As the number of older adults increases, it is important to understand how attitudes toward aging influence society, the aging process, and the counseling profession. Ageism-defined as social stigma associated with old age or older people-has deleterious effects on older adults' physical health, psychological wellbeing, and self-perception. In spite of research indicating that the pervasiveness of ageism is growing, there are few studies, whether conceptual or empirical, related to the impact of ageism within the practice of counseling. This article includes an overview of existing literature on the prevalence and impact of ageism, systemic and practitioner-level consequences of ageism, and specific implications for the counseling profession. Discussion of how members of the counseling profession can resist ageism within the contexts of counselor education, gerontological counseling, advocacy, and future research will be addressed.

The impact of hassles, or daily stressors, on the lives of adults has been demonstrated by Lazarus and his colleagues. Conceptual relevance of the hassles construct for young adolescent populations, theoretical interplay between self-reported hassles and role strain in youth, and the relationship between role strain and adolescent peer relations have received scant research attention to date. To address these issues, the authors developed the Adolescent Hassles Inventory (AHI), patterning it after the Hassles Scale developed for adults by Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, and Lazarus, and administered it to 246 sixth grade students. AHI reliability data supported feasibility of the measurement approach for young adolescents. Factor analysis of the condensed 50-item AHI scale revealed eight item clusters, five of which suggested underlying scale dimensions reflecting adolescent roles of student, peer, drug user/non-user, son/daughter, and worker. Subscales created from item factor loading data correlated significantly with a measure of peer relations as did the global AHI scores. Findings suggest that role strain, as measured by aggregated hassles scores, correlates inversely with young adolescent satisfaction with peer group relations, particularly for males.

College counselors work collaboratively with professionals in a variety of disciplines in higher education to coordinate gatekeeper training to prepare university community members to recognize and refer students in mental distress to support services. This article describes the cross-validation of scores on the Mental Distress Response Scale (MDRS), a questionnaire for appraising university community members' responses to encountering a student in mental distress, with a sample of faculty members. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed the dimensions of the MDRS were estimated adequately. Results also revealed demographic differences in faculty members' responses to encountering a student in mental distress. The MDRS has implications for augmenting the outreach efforts of college counselors. For example, the MDRS has potential utility for enhancing campus-wide mental health screening efforts. The MDRS also has implications for supporting psychoeducation efforts, including gatekeeper training workshops, for professional counselors practicing in college settings.

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Skills intervention to prevent cigarette smoking was evaluated with 689 adolescents. At 24-month follow-up, youths who received health information and skills intervention had lower intentions to smoke and less cigarette use than youths who received health information alone and youths who received no intervention. Conclusions about the effects of skills intervention are strengthened by the common preparation and random assignment of intervention leaders and by process measurement data. (Am J Public Health 1985; 75:665-667.)