Reliability and validity of mothers' developmental estimates for children between 4 and 41 months

The feasibility of mothers estimating their own children's development is explored in this paper. Construction, reliability and validity of a mothers' developmental inventory for children from 4 months to 41 months is described. The inventory consists of six subtests: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Language Expression, Language Comprehension, Personal-Social Competence and Self Help. A preliminary version of the inventory was item analyzed on a sample of 105 mothers of 4 to 37 months old children. This reduced the inventory to 164 items with satisfactory reliability and age discrimination on half-year intervals. The list was cross-validated on a sample of 275 mothers, for which medians of alpha coefficients for the six subtests ranged from 0.69 to 0.96, with most (26 out of 36) coefficients being 0.77 or higher. Again, the age discrimination was satisfactory, although floor effects appeared on four subtests for children younger than 12 months and ceiling effects on two subtests for children older than 24 months.     

小学儿童尊重行为与人格、班级环境的关系

以356名北京市两所小学三、四、五年级的小学儿童为被试,采用自编的小学儿童尊重行为问卷、国内修订的学生人格五因素问卷和班级环境问卷,考察小学儿童尊重行为的特点,并探讨人格和班级环境对尊重行为的影响.结果发现:(1)小学儿童的总体尊重行为和其中的理解欣赏具有显著的性别差异和城郊差异;(2)尊重行为与人格各维度具有显著的相关,与班级环境中除了竞争气氛之外的其他四个维度都有显著相关;(3)人格的宜人性、谨慎性、情绪性和开放性以及班级环境中的同学关系能够显著预测尊重行为,人格和班级环境的不同维度对于尊重行为不同维度具有不同的预测力;(4)小学儿童的班级环境可以归为三种类型:积极型、一般型和问题型,不同类型的班级环境在尊重行为上具有显著差异.     

The factor ‘fulfillment model’ and the concept of multivariate personality type

This paper presents a theory of personality integration as a process of fulfillment within the context of a multifactor-system dynamics theory of individuality theory provides an inventory of the invariant factors in six systems: style, value, cognition, affect, sensory and motor. Individual uniqueness exists in the form of different profiles on some 200 dimensions. Similar profiles constitute a relatively small number of personality types characterized by tendencies toward both perfection and actualization. The theory hypothesizes two major types—assimilators and accommodators. Assimilators tend to process information via the individual's high profile dimensions, whereas accomodators tend to process information via both high and low profile dimensions. In general, assimilators process information more efficiently than accommdators, but they are also less flexible and more encapsulated than accomodators in their ability to adapt to the demands of a broad range of situations. The paper includes an analysis of why the concept of type is necessary for a viable theory of personality and how the multivariate concept of personality overcomes the failures of previous conceptualizations.     

中学生职业兴趣的结构及其特点

参考国内外有关资料,设计适合我国中学生的职业兴趣测验。对309名在校中学生测查结果的因素分析表明,共存在六个因素,可以解释为现实型（R)、研究型 (I)、艺术型 (A)、社会型 (S)、经营型 (E)和常规型(C),这与霍兰德的六种职业类型一致。但六种兴趣之间的关系与霍兰德的职业六边形不完全一致。进一步的分析表明,初三以上的中学生的职业兴趣已出现明显分化。年级和性别因素对职业兴趣均有显著影响,年级与性别的交互作用不显著。     

Validity of sex-balanced interest inventory scales

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of sex-balanced and sex-restrictive raw score interest scales in discriminating among vocational preference groups. Analyses were conducted separately for 502 males in six vocational preference groups and 878 females in five vocational preference groups. The degree and nature of the discrimination among groups were highly similar for the two types of scales for both males and females. Centour scores derived from sex-balanced and sex-restrictive raw scores resulted in essentially the same percentages of correct classifications of group membership. The results of this study suggest that the large sex differences traditionally found in interest inventory items may not be a necessary concomitant of validity. Hence, interest inventory reports that reflect these differences may unnecessarily restrict the career suggestions they provide to women and men.     

