Recruiting nonviolent men as control subjects for research on marital violence: how easily can it be done?

Data regarding the prevalence of violence among subjects recruited for nonviolent control groups in five studies are presented. These studies examined subjects recruited using a variety of methods, including couples seeking marital therapy and couples recruited from newspaper advertisements. Across the studies, it appears that up to one-third of maritally nondistressed couples and one-half of maritally distressed couples report that husband violence has occurred in their relationship. The implications of these data for the recruitment of control groups in future studies of marital violence are discussed, and questions regarding the ease of recruiting nonviolent couples for control groups are raised.

Adolescent sexual offense behavior: the role of the physician.

This article explores the more common adolescent sexual behavior problems that have legal ramifications, and the role of the physician in approaching such problems. Various presenting sexual offense behaviors are described, as well as the implications for the patient as offender, and finally the parental and physician attitudes necessary to facilitate successful treatment outcomes. Intervention approaches are discussed, and two cases are presented from a group of 83 adolescent male sexual offenders referred to our Juvenile Sexual Offender Project. The discussion and cases illustrate abnormal sexual behaviors which may come to the attention of physicians and other health care professionals.

Cognitive style, personality traits, and treatment attrition among alcoholics.

The relationships among cognitive style, personality characteristics, and treatment attrition were examined. The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ(, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) were administered to 78 inpatient alcoholic male veterans. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that the GEFT and CAQ shared 24% common variance; second-order CAQ factors of Depression, Independence, and Extraversion contributed significantly. The GEFT and MMPI shared 16% common variance. Field-independent alcoholics demonstrate less psychopathology, more independence, and tend to be more introverted than field-dependent alcoholics. Cognitive style did not differ among four treatment attrition groups. Implications for treatment are discussed.

Cognitive deficit in middle-aged alcoholics.

Two groups of male alcoholics with mean ages of 44 and 55 and two groups of matched control subjects were tested twice, one year apart. Comparisons on verbal and adaptive ability factors derived from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale and selected Halstead--Reitan neuropsychological tests found no differences on verbal abilities. Significant improvement for the younger alcoholics on retesting indicates that previous comparisons of the neuropsychological effect of aging and alcoholism may not have sufficiently taken into account the reversibility of an alcoholic deficit. For the age range studied here, it may be only older alcoholics who appear different from control subjects.