Measuring the Agreement of Several Three‐Letter Holland Codes for One Person

A method is proposed for measuring the agreement of several 3‐letter Holland (J. L. Holland, 1992) codes that have been obtained on one individual using different methods. The basis of the method is the scores 4, 2, 1,0 for Holland themes (R = Realistic, I = Investigative, A = Artistic, S = Social, E = Enterprising, C = Conventional) listed first, listed second, listed third, and omitted from the 3‐letter code.     

An Addendum to the 1997 Outcome Research Chart

In 1997, an article in the American Journal of Family Therapy was published that summarized the outcome research regarding the efficacy of specific approaches of Marriage and Family Therapy in treating certain disorders (Sandberg et al ., 1997). The article updated the original matrix of findings reported by Gurman, Kniskern, and Pinsof (1986) by reviewing the relevant research through 1995, and provided a summary of findings in an updated version of the original 1986 chart. Since the publication of that article (Sandberg et al ., 1997), feedback has been received from a number of MFT researchers who pointed out some omissions and oversights in the updated chart. After responding to their feedback, it has been concluded that a number of changes must be made to the 1997 summary chart to present a more complete summary of MFT outcome research up through 1995.     

Measuring Time Costs in Interventions Designed to Reduce Behavior Problems Among Children and Youth

The economic evaluation of psychosocial interventions is a growing area of research. Though time costs are central to the economist's understanding of social costs, these costs generally have been ignored by prevention scientists. This article highlights the need to measure such costs and then reviews the principles economists use in valuing time. It then considers the specific time costs that often arise in interventions designed to reduce behavior problems among children and youth. These include classroom time devoted to program activities, the time of parents or other caregivers, the time of teachers (outside of the classroom), and the time of volunteers. We consider the economic principles that govern how economists value these inputs and then apply these principles to data from an evaluation of a prominent intervention in the field, the Incredible Years Program. We find that the time costs are potentially rather large and consider the implications for public policy of ignoring them.     

Measuring the combined risk to young children's cognitive development: An alternative to cumulative indices

In studies of child development, the combined effect of multiple risks acting in unison has been represented in a variety of ways. This investigation builds upon this preceding work and presents a new procedure for capturing the combined effect of multiple risks. A representative sample of 2,899 British children had their cognitive development measured at 36 and 58 months of age along with 10 potential risks during this period of development. Comparing a cumulative index of these risks against the previously undocumented alternative of confirmatory factor analysis using formative measurement, this study found differences favouring the factor analysis. The factor analysis procedure demonstrated greater predictive power of children's cognitive development while it systematically tested two of the assumptions implicit in cumulative risk indices.     

Addendum to "Summation in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)"

Rumbaugh, Savage-Rumbaugh, and Hegel (1987) reported that two chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) could select, with better than 90% accuracy, the greater of two paired quantities of chocolate chips. In that study, no one quantity of chocolates (from 0 through 5) was used in both pairs on a given trial. We investigated the effect of having one quantity in common (CQ) in both pairs. Whether the other quantities (OQs) of chocolates were both less than or greater than the CQ, summation still occurred. Accuracy was primarily a function of the ratios of sums to be differentiated. This finding substantiated the earlier conclusion that summation was based on both quantities of each pair and not on some simpler process such as the avoidance of the tray with the smallest single amount or selection of the tray with the single largest amount.     

An analytical description of employment according to race,sex, prestige,and Holland type of work

The composition of employment was examined using 1970 census data for employed civilians, Holland's occupational typology, and a prestige scale. The present report extends earlier examinations of the labor force using these dimensions by studying the sex and race composition of types of work at several levels of prestige, and by examining the extent of government employment among men and women in different jobs. Results indicate areas where women and blacks are under- and over-represented. In addition, because of the association between type of work and prestige level, aspirations or interest in a type of work may have implications for the level of work that is available. Counseling and research implications of the results are discussed.     

