Integration of the brief behavioral activation treatment for depression (BATD) into a college orientation program: depression and alcohol outcomes

College freshmen face a variety of academic and social challenges as they adjust to college life that can place them at risk for a number of negative outcomes, including depression and alcohol-related problems. Orientation classes that focus on teaching incoming students how to better cope with college-oriented stress may provide an opportunity to prevent the development of these adjustment problems. This article outlines a program based on behavioral activation that can be integrated into college orientation programs to provide a more comprehensive orientation experience. Data are presented from an initial pilot study in which 71 first-semester freshman at the University of Maryland participated in a 15-week, 2 hr per week orientation class (n = 37 in the behavioral activation-enhanced orientation classes and n = 34 in the control orientation as usual classes). Students' depression and alcohol use were evaluated at the beginning, middle, and end of the course. Results indicated a Time × Group interaction such that problem drinking (but not consumption) was significantly reduced across assessments in the behavioral activation classes and largely unchanged in the standard classes. No difference was observed in depression scores; however, fairly low depression scores across the 3 time points may have limited the opportunity to observe any meaningful impact of the orientation classes on depression. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of their findings for preventing adjustment problems among incoming college students and future directions.     

A structure-based approach to psychological assessment: matching measurement models to latent structure

The present article sets forth the argument that psychological assessment should be based on a construct's latent structure. The authors differentiate dimensional (continuous) and taxonic (categorical) structures at the latentand manifest levels and describe the advantages of matching the assessment approach to the latent structure of a construct. A proper match will decrease measurement error, increase statistical power, clarify statistical relationships, and facilitate the location of an efficient cutting score when applicable. Thus, individuals will be placed along a continuum or assigned to classes more accurately. The authors briefly review the methods by which latent structure can be determined and outline a structure-based approach to assessment that builds on dimensional scaling models, such as item response theory, while incorporating classification methods as appropriate. Finally, the authors empirically demonstrate the utility of their approach and discuss its compatibility with traditional assessment methods and with computerized adaptive testing.     

After the Facts: Alternative Student Evaluation for Active Learning Pedagogies in the Undergraduate Biblical Studies Classroom

After laying a theoretical basis for an active learning orientation in the classroom, the co‐authors describe methods they developed to evaluate active learning in two different settings of introductory courses in biblical studies. They argue that honoring diverse learning and communication styles among students does not need to compromise academic rigor. The authors show how portfolio‐based assessment of student learning allows students a range of ways to demonstrate their mastery of the material. Examples are provided of components of student portfolios from their undergraduate classes.     

ALL STIMULI ARE EQUAL,BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS: MEASURING RELATIONAL PREFERENCES WITHIN AN EQUIVALENCE CLASS

Two experiments used post‐class formation within‐class relational assessment test performances to evaluate whether participants demonstrated preference for certain members of an equivalence class based on the type of relation that existed between class members. In Experiment 1, two 5‐node 7‐member equivalence classes, consisting entirely of nonsense syllables, were established using the simultaneous protocol. Only 1 of the 6 participants in Experiment 1 formed classes. After class formation, the effects of the different relations between stimuli were evaluated using within‐class relational assessment tests, and the 1 participant showed an absolute preference for transitive over equivalence relations, and for baseline over symmetrical relations. Experiment 2 was identical to Experiment 1, except that one of the nonsense syllable stimuli in each class was replaced by a pictorial stimulus. Under these conditions, classes were formed by 5 of 13 participants. During the relational assessment tests, the 5 participants who formed classes demonstrated almost exclusive preferences for transitive relations over equivalence relations and for trained baseline relations over symmetrical relations. Thus, this research demonstrates that the members of equivalence classes are differentially related to each other based on relational type.     

Measurement equivalence: a comparison of methods based on confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory

Current interest in the assessment of measurement equivalence emphasizes 2 major methods of analysis. The authors offer a comparison of a linear method (confirmatory factor analysis) and a nonlinear method (differential item and test functioning using item response theory) with an emphasis on their methodological similarities and differences. The 2 approaches test for the equality of true scores (or expected raw scores) across 2 populations when the latent (or factor) score is held constant. Both approaches can provide information about when measurement nonequivalence exists and the extent to which it is a problem. An empirical example is used to illustrate the 2 approaches.     

Prospective relations between rejection and depression in young adolescents

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the relations between rejection and depression across 3 years in young adolescents who varied with regard to their risk for depression. The sample consisted of 240 adolescents who were assessed in grades 6, 7, and 8. The assessment of rejection was based on adolescent-, mother-, and teacher-report, and depression assessment was based on adolescent- and mother-report and clinician ratings. Structural equation modeling indicated that rejection prospectively predicted depression. The authors did not find that depression prospectively predicted rejection, but such a relation cannot be ruled out because of strong cross-sectional correlations between depression and rejection.     

