Twenty-nine desirable internship applicants were surveyed to determine their ranking of 14 potential factors influencing their choice of internship. Geographical site was important, as were various program variables. Reputation and amount of supervision were not strikingly important nor were work load and stipend level. Implications for recruitment are discussed.Each year approximately 1,500 graduate students in professional psychology migrate from their campus to internship settings, but little is known about the reasons for their choices. Data compiled by the Association for Psychology Internship Centers (APIC) indicate that approximately 10% of the intern positions were unfilled for the 1980-1981 year and that for the past 3 years, the number of unfilled internship positions has been two to five times greater than the number of unplaced interns. Therefore, intern candidates rather than sites seem to make the choice and the competition for desirable, prospective interns is increasing.Each year the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio receives approximately 150 completed applications for internship training. These applications are reviewed by a psychology faculty committee, and the applicants are ranked on the basis of a procedure reported elsewhere (Stedman et al, 1981). Of those applying for 1980-1981, 9 were selected out of 38 who were considered highly desirable. After the remaining 28 had chosen their internship sites, they were asked to respond to a survey about their selection process. (The nine candidates who chose to come to our setting were excluded from the survey because they might feel constrained to be overly tactful.) The survey requested the individuals to rank the relative influence that 14 potential factors played in their internship site selection. Twenty-six of the 29 individuals responded-an extremely high return rate.A Wilcoxon rank-order correlation was computed, comparing the ranks assigned to each factor by each applicant. The calculation indicated a highly significant statistical difference (p = p < .0001) in the relative rank assigned to the various factors. Table 1 presents, in decreasing importance, the factors in order of the mean rank assigned.The results are illuminating. First, the desirable nature of this group of applicants is documented by the fact that almost all of them received multiple offers and therefore assigned a very low ranking to the absence of an offer from our facility as a reason for deciding to go elsewhere. Equally interesting is the salience given to geographical location in choosing a site. Program variables, such as diversity of program, theoretical orientation, and so forth, were important but no more so than variable of location. Surprisingly, reputation and the amount of supervision available do not appear to be striking factors, and work load and the stipend level also appear relatively unimportant. Although the real variation in work load is difficult to determine objectively, the senior author's experience is that it varies widely, ...
Loneliness is a painful effect probably universally experienced but which has been long neglected in the psychological literature. This study is an extension of the work begun by Rosalee Bradley in developing a self-report instrument for measuring loneliness. It tests the hypothesis that subjects who score higher differ significantly from those scoring low on the loneliness scale on mood: anxiety, depression, anger, vigor, fatigue, confusion, and differ significantly in self-concept as well. Results using data of 208 subjects on the Profile of Mood States, Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and Bradley Loneliness Scale support this hypothesis and also support the construct validity of the Bradley Loneliness Scale.
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