Construct validity of the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank with clinic-referred and nonreferred adolescents

We examined the construct validity of the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB; Rotter, Lah, & Rafferty, 1992) as a measure of psychological maladjustment in adolescents. In Study 1, we investigated the reliability and convergent and discriminant validity of the RISB with adolescents referred to treatment. In Studies 2 and 3, we examined the RISB's ability to differentiate referred and nonreferred adolescents. The RISB showed adequate interrater reliability and converged with self-reported, parent-reported, and teacher-reported social-emotional and behavioral problems. Criterion-related evidence suggests that the RISB may be useful as a screening measure for adolescents using a 135 or 140 cut score. We provide normative data to facilitate the test's use with adolescents in clinical and research settings.     

Effects of the good behavior game across classroom contexts

The Good Behavior Game (GBG), a well‐researched classroom group contingency, is typically played for brief periods of time, which raises questions about the effects on subsequent contexts. This study used a multiple baseline design and showed that when the GBG was implemented in one context, behavior improved in only that context. Behavior improved in the subsequent activity only when the GBG was implemented.     

A meta-analysis of children’s self-reports of dietary intake

Objective: Although research studies increasingly use children as primary reporters in dietary assessments, it is unclear how well children’s self-reported intake correlates with independently validated reports of their intake; this meta-analysis assesses that correlation.

Design: Moderators of the correlation between self-reported and independently validated intake were predicted a priori: type of dietary intake assessment (24 h recall, food diary and food frequency questionnaires), validation measures, parental assistance and age. Online databases were searched for articles published from 1990 to 2014 that compared children’s self-reports of dietary intake to validated observations of food intake in children age 4–16.

Main outcome measures: Summary effect size Pearson r between children’s self-reported dietary intake and independently validated dietary intake were calculated.

Results: In k = 32 samples from 23 studies, a statistically significant correlation (r = .48, Z = 7.26, p < .001) was found between children’s self-reported dietary intake and independently validated reports of dietary intake. Validation method (Q = 17.49, df = 2, p < .001) and parental assistance (Z = 2.03, p = .042) were significant moderators of this correlation. Self-report methodology (Q = 3.95, df = 2, p = .139) and age (Q = .02, p = .879) were not significant moderators of the distribution of effect sizes.

Conclusion: Together, these results provide baseline information about children’s recall in dietary intake assessments conducted with children as primary reporters.     

Examination of variables that affect the efficacy of instructive feedback

Instructive feedback is a procedure in which additional, nontarget stimuli are presented during instructional trials for students with a wide array of disabilities. This preliminary investigation examined whether participant behavior during instructive feedback, including attending and echoic behavior, altered the efficacy of instructive feedback for 2 children with autism. Results showed that participant behavior during instructive feedback related to training outcomes for both participants and treatment modifications based on participant behavior influenced acquisition. Future directions of research and implications for practice are discussed.     

From “I Want To Hold Your Hand” to “Promiscuous”: Sexual Stereotypes in Popular Music Lyrics, 1960–2008

Media content analyses indicate that gender-based differences in sexuality are common and consistent with gender stereotypes. Specifically, women are expected to focus on love and romantic relationships and have sexually objectified bodies, while men are expected to focus on sexual behavior. Although decades of research have documented the presence of these stereotypes in a broad variety of visual media, much less is known about the content of popular music lyrics. Relying on a database of 1250 songs across five decades (the top 50 songs from even-numbered years from 1960 through 2008), we documented the presence or absence of a dating relationship, the word “love” (and its uses), sexual activity, and sexual objectification of females and males (separately). Analyses revealed that the vast majority of songs addressed at least one of these themes, primarily dating relationships. Although female performers were proportionally more likely to address romantic relationships than male performers, raw counts reversed this pattern because male performers substantially outnumbered female performers. Males were proportionally more likely to sing about sexual behavior and to objectify both females and males. References to romantic relationships became less common over time, while references to sexual behavior and objectified bodies became more common. Content varied across genres, with rap being the least likely to reference dating and most likely to reference sexual behavior. Implications for sexual development are discussed.     

Longitudinal development of manual motor ability in autism spectrum disorder from childhood to mid‐adulthood relates to adaptive daily living skills

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit motor difficulties, but it is unknown whether manual motor skills improve, plateau, or decline in ASD in the transition from childhood into adulthood. Atypical development of manual motor skills could impact the ability to learn and perform daily activities across the life span. This study examined longitudinal grip strength and finger tapping development in individuals with ASD (n = 90) compared to individuals with typical development (n = 56), ages 5 to 40 years old. We further examined manual motor performance as a possible correlate of current and future daily living skills. The group with ASD demonstrated atypical motor development, characterized by similar performance during childhood but increasingly poorer performance from adolescence into adulthood. Grip strength was correlated with current adaptive daily living skills, and Time 1 grip strength predicted daily living skills eight years into the future. These results suggest that individuals with ASD may experience increasingly more pronounced motor difficulties from adolescence into adulthood and that manual motor performance in ASD is related to adaptive daily living skills.     

Extensive performance on the antisaccade task does not lead to negative transfer

Executive-control processes regulate thoughts, emotions, actions, and behaviors that are critical for everyday functioning. Recently, researchers have suggested that these processes can be flexibly modified by tasks that require executive control. Specifically, it has been argued that executive-control tasks can deplete these executive-control processes, which can in turn lead to negative transfer on subsequent task performance. Importantly, the degrees of malleability in executive-control processes and transfer to different tasks are of ongoing debate. The present study critically examined the hypothesis that executive-control processes can be exerted and whether or not this exertion would negatively transfer to performance on various subsequent tasks. Across a series of experiments, negative transfer effects from extensive performance on the antisaccade task were not found. Traditional hypothesis testing and Bayes factor computations were used to validate these findings. Collectively, the present results put in question the use of the antisaccade task to observe both near and far negative transfer from using executive-control processes.     

Examining the construct validity of the elemental psychopathy assessment

Lynam and colleagues recently developed a new self-report inventory for the assessment of psychopathy, the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA). Using a sample of undergraduates (N = 227), the authors examined the construct validity of the EPA by examining its correlations with self and stranger ratings on the Five-Factor Model, as well as self-reported ratings of personality disorders, social cognition, and love styles. The EPA psychopathy scores manifested expected correlations with both self and stranger ratings of the Five-Factor Model, particularly with the domains of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and were significantly related to various forms of personality pathology such as narcissism and antisocial personality disorders. The EPA also manifested expected relations with aggressive social cognitions. Finally, the EPA psychopathy scores were correlated with romantic love styles indicative of game playing and infidelity. The current results provide further evidence of the construct validity of the EPA as it manifests relations consistent with the nomological network of psychopathy.