Power Motivation and Youth: An Analysis of Troubled Students and Student Leaders

The n affiliation, n achievement, and n power of five clusters of ninth-grade students and the differences between the motivational profiles of ninth-grade troubled youth and recognized student leaders were investigated in this study. The participants were grouped through the use of a cluster analysis of variables related to at-risk and leadership characteristics. The Picture Story Exercise (Burruss, 1980), a derivative of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), was used to measure n power, n achievement, n affiliation, and activity inhibition. A discriminant analysis of the groups indicated that n power discriminates between troubled students and recognized student leaders, whereas n achievement and n affiliation are not statistically significant in the analysis of the maximal differences between these two groups. Implications for counselors are discussed.     

Evaluation of video-based assessment in transit operator selection

The use of video testing is relatively new in personnel selection. Initial research has shown that the visual presentation of behaviorial incidents to job applicants may be a practical alternative to paper-and-pencil selection tests. Little research, however, has been conducted on the psychometric properties of video testing. To address this shortcoming in the personnel selection literature, this study reports the results of a validation study conducted on a video test for transit operators conducted in a large Canadian transit authority. The test, the Metro Seattle Video Test (MSVT), was designed to assess the interpersonal skills required of transit operators. The results show that, although content validation evidence was supportive, other psychometric evidence (i.e., reliability, criterion-related validation evidence, and construct-oriented validation evidence) is not consistent with an adequate selection test of interpersonal skills. Recommendations are made for future development and use of video testing in transit operator selection, as well as for improving the reliability and validity of video-based assessment of interpersonal skills.We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Kevin Kelloway and Maury Getkate for their assistance with this paper, as well as Rick Hackett and Peter Hausdorf for their involvement in the data collection phase of this study.     

Important Goals,Meanings, and Relationships in Flourishing and Languishing States: Towards Patterns of Well-being

Qualitative studies of lay people’s perspectives on facets of well-being are scarce, and it is not known how the perspectives of people with high and low levels of well-being dovetail or differ. This research explored the experiences of people with high/flourishing versus low/languishing levels of positive mental health in three cross-sectional survey design studies. Languishing and flourishing participants were selected in each study based on quantitative data from the Mental Health Continuum - Short Form as reported by Keyes et al. (Journal of Health and Social Behavior 43:207–222, 2002). Qualitative content analyses were conducted on written responses to semistructured open-ended questions on the what and why of important meaningful things (study 1, n = 42), goals (study 2, n = 30), and relationships (study 3, n = 50). Results indicated that well-being is not only a matter of degree—manifestations differ qualitatively in flourishing and languishing states. Similar categories emerged for what flourishing and languishing people found important with regard to meaning, goals, and relationships, but the reasons for the importance thereof differed prominently. Languishing people manifested a self-focus and often motivated responses in terms of own needs and hedonic values such as own happiness, whereas flourishers were more other-focused and motivated responses in terms of eudaimonic values focusing on a greater good. We propose that positive mental health can be conceptualized in terms of dynamic quantitative and qualitative patterns of well-being. Interventions to promote well-being may need to take into account the patterns of well-being reflecting what people on various levels of well-being experience and value.

     

Assessing Multicultural Competence: Perceived Versus Demonstrated Performance

This study compares self‐report scores generated by the Multicultural Awareness Knowledge Skills Survey‐Counselor Edition‐Revised (B. S. K. Kim, B. Y. Cartwright, P. A. Asay, & M. J. D'Andrea, 2003) with independent observer ratings of actual videotaped demonstrations of multicultural competence in response to a preselected case vignette. Implications for counselor training and future research are discussed.     

Acceptance and expressed emotion in Mexican American caregivers of relatives with schizophrenia

The relation between Expressed Emotion (EE) and caregiver acceptance was tested with the use of video-recorded interactions between 31 Mexican American family caregivers and their relatives with schizophrenia. Borrowing the concept from Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy, acceptance was defined as caregiver's engagement with the ill relative along with low levels of expectations for behavioral change. Three aspects of caregiver acceptance were measured: global acceptance of the patient, unified detachment (i.e., nonblaming but engaged problem discussion), and low aversive responses to patient behavior (e.g., criticisms and demanding change). Relative to high EE caregivers, low EE caregivers were consistently more accepting of their ill relatives across the three measures of acceptance. Unified detachment was negatively associated with emotional overinvolvement and aversive responses were positively related to criticism. Warmth was not related to acceptance. The findings suggest that the study of acceptance in family caregivers is a heuristic avenue for future research due to its potential to shed light on specifically what family members do in caring for their ill relatives with schizophrenia.     

