Presents results of a study that explored the effect of overt categorization on musical preference. Found no difference in choices of nonmusic majors when choices were structured as stipulated, unstipulated, or free form categories. Finds musical experience and gender affected preferences for pop and jazz, but not for rock music. (DK)

Responds to previous article by Pedersen on counseling international students, noting that the topics discussed are ones that recur and that the commentaries offered are enlightening. Suggests several other topics that might have been addressed had Pedersen had more space. Concludes that foreign student advisers and others who counsel…

Responds to previous article by Pedersen on counseling international students. Focuses comments on guidelines for training programs in counseling psychology as courses and seminars are developed to meet the needs of international students. Concludes that it is necessary to more effectively serve international students and to address training needs…

Compared psychological variables of 30 patients with inoperable breast cancer to matched group of 30 operable breast cancer patients. Found that women with inoperable breast cancer had higher scores in denial, exhaustion, hopelessness, worthlessness, depression, somatization, hostility, and psychoticism. Profile of inoperable cancer patients did…

Data from 3 observations of 32 primary and 38 secondary teachers showed no differences in primary teachers' responses to boys and girls but significant differences in secondary teachers' responses--boys received more responses overall, female teachers responded more negatively to boys' social behavior, male teachers more positively to boys'…

Examines the writing of a four-year-old child in response to literature. Discusses the child's uses for writing and the concepts and principles of early writing. Demonstrates the child's engagement with children's books. (RS)

This study reports results of an investigation based on simulated data of the distributional properties of the item fit statistics that are commonly used in the Rasch model calibration programs as indices of the fit of responses to individual items to the measurement model. (SLD)

Investigates the effects of letter writing on the writing of sixth graders. Describes the process of establishing a communicative relationship between the writer and the audience. Finds that students' writing improved in the following areas: length, syntax, paragraphing, openings and closings, questions, topics, and borrowed features. (PRA)

Five principles of media literacy help parents base their criticism of television on reason: people are smarter than televisions; the television world is not real; television teaches that some people are more important than others; television keeps repeating the same things; and someone always wants to make money with television. (SM)

College alumni association mailings can be made more successful by targeting the audiences, delivering a strong proposition to readers, choosing a forceful format, and creating impressive copy. Efforts of the University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, and Southern Methodist University illustrate these principles. (MSE)

Examined relations of maternal characteristics and child-rearing practices and children's vicarious emotional responses to kindergartners' and third graders' comforting of a crying infant. Found that children's emotional states were related to their comforting behavior, and girls' comforting and helping behaviors were related to several maternal…

Examined children's coping strategies when negative events befell them and when they observed others in negative situations. Younger children were more likely than older children to use social support and seek adult help to remedy others' distress. Older children used more direct problem-solving and cognitive strategies than younger children. (MM)

Interviews with 20 adults who chose not to participate in literacy programs revealed that they valued education and learning but considered "school" unacceptable. Reasons were categorized as ideological/cultural, personal/emotive, or age-related resistance. (SK)

Used three-wave longitudinal design to examine relationships among emotional restraint, peer drug associations, and gateway drug use among 1,256 middle school students. In reciprocal model, low emotional restraint was significantly related to subsequent increases in gateway drug use among boys. In contrast, peer drug models and peer pressure were…

This paper presents a neuropsychosocial model of information processing to explain a victimization experience, specifically child sexual abuse. It surveys the relation of sensation, perception, and cognition as a systematic way to provide a framework for studying human behavior and describing human response to traumatic events. (Author/JDD)