Increasing volunteering at a residential facility: An experimental evaluation of a volunteer assistance program

A helpful component for comprehensive residential services for developmentally disabled persons is volunteer assistance. This investigation involved the evaluation of a program developed to increase the amount of volunteer assistance provided to a public residential facility. The program consisted of three types of related procedures: systematic volunteer recruitment steps, specific volunteer activities at the facility, and consequence/recognition for the volunteer assistance. The program was successively implemented to involve students as volunteers from two local universities, and resulted in an increase in new students volunteering from both universities. Additionally, the frequency with which the students volunteered at the residential facility increased substantially from both universities relative to control periods during which the volunteer program was not in effect. Results are discussed in terms of the benefits of volunteers and continued research to increase involvement of other prospective groups of volunteers.     

The occurrence of an increase in correlation with explicit selection

It is generally believed that correlations and standard deviations measured within an explicitly selected group must be smaller than those within an applicant population. A small data set is used to show that this is not always true, and that both validity and reliability estimates within a selected group can exceed those within the applicant population. The increase in correlation within the explicitly selected group is tied to an increase in standard deviation of the predictor in the selected group. This conclusion extends Levin's (1972) result for the case of incidental selection, selection on an unmeasured third variable. If possible, theoretical derivations should not be limited to the case where the predictor standard deviation in the applicant population exceeds that in the selected group. When such a situation occurs in observed data, it cannot be immediately dismissed as an artifact.The author would like to thank Mark L. Davison and other reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of the paper. An anonymous reviewer provided a better example than the original one, resulting in a more general conclusion.This work was supported in part by a Dissertation Fellowship from the University of Minnesota.     

Social reinforcement: A treatment component in verbal self-instructional training

This study investigated the effects of noncontingent social reinforcement on social and academic behaviors in grade school children. Twenty-four children in the second through fifth grades were selected on the basis of teacher ratings of disruptive behavior. Subjects were divided into (a) a high social reinforcement verbal self-instructional (VSI) training group, (b) a low social reinforcement VSI group, and (c) a no-contact control group. Children in VSI groups were removed from their classrooms during four 40-minute periods and given VSI training. Significant between-groups differences on measures of social reinforcement were found indicating its successful manipulation. While none of the dependent measures indicated significant differences between experimental groups, a consistent pattern of difference scores emerged giving limited support to the hypothesis that noncontingent social reinforcement contributed to behavioral gains. Results are discussed in terms of the need for future research on the effects of rapport on treatment outcome.Both authors wish to express their thanks to the Missoula public school administration, principals, psychologists, and teachers. Appreciation is also due to Matthew Firpo and Anita Fisher for their help in this project.     

Psychometric analysis of the Stunkard-Messick Eating Questionnaire (SMEQ) and Comparison with the dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ)

The factor structure of the Stunkard-Messick Eating Questionnaire (SMEQ) differs from that of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). Using students and members of a weight watchers club, we factor-analyzed responses to the SMEQ and produced a solution which was different from that obtained by Stunkard and Messick, but which had some similarities to the factor structure of the DEBQ. “External” taste items and “internal” hunger items loaded on the same factor, a finding inconsistent with externality theory but consistent with the common sense notion of appetite strength. Although our finding suggests factor instability of the SMEQ, the stability of the DEBQ appears to be the consequence of a restricted range of DEBQ items compared with SMEQ items. Financial support for this research was given by Lilly Industries.     

Equality between age-groups

The first part of the article considers what proponents of the most familiar egalitarian moral theories would say about age-group inequality. I claim that these theories have intuitively objectionable consequences. The second part explains and criticizes a theory of justice formulated specifically for age-groups: Norman Daniels' prudential lifespan account. In the third part I explain two views that seem to me to give a better account of justice between the young and the old.     

Pre-trial publicity: the case for reform

This paper questions the role of legal constraints in the reporting of trials by reference to the situation in Great Britain. Traditionally a good deal of pre-trial publicity in the press and other media has been regarded as a threat to the fairness of the outcome of the trial. The Law on Contempt of Court has been used to control media activity in this area. However, much of this is built upon assumptions about the nature of the juror which may not be well founded. Research evidence is reviewed and it is suggested that the fairness of the juror and an ability to react in an unbiased manner to evidence after being exposed to ‘prejudicial’ publicity are more accurate interpretations. It is suggested that there are alternatives to legalistic controls over the media and that abandoning some legal control might not have the undesirable consequences sometimes imagined.