Manoa For Grosar Absustmenr Scare (STUDENT ‘FORM) Designed & Developed -- by Sanjay Vohra Copytights © 1884,2013, All rights rezerved by NVs PSY.COM SERVICES, B-4, 0/2, $.1.Encl, New Delhi 10.029 25106433, 26175191, ema [email protected] Scanned with CamScanner‘The Global Adjustment Seale (G.A.S.'has two forms, one for students (both school and college students age ranging from 13-19 years), known as Stu- dent Form (Form S) and another for the adult ‘population “(20 years’ and above), known as the Adult Form -(Form A). The Student Form tries to’ obtain reliable formation from the student/child con- ‘cerning ‘what he thinks and feels about his ; ; Raniily relationships i.e., with the par- fnts and siblings, with regard to free- ‘dom and cohesion in the family; b. Health i:e., about the physical func- tioning of his body;"* ‘©: Social environment i.e., friends and acquaintances outside the home, with regard to, how hostile or submissive he is around them and how much trust the. student has on people around him; 4. Emotions in terms of maturity and sensitivity . School which focuses mainly on school life and academic involvement; and STUDENT FORM £. Sex related behaviour i.e., about sex relited knowledge, anxiety, myths, sat- isfaction, etc. The G.A.S. Form § thus seeks to obtain: information about how well the student understands’ and has learned to live with his feelings and emotions in his Physical and social environment. It en- deavors to discover to what extent he is the master or the slave of his feelings. By asking’ Questions about tension-arousing situations, it seeks to. gain information about the extent of the. student's devia- tion from the group average in his adjust- iment with physical and social environ- ment. The G.A.S. Farm S has been used extensively and has proven tobe very useful with botli school and college stu- dents of both sexes.in locating the area of specific maladjustment. The measure- ‘ment of adjustment in six areas permits the coansellors or the test users to pin point exactly the areas of difficulties student/child is facing. We will discuss the meaning of scores on these’ six areas in detail in the next chapter. . Scanned with CamScannerPsychological Description of G.A. 1.Emotional adjustment (Em) : igh scores on Em suggests. that the stident is highly ‘sensitive and fas concerns in one or mote of the following areas: 1) a tendency for day-dreaming and to imagine things; 2) lively and un- stable feelings'of fear, anger, and excite- ment, etc.; 3) feelings of depression com- ing from isolation and inferiority; 4) guilt and self-cotisciousness; 5)feclings are easily hurt; 6) frequent episodes of worry, anxiety, and nervousness. The basic items in Em deal with the student's feelings which carry a heavy load of emotion. Only a few’ items are related to action, and these, such as com- pulsions, ordinarily have some strong emotion like feat or anger intimately ‘associated with them. The feelings tapped are essentially negative feelings about the sélf, although a few items deal with ‘such feelings as they may have been_pro- jected: into the environment. High score on Em may be because of being, overtly-distressed about some relatively specific problem which has se- Tiously aroused the student's normal self- doubi, e.g-, loss of parental appro cerns about .pecr acceptance, anxiety about sexual feelings, etc. In such cases a clue to the area of coricern may be piovided by..other scales, ¢.g., Family ‘adjustment, Social adjustment,.or Sexual -adjustment, etc. The counselor's task; in such a'case, is to help the student feel free enough to discuss his concerns and fo place his problem in realistic per- spective. * Often, however, a high scote on Em is sympfomatic of ioré general un- resolved problems of learning to ‘accept, express, and control one's emotions. Such a child must seek balance between the extremes’ of représsion on the.one hand S. Areas and uncontrolled emotional expressive ness on the other; otherwise he becomes the victim rather than the master of this most protected force in the personality. A high Em score is also found both among student who are overtly ‘ner- vous and excitable and those who present an unexpressive front to the world. The G.A.S. Form S is particularly useful with the latter type of student because they are so fegquently misjudged by people as _beirig unemotional and without feelings. “They find it difficult to laugh or ery eas- ily and spontaneously. Their unrespon- -siveness in a social situation makes them the recipient of misunderstanding and critical comments. In many instances, these individuals have experienced some major block in the expression of their feelings during infancy and- childhood which produced an inhibited manner of responding to emotionally stimulating situations. It may be possible for the couniellor to assist such a individual in gaining a better understanding of the spe- cific life situations which have given rise to his fear of emotional expression or anxiety about losing control of his emo- -tions and to help the student learn. more adequately. and personally satisfying Ways to express his feelings. Counselling alone,: however, can- not do the entire job. The student must also find more, effective action patterns than he has in