Differential Diagnosis and Treatment of Career Indecision

Although progress has been made in developing a more complete understanding of career indecision, there continues to be a need for a better diagnostic approach to career indecision.     

Go west,man: a dream fragment

Maybe it was the anchovy and green pepper pizza I stuffed down before going to bed, or it could have been the APGA Convention Program I was reading that afternoon. Whatever stimulated the dream, it was the most vivid one I'd had in years. I just had to share it with someone who might understand. So bear with me, please, while I engage in a little catharsis.     

Friends' sexual orientation,relational quality,and mental health among gay,lesbian, and bisexual youth

Abstract The existing literature on gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) youth emphasizes unique benefits of having GLB friends, but empirical studies have shown no or only small mental health advantages of having them. To unravel this contradiction, this study tested a common assumption that GLB youth develop better relational quality with their GLB friends than with straight friends. Statistical analysis used interview data from community organization participants in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (n = 84) and employed analysis of variance and ordinary least squares regression models. GLB youth's friendships with GLB and straight peers did not differ in contact frequency, emotional closeness, and hassles. Further, GLB and straight friends were similar in the degree to which each relational quality dimension was associated with mental health.     

‘Delivered By the Power of God’: Toward a Pentecostal Understanding of Salvation

Abstract: The quest to find a doctrinal framework that faithfully reflects Pentecostalism continues among Pentecostal theologians. Among the variety of proposals offered, a consensus has emerged on the centrality of the doctrine of salvation for a Pentecostal theology. Using theological models as a methodological approach, the claim is made that a Pentecostal theology best functions within a model of salvation that can be expressed in terms of two dominant metaphors: acquisition of God's life and deliverance. Consequently, a Pentecostal understanding of salvation concerns the ongoing deliverance from sin in all of its permutations through the increasing acquisition of God's triune life.     

MEASUREMENT ERROR IN RESEARCH ON HUMAN RESOURCES and FIRM PERFORMANCE: HOW MUCH ERROR IS THERE AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE EFFECT SIZE ESTIMATES?

Studies of the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and firm performance typically use a single respondent to assess firm level HR practices or HR effectiveness. However, previous research in other substantive areas suggests that rater differences are a potentially important source of measurement error. We demonstrate analytically the potential consequences of both random and systematic measurement error in research on HR and firm performance. However, our main focus is on random error and we show how generalizability theory can be applied to obtain better estimates of reliability by simultaneously recognizing multiple sources (e.g., items, raters) of random measurement error. These more inclusive reliability estimates, in turn, offer the possibility of more precisely quantifying substantive relationships in the HR and firm performance literature. In our sample, reliabilities (as estimated by generalizability coefficients) for single-rater assessments of HR variables were generally below .50. This degree of measurement error, if present in substantive studies on HR and firm performance, could lead to considerable bias, given that an unstandardized regression coefficient is corrected for measurement error in the independent variable by dividing by its reliability coefficient (not its square root). We also found only limited convergent validity between HR and line managers ratings of a second type of HR measure, HR effectiveness. In general, our findings suggest that future researchers need to devote greater attention to measurement error and construct validity issues. Our study provides an example of how generalizability theory can be useful in this pursuit.