ICQ (I seek you) and adolescents: a quantitative study in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Government and the education sector encourage the whole population-from toddlers to senior citizens-to utilize information technology, and many do. Yet there are no studies exploring the patterns of adolescents using ICQ (I seek you) in Asian countries. This study was done in Hong Kong, which has the greatest number of ICQ users. A quantitative approach was adopted by administering self-constructed questionnaires to the students of one high school. One hundred and forty-seven adolescents volunteered to participate. The key findings of the study are (1) most of the adolescents have been using ICQ for 1-4 years; (2) most fit one of two patterns of use: either 2 or 3 days per week, or more than 5 days per week; (3) they spend less than 3 h per day on ICQ; (4) the main reasons for using ICQ are entertainment, relaxation, and socializing; and (5) parents are concerned about possible negative impacts on their children's academic performance because of using ICQ. Two main implications are drawn: proper use of ICQ can minimize parental distress and encourage adolescents to be less sedentary.     

Psychology of the scientist: LXXXV. Research on homosexuality: a response to Schumm (and Herek)

Because social science is "messy," just about any criticism of any work--including our efforts--has validity. But the empiricist principle is more important than a theoretical search for perfection in research. The findings from our 1983-1984 nationwide random survey are superior to earlier efforts and similar enough to those reported by the 1992 nationwide random survey conducted by University of Chicago investigators, the 1994 British effort, and the 1996 NHSDA to suggest all approximate "a similar truth about reported sexuality."     

Validity of the Overcontrolled-Hostility (O-H) Scale: a brief report.

In order to further assess the validity of the MMPI O-H (overcontrolled hostility) Scale, high and low O-H youthful offenders were administered the Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study and their responses classified as extrapunitive, impunitive or intropunitive. Results indicated that high O-H subjects were significantly more impunitive than low O-H subjects and conversely, that low O-H subjects were more extrapunitive than high O-H subjects. Such findings are consistent with the O-H personality typology and lend further support to the construct validity of the Scale.     

Happiness is a personal(ity) thing: the genetics of personality and well-being in a representative sample.

Subjective well-being is known to be related to personality traits. However, to date, nobody has examined whether personality and subjective well-being share a common genetic structure. We used a representative sample of 973 twin pairs to test the hypothesis that heritable differences in subjective well-being are entirely accounted for by the genetic architecture of the Five-Factor Model's personality domains. Results supported this model. Subjective well-being was accounted for by unique genetic influences from Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, and by a common genetic factor that influenced all five personality domains in the directions of low Neuroticism and high Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. These findings indicate that subjective well-being is linked to personality by common genes and that personality may form an "affective reserve" relevant to set-point maintenance and changes in set point over time.     

Facts,values, and policies: a comment on Howard H. Kendler (2002)

In a recent article, Howard H. Kendler (2002) criticized Kenneth B. Clark and the other social scientists who worked in Brown v. Board of Education for polluting their science with value judgments. This article argues that Kendler's critique is misguided because it conflates a policy judgment with a value judgment. In addition, Kendler inconsistently applied his own standard of objectivity when he examined in the social science used in Brown.