Sooner versus later: factors associated with temporal sequencing of suicide

There are few (if any) population-based prospective studies that provide information on factors associated with temporal sequencing of suicide. In this prospective population-based study, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 1986-1994, was linked to the National Death Index (NDI), 1986-1997, to assess factors that predict recent (within 12 months of interview, termed sooner) suicide versus suicide further in the future (more than 12 months after interview, termed later). Of the 653 completed suicides in the NHIS cohort, 13.4 percent completed suicide within a year of interview, and 86.6 percent did so after a year. Sooner decedents were more likely to be White, less educated, unemployed, and to use firearms than any other method compared with later decedents. Surprisingly, sooner decedents had higher levels of self-rated health at baseline. These results have substantial implications for clinicians and other professionals who interact with people at highest risk of suicide. Unfortunately, it may be unrealistic to expect that health care providers can modify the behavior of individuals at highest risk of suicide.     

Developing Sustainability: A New Metaphor for Progress

In this paper, we propose a new model for development, one that transcends the North–South dichotomy and goes beyond a narrow conception of development as an economic process. This model requires a paradigm shift toward a new metaphor that develops sustainability, rather than sustains development. We conclude by defending a ‘report card on development’ as a means for evaluating how countries perform within this new paradigm.     

Field study investigation of applicant use of influence tactics in a selection interview

Employees often evaluate leadership potential when selecting applicants for jobs that require leadership ability (e.g., supervisors, firefighter captains). Research has shown that influencing others is an important part of being an effective leader, yet employers rarely explicitly consider applicants' use of influence tactics when evaluating applicants' leadership potential. The purpose of this study was to explore applicant use of influence tactics in an employment interview and to determine how such use relates to interview ratings. The authors observed firefighter applicants' behavior during a selection role-play interview and recorded their use of influence tactics. Results indicated that firefighter applicants used soft tactics (e.g., ingratiation, rational persuasion) significantly more frequently than they used hard tactics (e.g., pressure, coalition). Soft tactic use was positively correlated with interview ratings.     

Item placement on a personality measure: effects on faking behavior and test measurement properties

Although personality tests are widely used to select applicants for a variety of jobs, there is concern that such measures are fakable. One procedure used to minimize faking has been to disguise the true intent of personality tests by randomizing items such that items measuring similar constructs are dispersed throughout the test. In this study, we examined if item placement does influence the fakability and psychometric properties of a personality measure. Study participants responded to 1 of 2 formats (random vs. grouped items) of a personality test honestly and also under instructions to fake or to behave like an applicant. Results indicate that the grouped item placement format was more fakable for the Neuroticism and Conscientiousness scales. The test with items randomly placed fit the data better within the honest and applicant conditions. These findings demonstrate that the issue of item placement should be seriously considered before administering personality measures because different item presentations may affect the incidence of faking and the psychometric properties of the measure.     

Supporting communication in young children with developmental disabilities

The behavior of parents, adult caregivers, and peers comprises the critical features of community support for the development of communication in young children with developmental disabilities. In a bio-ecological model of development, communication development is the result of the interactions of individuals with specific characteristics, in particular contexts over time. From the perspective of this model, foundational findings of intervention research to current views of communication development in children with developmental disabilities are summarized. The contributions of individual child characteristics to child-caregiver interactions that support language development are illustrated based on research with children who have autism, Williams syndrome, Down syndrome, and children who use augmentative communication systems. Parent-child interaction and the quality and quantity of parent talk are discussed as factors in children's language development. The effects of young children's delayed language on their interactions with peers, the contributions of peers to children's language learning and use, and the critical features of classroom settings that support child language development are reviewed. MRDD Research Reviews 7:143-150, 2001.     

Applicant self-selection: correlates of withdrawal from a multiple hurdle process

The authors examined applicant self-selection from a multiple hurdle hiring process. The relationships of the selection status of 3,550 police applicants (self-selected out prior to 1 of the hurdles, passing, or failing) and perceptions of the organization, commitment to a law enforcement job, expectations regarding the job, employment status, the need to relocate, the opinions of family and friends, and perceptions of the hiring process were examined. Differences between those who stayed in the process and those who self-selected out were observed in most areas, and those who self-selected out at early stages differed from those self-selecting out at later stages. African Americans' and women's perceptions also differed from the majority group, indicating some of the difficulties an organization faces in attempting to diversify.     

The Visual Guide to Morality: Vision as an Integrative Analogy for Moral Experience,Variability and Mechanism

Analogies help organize, communicate and reveal scientific phenomena. Vision may be the best analogy for understanding moral judgment. Although moral psychology has long noted similarities between seeing and judging, we systematically review the “morality is like vision” analogy through three elements: experience, variability and mechanism. Both vision and morality are experienced as automatic, durable and objective. However, despite feelings of objectivity, both vision and morality show substantial variability across biology, culture and situation. The paradox of objective experience and cultural subjectivity is best understood through constructionism, as both vision and morality involve the flexible combination of more basic ingredients. Specifically, both vision and morality involve a mechanism that demonstrates Gestalt, combination and coherence. The “morality is like vision” analogy not only provides intuitive organization and compelling communication for moral psychology but also speaks to debates in the field, such as intuition versus reason, pluralism versus universalism and modularity versus constructionism.