At-entry differences in part-time and full-time employees

Research consistently shows part- and full-time workers to be different on a variety of characteristics such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intentions to leave the organization. This study challenges the commonly accepted argument that these differences are due to the different structural conditions of work that are faced by part- and full-time workers. The possibility that these differences are the consequence of at-entry differences in dispositions and orientations to work is tested on a sample of part- and full-time registered nurses who had just begun employment. With one exception the part-and full-time employees were found to be the same on fourteen at-entry characteristics. These results strongly suggest that it is the structural conditions of work that produce the often observed differences found between part- and full-time workers.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1991 Midwest Sociological Society Meetings, Des Moines, Iowa, April 11–14. Support for the original data collection came from the Division of Nursing of the Health Resources and Services Administration (R01 NU01050-01A1). Joanne McCloskey is to be thanked for allowing us to use this data set.     

Cracks in a postdisaster service delivery network

Poor linkage cracks are defined and identified empirically in a postdisaster service delivery network. These cracks exist when essential services are provided only by isolated or peripheral clusters of organizations. Network analysis is used to identify the isolated and peripheral clusters of organizations. Measures of experience in responding to disasters and service capacity are used to identify the organizations whose services are essential in the network. Cracks prevent the network from responding effectively in the aftermath of a disaster. Suggestions are made for using network analysis to identify cracks and to improve planning and coordination in all kinds of service networks. Collection of the data for this work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Societal Response to Earthquake Hazards Mitigation Program, Grant No. CEE-8314421. The analysis and writing were accomplised with support from the National Science Foundation, Grant No. BCS-8920472. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. An early version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Midwest Sociological Society, Des Moines, Iowa, April 1991. This paper was distinctly improved through our response to extensive and perceptive suggestions given by the editor and reviewers of theAmerican Journal of Community Psychology. We thank them for the help.     

Predictors of Quantitative and Qualitative Halstead Finger-Tapping Scores in Low Socioeconomic Status School-Age Children

Two hundred and thirteen low socioeconomic school-age children in grades 1 through 8 were administered the Halstead Finger Oscillation (or Tapping) Test (HFTT). All children were age appropriate for their grade in school and were not requiring special education services. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that a composite age/grade classification score, gender, and estimated level of intelligence accounted for approximately 40% of the variability in dominant and nondominant hand scores for these children (multiple R?=?.627, R ²?=?+.393 for the dominant and multiple R?=?+.607, R ²?=?+.368 for the nondominant hand). Only the age/grade level of the child (R ²?=?.168) predicted the ability to inhibit adjacent finger movements when performing the HFTT task. Regional normative data for low socioeconomic school-age children are presented. Neurodevelopmental changes in the cortical and subcortical systems underlying finger movement may account for some of the variability observed in children when performing the HFTT.     

Sex differences in past tense overregularization

Hartshorne and Ullman (2006 ) presented naturalistic language data from 25 children (15 boys, 10 girls) and showed that girls produced more past tense overregularization errors than did boys. In particular, girls were more likely to overregularize irregular verbs whose stems share phonological similarities with regular verbs. It was argued that the result supported the Declarative/Procedural model of language, a neuropsychological analogue of the dual‐route approach to language. In the current study we present experimental data that are inconsistent with these naturalistic data. Eighty children (40 males, 40 females) aged 5;0–6;9 completed a past tense elicitation task, a test of declarative memory, and a test of non‐verbal intelligence. The results revealed no sex differences on any of the measures. Instead, the best predictors of overregularization rates were item‐level features of the test verbs. We discuss the results within the context of dual versus single route debate on past tense acquisition.     

Mental Test Ability in a Family of Four Generations

The Ss were 200 children, five of each sex from each of grades 2 through 11, randomly selected from a Catholic parochial school population and a public school population. They were tested with the use of the Crutchfield conformity design. Ten Ss were excluded from the data analysis. The results of the data analysis, by a 2 × 2 × 5 analysis of variance design, showed a significant difference as a function of grade level but no other significant F ratio. The findings were discussed relative to the theoretical explanation offered by Hoving et al. (11) for different conformity curves when different levels of task ambiguity are presented.     

