Suchergebnisse

"How is it that intelligence tests which were introduced into educational selection procedures to further equality of opportunity are now the subject of egalitarian protest?" The tripartite testing system failed to equalize educational opportunity & merely reinforced existing social arrangements. The essential point is that all children should have an equal opportunity of acquiring intelligence. A. R. Jensen (see SA 18:6/70E4540) found that 80% of the observed variance in measured intelligence is genetically determined. If a child is induced to have diminished concepts of himself, it causes frustration in the individual & lowers his motivation for achievement. We do not inherit intellectual abilities, but only a genetic program which makes the development of intellectual abilities possible. The Binet Intelligence Test certainly does not measure an innate capacity. Schools respond to society & cannot bring about social reformation by themselves. Psychometric tests should be used to decide what areas of the student need emphasis. "We need to think of intelligence not as a fixed mental capacity but as a generic term for the individual's set of strategies for processing information & problem solving which has crystallized out of a complex interaction of up-bringing, schooling, sex, & ethnicity." 1 Table. L. DeForge.

Background  Subjective wellbeing (SWB) in people with intellectual disabilities has been the focus of increased interest in the identification of support needs and as an outcome measure for interventions and service delivery evaluations. It is therefore important to conduct further research in this area, and to develop appropriate scales to measure SWB.Methods  A new scale, the Personal Wellbeing Index‐Intellectual Disability (PWI‐ID) was administered to 114 adults with mild (n = 82) or moderate (n = 32) level ID in Victoria, Australia.Results  The PWI‐ID demonstrated good reliability and validity. A comparison of the findings with previous research indicates that participants' SWB levels are within the normative range, and are similar to those reported by the general population.Conclusions  The results support the notion that individuals with ID do not experience life quality lower than normal, which can be explained theoretically by the Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis. The use of the PWI‐ID may ultimately assist in ensuring that the needs of people with ID are being met and inform the planning and delivery of congruent resources and services.

Studies relating blood pressure to cancer risk have some shortcomings and have revealed inconsistent findings. In 17498 middle-aged London-based government employees we related systolic and diastolic blood pressure recorded at baseline examination (1967-1970) to the risk of cancer mortality risk at 13 anatomical sites 25 years later. Following adjustment for potential confounding and mediating factors, inverse associations between blood pressure and mortality due to leukaemia and cancer of the pancreas (diastolic only) were seen. Blood pressure was also positively related to cancer of the liver and rectum (diastolic only). The statistically significant blood pressure-cancer associations seen in this large-scale prospective investigation offering high power were scarce and of sufficiently small magnitude as to be attributable to chance or confounding.