五因素取向人格测验的发展与比较

五因素取向人格测验是目前评价个体人格特质时被广泛应用的一大类重要人格测验工具。该类测验数量众多, 长度各异, 形式多样。根据其题目呈现的特点, 可将现有的30余种五因素取向人格测验分为自陈式、核检表式、非言语式三类。在不同研究和实践情境下, 各个五因素取向人格测验具有各自独特的优劣势, 信效度的变化都不同。在实际应用中, 应根据不同研究需求区别使用, 并注意测量目的、施测次数、测验长度、被试特点、文化差异性等对测验结果的影响。当前, 五因素取向人格测验的开发正向着简明、全面、跨文化方向发展。     

Profiles of stutterers' and nonstutterers' affective, cognitive, and behavioral communication attitudes

The purposes of this investigation were 1) to profile the affective, cognitive, and behavioral attitudinal dimensions of stutterers' and nonstutterers' communication attitudes and 2) to describe membership characteristics of each profile. To this end, 76 stutterers and 81 nonstutterers completed the Inventory of Communication Attitudes. This self-report inventory obtained ratings of different types of speaking situations, using five response scales reflecting behavioral, affective, and cognitive aspects of attitudes. Exploratory cluster analysis identified six attitudinal clusters or profiles. Some profiles were more typical either of stuttering respondents or of nonstuttering respondents, whereas one profile reflected attitudes of proportionately equal numbers of stutterers and nonstutterers. Examination of profile membership characteristics revealed two significant discriminators, classification as a stutterer or nonstutterer and an overall speech rating. Nondiscriminatory characteristics included sex, age, education, therapy experiences, stuttering severity self-rating, onset of stuttering, total therapy time, current therapeutic status, and familial history.     

Self-reported arousal: further development of a multi-factorial inventory

Abstract.— The previously presented (Bohlin & Kjellberg, 1973) inventory of self-reported arousal, which contained four factor analytically derived scales, was further developed in the following way. First, the original factor pattern was cross-validated. Second, a new response scale was constructed which proved to be superior to the old one. Third, the inventory was extended with new items and factor analysis applied to this new inventory. From the model of phenomenological arousal advanced by Bohlin & Kjellberg (1973) six factors were hypothesized and it was shown that a similar solution could be obtained with the extended inventory. Finally, this six-factor pattern was cross-validated and six scales, labelled Sleep-Wakeful-ness, Energy, Stress, Irritation, Euphoria, and Concentration, were constructed.     

Criterion-related validity of the UNIACT with special emphasis on the World of Work Map

This study examined the criterion-related validity of the ACT-UNIACT interest inventory which yields both Holland type High Point Codes and World of Work Map (WWM) placements. The scores of 894 college seniors were used in analyses which measured the hit rate (i.e., the match between their UNIACT assignment and their college major). The hit rate for Holland types was found to be significantly higher than the typical average of six category interest inventories. Comparable levels of criterion-related validity were found for the Holland types and the WWM only when the regions adjacent to the appropriate hit region were included for the WWM. To assure adequate validity, users must consider WWM regions adjacent to their assigned region.     

大五人格测验在中国应用的信度概化分析

对过去20年(1994~2013年)间国内有关大五人格测验的研究文献进行信度概化分析。结果表明:(1)检索到的文献中约68.15%存在"信度引入"现象;(2)未加权估计中,A和O的均值最低,N和C的均值最高,国内所得结果均略低于国外(O除外),而后者的变异性略大(E除外);采用α系数效果量方法,在随机效应模型中,N的估计值最高,O和A的估计值最低;(3)回归分析显示,分数均值、量表来源和南北地域差异是N维度信度的预测变量;量表来源、文章专业类型、测验版本和测验记分对E维度信度具有预测作用;样本量、文章专业类型和量表来源是O维度信度的预测变量;量表来源、文章专业类型、项目数和样本类型对A维度信度具有预测作用;量表来源、项目数、文章专业类型和测验记分是C维度信度的预测变量。     

A new counselling inventory

The construction of a counselling inventory for use by teachers and counsellors in identifying those pupils most in need of personal counselling is described The inventory consists of statements in six factorially distinct areas: (i) relationship with teachers, (ii) relationship with family, (iii) relation-ship with peers, (iv) social confidence, (v) irritability and (vi) health Evidence of reliability and validity is reported.     

