Spearman’s Law of Diminishing Returns and national ability

This research examined Spearman’s Law of Diminishing Returns (SLODR) using national ability as the unit of analysis. National ability was estimated using international standardized tests such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Factor analysis estimated the national G loadings of tests for high and low ability nations. Consistent with SLODR, the G loadings of tests were lower for higher ability nations. The pattern was confirmed after correcting for school attendance and age biases. Because a test’s g loading is directly related to its predictive validity (correlation with outcomes), our results imply that the predictive validity of tests may be lower for higher ability nations.     

Theory‐Based Determinants of Youth Smoking: A Multiple Influence Approach1

This study tested a broad array of determinants of smoking grounded in general social psychological theories, as well as personality and social development theories. Using data from 2,004 middle school students, all proximal and distal determinants significantly predicted smoking in the hypothesized direction. Further, hierarchical logistic regressions showed that intention to smoke, positive and negative attitudes toward smoking, impediments to smoking, self‐efficacy to resist smoking, parent norms, and academic success most strongly predicted current smoking. Hierarchical linear regressions suggested that parental relatedness, maladaptive coping strategies, depression, and low academic aspirations most strongly predicted susceptibility to smoking for those who had not yet smoked a cigarette. Global expectancies were the strongest predictor of susceptibility in low socioeconomic status students. These findings may guide the development of future theory‐based interventions that produce the greatest reductions in youth smoking.     

An application of the prototype willingness model to drivers' speeding behaviour

We tested the prototype willingness model (PWM). The participants (N = 198) completed online questionnaire measures of PWM constructs (Time 1) and subsequent speeding behaviour (Time 2). Path analyses showed that the PWM accounted for 89% of the variance in subsequent (self‐reported) speeding behaviour. This significantly exceeded the variance accounted for by the theory of planned behaviour. In line with the PWM, both behavioural intention and behavioural willingness had direct effects on behaviour. Behavioural willingness had a significantly larger effect. Attitude and subjective norm both had indirect effects on behaviour through both behavioural intention and behavioural willingness. Prototype (similarity) perceptions had indirect effects on behaviour through behavioural willingness only. The findings support the notion that driving is governed by reactive decision‐making (willingness), underpinned by prototype perceptions, attitudes and subjective norms, to a greater extent than it is deliberative decision‐making (intentions), underpinned by attitudes and subjective norms. The implications for safety interventions are discussed.     

Physical aggression and expressive vocabulary in 19-month-old twins

In the prevention of physical aggression, possible etiological links with language development are rarely taken into account. Indeed, little is known about when language and aggressive behavior become linked during development and which mechanisms are responsible for this association. This study investigated the association between physical aggression and language in late infancy with a genetic design that involved 562 19-month-old twins. A modest but significant correlation (r = -.20) was found between physical aggression and expressive vocabulary. Substantial heritability was found for physical aggression. Quantitative genetic modeling suggests that the correlation between expressive vocabulary and physical aggression cannot be explained by shared etiologies. However, phenotype-to-phenotype models indicate that the covariation can be entirely accounted for by a significant phenotypic path from expressive vocabulary to physical aggression. The implications of these results for early prevention of chronic physical aggression are discussed.     

Factor analysis of variability measures in eight independent samples of children and adults

Variability in strategy use has been measured and conceptualized in several ways. The present study sought to determine whether a sample of variability measures could be reduced to a smaller number of factors that the individual measures had in common. Factor analysis of five commonly used variability measures was performed separately on data from eight independent samples of children and adults. The results revealed that the variability measures could be reduced to one of two general types of variability: strategy diversity, which refers to the sheer number of strategies used, and strategy change, which refers to the number of trial-by-trial changes in strategy use. Support for this two-factor model of variability was found for all samples of children and adults. Moreover, each type of variability had distinctive relations with cognitive performance that varied with age. In general, strategy diversity was positively related to recall for children but not adults, whereas strategy change was negatively related to recall for adults but not children. Based on this evidence, three recommendations for researchers studying strategy variability are described.     

Does Pay‐for‐Performance Strain the Employment Relationship? The Effect of Manager Bonus Eligibility on Nonmanagement Employee Turnover

We tested the organization‐level effects of manager pay‐for‐performance practices on nonmanagement employee turnover within the context of agency theory and equity theory—two frameworks commonly applied to understand compensation policy and practice. We also propose an alternative theoretical perspective that predicts that managerial pay‐for‐performance policies may strain the employment relationship and increase nonmanagement employee turnover, unless there are HR practices that train and incentivize managers to treat employees well. We compare these alternative models to establish how well each framework explains the observed effects. Agency theory and equity theory receive limited empirical support in our lagged panel data set of organizations, whereas broader empirical support is established for the strain effect of manager pay‐for‐performance on the employment relationship. We discuss the implications of our findings for compensation theory, research, and practice.     

African American Single Mothers and Children in Context: A Review of Studies on Risk and Resilience

This paper presents a comprehensive review of research linking single-parent family structure to parenting processes, maternal well-being, and child developmental outcomes among African Americans. The approaches used to study these families, related methodological and conceptual concerns, and the factors linked to maternal well-being, effective parenting processes, family functioning, and child outcomes are addressed. Much work remains to be done on conceptualizing and assessing parenting processes among African Americans in general and single African American mothers in particular. Researchers must examine more carefully the circumstances that foster or impede successful parenting among these mothers. Studies also are needed to disentangle the interactions between economic stress and parenting behavior and to determine the extent to which the findings can be applied to middle-income single African American parents.     

Do Friends’ Characteristics Moderate the Prospective Links between Peer Victimization and Reactive and Proactive Aggression?

This study examined (a) the predictive link between peer victimization and children’s reactive and proactive aggression, and (b) the potential moderating effect of reciprocal friends’ reactive and proactive aggression in this context. The study also examined whether these potential moderating effects of friends’ characteristics were stronger with respect to more recent friends compared to previous friends. Based on a convenience sample of 658 twin children (326 boys and 332 girls) assessed in kindergarten and first grade, the results showed that peer victimization uniquely predicted an increase in children’s teacher-rated reactive aggression, but not teacher-rated proactive aggression. The relation of peer victimization to increased reactive aggression was, however, moderated by recent ˉ not previous ˉ reciprocal friends’ similarly aggressive characteristics. These findings, however, tended to be mostly true for boys, but not for girls. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications for victimized children’s risk of displaying reactive and proactive aggressive behaviors. This research was made possible by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Fonds Concerté pour l’Aide à la Recherche, the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Fonds de Recherche en Santé du Québec.