An emerging unemployment issue has been the growing number of job seekers who have been out of work for very long periods of time. Those who have been unemployed for 5 years or more, the chronic long-term unemployed (CLTU), are the subject of this research. This paper reports on the results of an assessment of 47 CLTU job seekers undertaken as part of a strategy aimed at identifying needs and generating return-to-work strategies for this group. Variables investigated were general ability (Standard Progressive Matrices, de Lemos, 1989), literacy (ACER Applied Reading Test, van den Berg & Woff, 1990), mental health (General Health Questionnaire, Goldberg, 1978; Symptom Checklist-90-R, Derogatis, 1983; State of Anxiety and Depression Scale, Bedford, Foulds & Sheffield, 1976) and work commitment. The CLTU differed from the general population on intellectual and reading ability by being over-represented in the lower ranges. The group reported mental health levels poorer than non-patient normative samples, but above levels of psychiatric in- or out-patients. Despite this, the CLTU reported high levels of work commitment. These initial findings point to the special needs of the CLTU. Implications for policy makers and those working with the unemployed are highlighted.

Maslow's (1954) theory of a hierarchy of human needs has generated little research, perhaps because of the lack of specific, concrete operationalisation of concepts such as ‘psychological well-being’ and basic need satisfaction. The Need Satisfaction Inventory (NSI: Lester, 1990) was developed to measure basic need satisfaction and 157 undergraduate subjects completed both it and the Beck Depression (BDI) and Anxiety Inventories (BAI), as well as Spielberger's (1986) Anger-Expression questionnaire (AX). The latter three questionnaires represent an operationalisation of Spielberger, Ritterband, Sydeman, Reheiserdc Unger's (1995) notion that emotions act as indicators of psychological well-being. The hypothesis that scores on the NSI would be significantly correlated with the BDI, BAI, and AX was supported. Ss also completed the Richins and Dawson (1992) materialism index, and it was hypothesised that if hoarding material goods does in fact represent compensatory neurotic behaviour, then materialism would also be negatively correlated with the NSI. The hypothesis was confirmed, providing further evidence for Maslow's (1970) theory that basic need satisfaction is associated with psychological health. However, in the absence of norms for the NSI, there was no conclusive evidence to suggest that basic needs reside in a consistent, and strict global hierarchy.

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions and consequences associated with the closing of a sugar plantation company for a group of Japanese American plantation workers who were born and raised on the plantation. These workers were the children of Japanese immigrants who had come to Hawaii at the turn of century to plant and harvest sugar. The participants were thirty nisei (second generation) Japanese-American male residents of a rural plantation community in Hawaii. Using the techniques of participant observation, interviewing, and record research, the study explored the worker's (1) perceptions of change, (2) evaluations of perceived change, (3) stresses resulting from change, (4) coping strategies, and (5) future expectations. These subjective dimensions of change were examined across eight major areas of community life (i.e., employment, housing, community relations, community services, family life, education, physical environment, and crime). The data were analyzed to determine perceptions, evaluations, and stresses resulting from community change and to identify strategies used to cope with community change. The impact of change on resident attitudes and lifestyle patterns are discussed and summarized under three major themes: (1) communal versus individualistic lifestyles, (2) association versus dissociation of employment and the community, and (3) continuity versus discontinuity of life in the plantation.

Personal comments of workers are presented to demonstrate the utility and significance of the present research approach in assessing individual experiences in response to social changes. An understanding of the impact of change on resident attitudes, beliefs, and lifestyle patterns provides the basis for devising change programs that are sensitive to the social and psychological needs of individuals affected by the changes.

Qualitative research methods were used to explore the dynamics of racist bullying of, and retaliation by. Aboriginal students in a large, predominantly White, urban high school. Transcripts of recorded interviews and discussion groups with 11 Aboriginal students aged between 13 and 17 were analysed. Bullying by White students mainly took the form of verbal abuse, whereas retaliation by Aboriginal students was predominantly in the form of physical attacks. Aboriginal students tended to deal with bullying at the peer group level rather than by seeking adult intervention. This appears to have been because of poor teacher response and institutional racism. Recommendations are made for dealing with bullying issues in the school setting, and for future research.

Choosing a response format is a problem when designing computerised tests. Programmers often solve this problem by highlighting a response option and allowing the user to select this option or choose another by using the cursor keys. It is possible that such well-meaning attempts to make computers more user-friendly may heighten response style tendencies. The two experiments to be reported in this study were designed to test the effect of cursor positioning in personality and ability tests. In the first experiment, sixty two Participants were randomly assigned to two groups and asked to complete computerised versions of Forms A and B of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. The position of the highlight was manipulated to produce a two-by-two factorial design with repeated measures on one factor. Results showed that there was evidence of a cursor effect but that it was confined to one of the conditions in the design. Experiment two employed the same sort of manipulation in a computerised version of the ACER Word Knowledge Test with another sample of 36 Participants. Here, no evidence was found for any effect of cursor positioning. Overall, it was concluded that the highlighting technique itself is unlikely to have any effect on measures of cognitive ability but that it may have some effect in the more subjective personality testing domain.