The psychological impact of childhood sexual abuse on latency-aged children was investigated by the combined use of self-report instruments and parent/caretaker reports. In the study, 20 males and 20 females who were in treatment at clinics in two large Southeastern cities comprised the abused groups, and a matched number of children from the same areas comprised a control group. The hypothesis that sexually abused children differ from nonabused peers was supported by the results. Abused children identified themselves as having more problems in peer interactions and saw themselves as more depressed than the nonabused children. Caretakers reported that the abused children had more problems with aggression, social interactions, and being overly sensitive to peers' negative statements; lacked appropriate social skills; and demonstrated more sexual acting-out behaviors. A second hypothesis, that within the abused children's group there would be significant differences between males and females, was not supported by the results. The direction of the group means on all the dependent variables for the abused male and female groups was, however, in the expected direction. Possible explanations for these results as well as future research needs are discussed.

Signal-detection models of recognition memory assume that S's decision as to whether or not he recognizes a stimulus is a function of a criterion value. In selecting his criterion, S takes into consideration the a priori probability of an old item and the costs and rewards of a hit or false alarm. In the present experiment, Ss were given feedback during recognition testing in an effort to determine whether it would aid S in selecting his criterion. The results showed that the feedback improved recognition performance by significantly reducing the number of false alarm errors. Evidence was presented to support the claim that S's criterion was affected by this manipulation.

The psychological refractory period-the prolonged reaction time (RT) to the second of 2 closely-spaced stimuli-was investigated in groups of 13 children and 13 adults. Subjects responded as fast as possible to the 2nd of 2 loud clicks that were presented after a soft click which served as a ready signal. The inter-stimulus interval (ISI), or time between loud clicks, was investigated as an independent variable. The results for ISI's of 50, 100, 250, and 500 msec confirmed the existence of an inverse relationship between RT and ISI. In accordance with the hypothesis investigated, RT was more prolonged in children than in adults as ISI decreased. Findings were consistent with the view that refractory period (RP) of an information-processing element in the central processor is longer in children than in adults. A single-channel model of information processing was proposed which could explain the inverse relationship between RT and ISI; could account for the slope differences between the RT vs ISI curves from children and adults; and could account, in part, for the overall longer RT's of children than of adults.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a sport-specific version of Nideffer’s (1976a) Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS), specifically in regard to the sport of basketball. Collegiate basketball players (N = 43) participated in the research, 20 males and 23 females. The subjects were administered two instruments, the original TAIS and the Basketball Concentration Survey (BCS). The items contained in the BCS were a conversion of the 59 pertinent items contained in the original. The instruments were administered early in the season and the results were correlated with nine seasonal performance variables ranging from field-goal percentage to total number of steals. The results show the BCS to have significant reliability as well as significantly accounting for performance variability. The BCS had highly significant correlations with seven of the nine performance variables.

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