Possibilities and pitfalls of pastoral diagnosis

Models of pastoral diagnosis have been proposed in recent literature as a way of enhancing the effectiveness of pastoral care and giving the discipline of pastoral care increased distinctiveness. The authors attempt an analogical comparison of ministerial assessment and the risks and benefits of diagnosis within the context of medicine and psychiatry, in an effort to point out what might be conceivable positive possibilities as well as pitfalls of such models of pastoral diagnosis.The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful comments and review by E. Mansell Pattison, M.D.     

Conjoint developmental trajectories of young adult alcohol and tobacco use

Developmental and etiological advances have set the stage for considering trajectories of problem behavior across the life course, but little work thus far addresses co-occurring problem behavior trajectories. Although recent work characterizes drinking and smoking trajectories, none has explored the course of concurrent drinking and smoking. Using panel data from the Monitoring the Future Project (N=32,087), the authors applied growth mixture modeling to 4 waves of heavy drinking and smoking in a young-adult sample. The authors extracted a single latent group membership factor from heavy drinking and smoking. Associations between trajectory classes and risk factors were relatively unique to the substance being predicted. The association of smoking with alcohol expectancies and delinquency appeared to exist by virtue of smoking's comorbidity with drinking.     

Developing Depressive Symptoms over the Adolescent Years: The Influence of Affiliated Cultural Values among Taiwanese Youth

The purpose of this study was (a) to identify latent subgroups of Taiwanese adolescents who vary in their cultural value affiliations and (b) to examine how latent-subgroup membership in early adolescence predicted depressive symptoms for 6 years throughout adolescence into young adulthood. Participants consisted of 2458 youth from the longitudinal Taiwan Youth Project (TYP). Latent profile analysis indicated five classes (patterns) of cultural value affiliation. A zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) analysis followed, which identified the estimated (a) probability of experiencing depressive symptoms and (b) number of depressive symptoms experienced by individuals who reported depressive symptoms across the five observational time points. Results showed that among the five classes of value affiliation, two classes had a greater likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms at the beginning of the assessment (age 15). Youth who were least likely to embrace societally prescribed culture values were at the greatest risk for manifesting subsequent depressive symptoms. These findings support the idea that the way adolescents identify with their cultural values predicts subsequent depressive symptoms.     

Normalized demand for drugs and other reinforcers.

The concepts of behavioral economics have proven to be useful for understanding the environmental control of overall levels of responding for a variety of commodities, including reinforcement by drug self-administration. These general concepts have implications for the assessment of abuse liability and drug abuse intervention and the formulation of public policy on drug abuse. An essential requirement is the ability to compare the demand for different drugs directly in order to assess relative abuse liability, and to compare demand for the same drug under different environmental and biological interventions to assess their ability to reduce demand. Until now, such comparisons were hampered by the confounding effect of varying drug doses and potencies that prevent quantitative comparisons of demand elasticity--sensitivity of consumption and responding to the constraint of price (effort). In this paper we describe a procedure to normalize demand-curve analysis that permits dose- and potency-independent comparisons of demand across drugs. The procedure is shown to be effective for comparing drug demand within and across the drug classes. The technique permits a quantitative ordering of demand that is consistent with the peak levels of responding maintained by the drugs. The same technique is generalized for the comparison of other types of reinforcers under different biological conditions.     

Recollection and familiarity through the looking glass: when old does not mirror new

The authors use the qualitative differences logic to demonstrate that 2 separate memory influences underlie performance in recognition memory tasks, familiarity and recollection. The experiments focus on the mirror effect, the finding that more memorable stimulus classes produce higher hit rates but lower false-alarm rates than less memorable stimulus classes. The authors demonstrate across a number of experiments that manipulations assumed to decrease recollection eliminate or even reverse the hit-rate portion of the mirror effect while leaving the false-alarm portion intact. This occurs whether the critical distinction between conditions is created during the test phase or manipulated during the study phase. Thus, when recollection is present, it dominates familiarity so that the hit-rate portion of the mirror effect primarily reflects recollection; when recollection is largely absent, the opposite pattern associated with the familiarity process emerges.     

Reactive and proactive aggression: stability of constructs and relations to correlates

The authors examined short-term temporal stability of reactive and proactive aggression, as well as short-term consistency of differential relations of reactive versus proactive aggression to 4 correlates. The authors used parent, teacher, peer, and self-report measures twice across 1 year to assess reactive aggression, proactive aggression, hyperactivity, social skills, anger expression, and depressive symptoms of 2nd-grade boys and girls (N = 57). Both subtypes of aggression remained stable across the year, even when the other subtype of aggression was explained at each assessment. Reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression, was consistently positively related to hyperactivity, poor social skills, and anger expression at each assessment.     

Formative Versus Reflective Measurement: An Illustration Using Work–Family Balance

The aim of this article is to propose the formative measurement approach that can be used in various constructs of applied psychology. To illustrate this approach, the authors will (a) discuss the distinction between commonly used principal-factor (reflective) measures in comparison to the composite (formative) latent variable model, which is often applied in other disciplines such as marketing or engineering, and (b) point out the advantages and limitations of formative specifications using the example of the work–family balance (WFB) construct. Data collected from 2 large cross-sectional field studies confirm the reliability and validity of formative WFB measures as well as its predictive value regarding criteria of WFB (i.e., job satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction). Last, the specific informational value of each formative indicator will be demonstrated and discussed in terms of practical implications for the assessment in different psychological fields.     