A multicriteria framework for inventory classification and control with application to intermittent demand

Several papers have studied inventory classification in order to group items with a view to facilitating their management. The generated classes are then coupled with the specific reorder policies composing the overall inventory control system. However, the effectiveness of inventory classification and control system is strictly interrelated. That is to say, different classification approaches could show different performance if applied to a different set of reorder policies, and vice versa. Furthermore, when the cost structure is subjected to uncertainty, a pure cost‐based analysis of the inventory control system could be corrupted. This paper presents a multicriteria framework for the concurrent selection of the item classification approach and the inventory control system through a discrete‐event simulation approach. The key performance indicators provided by the simulator (i.e., average holding value, average number of backorders, and average number of emitted orders) are indicative of the multidimensional effectiveness of the adopted inventory control system when coupled with a specific classification approach. By this way, a multicriteria problem arises, where the alternatives are given by exhaustively coupling the item classes, which are generated by different classification approaches, with the reorder policies composing the inventory system. An analytical hierarchy process is then used for selecting the best alternative, as well as for evaluating the effect of the weights assigned to the key performance indicators through a sensitivity analysis. This approach has been validated in a real case study with a company operating in the field of electrical resistor manufacturing, with a view of facilitating the management of items showing intermittent demand.     

Fostering a career in engineering

The purpose of the present study was to examine J. Holland's (Making vocational choices: a theory of careers, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973) congruence hypothesis within the context of intraoccupational rather than interoccupational differences. One hundred and nine engineers were tested on an interest inventory which was designed to measure the vocational interest in six different job functions of the engineering occupation. Reliability coefficients range between .66 and .93. Results confirmed the congruence hypothesis: Correlations between job satisfaction and three measures derived from the interest inventory were .45, .44, and .62, respectively (p < .01). The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Family Structure and Child Adjustment in Spain

This paper presents the results of a study carried out in Spain with 214 families with children aged between 3 and 10, comparing the quality of family context and the internal and external adjustment of children living in six different types of family structure: traditional, single-parent, stepfamilies, adoptive, same-sex parent and multiple-birth. Members of the research team interviewed the families in their homes and administered the assessment instruments (Development History, HOME inventory, Parenting Stress Index and Behavior Assessment System for Children). The results indicate that although some significant differences were observed between families (children living in same-sex parent families scored higher for internal and external adjustment, and those from stepfamilies scored lowest in these same measures), these differences disappeared when the effects of sociodemographic and contextual variables were statistically controlled in a covariance analysis. It can therefore be concluded that it was not family structure itself that was related to children’s adjustment, but rather the sociodemographic and contextual variables associated with it. Thus, all the family structures analysed in the study are capable of promoting positive child development and adjustment, providing they meet the necessary conditions, such as good-quality care and a stimulating environment free from conflict and stress.     

Personality Inventory Responses of Males With Medically Intractable Seizures

The psychosocial adjustment of 50 male patients to intractable seizures was assessed by comparing their responses to a combined version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory (MMPI) and the California Psychological inventory (CPI) to the responses of 50 medical, psychiatric, or nonclinical controls who denied seizures. The two groups were significantly different (p < .01) on one MMPI and 10 CPI scales. Significant (p < .01) between-group differences were also rejected in 29 of the 704 personality inventory items. Those items were rationally clustered according to content into six conceptually, identifiable subscales; 30 additional items with similar content that were significant at the .05 level were added to those subscales. Comparison of subscale scores of an additional 30 seizure and 30 nonseizure subjects using analysis of variance revealed F values that reached statistical significance (p < .05) in four cases and approached significance (p = .07) in another. Applying coefficients derived from discriminant analysis of the first samples correctly classified 99% of the original patients, and 85% of the validation subjects. Results reveal a logical, understandable, and largely adaptive response to intractable seizures and offer little support for the concept of a dysfunctional or pathological interictal personality style.     

