Internal Validity of the Disruptive Behavior Disorder Symptoms: Implications from Parent Ratings for a Dimensional Approach to Symptom Validity

A dimensional approach was used to evaluate the internal validity of the DSM-III-R ADHD-inattention, ADHD-hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms (i.e., whether a symptom has a stronger correlation with its own dimension than the other three). Parents rated 4,019 children between the ages of 2 and 19 on these symptoms. The results showed that 5 of the 6 inattention symptoms, 3 of the 4 hyperactivity symptoms, 1 of the 4 impulsivity symptoms, 6 of the 9 oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, and 8 of the 11 CD symptoms had significant internal validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) found support for inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant, and conduct disorder dimensions. Multiple-group CFA also found support for factor pattern and loading invariance across gender. The implications of these results as well as the merits of the dimensional approach to symptom validity are discussed in the context of the DSM-IV changes in ADHD, ODD, and CD.     

VARIANT AND INVARIANT HIGH-PROBABILITY REQUESTS: INCREASING APPROPRIATE BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN WITH EMOTIONAL-BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS

This study examined the effects of variant versus invariant high-probability (high-p) request sequences on the performance of requests to initiate a social bid by young children with emotional-behavioral disorders. In the initial phases of the investigation, a multiple baseline design showed that the delivery of invariant sequences (i.e., high-p requests delivered in the same sequence) produced initial increases in compliance to requests to initiate a social bid to a peer. However, increases were not maintained across the invariant condition. The delivery of variant high-p sequences produced increases in compliance to requests to initiate social bids that were maintained across the variant condition. In a follow-up condition, the number of requests within the pool of the variant and invariant high-p requests were controlled. Results of the follow-up condition replicated those found in the initial condition. Implications for applied use and future research are discussed.     

How controllable is occupational violence?

Occupational violence may be an issue in a number of workplaces, and be of two main sources—those sites where cash is handled, and sites with aggressive clients. Legal requirements make it mandatory for an employer to provide a safe workplace, but just how controllable is occupational violence? A risk management equation is developed to assist the manager to ascertain the level of risk for violence in the workplace.     

An evaluation of the long-term outcomes of small-group work for counsellor development

A questionnaire was designed which enquired into the long-term professional applications and outcomes of Rogerian small-group and Tavistock Group Dynamics training. The 92 respondents were graduates of either a Master's degree or a Diploma in Human Relations or Counselling Studies in a university course where a 'small-group' module was a compulsory element of the taught course. Respondents were drawn from graduates of these one-year full-time or two-year part-time courses over a 21-year period. All respondents were involved either directly in professional or voluntary counselling, in the application of counselling skills in their work, or in training in counselling and counselling skills at work. The respondents reported no loss of learning gains over time: ascribed the application of many specific counselling skills to the small-group training process; reported on the affective component of the learning process; and provided only minimal evidence of forms of psychological damage which could be directly ascribed to the experience. These outcomes have to be considered in the light of the relatively low response rate of 33% and the difficulties in monitoring the precise behaviour of the facilitators in the groups.     

Gender Differences in Pointing Accuracy in Computer-Simulated 3D Mazes

Gender differences in pointing accuracy incomputer-simulated mazes were studied as a function ofmaze complexity and training effects. College students(primarily White) were led through mazes with different numbers of turns; at the end of each maze, theywere asked to indicate the direction of the maze origin(starting point). Pointing accuracy declined with numberof turns, but men were consistently more accurate than women by about 20°,regardless of maze complexity. Training participants totrack the relative position of the maze origin whilemoving through the maze produced equivalent benefits inpointing accuracy for both women and men. Thus, althoughpointing accuracy of men remained higher than that ofwomen, the results suggest that pointing performance canbe modified by experience.     

Fallout from government-sponsored radiation research.

On December 28, 1993, Energy Secretary Hazel R. O'Leary publicly appealed to both the executive and legislative branches of the United States Government to consider compensation for individuals who were harmed by their exposure to ionizing radiation while enrolled in government-sponsored studies conducted between 1940 and the early 1970s. The call for compensation was issued three weeks after Secretary O'Leary disclosed that radiation experiments involving humans, sometimes without their consent, had occurred under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), a forerunner of the Department of Energy (DOE). Secretary O'Leary directed her department to investigate the nature and extent of the experiments, report on their medical and ethical acceptability, and locate the research subjects or their families.     

Invariants,specifiers, cues: An investigation of locus equations as information for place of articulation

This experiment explored the information for place of articulation provided bylocus equations— equations for a line relating the second formant (F2) of a vowel at midpoint toF2 of the formant at consonant-vowel (CV) syllable onset. Locus equations cue place indirectly by quantifying directly the degree of coarticulatory overlap (coarticulation resistance) between consonant and vowel. Coarticulation resistance is correlated with place, The experiment tested predictions that when coarticulation resistance varies due to properties of the consonant other than place of articulation (in particular due to manner of articulation), locus equations would not accurately reflect consonantal place of articulation. These predictions were confirmed. In addition, discriminant analyses, using locus equation variables as classifiers, were generally unsuccessful in classifying a set of consonants representing six different places of articulation. I conclude that locus equations are unlikely to provide useful place information to listeners.