Sexual identity scale: A new self-assessment measure

An individual's subjective evaluation of sexual identity differs from objective evaluation by sex role researchers. This study reports initial validity and reliability data on a new measure of self-ascribed sexual identity: the Sexual Identity Scale (SIS). SIS considers four functional sex dimensions on the basis of components described in both sex and age role literature. SIS and two modified Bem Sex Role Inventory instruments—a Masculinity Trait Index (MTI) and a Femininity Trait Index (FTI)—were administered to an adult sample of 380 men and 380 women aged 20–80. Reliability, assessed with LISREL VI and Cronbach's alpha, was found to be high. LISREL VI findings provide construct validity, both convergent and divergent. The nature of association of biological sex and sex trait measures, high interitem SIS correlations, as well as divergence from the modified sex trait indices (MTI and FTI) also support validity. The study's results and implications are discussed.     

The comorbidity of ADHD in a community sample of children aged 6 through 16 years

Secondary analyses of the data from the Puerto Rico Child Psychiatry Epidemiologic Study were undertaken to provide information on the comorbidity patterns of ADHD. A high level of comorbidity was found among ADHD and other diagnostic categories, particularly the conduct/oppositional group. Comorbidity was associated with level of impairment and with service utilization.     

The effects of empathy and outcome on attribution: An examination of the divergent-perspectives hypothesis

Based on the theoretical ideas of Jones and Nisbett (Jones et al. Attribution: Perceiving the cause of behavior. New York: General Learning Press, 1971), and the recent findings of Regan and Totten (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 1975, 850–856), the present study assumed that from an attributional standpoint empathic observers and actors are functionally equivalent. On this basis it was predicted that empathic, relative to nonempathic, observers would make outcome attributions which have been typically found for actors themselves: They would attribute an actor's success to dispositional causes, but an actor's failure to situational causes. After instructions to empathize with the target, or to observe him, subjects watched a videotape of a target male attempting to make a good first impression on a female. Subjects later learned that the target had either succeeded or failed at making a good first impression, and were asked to make causal attributions for his outcome. As predicted, instructions to empathize led to dispositional attributions for success and situational attributions for failure, while standard observation instructions resulted in dispositional causal attributions regardless of outcome. The results were interpreted as supporting the contention that differential information processing may sufficiently account for the effects of outcome on causal attributions.     

Development and convergent validation of a methodology for estimating cross-job retraining times

Cross-jobtransferability of skills is defined in terms of the ease with which individuals can apply knowledge and skills acquired in a previous job in learning to perform a new job. This study reports the development of a prototype methodology for estimating retraining times based on analyses of transferability of skills. Using this methodology which assesses interjob similarity in task content and task learning time, times to retrain across 41 different U.S. Air Force enlisted jobs were estimated. Convergent validities of retraining time estimates were tested in terms of correlations with differences in jobs': (a) general job learning difficulty, and (b) aptitude requirements. Results supported predictions that cross-job retraining time would be longer (a)into jobs that generally aremore difficult to learn, (b)from jobs that generally areless difficult to learn, and (c) across jobs having different, rather than similar, aptitude requirements. Implications for training, human resources planning, and coping with increasingly rapid technological changes in the workplace are discussed.Research sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research/AFSC, United States Air Force, under contract F49620-87-R-0004. The United States Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation hereon.     

USE OF SOCIAL-SKILLS TRAINING IN THE TREATMENT OF EXTREME ANXIETY AND DEFICIENT VERBAL SKILLS IN THE JOB-INTERVIEW SETTING

A 30-year-old recent college graduate, exhibiting extreme anxiety and deficient verbal skills in job interviews, was treated with a social-skills training procedure that included instructions, modelling, behavior rehearsal, and videotape feedback. Three target behaviors—focused responses, overt coping statements, and subject-generated questions—were presented using a multiple-baseline design. Galvanic skin-response activity was monitored during pre- and posttraining in vivo job interviews. In addition, independent judges unobstrusively rated the subject's social-communicative behaviors in his temporary work-setting before and after training. Training resulted in expected changes for all three target behaviors and a decrease in the rate of speech disturbances. Physiological data supported the subject's report that training enabled him to deal with his anxiety more effectively during job interviews. Training was found to generalize to novel interview questions and different interviewers. Furthermore, unobtrusive measures of eye contact, fluency of speech, appropriateness of verbal content, and composure supported the subject's report that training generalized to his daily social interactions on the job.     

The planning of precision movements

Two experiments are reported in which subjects were required to make rapid aiming movements to targets of various sizes. Probe reaction time (RT) procedures were used to investigate the preparation of the response to the target. It was proposed that if the precision of movement was planned in advance, this would be reflected by the lengthening of RTs to probes presented during the latency phase of the response. The more precise the movement (to smaller targets) the longer will be the delays to the probes. The results generally supported the prediction and the probe RTs were correlated with target size. There was also some evidence that the probe was lengthening during the movement and in the region of the target.