Doctoral Research Training of Counselor Education Faculty

Counselor educators (N = 167) in programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs were surveyed regarding research training received during their doctoral studies. Respondents shared perspectives regarding the quality and quantity of their research course work as well as suggestions on how to enhance research training in counselor education programs. Differences in the amount, type, and attitudes toward research were found according to programs from which educators were graduated and year of graduation. The influences of mentoring as a critical practice in research training also emerged. Implications for research training in counselor education are discussed.     

Neonatal Stress Reactivity: Predictions to Later Emotional Temperament

To investigate the relations among popular measures of neonatal stress and their link to subsequent temperament, 50 full-term newborns from a normal care nursery were examined responding to a heelstick blood draw. Baseline and heelstick measures of behavioral state, heart period, vagal tone, and salivary cortisol were obtained. Recovery measures of behavioral and cardiac activity were also analyzed. Mothers completed Rothbart's Infant Behavior Questionnaire when their infants reached 6 months of age. Baseline vagal tone predicted cortisol in response to the heelstick, suggesting that baseline vagal tone reflects the infants' ability to react to stressors. Greater reactivity to the heelstick (more crying, shorter heart periods, lower vagal tone, and higher cortisol) was associated with lower scores on "Distress-to-Limitations" temperament at 6 months. This finding was consistent with the expectation that the capacity to react strongly to an aversive stimulus would reflect better neurobehavioral organization in the newborn. Recovery measures of cardiac activity approximated and were correlated with baseline measures indicating the strong self-righting properties of the healthy newborn. Finally, vagal tone and salivary cortisol measures were not significantly related, suggesting the importance of assessing both systems in studies of the ontogeny of stress-temperament relations.     

Intercollegiate Athletes and Effective Educational Practices: Winning Combination or Losing Effort?

Scrutiny of intercollegiate athletics has intensified in recent years. This study compares student-athletes with those of non-athletes in terms of their engagement in effective educational practices. Contrary to many reports in the popular media, the findings from this study indicate that, on balance, student-athletes across a large number of colleges and universities do not differ greatly from their peers in terms of their participation in effective educational practices. In most instances, when differences do exist, they favor athletes.     

Tympanic membrane temperature and emotional dispositions in preschool-aged children: a methodological study

Tympanic membrane (TM) temperature asymmetry has been proposed as a phenotypic marker of vulnerability to negative emotionality in children. Little is known about the stability of TM temperatures or how readily one can obtain a reliable index of the phenotype. TM temperatures were collected from 3- to 5-year-old children ( N =73) over 5 months ( Mdn= 34 samples). Seven to 10 samples needed to be aggregated to achieve reliable measures (αs>.70). Using reliable estimates, TM asymmetry remained stable over time, r (72)=.72, p< .01; 70% of the children had warmer left TMs; and TM asymmetry correlated as predicted with measures of children's emotionality. TM asymmetry may be a phenotypic marker of vulnerability to negative emotionality, but measures obtained on one occasion may not reliably index the phenotype.     

Measuring patrons' technology habits: an evidence-based approach to tailoring library services

Librarians continually integrate new technologies into library services for health sciences students. Recently published data are lacking about student ownership of technological devices, awareness of new technologies, and interest in using devices and technologies to interact with the library. A survey was implemented at seven health sciences libraries to help answer these questions. Results show that librarian assumptions about awareness of technologies are not supported, and student interest in using new technologies to interact with the library varies widely. Collecting this evidence provides useful information for successfully integrating technologies into library services.     

The dark side of social support: Understanding the role of social support,drinking behaviors and alcohol outlets for child physical abuse

The purpose of this study is to examine how parental drinking behavior, drinking locations, alcohol outlet density, and types of social support (tangible, emotional, and social companionship) may place children at greater risk for physical abuse. Data on use of physical abuse, drinking behaviors, types of social support, social networks, and demographic information were collected via telephone interviews with 3,023 parent respondents in 50 cities in California. Data on alcohol outlet density were obtained by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Multilevel Poisson models were used to analyze data for the drinking levels in the entire sample and dose-response drinking models for drinkers. Social companionship support was related to more frequent use of physical abuse. Having a higher percentage of social companionship support network living within the neighborhood was related to more frequent physical abuse in the full sample. This relationship was moderated by on-premise alcohol outlet density. With regards to drinking behaviors, drinking behaviors from ex-drinkers to frequent heavy drinkers used physically abusive parenting practices more often than lifetime abstainers. The dose-response models show that each additional drinking event at a bar or home/party was related to more frequent use of physical abuse. Practitioners working with parents who abuse their children should be aware that not all social support is beneficial. Findings build evidence that child maltreatment is influenced by the interaction between individual and ecological factors.     

Three Contemporary Dilemmas for Rural Superintendents

The school district is the fundamental administrative unit of schooling in the United States and the superintendent the lead official. The nature and the challenges of this position, however, vary across the landscape. Because most superintendents lead rural districts, the challenges facing those districts are the ones that typically bedevil the superintendency overall (perhaps a surprising thought to many readers). From this vantage, we theorize such challenges overall, and illustrate the theory with three episodes: (1) the continuing threats of school and district consolidation; (2) the arrival of ethnic diversity in previously all-White rural places; and (3) the leasing of school lands for mining, with a focus on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).