the ‘past through which to. express his-feelings. This includes more meaningful work experience, careful se- lection of his vocation. and the. educa- tional plans prerequisite t lection of his friends, experiences, and the cultivation of some stabilizing life val- ues which increase his sense of security, c.g. respect for rights of others, love of learning for its own sake. Since the’ emo- tional life of a child permeates .every Scanned with CamScannerct of his personality, the ramifica- tional, vocational, social, and religious phases of his daily life eannot be qver- looked. : Students who make exceptionally low scores on’Em are considered to be mature and emotionally stable. They merit more attention than is usually given. to them by counsellors. Some of the low scores are due to social pressures. In’our culture, for example, boys are not sup- posed to be easily frightened and aré not stipposed to cry or be afraid of the dark. So it is possible for boys to answer ques- tions about their. feelings and emotions in such a way-so as to conceal the real state of affairs. Another kind of low scorers-on Em are those who lack the capacity for appropriate’ emotional response. Effec- tive expression of feelings has to. be leamed. Emotions are inherent charac- teristics of man, but society dictates when and how they may be expressed. We need only obsérve a person who Jaughs at the wrong time and at the wrong things, who is unable to accept praise graciously, who cannot control a tendency to weep, who is unable to manage his or her in- fatuations- people who, in general, show ‘2 marked inability to respond spontane- ously and appropriately over a wide range ‘of emotional situations - to be convinced ‘that our training in emotional control and expression often goes away. The counsellor might well spend some time and thought-on the kind of experiences that a particular student may heed in or- der to increase his capacity'to respond more effectively over a wide range of human eniotions. The males in our culture have tended to emphasize the expression of coarser and more aggressive emotions ‘while denying expression to tender feel- ings; the females. have been taught more refined and repressed expressigns of feelings. Some individuals ‘profit from being made more aware of how their emotional reactions differ compared with other individuals.of both’sexes. They may also be encouraged to participate in ac- ities that will enable them to learn to express feelings over a'more extensive range of life situations. -2, Family adjustment (Fm) High scores on (Fm) tends'to be associated with conflict’ resulting from one or more of the following conditions in tho family: 1) inability to live up to the expectations of one or both parents/sib- Tings; 2) feelings of parental/sibling re- jection; 3) persistent tensions in the faim- ily; 4) arbitrary restrictions and non-af- fectionate discipline; 5) sibling, rival- ries; 6) inability to identify with or relate to “one or both parents; 7) divorce or separation in the family;-8) possessive ents; 9) lack of freedom-for expres- sion. A certain degree of tension in-the family life is normal, Further, such feel- ings sometimes have a strong effect upon an individual and may stimulate achieve- ments which he otherwise might have never attained. It is only when the feel- ° ings become intense and persist over a considerable period of time that have a seriously disturbing influence on the a Justment of the individual. ~ ” High score on Fim does not_mean that the counsellor should try to change conditions in the home which may give rise t6 further tension. Usually,-this is not-only advisable, but also impossible ‘in many cases: The emphasis should be on the counselior seeking to understand ‘the situation in the family and én his helping the student gain an understand: ing, Occasionally, it is possible through personal contacts with parents and other members of the student's family to make changes in the attitudes, expectations, and management of the f “ Scanned with CamScannerlessen his tension: But more often the counsellor must focus his atteition to- wards helping the student in better un- derstaiding of his family situation and Tearn to live not oinly with it but above it Family tensions as such aré not necessarily maladjustment, but when they reach’a point where they interfere with the student's goals and ambitions, they ‘must be seriously considered. by the counsellor. The counselor's primary re- sponsibility then is to set the stage so ‘that the students readily seek out for help when they want it. . A very low score on Fm, should be evaluated during the’ interview. In most instances, low scores mean that the indi- vidual.is getting along well at home and that his: family is cohesive. However, occasionally a very low score indicates that the individual is dependent upon his family, that he is contented to be in the warm: sunlight of his parent's love and tather than to seck the acceptanée, and affection of his peers /friends outside the home. This kind of immaturity may not be-very disturbing in the early years of adolescence, but as the individual Brows older, it may cause him consider- able unhappiness in’his relationships out- side the family roof, particularly during adulthood arid after