An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Exercise Among Older Adults1

One hundred five older adults enrolled in exercise classes were recruited from local YMCAs. Exercise behavior was measured 1, 3, and 9 months after beginning the exercise class. Intentions were not a significant predictor of exercise behavior, probably because of a lack of variance; most people intended to exercise. The direct measures of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, however, explained 9% of exercise behavior at 1 month. They did not significantly explain behavior at 3 and 9 months. When the indirect measure of subjective norms explained 18% of exercise behavior at 1 month. The indirect measure of perceived behavioral control accounted for 27% of the variance at 1 month and 10% at 3 months.     

From the Terrible Loneliness to the Wonderful Agreement of Human Beings

What would be the “terrible loneliness” and what would be the “wonderful agreement” in the present paper? The “terrible loneliness” is the only reality that a person perceives and/or thinks during the now going on. For the person, an enormous quantity of occurrences is in the present moment absent. A very small quantity of occurrences is present. The person is the only being in having this. And, this is only during a little moment. The person never thinks about his loneliness in this moment. On the contrary, he thinks he is plenty of people and full of occurrences. But, if he were thinking about reality, he would live in a terrible loneliness. How does he escape himself from this loneliness? He thinks that the probable occurrences are real occurrences. He may be right in a plenty of times. Going through what I call opening hypotheses—basic hypotheses and non-basic but important hypotheses—and going through what I call simply hypotheses he is able to sanction a wonderful agreement of human beings about the known parts of the Universe. However, they are hypotheses, not absolute realities.     

试析当前价值生活中的几个矛盾和问题

价值生活的健康发展 ,一方面依赖于各种不同价值要素的和谐共处 ,另一方面也伴随着不同价值资源的矛盾冲突乃至对立。随着我国改革开放的不断深入和社会转型力度的加大 ,价值生活多样化和丰富性的特征越来越明显 ,同时也出现了一些值得关注的矛盾和问题。一、信念系统的绝对性和相对性问题信念系统的相对性问题在计划经济时代是不太可能存在的。当时政府倡导一套具有绝对权威的价值信念系统 ,并使之成为主导的意识形态。这个系统由知识分子提供核心词并通过其中的专门人士进行阐释 ,使之合理化。只要整个社会成员的政治经济地位变化不大 ,他…     

Explaining the Relationship Among Fundamentalism and Authoritarianism: An Epistemic Connection

Although numerous studies have documented a strong, positive association between Right-wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Religious Fundamentalism (RF), little empirical work has actually investigated the reasons for this relationship. In the present study we propose that a fundamentalist meaning system predicts a system of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (e.g., personal epistemology), which is then partially responsible for sustaining authoritarian attitudes. A convenience sample of 227 undergraduate students was given the RWA scale, the Epistemic Belief Inventory, and the Revised Religious Fundamentalism scale in an online survey. A partial mediation model was tested using structural equation modeling analysis, in which 2,000 bootstraps were taken from the observed covariance matrix to construct confidence intervals around each indirect effect. Findings from the present study support the partial mediation hypothesis, in which the effect of RF to RWA travels through belief in certain knowledge, simple knowledge, and omniscient authority.     

Measuring the Ability to Express Sexual Thoughts

Ratings were obtained from 30 male college students as to the sexual stimulus relevance of a number of pictures from magazines, each depicting a man and a woman. Then a different group of 72 male students were asked to tell stories about the situations depicted in pictures representing 4 levels of rated sexual stimulus relevance. Half were given ambiguous instructions, while the other half were instructed to tell sexy stories. In general, sexier pictures elicited sexier stories, the effect being more marked with ambiguous instructions. Sexy instructions led to sexier stories except at the highest level of stimulus relevance. The results were interpreted within the framework of an abilities conception of personality.     

