Biological, psychological and social factors are considered in this volume in its exploration of adolescent substance abuse, with adolescents presented as a clearly defined group with unique needs and concerns. The author examines issues such as assessment, treatment planning, service provision and the recovery process, and proposes creative treatment approaches. Integrating the complex elements which impact upon the initiation, maintenance and treatment of young substance abusers, the author uses his biopsychosocial model to examine normative issues for adolescents and how impairment in these areas can cause - or be the result of - substance abuse. Consideration is also given to particularly vulnerable young people, such as those with concurrent psychological disorders or who are victims of child abuse, and who subsequently require additional therapeutic understanding and skill.
The recent Los Angeles race riots exposed the depth and persistence of the race problem in the United States and symbolized the despair and hopelessness felt in North America's cities. The key question remains: Are African-Americans making any progress towards integration into mainstream society? The Black Progress Question examines the popular responses to this issue and finds them insufficient. For too long, the analysis of black progress has been met with an unwarrented optimism. Stephen Burman presents an alternative approach, sobering in its realism, which will dispel beliefs that a solution to this problem is close at hand.
`This book... will be particularly valuable for clinicians interested in child and adolescent depressive disorders, since it includes a lot of material from work with adults that is often hard for such clinicians to assess. A very useful addition to the library' - European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Leading practitioners and researchers contribute to this volume, which focuses on recent advances in the understanding and treatment of the common psychological difficulties of anxiety and depression. Chapters cover such topics as: self-management theory; unipolar depression; and the assessment and treatment of sexually abused children. With case examples and exercises highlighting important clinical concepts, the volume integrates empirical research with clinical applications.
Do all children learn language in the same way? Is the apparent `fast' versus `slow' learning rate among children a reflection of the individual child's approach to language acquisition? This volume explores the importance that individual differences have in language acquisition and challenges some widely held theories of linguistic development. Focusing on one- to three-year-old children, Cecilia Shore describes characteristic differences in terms of vocabulary, grammatical and phonological development. She considers whether distinctive 'styles' of language development can be defined and also examines social and cognitive influences that may explain individual differences. In conclusion, she discusses new language theories - such as the ecological, chaos and connectionist approaches - and considers what individual differences in development can tell us about the mechanisms of language development.
Race Relations in South Africa and the United States
Despite its legal abolition, racial inequality persists in many democratic societies. Entering a new era of democracy, South Africa is endeavouring to dismantle its legally structured system of inequality. In practice, however, the structures of consciousness which gave rise to and nurtured a system of white privilege and predominance are tenacious and enduring. In What Racists Believe, Gerhard Schutte examines evidence which illustrates how the consciousness of whites in South Africa has been reproduced and maintained, revealing a range of social constructions and typifications of blacks. He concludes with a chapter comparing contemporary racial attitudes in South Africa and the United States.
The assessment and improvement of eyewitness testimony of children is the topic of this volume. The first section examines factors that contribute to the reliability and accuracy of testimony, including the effects of extended delays, repeated questioning and exposure to leading questions. The second part describes techniques that have been developed to improve the quality of children's testimony, including interview techniques and the use of anatomically correct dolls, and explores their empirical and theoretical underpinnings. The final chapters focus on policy issues, including psychological research designed to guide legal reforms for accommodating child witnesses into the legal system.
In this guide to cultural criticism, Arthur Asa Berger presents complex concepts in jargon-free language, making the book an ideal introductory text. It covers the key theorists, concepts and subject areas, from literary, sociological and psychoanalytical theories of semiotics and Marxism. Berger brings cultural criticism to life by making these theories relevant to students' lives. Illustrating his explanations with excerpts from classic works, Berger gives readers a sense of the style of important thinkers and helps place them in context. There is an extensive bibliography which will be an invaluable resource for those who wish to explore the topics in greater depth.
This major contribution to the understanding of Hispanics in the United States explores such topics as: adaptation to a new culture; role of the family in acculturation; ethnic identification; health and mental health service; research needs; and changing gender roles. The articles were previously published in the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences.
Why do people forget some skills faster than others? What kind of training is most effective at getting people to retain new skills over a longer period of time? Cognitive psychologists address these questions in this volume by analyzing the results of experiments which used a wide variety of perceptual, cognitive and motoric training tasks. Studies reported on include: the Stroop effect; mental calculation; vocabulary retention; contextual interference effects; autobiographical memory; target detection; and specificity and transfer in choice reaction time tasks. Each chapter explores the extent to which reinstatement of training procedures during retention and transfer tests accounts for both durability and specificity of training.
