Reading First kindergarten classroom instruction and students' growth in phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency

This study investigated the role of the amount, content, and implementation of reading instruction provided by 17 kindergarten teachers in eight Reading First elementary schools as it related to students' progress (n = 286 students) on early reading assessments of phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency. Children's phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency grew significantly from fall to spring. On average, across the three 60 min observations, teachers provided over 30 min a day of phonological awareness and phonics instruction and 15 min a day of vocabulary and comprehension instruction. Global ratings of instructional quality revealed two implementation factors: explicit and individualized implementation and meaningful interactions around text. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that the amounts of specific instructional content, as well as how this instruction was implemented, was related to students' letter knowledge and phonological awareness skill growth.     

Ethnic matching and treatment outcome with Hispanic and Anglo substance-abusing adolescents in family therapy.

This study examined treatment outcomes of 86 highly acculturated Hispanic and Anglo substance-abusing adolescents in functional family therapy, testing the hypothesis that ethnic matching of therapist and client is related to better treatment outcomes for clients. Adolescents reported on their substance use pre- and posttreatment on a timeline follow-back interview. Ethnically matched Hispanic adolescents demonstrated greater decreases in their substance use compared with Hispanic adolescents with Anglo therapists. Ethnic match status was not related to treatment outcome for Anglo clients. Thus, the matching hypothesis was supported for Hispanic clients only. The results underscore the importance of greater ethnic diversity among therapists and better cultural competency training for Anglo therapists. More research is needed on individual differences in the effects of ethnic matching.     

The promotive effects of family educational involvement for low-income children's literacy

Longitudinal data for 167 low-income children were analyzed to examine associations between family educational involvement during kindergarten, children's feelings about literacy, and children's literacy achievement from kindergarten through fifth grade. The promotive effect of family educational involvement for feelings about literacy and literacy achievement was moderated by maternal education such that involvement was more positively associated with literacy outcomes for children whose mothers were less educated compared with children whose mothers were more educated. In addition, children's feelings about literacy mediated associations between family educational involvement and literacy achievement. Implications for intervention efforts are discussed.     

Preliminary psychometric properties of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II: a revised measure of psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance

The present research describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a second version of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), which assesses the construct referred to as, variously, acceptance, experiential avoidance, and psychological inflexibility. Results from 2,816 participants across six samples indicate the satisfactory structure, reliability, and validity of this measure. For example, the mean alpha coefficient is .84 (.78–.88), and the 3- and 12-month test–retest reliability is .81 and .79, respectively. Results indicate that AAQ-II scores concurrently, longitudinally, and incrementally predict a range of outcomes, from mental health to work absence rates, that are consistent with its underlying theory. The AAQ-II also demonstrates appropriate discriminant validity. The AAQ-II appears to measure the same concept as the AAQ-I (r = .97) but with better psychometric consistency.     

More than Just the Breadwinner: The Effects of Fathers' Parenting Stress on Children's Language and Cognitive Development

Despite numerous studies on parenting stress suggesting negative influences on parent–child interactions and children's development, the majority of these studies focus on mothers' parenting stress with little or no acknowledgement of fathers. Using data from the National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, this study examined (i) the effects of fathers' parenting stress during toddlerhood on children's language and cognitive outcomes when children are 3 years old (ii) whether the effects of fathers' parenting stress on children's language and cognitive development vary by child gender? Results from mixed linear models showed fathers' parenting stress predicted children's lower cognitive scores, but there were no gender differences in the effects of fathers' parenting stress on children's cognitive outcomes. In the language domain, boys, not girls, were found to be more susceptible to the effects of fathers' parenting stress. These findings indicated that fathers, in addition to mothers, should be included in early parenting research and interventions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examining the specific dimensions of distress tolerance that prospectively predict perceived stress

We examined five dimensions of distress tolerance (i.e. uncertainty, ambiguity, frustration, negative emotion, physical discomfort) as prospective predictors of perceived stress. Undergraduate students (N = 135) completed self-report questionnaires over the course of two assessment sessions (T1 and T2). Results of a linear regression in which the five dimensions of distress tolerance and covariates (i.e. T1 perceived stress, duration between T1 and T2) served as predictor variables and T2 perceived stress served as the outcome variable showed that intolerance of uncertainty was the only dimension of distress tolerance to predict T2 perceived stress. To better understand this prospective association, we conducted a post hoc analysis simultaneously regressing two subdimensions of intolerance of uncertainty on T2 perceived stress. The subdimension representing beliefs that “uncertainty has negative behavioral and self-referent implications” significantly predicted T2 perceived stress, while the subdimension indicating that “uncertainty is unfair and spoils everything” did not. Results support a growing body of research suggesting intolerance of uncertainty as a risk factor for a wide variety of maladaptive psychological outcomes. Clinical implications will be discussed.     

Mental Health Practitioners: The Relationship Between White Racial Identity Attitudes and Self‐Reported Multicultural Counseling Competencies

This study documents the relationship between White racial identity development and multicultural counseling competency (MCC) as reported by mental health practitioners. Initial results were generally consistent with J. E. Helms's (1990) construction of White racial identity attitude development theory. More sophisticated statuses of White racial identity development generally correlated with higher levels of perceived MCC. Overall, there was a significant difference in MCC reported between men and women. Among counselors, conflicting relationships were observed between some racial identity statuses and multicultural competencies (skills, relationship).     

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment: Organizational Change and Quality of Care

Substance abuse treatment agencies serving youth face unique barriers to providing quality care. Interviews with 17 adolescent programs found that family engagement, community involvement, and gender and diversity issues affected treatment delivery. Programs report organizational change efforts with implications for future process improvement initiatives.     

Co-activation of syntax in bilingual language production

We report four experiments that examined whether bilinguals’ production of one language is affected by the syntactic properties of their other language. Greek–English and English–Greek highly proficient fluent bilinguals produced sentence completions following subject nouns whose translation had either the same or different number. We manipulated whether participants produced completions in the same language as the subject (the source language; one-language production) or the other language (the non-source language; two-language production), and whether they used only one language or both languages within the experimental session. The results demonstrated that the grammar systems of both languages were activated during both one-language and two-language production. The effects of the non-source language were particularly enhanced in two-language utterances, when both languages were used in the experiment, and when it was the bilinguals’ native language. We interpret our results in terms of a model of bilingual sentence production.     

Comparing the Psychometric Characteristics of Ratings of Face‐to‐Face and Videotaped Structured Interviews

Videotaped interviews are used for both research and for making selection decisions in organizations. However, little research has examined the extent to which the psychometric characteristics of ratings of videotaped interviews are comparable with those of ratings made on the basis of face‐to‐face (FTF) interviews. Within a simulated selection setting, we compared ratings of interviewers who conducted FTF structured interviews to ratings of interviewers who viewed videotapes of those interviews. Results revealed that FTF ratings were significantly higher than video ratings of the same interviewees. We also found that the two sets of interviewers rated the relative performance of interviewees differently. For example, the correlation between FTF and video ratings (r=.31) was significantly smaller than the correlation between ratings of interviewers who conducted FTF panel interviews with the same interviewees (r=.73). Overall results suggest that researchers and practitioners should be cautious about generalizing research findings and selection decisions made on the basis of videotaped interviews to FTF interviews.