Developmental and Gender Differences in Future-Oriented Decision-Making During the Preschool Period

A child version of the Iowa Gambling task was used to explore the developmental and gender differences in decision making of 4-year-olds (N?=?141). The task required children to choose between two decks: a deck with higher immediate rewards and a deck with higher future rewards. Developmental differences between young (4.0–4.5) and older (4.6–4.11) children were found, with older 4-year-olds choosing more from the deck with higher future rewards. Gender differences were found for decision-making strategy. It is suggested that these differences in approaches might account for the pattern of gender differences found in past research.     

Assessment of Tripartite Factors of Emotion in Children and Adolescents I: Structural Validity and Normative Data of an Affect and Arousal Scale

The authors developed and evaluated a self-report measure for children designed to assess factors of the tripartite model of emotion (Clark & Watson, 1991). Factor analytic results from a large, multi-ethnic sample (n = 1,289) supported the structural validity of the scale, with the additional suggestion that negative affect appeared to contain two lower order dimensions in the item pool. Confirmatory factor analysis in an independent sample of 300 children and adolescents suggested favorable structure. Consistent with prediction, positive and negative affect emerged as relatively orthogonal dimensions. Physiological hyperarousal was found to be positively correlated with negative affect. Normative data are presented, and tests for differences by sex, grade level, and ethnicity demonstrated nonsignificant or minimal differences between groups. The implications for the assessment of tripartite factors and their relation to psychopathology in youth are discussed.     

Normative data on the Missouri Children's Picture Series and the Missouri Children's Behavior Checklist with southern black children

Normative data are presented for Southern black children on two objective personality inventories for children: the Missouri Children's Picture Series (MCPS), a child picture-sorting task, and the Missouri Children's Behavior Checklist (MBCL), a parent rating scale. The MCPS was administered to 615 black children attending public schools in a low socioeconomic area of the southeast United States. Parents returned the MBCL on 437 of the children. Means and standard deviations on eight MCPS personality scales and six MCBL behavior rating scales are presented for black males and females at ages 5 through 16, and effects of age, sex, and various scale intercorrelations are discussed. Results suggest systematic age and sex differences on the various scales for black children that are quite atypical when compared with the MCPS in other samples. Various empirical questions regarding the validity of these instruments when used with Southern black children are raised.     

Recall of aggressive and withdrawn statements among young children: Social schema or meaningfulness

Two studies assessed the effects of type of sentence (aggressive vs. withdrawn) and meaningfulness level on the sentence recall of young children. In Study 1, normative data showed that the meaningfulness value of aggressive sentences was greater than that of withdrawn sentences and that meaningfulness and recall were positively related. In Study 2, subjects were tested for sentence recall in a 2 (aggressive vs. withdrawn sentences) x 2 (high vs. low meaningfulness)within subjects design. The sole significant effect was meaningfulness, with the superior recall of high relative to low meaningful sentences. Results are interpreted through a knowledge base model. This research was supported by the Wake Forest University Research and Publication Fund. Experiment 1 was presented at the 1988 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, GA, and Experiment 2 was presented at the 1991 annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, DC.     

Recall of aggressive and withdrawn statements among young children: Social schema or meaningfulness

Two studies assessed the effects of type of sentence (aggressive vs. withdrawn) and meaningfulness level on the sentence recall of young children. In Study 1, normative data showed that the meaningfulness value of aggressive sentences was greater than that of withdrawn sentences and that meaningfulness and recall were positively related. In Study 2, subjects were tested for sentence recall in a 2 (aggressive vs. withdrawn sentences) x 2 (high vs. low meaningfulness)within subjects design. The sole significant effect was meaningfulness, with the superior recall of high relative to low meaningful sentences. Results are interpreted through a knowledge base model. This research was supported by the Wake Forest University Research and Publication Fund. Experiment 1 was presented at the 1988 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, GA, and Experiment 2 was presented at the 1991 annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, DC.     