学业不良学生类型与特点的聚类分析

该研究运用Ｑ聚类分析对上海市区１４８０名初中预备班学生的能力和个性特征进行分类研究。结果发现１４８０名被试中存有心理发展水平不同的六个主要类别,这些类别与学生学业成绩的优劣关系密切。同时,３５３名差生可分为四个主要类型：即,暂时性困难学生、能力型困难学生、动力型困难学生和整体性困难学生,不同类型的差生具有不同的特点。这为针对不同类型学生的特点制定有效的教育措施提供了依据。     

The Utility of the MAPI in the Assessment of Depression

The relationships between the Millon Adolescent Personality inventory (MAPI; Millon, Green, & Meagher, 1982) and depression, as assessed by the Multiscore Depression Inventory (MDI; Berndt, 1968) were examined. Elevations on the MDI subscales were positively related to elevations on MAPI personality style Scale 2 (Inhibited) and Scale 8 (Sensitive) and on six of the eight MAPI expressed concerns scales. MAPI personality style Scale 4 (Sociable) and Scale 5 (Confident) were negatively correlated with the MDI. MAPI code types containing either Scale 2 or 8 were associated with a high MDI full-scale score. The subjects who received a MAPI computer-generated diagnosis of borderline personality disorder also had elevated MDI full-scale scores. The findings of this study appear consistent with the existing body of MAPI research, and the data suggest that the MAPI personality style scales may have both state and trait qualities.     

Confirmatory factor analysis on separability of planning and insight constructs

This study aimed to investigate the separability of planning, a form of noninsight problem solving, from insight problem solving by means of using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The relationships of these two types of problem-solving tasks with meta-cognitive awareness were also assessed. Participants performed a set of planning tasks, a set of insight tasks and a self-report inventory on metacognitive ability. The CFA results revealed that planning and insight problem solving were closely related constructs and were not clearly separable. Model comparisons indicated that the fit of the alternative one-factor model was slightly better than the fit of the two-factor model. The correlational results showed that both planning task performance and insight problem-solving performance had no correlations with the metacognitive knowledge or the metacognitive regulation components of the metacognitive awareness inventory.     

Trait-specific dependence in romantic relationships

ABSTRACT Informed by three theoretical frameworks—trait psychology, evolutionary psychology, and interdependence theory—we report four investigations designed to develop and test the reliability and validity of a new construct and accompanying multiscale inventory, the Trait-Specific Dependence Inventory (TSDI). The TSDI assesses comparisons between present and alternative romantic partners on major dimensions of mate value. In Study 1, principal components analyses revealed that the provisional pool of theory-generated TSDI items were represented by six factors: Agreeable/Committed, Resource Accruing Potential, Physical Prowess, Emotional Stability, Surgency, and Physical Attractiveness. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis replicated these results on a different sample and tested how well different structural models fit the data. Study 3 provided evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the six TSDI scales by correlating each one with a matched personality trait scale that did not explicitly incorporate comparisons between partners. Study 4 provided further validation evidence, revealing that the six TSDI scales successfully predicted three relationship outcome measures—love, time investment, and anger/upset—above and beyond matched sets of traditional personality trait measures. These results suggest that the TSDI is a reliable, valid, and unique construct that represents a new trait-specific method of assessing dependence in romantic relationships. The construct of trait-specific dependence is introduced and linked with other theories of mate value.