For both boys and girls, all adolescent effects are reversals of significant preadolescent effects. These reversals, predictive of adult health, can be commonly described as a change from a relatively tension-free or conflict-free preadolescence to a reactive and stressful adolescence. (Author)

If the spontaneous remission phenomenon is genuine rather than an artifact, remission should show a relationship to the length of time elapsed. Thirty analyses of variance, treating judges and diagnostic categories independently, produced no evidence for a relationship between lapse of time and improvement. (Author)

Data from the California Psychological Inventory suggested that users were socially poised, open to experience, and concerned with the feelings of others. Conversely, they also seemed impulsive, pleasure seeking, and rebellious. Nonusers were responsible and rule abiding; however, they also tended to be inflexible, conventional, and narrow in…

In a case of claustrophobia and in another with fears of flying, Japanese defense activities of the Karate type proved to be effective counter conditioners of anxiety. They were used in the former case in vivo and in the later case both in imagination and in vivo. (Author)

New items were written for the sensation seeking scale in an attempt to develop new scales representative of hypothesized dimensions of sensation seeking. Four new factors were thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, disinhibition and boredom susceptibility which was retained as a subscale for males only. (Author/CG)

The construct validity of the Sport Competition Anxiety Test developed by Martens is investigated to identify persons who differ in their tendency to become anxious just prior to competition. (PBS)

Discusses how to choose physical activities with psychosocial objectives in mind in order to create avenues for practice and support for new behaviors, highlighting seven psychosocial dimensions of change (socialibility, spontaneity, self-motivation, aggressiveness, competitiveness, mental focus, and adventurousness). The paper examines the…

Analysis of staff perceptions of classes of reinforcers and aberrant behaviors of 480 people with predominantly severe or profound mental retardation suggested 8 classes of reinforcers (e.g., consumable, play) and 5 classes of maladaptive behaviors (irritability, lethargy, stereotypy, hyperactivity, and inappropriate speech). Each class of…

Discusses selection and planning of group activities based on stages of group development. Describes typical group processes and behaviors encountered at the beginning, middle, and end of an extended group experience. Outlines two beginning, two middle, and one ending activity, including basic parameters and brief instructions. (SV)

Many statistical models have been used to study human development. The multidimensional scaling (MDS) method has been an under-utilised technique in psychological and educational research for studying such phenomena. In this paper, MDS profile analysis was used to examine adolescent mood change patterns over a 1-week period. This method is used to…

During the past 20 years, a significant body of literature has emerged focusing on the application of Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration (TPD) to the study of gifted individuals. Although much of this literature is prescriptive, some research reports spanning this time period are available. A perusal of research on TPD's applicability…

Objective: Because little is known about college-age smokers, the authors conducted a qualitative study to better understand this population. Participants: Forty college student smokers from 12 Pacific Northwest colleges participated in the study. Methods: The authors identified themes and built models to ascertain important factors related to…

Research shows that people comply more frequently to threats when the credibility of the source is high rather than low and that compliance is directly related to punishment magnitude. To examine the impact of an advisor on a target of threats, male college students (N=74) participated in an experiment that included high or low threatner…

Depression in a college population was found to be correlated with small changes in many activities rather than with the large reductions in overt behavior reported for clinically depressed individuals. Results of the study suggest the possibility of an operant component in maintaining depressive behavior. (Author)

The play behavior of young children is viewed as a behavioral manifestation of nonverbal thinking. Discussed are issues of relevance to the understanding of the development of thought in general and of the symbolic function in particular. A line of development is proposed which leads from early nonverbal thought as manifested in play, either…