marriage. A Tow score on Fm may occasion: ally méan that the student feels so keenly about his'need for a happy family life that 3. Health adjustment (He) Extremely high scores on He re. “fleets cither a history of poor health he responds to the questions as he wishes ” them to be rather: than as. they actually are. This kind of behaviour should not be ‘eated ‘as faking since the individual's. - neéd his coloured his judgment. His de- ‘sire (0 have what others have is so strong that he ignores realities. When the coun- sellor- has taken time to inquire infor- ‘mally about student's family life prior to reporting his scores, he usually spots such mistepresentations and use this in- formation for further study of the per- sonality.dynamics of the individual, 10 difficulties or an excessive preoecupa. tion with one's body mentally, or both, Many common health problems faced by students are covered in this section lik 1) frequerit colds, and nose/throat prob- Jems; 2) diseases, operations, or acci dents with residual effects; 3) fatigue; 4) sleeplessness; 5) weight problems; 6) digestion difficulties; 7) headaches and pains etc.; 8) history of absence from schodl due to illness; and 9) skin dis- cases. “There is a relatively high inter- correlation between He and Em; which -suggests that there may be a tendency for students with the health problems to ex- perience tensions in their social and emo- tional relationships with others. When a student gets a high score on He, it is advisable to learn in what ways, if any, this situation is influencing his contact with other people and his overall mental health. Preoccupation with one's bady aches-aid pains, particularly in adoles- cence is sometimes a symptom of fail- ure to make wholesome social contacts and to learn how to express one's feel- ings. Therefore, it is always very impor- tant to find out if the student's health problems are physical or mental: in na- ture, or both. It is also advisable to determine during the course of the interview with the student if his high scores result from history of illness. If the interview re- Veals that this ig the case, the individual should be referred to the physician. How- ever, if this is not the case, than the counsellors can be helpful to students with health problems which are psycho- logical in nature or both (physical as well ‘8S meatal or in psychological terms, ‘psy- chosomatic’). “A low score on He means that the _ N Scanned with CamScanner| student has reported that lie has not had a history of physical illness and/or that.the ‘physical ailments he may have had have ‘pot bothered him sufficiently: to cause discomfort, or that he has developed an - accepting attitude toward'them, - |° It shoufd be emphasized that He scores are dependent upon the accuracy of the student's knowledge of his own health history and on the amount of dis- comfort, that this ailments may haye caused hint. Some organic illnesses may not provide a student with subjective warnings of their presence until a crisis arises. Then, too, it is reasonable to'as- sume that human beings vary greatly’ in their sensitivity to pain and discomfort and students who score tow on Health. adjustment.may be those who are fela- tively insensitive to their organic distur- bances as compared. to those who ‘score high. : 4. School adjustitent (Sc) During the schooling phase, stu- derits learn about the Stiesses and haz: ards int the school. Different’school/cel- lege situations create different types of stresses. Some common ways in which a student might feel under stress are:. 1) Stidden demands for new kind of perfor- mancé; 2) School/college performance and security highly dependent upon othi- ‘ers; 3) Rapid obsolescence of knowl- edge and/or. skills; 4) Increased demand for speciality; 5) Likelihood of transfer; ) Limited or fixed opportunities; 7) Hazardous school. conditions; 8).Con- stant“exposure-to stress or overload of homework: Students who core high of Se re- act with complicated and often paradoxi- cal responses. Such responses are either physiological or behavioural in nature. The physidlogical signs are seen in change of appetite or in level of physical aL activity. Under stress, the appetite m Up oF down; the student will ete: eet ‘lore food or less food. Physical activity is either too low or too high: Onie of the Generalized reactions to school: stress is depression, in which case appetite tends to go down. Inferred from this, very of- ten, the conclusion is that the student is Rot aroused. The student is, in fact, physi ologically highly aroused. This arcusal is expressed as.low appetite, low sex interest, or disturbance of sleep. If a -Student feels confident in the ability to control stress, the appetite ‘moves up: a lack of ‘that confidence to control means movement of appetite in the opposite direction. The first phase of maladjustment to school is “aggression - adrenaline js secreted: the student is in an attack phase. - However, if he thinks he has lost control, there is a shift to.the depressed phase. Among the behavioural responses to school maladjustment, the first sign is irritability. The student is. like a. fire crackér with a very short fuse, ready to explode at someone, Another sign is ‘restlessness, i.e. things do not seem to