The perceived ethnic discrimination questionnaire--community version: validation in a multiethnic Asian sample

This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire-Community Version (PEDQ-CV) Lifetime Exposure scale in a multiethnic Asian sample (N = 509). The 34-item scale measures perceived interpersonal racial/ethnic discrimination and includes four subscales assessing different types of discrimination: Social Exclusion, Stigmatization, Discrimination at Work/School, and Threat/Aggression. The Lifetime Exposure scale demonstrated excellent reliability across the full group and in all major subgroups. Subscales displayed good reliability across the full group and moderate-to-good reliability in each subgroup. The Lifetime Exposure scale was significantly correlated with the depression and anxiety subscales of the SCL-90-R, providing preliminary evidence of construct validity. The data suggest the Lifetime Exposure scale, previously validated in Black and Latino adults, is also appropriate for use with Asian samples, and can be used to examine both within-group and between-groups differences in discrimination.     

College grade point average as a personnel selection device: ethnic group differences and potential adverse impact

College grade point average (GPA) is often used in a variety of ways in personnel selection. Unfortunately, there is little empirical research literature in human resource management that informs researchers or practitioners about the magnitude of ethnic group differences and any potential adverse impact implications when using cumulative GPA for selection. Data from a medium-sized university in the Southeast (N = 7,498) indicate that the standardized average Black-White difference for cumulative GPA in the senior year is d = 0.78. The authors also conducted analyses at 3 GPA screens (3.00, 3.25, and 3.50) to demonstrate that employers (or educators) might face adverse impact at all 3 levels if GPA continues to be implemented as part of a selection system. Implications and future research are discussed.     

The emotional costs of parents' conditional regard: a self-determination theory analysis

Parents' use of conditional regard as a socializing practice was hypothesized to predict their children's introjected internalization (indexed by a sense of internal compulsion), resentment toward parents, and ill-being. In Study 1, involving three generations, mothers' reports of their parents' having used conditional regard to promote academic achievement predicted (a) the mothers' poor well-being and controlling parenting attitudes, and (b) their college-aged daughters' viewing them as having used conditional regard, thus showing both negative affective consequences from and intergenerational transmission of conditional regard. Study 2 expanded on the first by using four domains, including both genders, and examining mediating processes. College students' perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' having used conditional regard in four domains (emotion control, prosocial, academic, sport) were found to relate to introjected internalization, behavioral enactment, fluctuations in self-esteem, perceived parental disapproval, and resentment of parents. Introjection mediated the link from conditional regard to behavioral enactment. The results suggest that use of conditional regard as a socializing practice can promote enactment of the desired behaviors but does so with significant affective costs.     

Prospective patterns of resilience and maladjustment during widowhood

Using prospective longitudinal data on an older sample beginning prior to the death of a spouse, G. A. Bonanno et al. (2002) distinguished 5 unique trajectories of bereavement outcome: common grief, chronic grief, chronic depression, depression followed by improvement, and resilience. These trajectories having been identified, the aims of the current study were to examine differences in how respondents in each group reacted to and processed the loss. Specific hypotheses were tested regarding differences in coping, meaning making, context, and representations of the lost relationship. Results suggest that chronic grief stems from the upheaval surrounding the loss of a healthy spouse, whereas chronic depression results from more enduring emotional difficulties that are exacerbated by the loss. Both the resilient and the depressed-improved groups showed remarkably healthy profiles and relatively little evidence of either struggling with or denying/avoiding the loss.     

Effects of the presence of others on food intake: a normative interpretation

The authors review the effect of the presence of others on food intake. In social facilitation studies, people tend to eat more in groups than when alone. In modeling studies, the presence of others may facilitate or inhibit intake, depending on how much these other people eat. Studies of impression management demonstrate that people tend to eat less in the presence of others than when alone. The authors attempt to reconcile these divergent literatures by reference to a model of inhibitory norms that govern eating. In the presence of palatable food, and in the absence of clear signals of satiety, people look outward to cues from the environment to determine when to stop eating. Socially derived inhibitory norms can account for either increased or decreased intake in the presence of others, depending on how much the others eat and the extent to which one is eager to impress them.     

Psychometric analysis of the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist: factor structure of occurrence and reaction ratings

A modified version of the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist (RMBPC; L. Teri et al., 1992) was administered across 6 different sites to 1,229 family caregivers of community-dwelling adults with dementia. The total sample was divided randomly into 2 subsamples. Principal components analyses on occurrence responses and reaction ratings from the first subsample resulted in a 3-factor solution that closely resembled the originally proposed dimensions (memory-related problems, disruptive behaviors, and depression). Confirmatory factor analyses on data from the second subsample indicated adequate fit for the 3-factor model. Correlations with other caregiver and care-recipient measures supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the RMBPC measures. In addition, female caregivers and White caregivers reported more problems, on average, than male caregivers and African American caregivers, respectively.     

The Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist--Nursing Home: instrument development and measurement of burden among certified nursing assistants

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist--Nursing Home (RMBPC) replicated the factor structure of the community-based RMBPC (L. Teri et al., 1992). The reliability of the total score was high as indexed by estimates of internal consistency (alpha = .95), test-retest reliability (r = .86), and interrater reliability between 2 interviewers (r = .88). Notably, the interrater reliability between 2 independent certified nursing assistants (CNAs) regarding residents' behavior problem frequency was more modest (r = .46), possibly reflecting the degree to which resident behaviors capture individual CNA's attention. This may have implications for the interpretation of data from the Minimum Data Set. CNAs reported moderately severe burden associated with behavior problems in 47% of residents under their care.     

Explicit memory in anxiety disorders

Two experiments were conducted to study selective memory bias favoring anxiety-relevant materials in patients with anxiety disorders. In the 1st experiment, 32 patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), 30 with social phobia (speaking anxiety), and 31 control participants incidentally learned GAD-relevant words, speech anxiety-relevant words, strongly pleasant words, and words with a neutral valence. Participants did not show any explicit memory bias for threatening materials. Thirty patients suffering from panic disorder (PD) with agoraphobia and 30 controls took part in the 2nd experiment. The design was similar to the 1st experiment. This time a highly specific selective memory bias for threatening words was found. Words describing symptoms of anxiety were better recalled by PD patients. Results are consistent with previous findings but are inexplicable by existing theories.     

The usefulness of distinguishing between a defensive and a nondefensive external locus of control

The study's purpose was to determine whether a distinction can be made between individuals adopting an external locus of control as a defense and those adopting the orientation because it reflects their life experience. It was hypothesized that the two groups differ in the amount of personal responsibility they accept for task outcomes. Internals and externals were identified and then further designated as high or low in action taking. Among externals, a high action-taking score implied defensiveness. Subjects randomly received either success or failure feedback on a presumed task of interpersonal sensitivity. Defensive externals varied their causal attributions as a function of outcome, whereas nondefensive externals did not (p < .05). The distinction between defensive and nondefensive external control was thus supported.