Thomas L. Wright

Sex differences in type of extramarital involvement and marital dissatisfaction

This study extends traditional sex roles to extramarital relationships in order to clarify sex differences in extramarital involvement and marital dissatisfaction. Both emotional and sexual extramarital involvement were studied, since womens greater emphasis on emotional intimacy was ignored in earlier extramarital studies which focused solely on sexual involvement. A purposive sample of 300 White middle-class men and women completed anonymous questionnaires about marital and extramarital relationships. Mens extramarital relationships are more sexual and womens are more emotional. Women involved in extramarital relationships report greater marital dissatisfaction than their male counterparts. For both sexes, those with combined sexual and emotional extramarital involvement report the greatest marital dissatisfaction. In sum, traditional sex roles that influence the expressions of sexuality and emotionality in premarital and marital relationships also appear to operate in extramarital relationships.

INTERPERSONAL TRUST, TRUSTWORTHINESS AND SHOPLIFTING IN HIGH SCHOOL

Scores of 106 male and 108 female high school students on Rotters trust scale and self-reports of anti-social behavior and shoplifting indicated scores on Rotters scale were related to self-reported untrustworthy behavior for girls. Low trusters more than high trusters tended to perceive others as distrusting students. Data are discussed in terms of the literature.

Age differences in coping: does less mean worse.

Previous research suggests that elderly people utilize fewer coping strategies than younger people. Some researchers suggest that these quantitative changes reflect decreases in the use of maladaptive strategies; others contend that they reflect decreases in the use of adaptive strategies by older adults. The present article reports the findings of three studies of coping in older people, two addressing coping with health problems, and the other addressing coping with moving. In all three studies, the number of self-reported coping strategies decreases with age. Results do not support the idea that decreases in the number of strategies imply decrements in the quality of coping, however: in two studies, age was unrelated to the effectiveness of strategies, in the third, effectiveness ratings were higher for older subjects. The need for evaluation of specific outcomes of coping strategies is discussed, along with the need for task-specific measurement of coping. It is proposed that decreases in the number of coping strategies reflect improved coping efficiency, rather than a deterioration of adaptational skills.

Attraction To Group, Group Cohesiveness, and Individual Outcome: A Study of Training Groups

A central hypothesis in the group psychotherapy literature is that group cohesiveness leads to better outcome in groups (Yalom, 1975). Group cohesiveness is thought to be both a prerequisite to and a natural consequence of successful therapeutic group process. Yalom et al. (1967) developed an 11-item questionnaire to operationalize cohesiveness. The questionnaire assessed attraction to group, to members, and to leaders, feelings of participation and inclusion, and attitudes regarding group length and frequency. They found that individuals’

A Cautionary Note on the Interpretation of Relationship Effects in the Social Relations Model

Kenny and La Voies Social Relations Model (1984) is a promising approach to the analysis of social interaction data which simultaneously and independently assesses individual differences and relationship-specific effects among interacting subjects. Unfortunately, some authors have used one-replication studies (which confound error and relationship-specific variance) and have interpreted the confounded relationshiplerror variance component as a relationship effect. We reanalyzed behaviorally coded data from four experiential groups. Side by side one-replication and two-replication Round Robin Analyses of Variance of two behaviors demonstrated the danger of interpreting the eonfounded relationship/error component of one-replication analyses as a relationship effect. With questioning behavior, one-replication analyses suggested a relationship-specific effect, but a two-replication analysis indicated that this finding was error variance. For self-disclosing behavior, the two-replication analysis confirmed the suggested relationship effect from the one-replication analyses. Researchers interested in relationship-specific effects using the Social Relations Model should design their studies to allow for two or more replications and report relationship variance terms unconfounded with error.

A social relations model test of Sullivan's anxiety hypothesis

Interpersonal relationships and mutual influence are important aspects of both personality and behavior. However, empirical tests of mutual influence in anxiety have not occurred because of difficulties in design and assessment. In this report, we present a study of two training groups of graduate students and a study of an outpatient psychotherapy group. In both studies relationship-specific variance was significant and accounted for a substantial proportion of the systematic variance. In the training groups, there were also significant individual differences in experienced anxiety. These studies support the importance of relationships in anxiety but not Sullivans hypothesis of the exclusive interpersonal nature of anxiety (Sullivan, 1964). The results address Endler and Magnussons (1976a, 1976b) interactional approach to anxiety by assessing dynamic interaction rather than mechanistic interaction. In addition, these studies extend the use of the Social Relations Model to a new area, anxiety, and demonstrate its use in separating relationship-specific adjustments in anxiety from individual differences in anxiety.

Satisfaction and Things Not Said Clinical Tools for Group Therapists

This is the first in a series of articles on maximizing the client benefits in small groups. Our approach to the problem derives from our dual roles as clinicians and researchers. In this article we will report our clinical observations based on the time-limited groups we have been leading and present relevant data on clinical tools that accelerate devel opment in groups.

CROSS-VALIDATION OF THE WRIGHT-TEDESCHI FACTORS OF THE INTERPERSONAL TRUST SCALE

Separate factor analyses of high school student (106 males and 108 females) and adult (295 males and 334 females) samples of respondents to Rotters Interpersonal Trust Scale demonstrated cross-validation of the three Wright-Tedeschi factors derived from samples of college students. Clearest support was found for the factor, Trust of Strangers. Similarities and differences among various factor structures of the Interpersonal Trust Scale are discussed.

Adults' Perceptions of Children's Behavioral Disorders: Do Attributions of Locus of Problems Predict Recommendations for Treatment?

A central assumption of research on locus of problem is that attributions are significant determinants of recommendations for treatment. This assumption was tested using both structured and unstructured measures of recommendations. Adults made attributions for locus of problems for children with behavior problems and then recommended personal or situational treatment on rating scales and in open-ended paragraphs. The amount of variance in recommendations for treatment accounted for by the attributions was significant only when recommendations were measured in the structured format. Results are discussed in terms of the ecological validity of research on clinical attributions.