The self-concept and quality of friendship of 40 adolescents with visual impairments (20 in public schools and 20 in a residential school) were compared to those of 41 sighted adolescents. The findings indicate a similar self-concept profile for sighted adolescents and adolescents with visual impairments, although the scores of the participants…

The developmental challenges of gay and lesbian youth are well understood by professionals in the field. Increasingly, professionals are extending this understanding to the plight of gay and lesbian youth living in out-of-home care. Such youth face additional challenges and a lack of support that greatly complicates the development of a positive…

Every two hours and 15 minutes in the United States, a person who is under the age of 25 years old completes a suicide. As such, everyone must be on the watch for the signs of adolescent suicide, and everyone must know how to respond when they come face to face with it. All must confront this epidemic and provide space within schools for students…

Student education records are official and confidential documents that are protected by one of the nation's strongest privacy-protection laws, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA, also known as the Buckley Amendment, defines education records as all records that schools or education agencies maintain about students. FERPA…

Group counseling presents counselors with an increasing complexity of issues. This collection of papers addresses a range of current issues and perspectives for group counselors. The first article examines self disclosure, particularly the effects of counselor self-disclosure on the therapeutic relationship in group counseling. Clinical…

It has been observed that more and more clients have emphasized the need for intimacy and trust in their long-term relationships, yet they do not always know how to go about establishing these traits. This book was designed for counselors who have recognized similar needs in their own clientele and who wish to help people improve their…

This study examined the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in University of Pennsylvania v. EEOC as it applies to tenure/promotion practices and the disclosure of peer evaluation information. The 1990 decision ordered the university to turn over confidential tenure files to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) pursuant…

The process of selecting college presidents is discussed. It is suggested that the selection is affected by the conflict between privacy and publicity, a balance that differs among different kinds of institutions: a relatively closed search because of religious affiliation or dogma for a private college versus the requirements established for…

Boundary breakers, the modern term for "icebreakers," tear down barriers that sometimes form within student groups and organizations, and offer a low-risk way for group members to become better acquainted. This document is a "hands on" booklet that covers such boundary-breaking activities as "Send a Letter,""The Lap Game,""One-Minute Interview,"…

As the issue of information privacy increases in complexity in terms of the number of organizations involved, the intricacy of the information flows, and the difficulty of conceiving appropriate legal safeguards, it is not certain that the practices and laws that have been developed for current privacy protection can work for new situations.…

In order to examine the implementation of the Privacy Act of 1974 by federal government agencies, the General Accounting Office (GAO) examined organizational issues at 13 cabinet-level departments and the Veterans Administration and reviewed Privacy Act operations in detail at 6 of these agencies and 37 of their components. This study focused on…

This report presents findings of research regarding extant privileged communication statutes in the 50 states for selected helping professionals: psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists/counselors, school counselors, and licensed professional counselors. Data are reported regarding the extent to which each of these…

Although self-disclosure is generally considered to be an essential ingredient of existential approaches to counseling, the concept itself is not well-defined and its effects on counseling process and outcome have not been clearly documented. This study examined the potential effects of self-disclosure in a clinical setting. Sixty male college…

This study explored adolescent age and gender differences in patterns of emotional self-disclosure to parents and friends. An additional purpose was to describe how familial and individual developmental characteristics influence patterns of adolescent emotional disclosure. The sample consisted of 174 junior high school students between 12 and 15…

Concerned with providing managerial assessment centers with oral communication criteria against which communication apprehension may be measured, the convergent validity of the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension--Organization Form (PRCA-OF) was tested against 23 raters' scores in five one-day developmental assessment centers. The…