Children's knowledge of the earth: a new methodological and statistical approach

In the field of children’s knowledge of the earth, much debate has concerned the question of whether children’s naive knowledge—that is, their knowledge before they acquire the standard scientific theory—is coherent (i.e., theory-like) or fragmented. We conducted two studies with large samples (N = 328 and N = 381) using a new paper-and-pencil test, denoted the EARTH (EArth Representation Test for cHildren), to discriminate between these two alternatives. We performed latent class analyses on the responses to the EARTH to test mental models associated with these alternatives. The naive mental models, as formulated by Vosniadou and Brewer, were not supported by the results. The results indicated that children’s knowledge of the earth becomes more consistent as children grow older. These findings support the view that children’s naive knowledge is fragmented.     

Strategies and Dispositional Correlates of Sexual Coercion Perpetrated by Women: An Exploratory Investigation

This research tests whether theoretical constructs typically associated with male perpetrators of sexual coercion are predictive of women who perpetrate sexual coercion. We administered a questionnaire that contained measures of sexual experience, social dominance, ambivalent sexism, sex roles, attitudes toward sexual harassment, and lovestyle approaches toward intimate relationships to a sample of women undergraduates. Results found 18% of women to report engaging in sexually coercive behaviors. Coercive women exhibited higher tolerance of sexual harassment, and were significantly higher in femininity than noncoercive women. Coercive women were also found to embrace a ludic (manipulative, game-playing approach toward love) lovestyle significantly more than noncoercive women, while pragma (a logical approach toward love) was negatively associated with coercion. Lastly, a significant difference was found between coercive and noncoercive women and self-reported victimization. Eighty-one percent of women who reported using coercive strategies in their relationships also reported having been sexually victimized.     

The Effect of Parental Stress on the Oral Health of Children

Purpose: Examine the hypothesis that parenting stress was associated with poorer oral health in children. Methods: Ninety primary care-givers of children aged 5–12 years seen for routine dental visits completed the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) and demographic measures. The child's oral health was assessed by the number of decayed, filled, and missing teeth, and by the difference between recommended and actual times for return visits. Results: Lower levels of care-giver age, education, and Child Domain scores on the PSI predicted poorer dental health. Older children were significantly more likely to return on time for their next visit. Conclusions: In this economically stressed sample, children whose parents rate them as easy to care for and children of younger and less well-educated parents were more likely to have poorer oral health. Research on a more diverse population would determine if the results from this study can be generalized to other populations.     

Preferences for ‘Gender‐typed’ Toys in Boys and Girls Aged 9 to 32 Months

Many studies have found that a majority of boys and girls prefer to play with toys that are typed to their own gender but there is still uncertainty about the age at which such sex differences first appear, and under what conditions. Applying a standardized research protocol and using a selection of gender‐typed toys, we observed the toy preferences of boys and girls engaged in independent play in UK nurseries, without the presence of a parent. The 101 boys and girls fell into three age groups: 9 to 17 months, when infants can first demonstrate toy preferences in independent play (N = 40); 18 to 23 months, when critical advances in gender knowledge occur (N = 29); and 24 to 32 months, when knowledge becomes further established (N = 32). Stereotypical toy preferences were found for boys and girls in each of the age groups, demonstrating that sex differences in toy preference appear early in development. Both boys and girls showed a trend for an increasing preference with age for toys stereotyped for boys. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed with regard to biological predispositions, cognitive development and environmental influences on toy preference. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

12-month-old infants allocate increased neural resources to stimuli associated with negative adult emotion

Young infants use caregivers' emotional expressions to guide their behavior in novel, ambiguous situations. This skill, known as social referencing, likely involves at least 3 separate abilities: (a) looking at an adult in an unfamiliar situation, (b) associating that adult's emotion with the novel situation, and (c) regulating their own emotions in response to the adult's emotional display. The authors measured each of these elements individually as well as how they related to each other. The results revealed that 12-month-olds allocated more attention, as indicated by event-related potential measures, to stimuli associated with negative adult emotion than to those associated with positive or neutral emotion. Infants' interaction with their caregiver was affected by adult emotional displays. In addition, how quickly infants referenced an adult predicted both their brain activity in response to pictures of stimuli associated with negative emotion as well as some aspects of their behavior regulation. The results are discussed with respect to their significance for understanding why infants reference and regulate their behavior in response to adult emotion. Suggestions for further research are provided.