Clarified efficacy of psychological treatments for insomnia through a meta-analysis of 66 outcome studies representing 139 treatment groups. Psychological treatments produced considerable enhancement of both sleep patterns and the subjective experience of sleep. Participants who were clinically referred and who did not regularly use sedatives…

Girls who had been sexually abused (n=68) or had alleged being sexually abused (n=68) exhibited sleep problems, fearfulness, emotional and behavioral changes, concentration problems, and sexual curiosity and knowledge. Girls known to have been abused were more self-conscious, fearful of being left alone, and had more nightmares than the allegedly…

Of 100 child psychiatric inpatients (ages 6-12), those who reported externalizing their anger rated their families significantly lower on accord and reported poorer social support, whereas children who reported holding in their anger rated their families higher on pride and cohesiveness and reported more available social support. (Author/JDD)

Examines from an existential view the development of abstract thought in adolescents and the conflicts arising from its process. Proposes an existential model that views various types of adolescent behavior as the manifestation of the adolescent's defense mechanisms developed in response to existential conflict; presents specific examples of…

Examined quantitative evidence of an intellectual growth spurt during early adolescence by combining modern psychometric modeling, computerized testing with the Raven progressive matrices, and longitudinal socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. Found that gender difference was not significant. Notes the impact of this evidence on educational…

Theorizes that workplace sexual harassment results from the complex interplay of ambivalent motives and gender stereotyping of women and jobs. It argues that ambivalence combines hostile and "benevolent" sexist motives based on paternalism, gender differentiation, and heterosexuality and that organizational context can encourage or discourage the…

Discusses the importance of improving the relationship between content and student motivation, underscoring the problems, purposes, and possibilities for creating a connection between the two. After reviewing psychological implications that influence learning processes, the paper discusses schools' intended purposes and presents practical…

Managing the psychological depth of responses to adventure activities calls for the leader to attend to own language and language of group participants. Describes eight levels of psychological depth occurring during group discussion and interaction. Addresses the need to stay at or above the agreed-upon level and avoid moving into psychotherapy.…

Assessed 215 children's relatedness to their teachers. Children were 7 to 13 years old, and 115 of them had received social services related to maltreatment. Five patterns of relatedness to teachers were identified. Maltreated children were less likely than nonmaltreated children to display optimal patterns of relatedness to teachers. (BC)

This study of psychosocial well-being among 172 Australian parents of children with autism found that fathers and those parents receiving more social support had lower scores of depression, anxiety, and anger. Age of symptom onset was related to depression but not to anxiety and anger. No relationship was found between coping behaviors and…

This study found that, compared to nonmaltreated children, 19 children (ages 8-13) who had been physically and emotionally abused by their parents showed greater depressive symptomatology, including feelings of sadness, lower self-esteem and self-worth, and perceived lack of control over aversive events (helplessness). (Author/JDD)

Describes journal issue's framework and invited articles. Presents transactional approach to environmental stress, identifying and taxonomizing multilevel positive and negative outcomes experienced by elderly rural town residents. Describes contextual taxonomy, offering possible outcomes and relevance to other issues for rural psychologists and…

A study of psychological and academic adjustments of 130 adopted children of 6 to 12 years of age living in 5 different family constellations showed few significant differences from 1 family cluster to another. These results suggest that family structure plays a minor role in adjustment to adoption. (Author/BB)

A study of 175 Jefferson Medical College (Pennsylvania) students compared psychosocial characteristics with basic science examination grades, clinical examination grades, and ratings of clinical competence as performance measures. Results indicate the noncognitive psychosocial measures are significant and unique predictors of medical school…

Among 110 Mexican-American adolescents with varying drug use histories, self-reported physical health problems were not related to inhalant use history, but blood analyses indicated a relationship between extensive inhalant use and liver problems. Psychological distress symptoms were related to inhalant use and physical symptoms. Contains 23…