A note on permutation tests of significance for multiple regression coefficients

In the vast majority of psychological research utilizing multiple regression analysis, asymptotic probability values are reported. This paper demonstrates that asymptotic estimates of standard errors provided by multiple regression are not always accurate. A resampling permutation procedure is used to estimate the standard errors. In some cases the results differ substantially from the traditional least squares regression estimates.     

Translating Empirically Supported Strategies Into Accessible Interventions: The Potential Utility of Exercise for the Treatment of Panic Disorder

Many patients suffering from panic disorder do not receive adequate care. Advances in the conceptualization and treatment of panic disorder encourage innovative strategies for targeting core fears (fears of anxiety sensations) that underlie this disorder. In this article, we discuss the use of exercise as a potential strategy for therapeutic exposure to these feared sensations, and the role that exercise may play as an acceptable intervention to aid the dissemination of exposure-based approaches to the treatment of panic disorder. Evidence for the efficacy of exercise for the treatment of anxiety and panic is presented; along with strategies to enhance the role exercise can play as an interoceptive (internal sensation) exposure procedure. Finally, issues of comorbidity and exercise acceptability are discussed. Our conclusion is that exercise-based interventions are promising strategies for improving the utilization of exposure-based interventions for panic disorder. Clinical guidelines and future research directions are discussed.     

Social cognitive processes mediating the relationship between exposure to television's sexual content and adolescents' sexual behavior

This study used multiple-group structural equation modeling to test a model explaining the association between exposure to televised sexual content and initiation of intercourse among an ethnically diverse national sample of 1,292 adolescents. The authors hypothesized, on the basis of social-cognitive theory, that exposure to televised sexual content would influence adolescents' safe-sex self-efficacy, sex-related outcome expectancies, and perceived peer norms regarding sex, and that each of these would, in turn, influence intercourse initiation. Findings support a model in which the relationship between exposure to TV's sexual content and intercourse initiation is mediated by safe-sex self-efficacy among African Americans and Whites but not among Hispanics. Outcome expectancies and perceived peer norms may also mediate the link between exposure and intercourse initiation among all 3 racial/ethnic groups, although evidence of this could not be confirmed.     

Trajectories of Happiness 5 Years Following Medical Discharge for Traumatic Disability: Differences Between Insider and Outsider Perspectives

We studied the predictive impact of proxy “outsider” reports, injury type, and functional independence on trajectories of happiness over the first 5 years following medical treatment for a traumatic spinal cord injury, brain injury, severe burns or inter-articular fractures (total N = 1,271). It was anticipated that lower functional independence and outsider status would predict lower happiness trajectories, with injury type having little effect over time. A measure of functional impairment and the life satisfaction index containing the items that assessed happiness were administered 12, 24, 48, and 60 months post-discharge. Trajectory modeling revealed that lower functional independence significantly predicted lower happiness, regardless of injury type. Outsider reports predicted significantly higher happiness scores than the insiders reported themselves. These differences persisted across time and injury type. Additional analyses found that insider/outsider status accounted for one percent of the variance in happiness scores and functional independence accounted for twenty percent of the variance. Moreover, for all injury groups, there was no evidence for changes in happiness trajectories over time. Outsider accounts differ significantly from insider estimations of variables of positive adjustment accounts but explain little variation in the reports of happiness overall and still have practical and clinical value as secondary sources of information about positive emotional experiences, particularly when reports from the “insider” are not possible.     

Working Hours and Life Satisfaction: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Latin America and the United States

This paper compares the life satisfaction and working hours of Latin Americans and U.S. Americans using the AmericasBarometer and General Social Survey. While there are many common determinants of happiness, hours worked is not among them. Differences in cultural values, especially the distinction between collectivism (familism) and individualism that has long been a foundation of social development theory, may be why married Latin American males are less happy than married U.S. American males when working longer hours. The distinction is not apparent among females or the unmarried.     

Nonasymptotic significance tests for two measures of agreement.

The kappa agreement coefficient of Cohen from 1960 and Brennan and Prediger from 1981 are defined and compared. A FORTRAN program is described that computes Cohen's kappa and Brennan and Prediger's kappa and their associated probability values based on Monte Carlo resampling and the binomial distribution, respectively.     

Size perception is less context-sensitive in males

Context sensitivity of size perception has previously been used to study individual differences related to the distinction between local, analytic, or field-independent and global, holistic, or field-dependent perceptual styles. For example, it has been used in several recent studies of autistic spectrum disorders, which may involve an excessive bias toward local processing. Autism is much more common in males, and there is evidence that this may be in part because males in general tend to be less context-sensitive than females, and thus are more affected by conditions that further reduce context sensitivity. There is also evidence that a bias to local processing is more common in professions that require attention to detail. Context sensitivity of size perception was therefore studied as a function of sex and academic discipline in sixty-four university staff and students by a simple, sensitive, and specific psychophysical measure based on the Ebbinghaus illusion. The results show that in this task males are on average less context-sensitive than females, that the overlap is large, and that subjects with very high or very low context sensitivity tend to have the sex and profession predicted by the above hypotheses.