Psychological adjustment of adolescents with myelodysplasia

The psychosocial development of 20 adolescents with congenital paralysis due to myelodysplasia is compared to 20 age- and gender-matched subjects with no physical handicap. On many of the measures the myelodysplasia group showed poorer adjustment and lower self-esteem than the controls. Consistent with hypotheses regarding adjustment during adolescence the paralyzed males did show greater concern on Offer's scales of Body and Self-Image and External Mastery and showed poorer adjustment on his Sexual Attitudes Scale. The paralyzed girls, particularly those 13 years or younger, showed the poorest emotional adjustment with a significant variability in responses on many of the tests. This degree of variability may indicate a lack of integration of self-concepts and is consistent with an emotional immaturity discordant with advanced physiologic maturation of these girls.This study was supported in part by the National Foundation-March of Dimes.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1959. Main interests are adolescent development, personality, and evaluative research.Received her M.D. from the University of Rochester, New York, in 1953 and her pediatrics training at Children's Hospital, Los Angeles. Main interests are comprehensive care of patients with birth defects; research and management of hydrocephalus.Received her M.D. from McGill University in 1968 and her pediatric training at University of Washington, Seattle. Main interest is care of children with handicapping conditions, with emphasis on communication problems of the hearing impaired.     

Survival in the ‘master's house’: The role of graduate teaching assistants in effecting curriculum change

Since graduate teaching assistants administer most core courses at U.S. universities (and hence reach the majority of the undergraduate population), their potential for effecting political change is immense. This potential has too often been ignored. This paper suggests ways teaching assistants can organize and work towards bringing feminist perspectives into core courses in a way that complements the efforts of Women's Studies and that circumvents the current problem of decreased funding for the administration of new programs.     

Overcoming the problems of variable interaction: Notes regarding empirical and conceptual issues in innovation theory building

Innovation research has been characterized by findings which are either considered unstable or inconsistent. This article addresses some of the methodological issues that arise when one attempts to test interactive models of innovation, describes how one particular algorithm — AID-3 — can be used to refine the use of general linear models, and proposes a research strategy based on a building mode of innovation theory. As such it functions as a “how to” for those interested in designing innovation studies and also as a theoretical piece aimed at re-organizing the goals and outputs of innovation research.     

Infanticide: is its incidence among postneonatal infant deaths increasing?: an 18-year population-based analysis in California

The decline in the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and recent recommendations regarding the differentiation of SIDS and child abuse has generated speculation that some cases of infanticide were misdiagnosed as SIDS. The aims of this study were to determine the change in incidences and proportions of postneonatal deaths from all causes, SIDS, and infanticide in California over an 18-year interval encompassing years before and after the Back to Sleep campaign. Selected postneonatal mortality data from 1981 through 1998 obtained from the California Department of Health Services were analyzed and graphically displayed. The total postneonatal mortality and incidence of SIDS deaths per 100,000 live births decreased 45% and 66%, respectively, during the study interval; the incidence of infanticide remained low. The ratio of infanticide to SIDS increased from 4.3 per 100 in 1981 to 10.2 per 100 in 1998. Infanticide deaths, as a percentage of the total number of postneonatal deaths, increased slightly from the first to the second half of the study interval but never rose above 3.2%. It is concluded that this increased percentage is due to a decrease in SIDS deaths and not to an actual increase in infanticide deaths.