reported which extend the applicability of the Gottschalk-Gleser scales for the content analysis of speech samples to adolescents. The data were gathered on 112 youngsters aged 11–18 stratified by age, race, and sex in a balanced design. Girls had higher Anxiety scores and relatively lower scores on Hostility Directed Inward, Ambivalent Hostility, and Social Alienation and Personal Disorganization than did boys. Blacks spoke less words and expressed more Overt Hostility Outward than did Whites. These latter scores increased with age, as did Hostility Directed Inward. The affect scores for this normative group are also compared to those for normal adults and to an adolescent clinic and a juvenile delinquent population. Correlations with three paper-and-pencil inventories (Adolescent Life Assessment Checklist, Defense Mechanisms Inventory, and Rotter I-E scale) are presented.This study was partially funded by The Adolescent Clinic, Inc., Joseph Rauh, M.D., Director, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from Washington University, St. Louis; received a Foundations Fund for Research in Psychiatry interdisciplinary research-teaching grant, 1959–1965. Current research interests include test development, evaluation, and personality research.and a licensed psychologist with the State of Ohio. Received her M.A. from the University of Cincinnati. Current research interests include verbal behavior, psychotherapeutic efficacy, and dream research.Received her M.D. from Medical College of Georgia at Augusta; interned at Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago. Current research interests include stress, coping, and adaptation in children and adolescents.     

An attempt to detect “pregnancy susceptibility” in indigent adolescent girls

Programs for widespread dissemination of birth control information and devices among adolescents are subject to strong resistance from many groups and may be ineffective anyway. An alternative approach to reducing the alarming frequency of unplanned pregnancy among unmarried adolescents might be group or individual counseling for those most susceptible, to unplanned pregnancies. Accurate identification would be necessary to implement this alternative. Developed in this paper is an inferential strategy for identifying in well-defined groups unmarried adolescents who seem susceptible. When carefully evaluated, an inferential strategy, based, on several concepts from Bayesian inference theory, appears remarkably accurate as a means of identification. Besides specific predicReceived her M. A. in education and Ph.D. in psychology at University of Houston. Main interest was adult development. Deceased in 1971.Received his M.D. from Baylor Pediatric internship and residency at University of Michigan Hospital. Main interest is adult development.Received his Ph.D. in psychology at Ohio State University. Main interest is probability (decision) theory.Received her Ph.D. in educational psychology at University of Texas in Austin. Main interest is adult development.Received from M.D. Johns Hopkins, School of Medicine. Main interest is obstetrics and gynecology.Received her M.A. in English at Southern Methodist University. Main interest is research communications.     

Gorbachev’s “new directions” in Asia

The Gorbachev regime has made a dramatic attempt to alter the political environment for Soviet policy in Asia and to shift regional perceptions in its favor. As elsewhere, the major components, of this new approach are the downplaying of the utility of military instruments of power, an emphasis on the peaceful resolution of regional disputes, a deemphasizing of the role of ideology, and a stepped-up effort to pursue relations with regional states through traditional diplomacy. The various elements of “new thinking” as qpplied to Asia have contributed to improved Soviet relations with China, South Korea, and several non-Communist states of Southeast Asia, and created an opportunity for improved relations with Japan. Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl is a senior analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency and co-author ofThe Soviets and the Third World Under Gorbachev, (Westview Press, forthcoming).     

False or fitting recognition? The use of high performance bonuses in motivating organizational achievements

This research undertakes a theoretical and empirical examination of (high performance bonus) systems in government, that is, incentive payments awarded by the federal government to state organizations or statewide programs to motivate and recognize high performance achievements. The paper draws from a multidisciplinary literature on incentives in organizations to first derive implications for the design and implementation of high performance bonus systems. An empirical analysis of the Workforce Investment Act performance bonus system and its effectiveness in recognizing and rewarding performance follows. The results of the theoretical and empirical investigation suggest that high performance bonus systems are more likely to encourage misrepresentation of performance and other strategic behaviors than to recognize and motivate exceptional performance or performance improvements. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

The Transformation of Labor Party Immigration Policy, 1901–1945

ABSTRACT

The Commonwealth Labor government’s introduction of a program of mass immigration after the Second World War was a pivotal moment in the nation’s history. The program itself and the experiences of those who settled in Australia have been studied closely by historians and social scientists. Less attention has been given to the fact that the postwar policy represented a transformation of Labor’s traditional attitude to immigration. Since its foundation in the 1890s, the Australian Labor Party had been suspicious of immigration and opposed to programs of assisted immigration on the basis that migrant labour threatened the wages and conditions of Australian workers. This article traces Labor’s attitudes to migration before the Second World War and shows how economic and security exigencies compelled the party to repudiate its decades-long opposition to assisted immigration. The article suggests that the reason that the postwar immigration program does not receive greater prominence in histories of the Labor Party is because the policy and its chief architect, Arthur Calwell, are diminished by their association with the White Australia policy.     

Compensation System Experience at 12 Months After Road or Workplace Injury in Victoria,Australia

Seeking or receiving compensation after injury is frequently associated with poor recovery. Previous research has shown that the stressful nature of compensation procedures and perceived injustice may cause secondary harm. This study examined compensation system experiences in compensation claimants in Victoria, Australia, and explored the relationship between these experiences and injury outcomes. One hundred and sixty compensable patients (120 male, 75.0 %) aged 18–67 years (M?=?43.01, SD?=?14.31), hospitalized for an injury in a motor vehicle crash (n?=?137) or at work (n?=?23), participated. Participants completed questionnaires about compensation system experience, pain, and psychological symptoms 12 months after injury. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the compensation system experience items revealed three components explaining 66.64 % of the variance in compensation experience: (1) “negative procedural experience” (47.29 %), (2) “compensation supported recovery” (10.43 %), and (3) “positive procedural experience” (8.92 %). Worse experience on all components was associated with worse pain (severity, interference, catastrophizing, disability) and psychological symptoms (anxiety, depression, PTSD, perceived injustice). Compensation system experience reflected both negative and positive procedural factors, and feeling supported through recovery. Most participants reported having positive experiences; however, those who were frustrated or stressed from compensation procedures had worse pain and psychological health outcomes. While this association is likely to be bidirectional with “non-recovery” also impacting on compensation experience appraisals, compensation schemes should nonetheless address modifiable sources of procedural injustice (e.g., arduous paperwork and approvals processes) and reinforce procedures that generate perceptions of support (e.g., timely and appropriate access to health services).