Sexually active girls (n=64) at a clinic were surveyed. When those with a history of pregnancy were compared with never-pregnant girls, 2 significant differences were found: girls with pregnancy history had first intercourse at the mean age of 15 instead of 16, and scored higher on the "Powerful Other" Health Locus of Control subscale, a measure…

Discusses the use of psychic energy for clarifying what occurs in human interaction and for therapeutic purposes. Describes steps counselors should take to understand and use their own psychic energy effectively. (Author/EJT)

A typical assumption has been that women and men possess distinct power orientations: women have expressive characteristics, such as interdependence and cooperativeness, while men have instrumental characteristics, such as self reliance and competitiveness. An inventory assessing expressive and instrumental power orientations (PVO's) was developed…

Although much is being written about the sociological aspects of the battering syndrome, little has been done to investigate the personality characteristics of battered women. To investigate the personality characteristics which relate to the life styles of battered women, 60 women (30 battered women, 30 non-battered women), ranging in age from 19…

Within each of us there are three unique beings, or ego states: Parent, Adult, and Child. Dusay's "Egogram" is discussed. This is a new concept in evaluating personality structure. Three types of Transactions are reviewed: complementary, crossed, and ulterior. Various types of stroking are discussed, and a stroking profile is mentioned.…

Relationships among prior achievement, academic anxiety, locus of control, and performance in the first year of medical school were examined. Academic anxiety was found to be significantly related to first-year performance and when combined with a measure of prior achievement, resulted in a significant increase in prediction. (Author/MLW)

When people experience failures they search for an explanation of why the failure occurred. The process of seeking an explanatory cause is the basis of attribution theory. Causal attributions include the dimensions of locus of causality (internal or external), stability of the cause over time, and the degree of personal control over the outcome.…

Examines how people with a high-achievement need attribute success to their ability and effort and failure to external factors such as task difficulty. Contrasts this behavior with people who have a low-achievement need. The measuring device was a multiple-choice questionnaire designed to reveal participant tendencies. (MJP)