Differences and similarities between violent offenders and sex offenders

OBJECTIVES: To investigate differences and similarities between violent offenders and two types of sex offenders, rapists and child molesters, in terms of their personality, the nature of the victim, the role of alcohol, and their confession to their crime. METHOD: Thirty-six adult sex offenders, 23 child molesters, and 32 violent offenders were compared on personality measures, their relationship with the victim, the presence of alcohol intoxication, their confession rate and retraction at trial, and the reasons they gave for having confessed to the police. RESULTS: Child molesters and adult sex offenders (rapists) were significantly more introverted than the violent offenders. The child molesters had higher social desirability scores than the other groups, they tended to assault relatives and friends, they were rarely intoxicated while committing the offense, and they had strong internal need to confess to the police. Rapists and violent offenders were more commonly intoxicated during the commission of the offense; the former tended to assault acquaintances, where violent offenders most commonly assaulted strangers. Exactly half of the rapists retracted their confession when the case went to trial; in contrast none of the other offenders retracted their confession. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that there are significant differences as well as similarities between the three groups of offenders, which have implications for assessment and treatment.     

Naming-speed processes, timing, and reading: a conceptual review

This article integrates the findings in the special issue with a comprehensive review of the evidence for seven central questions about the role of naming-speed deficits in developmental reading disabilities. Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cross-linguistic research on naming-speed processes, timing processes, and reading is presented. An evolving model of visual naming illustrates areas of difference and areas of overlap between naming speed and phonology in their underlying requirements. Work in the cognitive neurosciences is used to explore two nonexclusive hypotheses about the putative links between naming speed and reading processes and about the sources of disruption that may cause subtypes of reading disabilities predicted by the double-deficit hypothesis. Finally, the implications of the work in this special issue for diagnosis and intervention are elaborated.     

POSTDICTION STUDY OF THE GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATION AND EIGHT SEMESTERS OF COLLEGE GRADES1

Data from a postdictive study of the tests of the Graduate Record Examination and the eight semesters of undergraduate grade averages, each semester's average being computed independently of the rest, are presented. Postdictive validities of the aptitude portions of the GRE are essentially similar to predictive validities obtained earlier by the senior author. Both predictive and postdictive validity gradients over the eight semesters are relatively steep, with freshman grades having the highest correlations with the tests. The validity gradient for all advanced tests combined does not follow the pattern for the aptitude tests, but neither does it show the opposite gradient. Advanced test results are most highly correlated with sophomore grades, but the validity gradient over the eight semesters is relatively flat. A small scale extension of this research into post baccalaureate training indicated that senior grades were most predictive of graduate criteria, but a larger scale study is clearly called for. Possible implications for ability theory and for selection of graduate students are discussed.     

An Examination of Counselor Preparation Doctoral Program Goals

Doctoral counselor education programs nationwide were surveyed to determine their relative emphases on the professional roles of instruction, supervision, scholarship, clinical practice, and leadership, and how they carried it out.     

Developing planning and budgeting strategies for internal recycling of funds

Higher education worldwide is beset by rigid budgetary constraints. Increases in governmental and student support have been insufficient to offset the severe inflationary spiral of recent years, and many institutions have been confronted by yearly gaps between estimated revenues and projected expenditures. Following 6 years of across-the-board internal budget reallocations amounting to $11.1 million, Penn State initiated a rolling 5-year planning and budget process in 1977. The new process, resulting in an additional $16.6 million in internal reductions and reallocations through 1982–83, was designed to provide for more selective budgetary decisions based on careful analysis of university priorities. As the process has evolved, it has reoriented budget decisions toward university planning issues and qualitative concerns.     

The Home Literacy Environment Is a Correlate,but Perhaps Not a Cause,of Variations in Children’s Language and Literacy Development

The home literacy environment is a well-established predictor of children’s language and literacy development. We investigated whether formal, informal, and indirect measures of the home literacy environment predict children’s reading and language skills once maternal language abilities are taken into account. Data come from a longitudinal study of children at high risk of dyslexia (N = 251) followed from preschool years. Latent factors describing maternal language were significant predictors of storybook exposure but not of direct literacy instruction. Maternal language and phonological skills respectively predicted children’s language and reading/spelling skills. However, after accounting for variations in maternal language, storybook exposure was not a significant predictor of children’s outcomes. In contrast, direct literacy instruction remained a predictor of children’s reading/spelling skills. We argue that the relationship between early informal home literacy activities and children’s language and reading skills is largely accounted for by maternal skills and may reflect genetic influences.