The psychological autopsy method was used to examine the effects of suicide on surviving family members. Structured interviews with subjects consecutively selected from coroner's records focused on the immediate impact of death; current understanding; and social, vocational, physical, and psychological effects seven months after the death. (Author)

Problem drinkers in the community were subjects in a study that evaluated the therapeutic potential of learning techniques in changing abusive drinking patterns and achieving moderation. The authors conclude that moderation is a more attainable and feasible goal for problem drinkers than for chronic alcoholics. (Author)

The present study evaluated the likelihood that volunteers for behavior therapy research are self-selected on variables known to moderate therapeutic outcomes. Compared with nonvolunteers, volunteers reported greater anxiety and externality. Among speech-anxious subjects, however, no volunteer bias was observed. (Author)

Utilizing flexible community-supporting services integrated with a hospital-based program of planned intermittent relief of the patients' supporters, patients (N=50) were maintained in the community at an average cost of 79.5 hospital bed days per patient per annum. The Continuing Care Program is an alternative to institutionalization. (Author)

The effect of age on foster care outcome was examined for 572 male psychiatric patients referred for foster care from five VA hospitals. Patients in foster care changed significantly compared with hospitalized controls by having less social dysfunction and better adjustment. (Author)

A behavioral program to train elderly nursing home patients (N=25) in interpersonal skills was systematically developed and evaluated. On a behavioral measure of responses to situations that had been included in training, the Skill Training program was superior to the control conditions. However, learning failed to generalize to novel situations.…

The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 was designed to protect the privacy of students. This study found a large proportion of employers of educational personnel prefer confidential materials. Other studies should be conducted to determine if this may also be the preference with other organizations and institutions. (Author)

This study marked the first experimental examination of the Model for Change. Results are not encouraging in terms of the model's effectiveness in altering negative attitudes and behaviors of prospective white teachers. Results suggest the necessity for serious reevaluation of the model as a training method, especially in time-limited situations.…

The Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) was administered to matched samples of 30 Mexican-American and 30 Anglo-American children. Indices of internal consistency and standard errors of measurement were generally equivalent for groups. It was concluded that the PIAT is as reliable with Mexican-American children as with their Anglo…

A 60-item short form of the Mnnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI) was compared to the present 150-item form to determine whether the same constructs were common to both sets of items. Five factors were found to be highly consistent for each group and with the results reported in the literature. (Author)

Subjects were 345 first-, second-, and third-grade children of low SES attending inner city schools in a large metropolitan area. The Purdue Self Concept Scale was the measure of self-concept. Analysis of black second-grade children's scores indicated race difference was due to high scores of those with welfare status. (Author)

Since this study indicates more positive attitudes toward the use of behavior modification as knowledge about the behavioral approach increase, it would appear to be obvious that some exposure to the approach could provide counselors with an increased range of counseling techniques from which they could select an appropriate approach. (Author)

This study examines the relationship between five dimensions of alienation from work--powerlessness, normlessness, meaninglessness, self-evaluative involvement, and instrumental work orientation--and the work-related behavior of effort, performance, absenteeism, and tardiness. The results show that the five dimensions of alienation are empirically…

Subjects (N=430) rated social images of eight groups on 67 variables which previous study has shown to be important in employment hiring situations. Factor analysis yielded six major dimensions in social images. Variations in factor scores were examined to clarify disadvantages of each group in hiring situations. (Author)

Social exchange theory was employed to predict instigative helping behavior as a function of two types of resources available to the recipient for reciprocation (social and non-social). The possibility of influencing reciprocation of both types of resources produced significant increases in subjects' helping. (Author)