Validation of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in a low-income African American sample of medical outpatients

The psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) are well established with primarily Caucasian samples. However, little is known about its reliability and validity with minority groups. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the BDI-II in a sample of low-income African American medical outpatients (N=220). Reliability was demonstrated with high internal consistency (.90) and good item-total intercorrelations. Criterion-related validity was demonstrated. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a hierarchical factor structure in which the BDI-II reflected 2 first-order factors (Cognitive and Somatic) that in turn reflected a second-order factor (Depression). These results are consistent with previous findings and thus support the use of the BDI-II in assessing depressive symptoms for African American patients in a medical setting.     

Disruption by speech of serial short-term memory: The role of changing-state vowels

Serial short-term memory is markedly impaired by the presence of irrelevant speech so long as the successive tokens within the irrelevant speech are phonologically (or acoustically) dissimilar (Jones & Macken, 1995b). In two experiments in which consonant—vowel—consonant syllables were used as irrelevant speech tokens, we sought to evaluate the relative disruptive potency of changes in the final consonant only (Experiment 1), in the initial consonant, or in the vowel portion (Experiment 2) of each token. The results suggest that the vowel changes are the dominant source of disruption. This dominance may be explained, at least in part, by the role played by vowel sounds in the perceptual organization of speech and, in turn, the particular propensity for vowel changes to yield information about serial order. The results are consistent also with the view that the factors that promote order encoding in sound are also the ones that promote disruption.     

Abacs for determination of a correlation coefficient corrected for restriction of range

Abacs approximating the product-moment correlation for both explicit and implicit selection are presented. These abacs give accuracy to within .01 of the corresponding analytic estimate.     

A rational origin obtained by the method of contingent paired comparisons

A new paired comparison method, based upon choices between lotteries, is developed for the measurement of utilities of objects with respect to the utility of receiving nothing, i.e., the status quo. The method is used to estimate the utilities of four birthday gifts. These objects had also been studied in an earlier experiment which used choices between single objects and pairs of objects to determine a rational origin. A comparison of the results of the two experiments indicates that both methods scale objects with respect to the same rational origin and unit of measurement.This research was supported under contract AF 49(638)-724 with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and contract DA 19-129-QM-1045 with the Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command.     

The effects of social vigilantism and masculine honor beliefs on perceptions of confrontation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Varying opinions about the COVID-19 pandemic inspire different behaviors (e.g., mask-wearing), and confrontation may result between people with differing viewpoints. Individual differences associated with belief superiority (e.g., Social Vigilantism; SV) and/or pride (e.g., Masculine Honor Beliefs; MHB) likely related to third-person perceptions of pandemic confrontations. In this study (N = 237; US sample), we used vignettes in a 2 (Mask: Yes/No) ×  2(Confrontation Response: Vocal Defense/Walked Away) between-groups design to examine how SV and MHB predict perceptions of (1) responses to public confrontation about (not) wearing a mask and (2) the person being confronted. In general, mask-wearing and walking away from confrontation were perceived more positively. Higher SV was associated with more positive perceptions of seemingly morally-justified responses to confrontation (e.g., walking away when confronted for not wearing a mask, vocally defending oneself when confronted for wearing a mask). Contrarily, higher MHB were associated with more positive perceptions of non-mask-wearing. This research provides insight about how individual differences in SV and MHB relate to nuances in pandemic confrontations, and responses to confrontations, about (non)mask-wearing.     

Discourse after Closed Head Injury in Young Children

This study examined narrative discourse in 23 children, ages 6 to 8 years, who sustained a severe closed head injury (CHI) at least 1 year prior to assessment. Narratives were analyzed at multiple levels using language and information structure measures. Results revealed significant discourse impairments in the CHI group on all measures of information structure, whereas differences in the linguistic domain failed to reach significance. In addition, effects of age at injury and lateralization of lesion on discourse were considered. Although no significant differences were found according to age at injury, a consistent pattern of generally poorer discourse scores was found for the early injured group (<5 years). With regard to lesion focus, the group findings were unimpressive. However, preliminary examination of individual CHI cases with relatively large lateralized lesions suggested that the late injured children may show the language–brain patterns reported in brain-injured adults, whereas early injured children may not.     

Predicting Personality Stability Across the Life Span: The Role of Competence and Work and Family Commitments

Longitudinal studies suggest modest continuity in personality from adolescence to early adulthood and greater continuity over successive periods during the adult years. However, individual differences in personality stability do exist. We discuss potential sources of personality change, especially as they relate to development, role assumption and commitment, and loss of roles and commitments. Then, using data from the Intergenerational Studies, we employ measures of competence and of work and family commitments, assessed both in high school and adulthood, to predict personality stability from high school to early and late adulthood. Results indicate that personality stability can be successfully predicted with such measures. Greater personality stability is found for those determined to be more planfully competent, but additional family and work role variables also increase predictive power, in some instances. Using two alternate measures of competence—one from the California Q-sort and the other from the California Psychological Inventory—we replicated the finding that men with more disorderly careers show less personality stability, and that women who have experienced more divorces show less personality stability.