Children read normal and reversed letters: A simple test of reading skill

Above- and below-average readers in grades 3, 5 and 7 named letters under two conditions. In one condition, letters were presented in normal orientation. In the other condition, letters were presented in left-right mirror image orientation. The ratio of (1) naming time on normal letters to (2) naming time on mirror image letters was calculated for each child. Good readers had lower ratios than poor readers. This was due primarily to the faster naming of normal letters by good readers. Good and poor readers named mirror image letters at similar speeds. Two possible explanations for the results are discussed. One explanation is that the skilled readers have a better memory for the normal orientation of the letter shapes. A second explanation is that skilled readers process more peripheral information, when naming, than their less skilled counterparts, but that this peripheral processing is curtailed when transformed text is presented.     

Measuring Religion in War: A Response

We respond to Isak Svensson's reaction to our article titled “Shrouded: Islam, War, and Holy War in Southeast Asia,” which was published in Volume 53 of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.     

No “Slippery Slope”? An Empirical Case Study on the Effect of Secular Science Textbooks on Student Religiosity in a Christian Private School

In context of legal battles over science textbooks in both public and private schools, this empirical case study examines student religiosity scores over a 3-year period following a school-wide curricular change from Christian-published to secular science textbooks in a K-12 Christian private school. The study found no statistically significant change in student religiosity scores for two subscales (organizational and non-organizational religiosity; p = .799, p = .232, respectively); however, for the third subscale, intrinsic religiosity, a statistically significant increase in student religiosity was reported (p ≤ .001). The study suggests that the curricular change had no discernible negative affect on student religiosity scores. Moreover, the study suggests that Christian private schools may utilize secular science textbooks and remain faithful to their religious missions, especially when coupled with teacher training in faith-learning integration.     

Psychometric Evaluation of the Rage Outbursts and Anger Rating Scale in an Outpatient Psychiatric Sample

The primary objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a measure of anger/rage attacks—the Rage Outburst and Anger Rating Scale (ROARS)—in a sample of youth (n = 81, ages 7–17 years, 72.8 % male) receiving treatment at an outpatient pediatric psychiatric clinic. A trained rater completed the ROARS and Clinical Global Impression-Rage (CGI-Rage). Children completed the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale for Children and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Parents completed the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale for Parents. Internal consistency (α = .89), inter-rater reliability (κ = .94) and 1-week test–retest reliability (r = .72) were calculated for the ROARS. The ROARS was correlated with CGI-Rage (r = .68, ρ < .001), although not with parent- and child-rated anxiety symptoms or with child-rated depressive symptoms. Implications regarding clinical utility of the ROARS and directions for future research are discussed.     

Diverging Paths: Understanding Racial Differences in Civic Engagement Among White,African American,and Latina/o Adolescents Using Structural Equation Modeling

There is increasing concern about the large civic engagement gap between Whites and Latina/o and African American youth. Some suggest this may be because traditional models and measures of civic engagement may not be as applicable for youth from historically marginalized groups. With an urban sample of middle and high school‐age youth (n = 903, 52% female), we used structural equation modeling to identify differences in civic pathways between youth from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. We found significant differences between groups including much stronger relationships between exposure to democratic practices and civic self‐efficacy and knowledge for African American and Latina/o youth than for White youth and a stronger relationship between civic knowledge and future civic engagement for Whites and Latina/os than for African Americans. These findings suggest that educators and researchers interested need to take into account the diversity of youths' racial experiences when examining youth civic development.     

Recollection,not familiarity,decreases in healthy ageing: Converging evidence from four estimation methods

Although it is generally accepted that ageing is associated with recollection impairments, there is considerable disagreement surrounding how healthy ageing influences familiarity-based recognition. One factor that might contribute to the mixed findings regarding age differences in familiarity is the estimation method used to quantify the two mnemonic processes. Here, this issue is examined by having a group of older adults (N = 39) between 40 and 81 years of age complete remember/know (RK), receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) and process dissociation (PD) recognition tests. Estimates of recollection, but not familiarity, showed a significant negative correlation with chronological age. Inconsistent with previous findings, the estimation method did not moderate the relationship between age and estimates of recollection and familiarity. In a final analysis, recollection and familiarity were estimated as latent factors in a confirmatory factor analysis that modelled the covariance between measures of free recall and recognition, and the results converged with the results from the RK, PD and ROC tasks. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that episodic memory declines in older adults are primary driven by recollection deficits, and also suggest that the estimation method plays little to no role in age-related decreases in familiarity.