Family-Focused Relational Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach and Its Application to Adult Children of Divorce

This paper presents an integrative model of treatment—family focused relational psychotherapy—and applies it to work with adult children of divorce (ACDs). Three areas of assessment are identified—(a) assessment of individual ego development, (b) assessment of family of origin functioning, and (c) assessment of the nature of the parents' divorce (e.g., level of conflict). Based on this assessment, the treatment model is presented, which integrates strategies from relational/psychodynamic therapy, family of origin work, and experiential techniques. Case examples are presented to demonstrate the appropriate integration of these techniques with clients at different levels in the assessment schema. In addition, a review of the literature on the long-term effects of divorce on children suggests several specific issues that may arise in treatment. These include low self-esteem, emotional distress, externalizing problems, and interpersonal problems such as fear of commitment, difficulty trusting, a high rate of divorce, and strained relationships with parents.     

Preschoolers trust particular informants when learning new names and new morphological forms

Across three studies, we investigated whether 4‐year‐olds would trust a previously reliable informant when learning novel morphological forms. In Experiment 1, children (N= 16) were presented with two informants: one who correctly named familiar objects and another who named them incorrectly. Children were invited to turn to these informants when learning novel labels and morphological forms. The majority of children chose the previously correct labeller when learning novel label and morphology. In Experiment 2, children (N= 16) were presented with an informant who used familiar plurals correctly and one who used them incorrectly. Children chose the previously correct morphologist when learning novel labels and past tense forms. Thus, children track both semantic and morphological accuracy. In Experiment 3, some children (N= 16) were presented with two informants who differed in naming accuracy, whereas others (N= 16) were presented with two informants who differed in morphological accuracy. To forestall any risk of experimenter cuing, one experimenter blind to the training children had received, tested children with novel labels and morphology. The results replicated those of Experiments 1 and 2. Implications for how children's trust in an informant might play a role in their acquisition of morphological forms are discussed.     

Evaluating the Iowa Gambling Task as a direct assessment of impulsivity with low-income children

This study examined performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) as a measure of low-income school-aged children’s affective decision-making and considered its utility as a direct indicator of impulsivity. One hundred and ninety-three 8–11 year olds performed a computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task, a validated measure of decision-making. Multi-level modeling was used to examine children’s performance over the course of the task, with age, gender, and teachers’ ratings of child impulsivity (BIS-11; Patton, Stanford, & Barratt, 1995) used to predict children’s Iowa Gambling performance. Higher impulsivity scores predicted a decrease in slope of Iowa Gambling performance, indicating students rated higher on impulsivity chose more disadvantageously across the task blocks. Results support evidence of the validity of the Iowa Gambling Task as a measure of impulsivity in low-income minority children.     

Visual Perception and Memory Impairments in Children at Risk of Nonverbal Learning Disabilities

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and visual perception were examined in two groups aged 11–13, one with children displaying symptoms of nonverbal learning disability (NLD) (n = 18) and the other a control group without learning disabilities (n = 18). The two groups were matched for general verbal abilities, age, gender, and socioeconomic level. The children were presented with VSWM tests involving visual and spatial-simultaneous processes, and also with a classical visual illusion, a classical ambiguous figure, as well as visual perception tests specifically devised for the present study. Results revealed that performance of children at risk of NLD was worse than controls in some VSWM and in visual perception tests without memory involvement; these latter required comparisons of visual stimuli and locations in space with distractors. Moreover, the two groups differed in perceiving the classical ambiguous figure. Findings are discussed in the light of both theoretical and clinical implications.     

