title:Long-Term Adjustment Preparation

During Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Its

Impact on Post-Treatment Adjustment

opening paragraph: scene setting (broad)

Significant advancements in treatment over the past decade have drastically improved the outlook for children diagnosed with cancer. As the number of childhood cancer survivors has continued to increase during recent years, numerous studies have focused on the after-effects of the cancer experience on the child. The majority of studies agree that most survivors of childhood cancer experience positive overall adjustment and a normal return to daily activities. foreshadows a problem There are, however, a significant number of children who experience difficulties adjusting to life after cancer.

mini-annotation

The most extensive and widely known study of long-term childhood cancer survivors was conducted by Koocher and O'Malley (I 98 1). This study, which was cited by Fritz, Williams, and Amylon in 1988, documented some degree of adjustment problems among 59% of the survivors, although most reported problems were fairly minor. The primary limitation of this study is its lack of relevance to today's pediatric cancer population. With an average a e since diagnosis of 13 years, some of the participants ended treatment as long ago as 1947. The participants in Koocher and O'MaRey's experiment most likely had a much different cancer experience than children who have been recently diagnosed (Fritz, Williams, & Amylon 1988).

background: laying the groundwork

Although serious adjustment problems are not typically experienced by the majority of children who have completed cancer treatment, the fact that some children do experience difficulties should not be ignored. After synthesizing the data from the studies on this topic, it was found that the most notable adjustment problems of child cancer survivors are body image problems, diminished academic achievement, and passivity.

Common body image problems that may be experienced by a childhood cancer survivor include feeling self-conscious that his or her appearance is different than that of peers, feeling ugly or deformed, or a general shyness and discomfort concerning his or her body or physical appearance. Declines in the academic achievement of a pediatric cancer survivor are most often measured in terms of lowered grades, which are a result of decreased attention span, failing to complete assignments and homework, and poor school attendance. Children who have survived cancer are also found to develop passive personality traits. This includes being overly quiet and agreeable, avoidance of conflict, and a desire to please others while ignoring one's own needs (Fritz, Williams, & Amylon 1988).

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A study by Madan-Swain, Brown, Sexson, Baldwin, Pais, and Ragab (I 994) compared cancer survivors, 12 to 18 years of age, to a control group on areas of psychosocial adaptation. It was found that childhood cancer survivors manifested higher rates of social desirability. This is the tendency to be passive and agreeable in social situations and to avoid circumstances that involve conflict. Child cancer survivors also reported lower levels of self-esteem and body image than did matched controls.

miniannotation

Another study by Sanger, Copeland, and Davidson (I 99 1) was conducted to identify the types and frequencies of psychological difficulties manifested by children who had been diagnosed with cancer. Parents of 48 children with cancer, 4 to 17 years of age, completed the Personality Inventory for Children which measures the broad areas of behavioral, affective, and cognitive status. Overall, 52% of the children were found to have two or more clinically significant problem areas. More specifically, the reports indicated that 33% of the children were experiencing significant difficulties in cognitive functioning and academic performance.

miniannotation

The underlying message of a study conducted by Fritz, Williams, and Amylon (1988), was that children who have survived cancer are basically free of adjustment problems. However, these researchers seemed to dismiss some notable data as unimportant. It was found that the academic achievement of I 0% of their subjects was better than before their diagnosis; for 58% it was essentially unchanged; but for 32%, their academic performance had been worse or much worse than before diagnosis. For this group of subjects, grades were lower, attendance had declined, and attention span had decreased. Although the majority of the participants were experiencing similar or improved academic performance compared to before diagnosis, a fairly large percentage (32%) was experiencing a decrease in academic functioning. Although this percentage is well below the majority, these children are still suffering from an adjustment problem and should not be ignored.

transition

Despite the existence of these adjustment difficulties, problem & uniqueness no research has been conducted on how to prevent these problems from developing. The standard method of therapy experienced by children who are being treated for cancer focuses on psychological methods of fighting the disease during its treatment. This study proposes an alternate method of therapy for children who are undergoing cancer treatment, which concentrates on the necessary coping techniques for preventing post-treatment adjustment problems from occurring. hypothesis It was hypothesized that child cancer survivors, between the ages of 6 and 12 years, who receive therapy focusing on the prevention of post-treatment adjustment difficulties, while they are still undergoing medical care, will experience better overall adjustment following treatment than child cancer survivors who receive the standard method of therapy. Therefore,independent variable the independent variable is whether or not the child receives "long-term adjustment therapy." dependent variable The three primary adjustment problems experienced by child cancer survivors, problems with body-image, academic achievement, and passivity, become dependent measures along with overall adjustment.

scientific merit & motivation

This study is necessary and contributes to the current research because it focuses on an area that is very important to the population of childhood cancer survivors, but has not yet been explored. It attempts to discover an improved method of therapy that prevents adjustment problems from occurring and allows for a smooth return to daily activities.

title:

The Correlation Between Modern Racism

And Modern Sexism

background:

The problems of prejudice and discrimination have plagued humankind throughout its history. Two of the most common types of prejudice manifestations are racism and sexism. While persistent, these prejudices are not static in nature; they change with the evolving political and social climates. Recently, many types of prejudice have taken on a more subtle and invisible form. There was initially some question, however, as to if "subtle prejudice" was really prejudice at all.

