Specificity in interest measurement: Basic Interest Scales and major field of study

The Basic Interest Scales (BISs) of the Strong Interest Inventory (SII; Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994) have a 35-year history. The BISs are the specific content scales of the SII, as opposed to the SII general content scales, the General Occupational Themes (GOTs), which measure the six Holland (1997) RIASEC themes. Using 17,074 participants from the 1994 SII national norm group who majored in 24 different areas, this study examined the incremental value of the specific BISs over the general GOTs in explaining major field of education or training. Multivariately, discriminant function analyses were used to compare the ability of the set of the six GOTs and the set of the 25 BISs to predict the 24 major fields. Results showed substantial increases in explanatory power when the BISs were added to the GOTs. For 22 of the 24 fields, the addition of BISs to the GOTs added significantly to prediction of the major. These results showed that specific interest scales, such as the BISs, are highly useful in explaining specific criteria, such as choice of major field of education or training.     

A method to establish stimulus control and compliance with instructions

We evaluated a unique procedure to establish compliance with instructions in four young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who had low levels of compliance. Our procedure included methods to establish a novel therapist as a source of positive reinforcement, reliably evoke orienting responses to the therapist, increase the number of exposures to instruction–compliance–reinforcer contingencies, and minimize the number of exposures to instruction–noncompliance–no reinforcer contingencies. We further alternated between instructions with a high probability of compliance (high‐p instructions) with instructions that had a prior low probability of compliance (low‐p instructions) as soon as low‐p instructions lost stimulus control. The intervention is discussed in relation to the conditions necessary for the development of stimulus control and as an example of a variation of translational research.     

Impacts of school-wide positive behaviour support: Results from National Longitudinal Register Data

Problem behaviour in schools may have detrimental effects both on students' well-being and academic achievement. A large literature has consistently found that school-wide positive behaviour support (SWPBS) successfully addresses social and behavioural problems. In this paper, we used population-wide longitudinal register data for all Norwegian primary schools and a difference-in-difference (DiD) design to evaluate effects of SWPBS on a number of primary and secondary outcomes, including indicators of externalising behaviour, school well-being, pull-out instruction, and academic achievement. Indications of reduced classroom noise were found. No other effects were detected. Analyses revealed important differences in outcomes between the intervention and control schools, independent of the implementation of SWPBS, and that a credible design like DiD is essential to handle such school differences.     

The role of personality in the selection of a major: With and without vocational self-efficacy and interests

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of personality traits measured by the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; [Tellegen, 2000] and [Tellegen and Waller, 2008]) in selecting educational majors. Personality traits were examined alone, and with the combination of Holland’s hexagonal confidence domains, as measured by the general confidence themes (GCT) of the Skills Confidence Inventory (SCI; Betz, Borgen, & Harmon, 2005), and Holland’s interest domains, as measured by the general occupational themes (GOTs) of the 2005 Strong Interest Inventory (SII; Donnay, Morris, Schaubhut, & Thompson, 2005). Personality traits significantly contributed to the discrimination of nine educational major families in a sample of 368 undergraduate decided students. When the set of confidence and interest scales was added to the personality traits, the conservative jack knife hit rate was almost doubled.     

the experience of change and its impact on workers who self‐identify as doing well with change that affects their work

This study sought to understand more about the experience of workers who self‐identified as doing well within the context of volatile and changing work situations. The research results indicate that even those workers who report doing well with change experience a myriad of work‐related, personal life, attitude and approach, and professional life changes. The impacts of these changes can be categorized by theme: psychological, professional/work, emotional, personal/family life, physical, and cultural. Results are framed within the psychological thriving literature. Implications for organizations, counselors, and future research are discussed.     

what helps and hinders workers in managing change

This research responds to calls for increased understanding of workers' experiences of their work and work contexts. Informed by positive psychology, this study focused on a seldom‐studied subset of working individuals who self‐identified as doing well with change affecting their work and on strategies that helped or hindered them in doing well, factors that would have helped, and their experiences of change within the context of volatile and changing work situations. Using the enhanced critical incident technique methodology, the authors extracted 790 incidents from 45 participant interviews. These data were organized into the following 10 categories: support from friends and family, support from colleagues, support from professionals, personal attitudes/traits/emotional set, self‐care, internal framework and boundaries, taking action, skill/role competence, management style and work environment, and personal life changes/issues. The implications of these categories for research, theory, practice, and organizations are discussed.     

Using portfolios to enhance career resilience

Two groups of government workers were involved in career portfolio development workshops that were designed to expand the workers' thinking about their career accomplishments, enhance their sense of career resilience, and create portfolios. Focus groups conducted after the workshops indicated that participants began to engage in “portfolio thinking” and to think of an expanded range of career options, which were reflective of increased levels of career resilience.