A comparison of the relative efficacy of self-control therapy and a behavioral problem-solving therapy for depression in children

Twenty-nine children 9 to 12 years old who were identified as moderately to severely depressed using the Children's Depression Inventory were randomly assigned to either a self-control, behavioral problem-solving, or waiting list condition. The self-control treatment focused on teaching children self-management skills. The behavioral problem-solving therapy consisted of education, self-monitoring of pleasant events, and group problem solving directed toward improving social behavior. Subjects were assessed pre-and posttreatment and at 8-week follow-up with multiple assessment procedures and from multiple perspectives. At posttreatment, subjects in both active treatments reported significant improvement on self-report and interview measures of depression while subjects in the waiting list condition reported minimal change. Results were maintained at follow-up. The general success of the experimental treatments was discussed and recommendations for further treatment components were provided.Second authorship on this article is shared by Drs. Reynolds and Kaslow. The authors would like to thank Mr. Ed Guzwieski, Principal, and the teachers of Oregon Middle School for their cooperation with this study. The authors also would like to thank Mary Wysopal for conducting the posttreatment and follow-up interviews, and Carol Fairbanks for rating the audiotapes.     

The effectiveness and generalization of a cognitive-behavioral group treatment to reduce impulsive/aggressive behavior for boys in a residential setting

Twenty of 150 boys living in a residential setting who were emitting high levels of impulsive/aggressive behavior participated in a study of the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral group treatment procedure designed to equip them with skills conducive to alternate and more socially appropriate behavior. Treatment involved 13 meetings of 55 minutes duration over a six-week period. The results indicated significant behavioral changes in school regarding: (1) the intensity of physical fighting, (2) the frequency and intensity of verbal fighting, (3) noncompliance, and (4) being in an inappropriate location. These behavioral changes did not generalize beyond the school setting. Significant increases in the number of identified logical consequences of aggressive behavior and in the number of alternative responses to aggressive behavior were observed compared to control boys. The behavioral changes observed in school largely extinguished during the five weeks between the last treatment session and the follow-up observations.     

RSCORE-J: Pooled rating-method data: A computer program for analyzing pooled ROC curves

RSCORE-J, a computer program for a signal-detection analysis of pooled rating-method data, is listed and described. RSCORE-J computes jackknife estimates of ROC parameters and their standard errors from rating-method data pooled over a group of observers.     

Getting interested in interests for employee selection: Key concerns and areas for future research

The paper by Wille and De Fruyt suggests that vocational interests should be used throughout the human resources cycle and provides a useful model that can facilitate the application of interests throughout this process. This commentary builds on their review to discuss the unique benefits and challenges of implementing vocational interests in the employee selection process. Using research from the employee selection literature, we also discuss potential solutions for many of the issues raised by Wille and De Fruyt. Therefore, our commentary is meant to supplement the focal article and answer specific questions about why and how vocational interests can be used in this high-stakes setting.     

Are curmudgeon personality scales resistant to response distortion?

Curmudgeon personality, which is assessed by having participants evaluate a heterogeneous set of attitude objects, provides an applied value beyond that of more established personality traits. Recent research, for instance, suggests that curmudgeon personality is distinct from the Five Factor Model personality traits and that it predicts unique variance in important criteria, such as job attitudes and well-being. In the current paper we contribute to this literature by testing an explanation of how curmudgeon personality is distinct from other traits—their potential resistance to response distortion. We estimated response distortion for scales of curmudgeon personality and FFM traits across two quasi-experimental studies. As expected, the score shifts between nonapplicant and applicant conditions were smaller for scales of curmudgeon personality compared to scales of emotional stability and conscientiousness. We argue that curmudgeon personality scales may be more resistant to response distortion than are measures of other traits because curmudgeon personality items are semi-implicit and lack an obvious desirable response. The resistance to response distortion should serve as a call to future researchers to test the criterion validity of curmudgeon personality in regard to performance criteria.     

Tightness shifts in the U.S. and China: Implications of tightening or loosening norms during the coronavirus pandemic

Emergent research identifies cultural tightness-looseness as an important factor for understanding cross-national outcome differences during the coronavirus pandemic. Because perceived tightness-looseness can be measured as an individual-level difference rather than a nation-level difference, and because tightness-looseness may shift during large-scale crises, we investigated whether such shifts occurred early in the coronavirus pandemic in both China (a relatively tight nation, n = 3642) and the U.S. (a relatively loose nation, n = 3583) across three cohorts. Tightness increased across cohorts in China and reduced across cohorts in the U.S. These changes transmitted corresponding indirect effects whereby compliance and institutional trust (scientific and government) about the pandemic were increased in China across cohorts, but decreased in the U.S. across cohorts. These patterns extend advice that national governments can increase compliance and trust via “tightening” by cautioning against norm-setters signaling the reverse (that norms about compliance are loose) given the outcomes observed in the U.S. samples.     

Graphic precision: Controlling stimulus displays on IBM PC-compatible computers

Tachistoscopic presentation of stimuli on IBM PC-compatible computers is limited by a number of factors, including video retrace rates, screen scrolling, and the shape and density of picture elements. A method is presented for overcoming these difficulties through the use of enhanced graphic adapters or video graphic arrays. A C-language program demonstrates (1) synchronous scroll-free displays achieved by writing alternating images to “hidden” pages of video memory, (2) alternative techniques for erasing images, and (3) use of an empirically derived aspect ratio to produce symmetrical figures.     

Competency,and other constructs,in right to die cases

Subjects had to make a “remove” or “do not remove” life-sustaining measures decision in three right to die cases where the patients differed in competence; for half the subjects, a living will was present in all the cases, whereas, for the other half, it was not. Subjects also gave their determinative reasons for their decisions. Support for the right to die varied by case, but not by competency, or by the presence of a living will. The subjects' reasons were highly predictive of their decisions, and related to the way case-specific facts were construed, revealing a number of disparities between the way courts and citizens construe whether the patient's condition is “terminal,” “irreversible,” and “painful,” or not. Beyond construing facts differently, the results also revealed a disparity between evolving case law and the community's “common sense justice” over a fundamental belief: whether dying is seen as private matter, outside the bounds of State intervention, or not.