Use of the family adaptability and cohesion evaluation scales in child clinical research

Although the FACES has become a widely used instrument for assessing children's family relations, the possible linearity vs. curvilinearity of its cohesion and adaptability scales has been treated inconsistently by investigators. This study evaluated whether samples of adolescent repeat offenders, young adult prisoners, and adolescent nonoffenders were discriminated better by a linear or curvilinear treatment of the FACES scores. Between-groups comparisons showed that significant effects were observed for each of the three curvilinear measures (cohesion-curvilinear, adaptability-curvilinear, distance-from-center) and only one of the two linear measures (cohesionlinear). These findings support the superiority of a curvilinear treatment of the FACES. In light of these findings, it is suggested that investigators who use FACES evaluate the linearity of the scales and determine whether a linear or curvilinear treatment of the data produces more meaningful results.     

Autonomous work group selection

The history of selecting office employees and autonomous work group employees is discussed. This study demonstrates the implementation of autonomous work group procedures with office/clerical employees. A selection model is developed advocating the use of skill, personality, and cognitive-based tests.     

The use of latent class models for assessing prerequisite relations and transference among traits

This paper presents a strategy for pairwise assessment which may be used to evaluate the nature of both prerequisite and transference relations existing among a set of traits. This strategy is appropriate for use both within a confirmatory context, in which an attempt is made to establish the validity of some specified set of relations among traits, as well as within an exploratory context, in which a search is made for unconjectured prerequisite and transference relations existing between pairs of traits. Both uses of this strategy are based on a variety of latent class models which are representative of various possible relational states existing between pairs of traits. Thus, the nature of trait relations may be investigated through the use of statistical assessments of both absolute and relative fit attained by these models. An application is presented to exemplify how this strategy may be used within the exploratory context.The author is obliged to Clifford Clogg, C. Mitchell, Dayton, and William Schafer for helpful comments made regarding a previous draft of this paper as well as to Mary Papageorgiou who provided access to the data which was considered in this study.     

The fertility related behavior of Mexican American adolescents

Data from a clinic sample of pregnant adolescents are analyzed for differences in fertility related variables between Mexican American and non Mexican. The independent variables are birthplace, ethnicity, and exposure to United States culture of Mexican and non Mexican adolescents. The dependent variables are talking about sex, pregnancy, birth control, hearing about birth control, and use of birth control. The data support the hypothesis that in the process of acculturation the fertility related behavior of immigrant Mexican adolescent females is affected by the indigenous United States Mexican culture rather than by United States Anglo culture. Implications for delivery of services are discussed. The delivery of fertility related services should take into account the cultural preferences of Mexican women, and should not involve coercion from legal or medical authorities. While liberation of Mexican American women, and accompanying changes in childbearing patterns may be desirable, these efforts should originate within the Mexican American community. Data is presented in tables on selected sample and subsample characteristics and compares fertility behaviors across ethnic groups, including Anglo, Black, US non-Mexican, and US Mexican.     

Deviation from hierarchical structure in recall: Is there an “optimal” structure?

Past research has suggested that proportionally more superordinate than sub-ordinate propositions are recalled from expository texts, following a hierarchical analysis of the text structure. Since free recall has typically followed this hierarchical pattern, several researchers have assumed that the related memory structures are isomorphic to the text structure. However, few of these studies have examined how individual differences and text structure interact to affect free recall. In two experiments, the assumption of hierarchical patterns of children's recall of expository text was tested. In Experiment 1, high- and average-ability fourth graders (9 years old) were asked to read and recall a passage. Experiment 2 was a replication and extension of Experiment 1. In this experiment, fourth and sixth graders (9 and 11 years old) read and recalled a different passage. The combined results of both experiments support the notion that there is probably no one optimal hierarchical structure for storage and retrieval of expository text.