GENERALIZABLE BIOGRAPHICAL DATA VALIDITY CAN BE ACHIEVED WITHOUT MULTI-ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND KEYING

This research showed that the validity of a biodata instrument developed and keyed within a single organization can generalize to other organizations. It also examines a criterion measure-rate of promotional progress-that has not been used extensively in biodata research, but has several characteristics that make its use attractive. The validity of the biodata component of the Manager Profile Record (MPR), developed and keyed within a single organization, as a predictor of rate of managerial progress was cross-validated on a sample of 7,334 managers and staff professionals in 24 organizations. Results indicate the MPR was a valid predictor of rate of promotional progress across all organizations and that validity did not vary greatly across organizations ( p = .53, SD_p= .05). The MPR was also a valid predictor for both sexes, as well as for managers of all age groups, lengths of company service, and education levels. These findings demonstrate that multiple-firm development and keying of a biodata instrument was not required for generalizable validity, and argue against the hypothesis of situational specificity. Suggestions for developing biodata instruments in single organizations that will generalize to other organizations include careful attention to the validity and reliability of criterion measures and developing validity at the item level.     

Issue-Event Extensions and Interaction Involvement Text-Based and Meaning-Based Discourse Strategies

Prior research focusing on textual features in the talk of high and low-involved speakers has characterized the discourse strategy of low-involved speakers as text-based and that of high-involved speakers as meaning-based. This study examined the extensions of issue-event structures by high-involved and low-involved participants to determine if this characterization of discourse strategies held on a pragmatic level as well. Results indicated that low-involved communicators extended the event significantly more directly than high-involved communicators. Furthermore, the issue extensions of low-involved communicators were shown to be more sensitive to the comprehensibitity and information value of the stimulus utterance than the issue extensions of high-involved communicators. The results confirm that low-involved communicators have more difficulty than high-involved communicators in responding to the flow of conversation and that low-involved communicators compensate by relying on a text-based discourse strategy.     

Race, Kinds and Ontological Commitments: Issues for Social Policy Clarification

abstract   This article attempts to illustrate the continuing need to pay attention to ontological issues connected with the conduct of empirical research and subsequent policy making. Failure to do so leads to the conflation of social constructions with ideas about the thesis of an independent reality. Such category mistakes often lead to dilemmas in which culturally sensitive constructs may, on the one hand, be worthy of study because they do tell us how socially constructed categories do predict social phenomena; but, on the other hand, such constructs may illustrate an unwillingness on the part of the research community to recognize the objective nature of such constructs. Some recommendations are suggested for addressing the social policy consequences of these dilemmas.     

代际团结潜在类别与关系质量对自陈健康及幸福感的影响

本研究考察了成年子女与其父母的代际关系中团结和关系质量对代际双方身体和心理结果的影响。研究1中,对中国成年子女（N=1283）的潜在类别分析结果显示是六种代际团结类别,多项逻辑回归表明两代人的特征会影响团结潜在类别和关系质量。研究2中,对367对中国成年子女-父母（N=734）的报告进行等级线性建模,行动者-搭档互依模型结果指出好的团结潜在类别（自我和搭档报告的）和好的关系质量（自我报告的）与两代人的高幸福感相关,好的团结潜在类别（自我和搭档报告的）和好的关系质量（自我和搭档报告的）预测了两代人的低心理苦恼;其中代际和性别调节了团结类别和关系质量对自我报告健康及幸福感的作用,同时,两代人团结类别的交互作用和评价的相似性也影响了幸福感和心理苦恼。