This report presents the highlights of research activities conducted in 1980 by the Office of Communication Research (OCR), whose job it is to serve the information needs of five distinct entities: the United States Congress, national public broadcasting agencies, local public radio and television stations across the country, decision-making…

In a longitudinal study of precursors of drug usage, data collected in 1968 on health variables was related to substance usage patterns obtained in 1975-76. Some 657 young Puerto Ricans were interviewed for this study, drawn from a pool of about 5,000 questionnaired in 1968. The major findings were that the health factors associated with drug…

A role-sharing marriage is one in which the husband and wife share equally the rights and responsibilities traditionally assigned to one or the other sex as part of their ideal family role, in the areas of breadwinning, decisionmaking, and domestic chores. A marriage style based on sexual equality is rarely found in practice and subsequently has…

Several specific research approaches are compared with regard to cost-effectiveness, types of disorders to which they best respond, general strategies, and therapist personality. Replicated findings include: (1) support for both the functional reversal and semantic reversal of the "A-B Scale;" (2) characterization of therapists who are effective…

During the Fall Semester of 1976 at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, approximately 40% of the students enrolled were 25 years of age or older. Many of these older-than-traditional students had returned to college after being away from schooling at least two years; these were the re-entered students. Their problems and needs were, for…

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) was administered to 300 undergraduate college students over a three year period. Results indicated a consistent trend toward scores that were more "androgynous" for the male subjects and more "feminine" for the female subjects. These findings were questioned with respect to the social impact of…

A sample of 103 government scientists was evaluated by panels of peers in regard to personnel action such as promotion. Analysis of information used by the panels and other data external to the process showed that peer ratings could be predicted accurately using only four variables: number of publications, honors and awards received, special…

Recent studies indicate that achievement, deference and abasement affect career decision making. Conflicts occur between the need to achieve and the need to defer, and are exacerbated in persons who experience high abasement needs. When religious and clergy have conflicts between need to achieve in career areas and need to defer, the effect is…

Misconceptions regarding sickle cell disease are qualitatively different among latency age patients as compared to adolescents. The evolution and resolution of these misconceptions determine the effectiveness of self-help programs for sickle cell patients. The Mount Sinai Hospital Sickle Cell Counseling Service is a coordinated center for sickle…

SAM (Script Applier Mechanism), a computer program designed to understand stories that rely heavily on scripts (typical sequences of events in particular contexts), is described in this report. Chapter one, which discusses SAM's background, shows how causal chaining was developed to connect events in stories, presents a typical script, and…

Attributions of causes of successful task performances as a function of task and sex of the performer were investigated. Introductory psychology students (N=157) were presented with closed-circuit, videotaped episodes in which a male or female stimulus person performed a card-guessing task for 10 trials. Subjects heard the task described to the…

The age-status system in adulthood was investigated, using a 58-item instrument which divided adulthood subjectively into three periods: normative expectations for various adulthood developmental tasks (marriage, parenthood, employment, retirement, etc.); the lower age constraints ("too young") for these behaviors. In addition, 22 items regarding…

The effects of situational influences and sex differences in the reward allocation behavior of children was investigated in four studies. Experiment 1 focused on the distribution of rewards to workers presented as being in either a unit or non-unit relationship with each other. The second experiment determined whether a similar pattern of sex…

A common assumption, reflective of data obtained from older males, often in institutional or outpatient settings, is that being old and alone is a severely negative condition. A sample of 300 older men and women in community settings provides an alternative perspective. For a number of daily living activities as well as personal and interpersonal…

Attitudes held by incarcerated youthful offenders are identified as they relate to friends and social relationships, relationships to communities and their agents of authority, club and gang participation, work and leisure time activities, family relationships and responsibilities, and educational and school goals. The investigation served as a…