Formative versus reflective measurement: an illustration using work-family balance

The aim of this article is to propose the formative measurement approach that can be used in various constructs of applied psychology. To illustrate this approach, the authors will (a) discuss the distinction between commonly used principal-factor (reflective) measures in comparison to the composite (formative) latent variable model, which is often applied in other disciplines such as marketing or engineering, and (b) point out the advantages and limitations of formative specifications using the example of the work-family balance (WFB) construct. Data collected from 2 large cross-sectional field studies confirm the reliability and validity of formative WFB measures as well as its predictive value regarding criteria of WFB (i.e., job satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction). Last, the specific informational value of each formative indicator will be demonstrated and discussed in terms of practical implications for the assessment in different psychological fields.     

Coping in context: sociocultural determinants of responses to sexual harassment

The authors investigated coping responses to sexual harassment across 4 samples of working women from 3 cultures and 2 occupational classes. Complete-link cluster analyses provide preliminary support for D. E. Knapp, R. H. Faley, S. E. Ekeberg, and C. L. Z. Dubois's (1997) coping framework, suggesting that avoidance, denial, negotiation, advocacy seeking, and social coping are universal responses to sexual harassment. Further, L. F. Fitzgerald's (1990) internal-external dichotomy appears to capture higher order relationships among coping responses. In addition, regression analyses suggest that Turkish and Hispanic American women engage in more avoidance than Anglo American women, and Hispanic women also use more denial but less advocacy seeking. No differences emerged in social coping. The authors discuss these results in the context of coping theory, individualism-collectivism, power distance, and patriarchal gender norms.     

Theoretical and methodological considerations of self-concept measurement

Partially replicating a study by Savin-Williams and Jaquish (1981), assessment of self-concept was explored by investigating the relationships of "presented" and "experienced" selves among seven adolescent girls participating in a team sport at a high school in Southern California. Behavior observations and self- and peer ratings were used to assess three dimensions of self (self-confidence, popularity, and athletic skill) and examine relationships between these multimethods of self-concept measurement. In general, significant correlations between behavior observations and peer ratings were found, but not between behavior observations and self-ratings, or peer and self-ratings. A behavioral approach to measuring self-concept across situations appeared to be more indicative of the multidimensionality of the self than sole reliance on self-report. The authors concluded that self-concept measurement requires increased sensitivity to definition of, saliency of, and vacillation within a domain, the reference group used for social comparison, and the impact of previous experience on current views of self.     

Structural equation modeling with interchangeable dyads

Structural equation modeling (SEM) can be adapted in a relatively straightforward fashion to analyze data from interchangeable dyads (i.e., dyads in which the 2 members cannot be differentiated). The authors describe a general strategy for SEM model estimation, comparison, and fit assessment that can be used with either dyad-level or pairwise (double-entered) dyadic data. They present applications illustrating this approach with the actor-partner interdependence model, confirmatory factor analysis, and latent growth curve analysis.     

Stimulus class formation and concept learning: establishment of within- and between-set generalization and transitive relationships via conditional discrimination procedures

Three students with moderate mental retardation were taught a complex stimulus class with a two-choice conditional discrimination procedure applied across eight 10-member stimulus sets. Each set was composed of five age-appropriate and five age-inappropriate examples of clothing, accessories, and leisure items (e.g., a Walkman radio). Discrimination training was programmed serially across each set, and generalization probes were conducted concurrently among all sets. Generalization probes consisted of unreinforced conditional matching trials with comparison items being drawn from (a) the set undergoing training (within-set probes), (b) sets not undergoing training (between-set probes), and (c) both sample and comparison items from different sets (transitive stimulus control probes). Results indicate that within-set generalization, between-set generalization, and transitive stimulus relations controlled responding by all 3 students for items that had been contingently associated with reinforcement. However, items that gained control of responding through within-set and between-set generalization alone (i.e., not acquired through contingent reinforcement) remained at baseline levels during transitive stimulus control probes. Results are discussed in terms of a taxonomy of multiple sources of stimulus control that underlie socially defined and maintained stimulus classes.     

The recoding of social orientations with ranking and pair comparison procedures

Ranking and pair comparison methods are proposed for the recording of individual social orientations. The experimental data were analysed with random utility models that were specially developed by the authors. The utility functions used contain almost all the social motives discussed in the literature as special cases. In order to classify the subjects into classes of similar social orientation, a procedure was proposed that was based on the particular utility function. The experiments were carried out with 144 subjects. The proposed recording methods and analysis procedures proved to be suitable. Results showed that not only simple social Orientation, such as individualism, competition, etc., could be observed in the subjects, but that orientations with more complex utility functions could also be found that have not previously been reported in the literature. The classification of the orientations using both methods showed a high level of agreement.