Barbara A. Kerr

Meaning, Purpose, and Religiosity in At-Risk Youth: The Relationship between Anxiety and Spirituality

This study investigated the relationship between spiritual well-being and anxiety in at-risk adolescents. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, a revised version of the Allport-Ross Religious Orientation Scale, and the Social Provisions Scale were administered to 45 male and female high school students who were considered to be at-risk. The research found that the higher the spiritual well-being, existential well-being, religious well-being and intrinsic religious orientation were among males, the lower the anxiety. Only lower existential well-being was associated with lower anxiety among females. Spiritual well-being and female gender were found to be the best predictors of anxiety from the variables studied.

A Comparison of Gifted Underachievers and Gifted High Achievers.

The purpose of this study was to compare a national sample of gifted underachievers and gifted high achievers on a number of characteristics. Giftedness was measured as a composite score at or above the 95th percentile on the American College Testing Program (ACT). Underachievement was defined as reporting a high school grade-point average of ≤2.25 (on a 4.00 scale), and high achievement was defined as reporting a grade-point average of ≥3.75 (on a 4.00 scale). Participants for this study were 30,604 high school juniors and seniors: gifted underachievers n=257; gifted high achievers n=30,347. The underachievers generally had lower scores on the ACT and less extensive out-of-class accomplishments. Over 90% of the underachievers were Caucasian males. Comparisons are provided on a number of nonacademic variables between underachievers and high achievers.

Comparison of Interventions for Women Experiencing Body Image Problems.

In this study, we investigated the effects of three counseling interventions on womens body image and self-concept. The interventions used were cognitive therapy techniques, cognitive behavior therapy techniques, and reflective therapy techniques. Women experiencing body image problems (N = 79) completed Secord and Jourards (1953) Body-Cathexis and Seif-Cathexis Scales and were classified into either moderate or severe body image disturbance groups. Participants were randomly assigned to a therapy or the control group. Those assigned to the therapies participated in three structured interviews and did homework. Cognitive techniques emphasized changing self-statements, and reflective techniques explored feelings. A double repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance was performed on preand postscores on the Body-Cathexis and Self-Cathexis Scales, which had been found to be correlated. All participants improved in body image and self-concept. Therapy was better than no therapy. Cognitive therapy techniques were most effective for body image, and cognitive therapy techniques and cognitive behavior therapy techniques were most effective for self-concept. Participants in both classifications improved significantly on body image.

Encouraging talented girls in math and science: effects of a guidance intervention

Although gifted girls are closing the gap in math and science achievement, they continue to lose interest and drop out of math/science careers. An intervention was developed for talented at‐risk young women that emphasized enhancing career identity and exploration, building science self‐efficacy and self‐esteem and reducing risky behaviors. Self‐esteem, school self‐efficacy, and future self‐efficacy increased from pre‐test to the 3‐ to 4‐month follow‐up. Girls significantly increased their seeking information about career and were likely to stay with nontraditional choices. The risk factor suicidality also decreased over this period.Although gifted girls are closing the gap in math and science achievement, they continue to lose interest and drop out of math/science careers. An intervention was developed for talented at‐risk young women that emphasized enhancing career identity and exploration, building science self‐efficacy and self‐esteem and reducing risky behaviors. Self‐esteem, school self‐efficacy, and future self‐efficacy increased from pre‐test to the 3‐ to 4‐month follow‐up. Girls significantly increased their seeking information about career and were likely to stay with nontraditional choices. The risk factor suicidality also decreased over this period.

Career Assessment with Intellectually Gifted Students

Career counseling with the intellectually gifted poses unique challenges to counselors. Development of competent practices with this population requires the career counselor to be aware of several issues specific to the intellectually gifted in general, along with specific issues that may differentially affect gifted males, females, and minorities. Traditional career counseling is insufficient to meet the needs of this population. Therefore, the article reviews trends and improvements to counseling the intellectually gifted, controversies, and multicultural issues and suggests an expanded role for career counselors of the intellectually gifted.

Differential Effects of Two Test-Interpretation Styles in Counseling: A Field Study

Two styles of test interpretation, delivered and interactive, were compared in ongoing career counseling for 26 university honors students. The styles were used in interpreting the Personality Research Form and the Vocational Preference Inventory in the second session. Clients listed their thoughts in session after each test was interpreted. After the session, clients evaluated session impact and counselor influence. Clients in the two conditions did not differ in the number of thoughts listed or in the favorability of their thoughts. However, clients who received an interactive interpretation also considered their sessions to be deeper and their counselors to be more expert, trustworthy, and attractive than did clients who received a delivered interpretation. Implications for test-interpretation practice and research are discussed.

Counseling Psychology and the Scientist-Practitioner Model: Implementation and Implications

The ways in which the scientist-practitioner model has been implemented in the admissions and training processes of psychology programs are examined. Institutional pressures on counseling psychology faculty have led to admissions procedures that are highly biased in favor of science. Not only have most training programs failed to provide the clinical training desired and needed by practitioners, but even the most scientifically oriented programs have often failed to provide the conditions necessary to the development of talented researchers. Recommendations are given for admissions and training procedures that can bring about a stronger integration of science and practice.

Smart girls, gifted women: Special guidance concerns

The reasons for gifted womens failure to realize their full potential are both external and internal. The external causes center around sexism, discrimination and lack of resources. Internal causes may be fear of success, the “Imposter” phenomenon, the “Cinderella Complex” or simply a tendency to adjust too easily and congenially to societys lower expectations for women. Parts of this article are excerpted from Smart Girls, Gifted Women by Barbara Kerr, Ohio Psychological Press, Columbus, OH 43210.

The Iowa inventiveness inventory: Toward a measure of mechanical inventiveness

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop the Iowa Inventiveness Inventory (III), an instrument to measure biographical, personality, and vocational variables associated with mechanical inventiveness. Items for the III came from case data from 34 prominent inventors who held agricultural and industrial patents. The III was shown to be an internally consistent scale with moderately high test‐retest reliability. Also, the scale discriminated between inventors and noninventors in both adolescent and adult populations.

Searching for Tomorrow's Innovators: Profiling Creative Adolescents.

Profiling may be a viable means of identifying those creative adolescents who can benefit from specialized guidance and exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, arts, and human services. The experimenters developed 1 general and 5 specific profiles including interest, personality, and achievement variables based on the profiles of eminent people in five domains of creative endeavor. Educators of gifted students at schools throughout a Midwestern state identified 485 students to attend a research through service counseling laboratory. One cohort received the Vocational Preference Inventory, the Personality Research Form, and the Tellegen Absorption Scale, and a second cohort received the VPI, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO- PI-R), and Tellegen Absorption Scale. For each cohort, descriptive data were gathered and principal components analyses were performed on scales of interest and personality inventories. In addition, a cluster analysis was performed for the second cohort. The finding supported the hypothesis that profiling could be used to identify creative adolescents for career development programs. Both principal components analyses and cluster analyses revealed profiles of fine and performing arts students: one or two profiles of interpersonally talented groupings: and an engineering/technical profile. Creative students were more agreeable than those in previous studies, and there was strong evidence for crossover arts/science profiles.