move fast for him. Improper responses to the environment are also seen. To sus- tain the school stress is another reason for maladjustment in this area. The major factors in such sustenance.are guilt (that leads to a feeling of ambivalence when unresolved things'are carried over from day to day), and hostility (i.e. when the student is very angiy bit cannot or does not express it). . Students who scoré high on Sc, tend to be highly dissatisfied with their school/college conditions. They are badly flustered and confused in their present institution. ‘They generally feel ver-fatigued and irritated in their work ituations. This kind of situation leads to alienation from-school-causing with- drawal from.the academics. Scanned with CamScanner |Low scaring students tend to be pleased with their present institution. ‘They’ seem to accept their working con- ditions including the people in their in- stitute very well. They are satisfied with the academic or social gains from their school/college and prefer té stick to their institutions,for long periods. They seem to have a harmonious relationship with their friends and are motivated to take up the responsibility of new assignments in their institute (school/college). - 5. Sexual adjustment (Se) Sexual adjustment is diverse and ‘determined by. a complex interaction of factors. It is affected by one's relation- ships. with others, by one's life circum- stances, and by the culture in which one lives. A. person's seauality’ is, efheshed with other personility factors, with bio- logical make-up, and with general sense of self. It includes the perception of be- ing male or female, and it reflects devel- ‘Spmiental experiences with sex through- ‘out the life cycle. The items included for measuring Se cover some major areas Such as: 1), Interest in sexual relation- ships; 2) Sexual anxiéty; 3) Guilt associ- ated with sexual activity; 4) Pérmissive- néss of, openness to sexual activities; A rigid definition of sexual. ad- justment is difficult:to draw and is clis cally impractical. tis easier to define sexual. méladjtistment (or abnormality), i.e, indicated by a high score on Se. High Se reveals’ that ‘sexual behaviour. is de- strudtive to oneself or others. It carinot be ditectéd, towards a partner. It is inap- propriately associated with guilt and anxiety leading to frustration. Low Se score is a indicator of sexual contentuient. The student séems to haye an appropriate gender and sexital identity and projects normal sex behav. jour. Gender identity Fefers to a person's ‘sense of rialeness of femaleness. Sexual lentity refers'to biological sexual char- 12 istics: chromosomes, external ge actorsitemmal genitalia, hormonal ei position, etc. In normal development they Form a secandary cohesive pattern, so that the student has no doubt about his or her sex, Low Se score is also associated ‘with low scores on Em and Fm. Social adjustment (So) Students who score high on So tend to be very hostile in nature. They show following attitudes/behaviour to- wards other people: 1), they feel: that people,,.in general, are stupid, ‘dull, boresome, and irrational; 2) they believe that you can't afford to trust people, even your friends; 3) they feel that others are unfriendly towards you, and they. don't understand you; 4) that’ it is foolish to tell the truth and it's better to cover up a bit;-5) they believe that you should not “hesitate to criticize” people openly; 6) they Believe that others feel you are criti- cal of them and dislike them; 7) that altruism is basically selfish, and that good deeds -are useless; 8) that our convic- tions and moral practices are-stupid. High scorers on So preseiit a real challerige to the counsellor. The very fact that a counsellor is.deputed to be a Person who tries to help students may: stimulate the very hostile student to ex- Press negative attitudes towards him. It is said that when you treat a very his child kindly and helpfully, you only in- crease his hostility because he has never learned how to react to kindness and it thostly acts as-a threat to him. To help such a child, the counsellor himself must be sufficiently emotionally mature to become an object for the student's hos- tility without returning it or rejecting the student.altogether. If he can do so, the student may learn that he need not defend himself against other people by his hos- tility, Further challenge to the counsel lor grows out of the extreme suspicious- Scanned with CamScannera ADMINISTRATION Form S is printed on 8 cight’page booklet. The front page con” ‘alae the instructions for answering questions with-few examples. Pages 3.10 8 (inside pages) coritain the ‘actual test {tems to be answered by the subject. Sinée this scale is x power test (i.e. there is no time fimit);-however, the average subject takes approximately 20-35 minutes to complete the test in full. Itcan be admin: istered both individually or in-group situations. : The GA. ‘The G.A.S. Form Shas been designed for self-sidininistration with Tittle super- vision required. The examiner should not indicate to the’ subject that the scale is a “adjustment” scale; nor that the G.A.S. Form $ printed on the booklei stands for *Global Adjustment Scale’. If at all any statement must be made about the:nature ofthe scale, it