Coping and Positive Affect in Adolescents of Mothers With and Without a History of Depression

The adolescent children of depressed mothers are at increased risk for depression, but little is known about protective factors for these children. Maintenance of positive affect in a stressful context may be an important marker of resilience. Mothers with (n = 34) and without (n = 38) a history of depression and their adolescent children completed questionnaires regarding adolescents’ coping and depressive symptoms and engaged in a 15 min videotaped interaction about family stress. Adolescents’ observed behaviors were coded using the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales. No significant differences emerged in observed behavior between adolescents of mothers with and without a history of depression. Higher levels of primary and secondary control coping and lower levels of disengagement coping were related to higher levels of observed positive mood and fewer depressive symptoms in adolescents. Observed positive mood was related to fewer depressive symptoms in adolescents, even after accounting for maternal history of depression and current maternal depressive symptoms. Results suggest the importance of considering positive affect in the context of family stress as a marker of resilience in adolescents at risk for depression. The current study provides evidence for coping as a protective factor, related to higher levels of positive affect and fewer depressive symptoms, in adolescents exposed to maternal depressive symptoms.     

Do children's number words begin noisy?

How do children acquire exact meanings for number words like three or forty‐seven? In recent years, a lively debate has probed the cognitive systems that support learning, with some arguing that an evolutionarily ancient “approximate number system” drives early number word meanings, and others arguing that learning is supported chiefly by representations of small sets of discrete individuals. This debate has centered around the findings generated by Wynn's ( 1990 , 1992 ) Give‐a‐Number task, which she used to categorize children into discrete “knower level” stages. Early reports confirmed Wynn's analysis, and took these stages to support the “small sets” hypothesis. However, more recent studies have disputed this analysis, and have argued that Give‐a‐Number data reveal a strong role for approximate number representations. In the present study, we use previously collected Give‐a‐Number data to replicate the analyses of these past studies, and to show that differences between past studies are due to assumptions made in analyses, rather than to differences in data themselves. We also show how Give‐a‐Number data violate the assumptions of parametric tests used in past studies. Based on simple non‐parametric tests and model simulations, we conclude that (a) before children learn exact meanings for words like one, two, three, and four, they first acquire noisy preliminary meanings for these words, (b) there is no reliable evidence of preliminary meanings for larger meanings, and (c) Give‐a‐Number cannot be used to readily identify signatures of the approximate number system.     

Children with ADHD in Residential Care

Little is known about the characteristics or functioning of children with ADHD in residential care as compared to their non-ADHD peers. This study evaluated data on 538 children with (n = 125) and without (n = 413) ADHD in residential care to determine demographic, mental health, behavioral, and treatment (i.e., medication use) characteristics. Results revealed that both groups presented elevated risks, however, scores for children with ADHD indicated even greater levels of need. Specifically, differences were found between the two groups on demographics (e.g., family reunification status, restrictiveness of prior out-of-home placements), behavior (e.g., attention problems, rule-breaking and aggressive behaviors) and medication status. Findings suggest there is a need for aftercare services to help support families as children transition from care, interventions to address behavior, and medication management through assessment and monitoring.     

A New Measure of Introversion-Extroversion

Five groups of grade school children (N = 237) were selected and administered the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. The five groups included urban-middle income children (N = 47), urban-lower income children (N = 49), rural children (N = 72), Indian-lower income children (N = 54), and Indian-impoverished children (N = 15). Significant differences were found on all three measures of verbal creativity, with the verbal flexibility and verbal originality measures significant at the .001 level, and the verbal fluency measure significant at the .005 level. On all three measures, the groups scored from high to low in the following order: rural, urban-middle income, urban-lower income, Indian-lower income, and Indian-impoverished. None of the four measures of figural creativity showed significant differences.     

Children and adults are differentially affected by presentation modality in the DRM paradigm

Using the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) method for free recall, we examined mode of list presentation and association type in 8–9 year old children and adults. Participants verbally recalled lists of associates that were presented orally (Experiment 1) or visually (Experiment 2). Lists consisted of semantic associates (e.g. hound, puppy, etc.), phonological associates (e.g. log, dot, etc.) and both semantic and phonological associates (e.g. hound, dot, etc.) to a nonpresented lure word (e.g. dog). Interestingly, the ratio of false to true recall was higher in children than adults only when lists were presented orally. These results suggest that children rely more on sublexical information or item‐specific information than adults when reading lists, and, thus, are less likely to activate the critical lure via lexical associations. Furthermore, these results suggest that information processing differences at encoding between children and adults need to be taken into account when interpreting free recall studies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.