more specific problem

Subtle prejudice (i.e. modern prejudice) usually implies that there is no prejudice. People who display modern racism, for example, feel that Blacks do not deserve any special privileges or support because there is no more racism (Swim, Akin, Hall, & Hunter, 1995). Meertens and Pettigrew (1997) theorized that subtle prejudice could be predicted reliably and separately from more traditional blatant prejudice. Their Subtle Prejudice Scale was given to 3,806 people, who were asked questions pertaining to groups of people their society was historically prejudiced against. Most participants scored positively on the subtle prejudice questions (meaning they displayed subtle prejudice), even if they did not display blatant prejudice. These results suggested that subtle prejudice can be measured reliably, and that it does correlate positively with blatant prejudice.

background literature

Expanding on the idea of subtle prejudices, McConahay (cited from Swim et al., 1995) developed a Modern Racism Scale consisting of seven questions which gauged modern racism. He compared the answers to a traditional racism scale that also consisted of seven questions. His results displayed a positive correlation between the two scales, although more people were inclined to display modern racism than traditional racism. Swim et al. (1995) later developed a Modern Sexism Scale by adapting McConahay's style of questions to sexism. They found modern sexism to be similar to modern racism, in that it was characterized by denial of discrimination, and lack of support for women's demands and policies to help women. Their results mimicked the earlier results of McConahay.

While Swim et al. (1995) established that modern racism and modern sexism are similar,problem & uniqueness directly compared to previous research no research has yet examined if the same people who display either modern racism or modern sexism also display the other (i.e. the correlation between modern racism and modern sexism). If a strong positive correlation exists between the two prejudice forms, it could imply a universal prejudice construct that operates across individual prejudicial biases. This finding would be immensely helpful to our understanding of the nature and causes of prejudice.

In the present study, hypothesis I hypothesized that there would be a strong positive correlation between displaying modern racism and modern sexism. To test this hypothesis, a correlational design will be used, and the sample will consist of 50 Caucasian male university students. White males will make up the sample because they are presumably the most likely to display both types of prejudice, since both women and other races fall outside of their group. variables to be studied These men will take a questionnaire compiling both McConahay's (1986) Modern Racism Scale and the Swim et al. (1995) Modern Sexism Scale. The scores of the two components will then be correlated. scientific merit This study will have scientific merit because it will attempt to determine if there is a universal prejudice construct, not bound by a specific prejudicial bias.

title

The Effects of Violent Movies and Television Programs

on Rates of Observable Aggressiveness

general topic & importance

Since the 1960's, numerous researchers have studied the impacts of violent television. Most of the research in this area has primarily focused on extremely violent television programs and its effects on observable aggressive behavior in children under age I 1. With an increase of violence in today's society, this focus has changed to include other types of video stimuli such as violent theater movies and a broader range of age groups.

miniannotation

Due to the increased usage of various video stimuli, new theories have been developed. Thomas (1982) examined the relationship between physiological arousal and aggressive behavior after exposure to a lengthy aggressive film. It was hypothesized that angered individuals who have previously viewed a relatively lengthy aggressive television program will exhibit higher levels of aggression and evidence lower levels of physiological arousal, as compared to subjects who witness actual film. Participants in this study were shown fifteen-minute excerpts from a violent film or a neutral film.

To test participant's aggressiveness, the researcher angered the participants by asking them to write probl6m-solving questions and then allowed confederates to rate the answers and award money. After feedback participants were allowed to rate the confederates, but instead of awarding money the subjects were allowed to administer shocks. limitation (foreshadowing)Although the results of Thomas' study supported his hypothesis, his sample size was too small and participants all came from the same college classroom. Also, Thomas' method of angering the confederates caused many subjects to refuse to shock as punishment.

miniannotation

Later, Zillmann and Weaver (1999) studied the effects of prolonged exposure to media violence and its relationship to unprovoked hostile behavior- The experimenters hypothesized that repeated, prolonged exposure to exceedingly violent drama is capable of facilitating hostile behavior for extended periods after exposure. In this study, participants viewed one film (rated G, PG, PG-13, or R), four consecutive days. Hostility was measured by asking the subjects questions, which could easily anger them. Participants who viewed the extremely violent films displayed more hostility toward the provoking questions than participants who viewed less violent or non-violent films. limitation (foreshadowing) While these findings are significant, the researchers failed to randomly select the participants. Therefore, the results can not be generalized to the population.

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The present study attempted to define a clearer relationship between violent movies or violent television and aggressive behavior. uniqueness By using two types of video stimuli, this experiment explored more areas than previous research, which has only focused one type of video stimuli at a time. This experiment also exposed subjects to repeated, lengthy videos as compared to most past research which has exposed subjects to short videos, only once. Although Zillman and Weaver did experiment on prolonged exposure to violent drama, they failed to expose subjects to more that one video during a four day time period.

hypothesis The hypothesis of this proposal is that participants who repeatedly view lengthy, violent movies or violent television programs will exhibit higher levels of aggression than participants who are repeatedly exposed to lengthy, non-violent movies or television programs. Male and female participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: a violent movie group, a non-violent movie group, a violent television group, or a non-violent television group. An equal number of males and females were tested and observable aggressive behavior- was compared. It was further predicted that male participants would show more significant differences in aggressiveness than female participants. independent variable The independent variables in the 2x2 factorial design were the type of video stimuli presented to each group (violent or non-violent) and gender of the participants (male or female). dependent variable The dependent variable was observable aggressive behavior such as, kicking, pushing, and fighting during the aggression opportunity.