stiould be referred to-as an attitude or interest scale. If the subjects can read a newspaper, and if they can understand the directions printed on the first page and work out the practice problems themselves, no fur- ther instructions aré required. Because, if they understand these questions. and answer them by checking one of the three possible answers, they will be able to ‘answer the actual questions themselves. It is necessary to distinguish be- tween the clinical use of the test, usually individual, and the educational and in- dustrial use, typically-group. In group testing or individual testing the normal subjects aire simply asked t read the front page instructions and to fll in the ‘ame, etc. at the top of the answer sheet nd wait intil they receive further in- structions. When everybody has read the instructions the examiner says; “Please turn over the page. Are there any ques- tions about marking the answers or about anything else?” 14 - He deals with questions, if any, and may then, according to discretion dad the nature of the group of subjects, briefly re-emphasize certain points in the directions. For example, with a group of prospective employees, he may, say: “Ati interest to answer the Fee coectly and truthfully as you can.” Or, “Remember not fo use the “sometimes” choice more than it i abso- lutely necessary”. In general, it is good to remind everyone preferably fiye min- utes after starting the test; “Be sure not to miss a question. You can erase and make corrections if you wish; but-make your final. pencil marks quite clear.” questions 8s It helps most subjects to know the rate at which they should be, working. There tends to be a skewed distribution in the time people take to do the test, ‘such that the last few subjects, in a group “of ahundred, will take three or four times as long as the average subject, unless reminded. Thus, after about 15 minutes, most subjects will-be at about the half sway mark, or beyond. We recoinmend calling out the subjects at three points; after 10 minutes, say, “You should now be at item 40 or beyond. Answer more quickly if you have not reached 40”.’Af- ter 15.ininutes say, “You should:be now at about item 60. Remember to give the fifst answer that comes to you. If you have not reaclied 60 you are deciding too slowly.” After 25 minutes say, “You should be now about to finish the test. Please hand in your test booklet and an- -swer slicet here as soon as you finish.” ‘Add, when most people are about do Fin- ish: “Glance over your answer sheet to make sure you have not missed any of the questions, and that your name etc., are on the top of the answer sheet.” There is, of course, no absolute time limit; but after 25 minutes stragglers should be encour- ged to finish as soon as possible. Scanned with CamScannerThe scoring procedure in G.A.S, Form 8 is quite objective and simple. ” Transparent stencil scoring keys are available for this purpose. Please follow ‘the steps mentioned below to do the scor- ing: (1) Before starting the scoring proce- dure, examiner should ensure that the subject has answered all the ques- tions on the answer sheet, (2) If more than 15 questions are skipped, the test is’ considered invalid and should not be scored. : (3) Please also ensure that ech question has one’and only one answer. (4) Place the scoring key over the answer sheet. Be sure that the outline box on _ the answer sheet is aligned with the box on the scoring key. SCORING (5) Please Rote that each ‘answer scores either 2 or 1 as indicated by the num. bers printed above the circles, (6) Add these scores for each adjustment area and write it down at-the bottom Of the answer sheet rc vided for that area’ in the space pro- (7) Bach item in this‘test measures some of the other area as indicated in the key. ‘ (8) Convert the obtained raw scores to sten scores by the procedure men- tioned in the notin tables. Be careful to choose the appropriate norm table. (9) Plot these sten scores on the profile sheet provided with the test materi- als, Eavh bar indicates one adjustment area. ell Scanned with CamScanner‘Tablé-S2: Norms for High School Students (Boys) 10 . Mean. Sp Tas 6g ee eae ‘Sten Scores Bm 07 S11 1244 15-18 19-22 23-25 2629 3033 3436 37-40 Bm 2215 7.39 : 20.78 6, Fe 07 $10 113 14-17 “18-30 21-24 25.27.- 2831 3234 3540. Fa 20. ; AT : Waid 15.16 Tig. 2022-2395" 2627 2840 He 16.84 5.12 43 sic +012 2022 24.25 26-28 2952 3335 3638 3940 SIC 35:42 Se, 09 1013 14:16 17.20 21-24 25:28 2932 33-95 3639 Se 24.97 7.61 So O12 13-15 16-18 19.22 23.25 26-28 2931 3234 3537 38-40 So 25.69, 6.29 Dimesion 1 0202348 GOTOH _ Mean sD Sten Scares ‘N=240Mean Age=14.8 Sten Score 1-2 = Excellent, 3-4 = Good, 5-6 = Average, 7-8 = Poor, 9-10 = Unstaisfactory Table $3: Norms for High School Students (Girls) __~ : Dimension 1-2 03 4 5 6 7 8 9° Ie Mean SD Sten Scores B87 bs as Veit wa mas “90 313) adr ae) mm anes oe Fe 07 10. ita 1517 Wea 24 528 zea) 32d “seg ae 21.25 6.97 Be DG 38 “S41 244 847 Jean 2492 2525 2628 2040 He | 17.34 5.62 SIC 012-145 1619 2027 23.25 2629 3032 3335 3639 4) “SIC 25.92 6.65 Se. 012 BAS. 1619 2022 2995 2628 2931 a234 3538 3940 Se 25.47 6.34 Se MAG tr19 22 95 2609 wom 3535 3658 ap40 So 28.89 6.32 Dinero ES ggg Sy Mon SD - Sten Scores N=220Mean Age=14. . 18 Scanned with CamScanner