Engineering Codes of Ethics and the Duty to Set a Moral Precedent

Each of the major engineering societies has its own code of ethics. Seven “common core” clauses and several code-specific clauses can be identified. The paper articulates objections to and rationales for two clauses that raise controversy: do engineers have a duty (a) to provide pro bono services and/or speak out on major issues, and (b) to associate only with reputable individuals and organizations? This latter “association clause” can be justified by the “proclamative principle,” an alternative to Kant’s universalizability requirement. At the heart of engineering codes of ethics, and implicit in what it is to be a moral agent, the “proclamative principle” asserts that one’s life should proclaim one’s moral stances (one’s values, principles, perceptions, etc.). More specifically, it directs engineers to strive to insure that their actions, thoughts, and relationships be fit to offer to their communities as part of the body of moral precedents for how to be an engineer. Understanding codes of ethics as reflections of this principle casts light both on how to apply the codes and on the distinction between private and professional morality.     

Generic,Disease-Specific and Individualised Approaches to Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life Among People With Heart Disease - A Comparative Analysis

Increasing emphasis is being placed on the evaluation of health-related quality of life. However, there is no consensus on the definition of this concept and as a result there are a plethora of existing measurement instruments. Head-to-head comparisons of the psychometric properties of existing instruments are necessary to facilitate evidence-based decisions about which instrument should be chosen for routine use. Therefore, an individualised instrument (the modified Patient Generated Index (PGI)), a generic instrument (the Short Form 36) and a disease-specific instrument (the Quality of Life after Myocardial Infarction questionnaire) were administered to patients with ischaemic heart disease ( n = 117) and the evidence for the validity, reliability and sensitivity of each instrument was examined and compared. The modified PGI compared favourably with the other instruments but none of the instruments examined provided sound evidence for sensitivity to change. Therefore, any recommendation for the use of the individualised approach in the routine collection of health-related quality of life data in clinical practice must be conditional upon the submission of further evidence to support the sensitivity of such instruments.     

An Evaluation of a Program to Influence Academic Self-Concept Among African American Male College Students

African American men suffer one of the highest attrition rates of any racial or gender group in college. This study evaluated a retention program designed to increase academic self-concept by engaging participants in a 10-week course that taught career planning, cultural awareness, job interviewing and resume writing skills, and academic responsibility. The results of the analysis suggest that the course had no effect on academic self-concept.     

Cross-Cultural Generalizability of CBCL Syndromes Across Three Continents: From the USA and Holland to Australia

The study asked how well Achenbach's 8-factor cross-informant model for the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991a, 1991b, 1991c) fits clinic data in the USA, Holland, and Australia. DeGroot et al.'s Dutch 8-factor model (DeGroot, Koot, & Verhulst 1994) was also tested for its cross-cultural generalizability. Achenbach's matched clinical sample data (N = 2110) were analyzed and contrasted with the previously reported Dutch findings (N = 2335), as well as a new data set collected on clinic referred children and adolescents in Australia (N = 2237). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the Dutch as much as the American model in the USA, Holland, and Australia. Although about 90% of items showed convergent validity across models and countries, the attention and especially the social problems factor found least support. Most double loadings in the current models were not upheld. Instead, additional analyses discovered a number of unmodelled loadings including many cross-loadings. This led to the redefinition of the social problems factor as a mean aggression factor (with associated social problems) whereas the original aggression factor focuses on emotional acting out and the delinquent factor describes an evasive, covert type of antisocial behavior. Overall most support was obtained for the withdrawn, somatic, anxious/depressed, thought problems, and aggressive factors.     

Religion and Body Weight Among African-American Adults Attempting to Lose Weight: An Exploratory Study

Religion and body weight was explored at two time points among overweight and obese African-American adults. Baseline and follow-up data were collected from 26 adults participating in a weight loss intervention and analyzed using multiple regression analyses of religious measures, body weight, and other variables. Frequent church attendance was significantly associated with greater weight lost from baseline to 16-week follow-up. In this exploratory study, religious interactions and experiences may be involved in shaping body weight among African-Americans attempting to lose weight.