Structural Equation Modeling Approaches for Analyzing Partially Nested Data

Study designs involving clustering in some study arms, but not all study arms, are common in clinical treatment-outcome and educational settings. For instance, in a treatment arm, persons may be nested in therapy groups, whereas in a control arm there are no groups. Methodological approaches for handling such partially nested designs have recently been developed in a multilevel modeling framework (MLM-PN) and have proved very useful. We introduce two alternative structural equation modeling (SEM) approaches for analyzing partially nested data: a multivariate single-level SEM (SSEM-PN) and a multiple-arm multilevel SEM (MSEM-PN). We show how SSEM-PN and MSEM-PN can produce results equivalent to existing MLM-PNs and can be extended to flexibly accommodate several modeling features that are difficult or impossible to handle in MLM-PNs. For instance, using an SSEM-PN or MSEM-PN, it is possible to specify complex structural models involving cluster-level outcomes, obtain absolute model fit, decompose person-level predictor effects in the treatment arm using latent cluster means, and include traditional factors as predictors/outcomes. Importantly, implementation of such features for partially nested designs differs from that for fully nested designs. An empirical example involving a partially nested depression intervention combines several of these features in an analysis of interest for treatment-outcome studies.     

Measuring change for a multidimensional test using a generalized explanatory longitudinal item response model

Even though many educational and psychological tests are known to be multidimensional, little research has been done to address how to measure individual differences in change within an item response theory framework. In this paper, we suggest a generalized explanatory longitudinal item response model to measure individual differences in change. New longitudinal models for multidimensional tests and existing models for unidimensional tests are presented within this framework and implemented with software developed for generalized linear models. In addition to the measurement of change, the longitudinal models we present can also be used to explain individual differences in change scores for person groups (e.g., learning disabled students versus non‐learning disabled students) and to model differences in item difficulties across item groups (e.g., number operation, measurement, and representation item groups in a mathematics test). An empirical example illustrates the use of the various models for measuring individual differences in change when there are person groups and multiple skill domains which lead to multidimensionality at a time point.     

Individual differences in positivity offset and negativity bias: Gender-specific associations with two serotonin receptor genes

Individual differences in the evaluation of affective stimuli, such as the positivity offset and negativity bias may have a biological basis. We tested whether two SNPs (HTR2A; 102T>C and HTR1A; 1019C>G) related to serotonin receptor function, a biological pathway associated with affective regulation, were differentially related to positivity offset and negativity bias for males and females. Participants were 109 cigarette smokers who rated a series of affective stimuli to assess reactions to positive and negative pictures. Gender × genotype interactions were found for both SNPs. Males with the 102T allele showed a greater positivity offset than males with the 102C allele. For females, in contrast, the 1019C allele was associated with a greater positivity offset than the 1019G allele, whereas the 102T allele was associated with a greater negativity bias than the 102C allele. Identifying how gender differences may moderate the effect of serotonin receptor genes on affective information processing may provide insight into their role in guiding behavior and regulating affect.     

Can contextual cues control consummatory successive negative contrast?

Rats exposed to incentive downshift show behavioral deterioration. This phenomenon, called successive negative contrast (SNC), occurs in instrumental and consummatory responses (iSNC, cSNC). Whereas iSNC is related to the violation of reward expectancies retrieved in anticipation of the goal (cued-recall), cSNC involves reward rejection and may require only recognition memory retrieved at consumption. The three within-subject experiments reported here suggest that cued-recall memory can also operate in cSNC under some conditions. A small but significant cSNC effect was obtained when animals were exposed to the conditioning context during an average 90-s interval before the introduction of the incentive (either 16% or 2% sucrose solutions), rather than being given immediate access to the sucrose upon entry into the context (Experiment 1). Neither simultaneous contrast (Experiment 2) nor simple sequential effects (Experiment 3) contribute to this within-subject version of cSNC. These results suggest that cSNC can be shifted to a cued-recall mode with appropriate training parameters.     

Reflecting on Six Decades of Selective Exposure Research: Progress,Challenges, and Opportunities

For over 60 years, researchers have explored the validity of the selective exposure hypothesis, which states that people will seek out consonant, and avoid dissonant, information. In early cognitive dissonance‐based research, selective exposure received mixed support. More recently, researchers have begun to delineate the factors that regulate the occurrence of selective exposure in a multitude of contexts. In this review, we discuss a number of such moderators as well as the ebb and flow of research over the years. We propose that many of these factors can be conceptualized as influencing capacity and/or motivations to process information, and we discuss how this framework can help categorize past, and suggest future, moderators. Finally, we highlight that other research domains should be considered when exploring selective exposure effects, and that researchers should consider how findings from the selective exposure literature can fruitfully be applied to other domains.     

Gender stereotypes, aggression, and computer games: an online survey of women.

Computer games were conceptualized as a potential mode of entry into computer-related employment for women. Computer games contain increasing levels of realism and violence, as well as biased gender portrayals. It has been suggested that aggressive personality characteristics attract people to aggressive video games, and that more women do not play computer games because they are socialized to be non-aggressive. To explore gender identity and aggressive personality in the context of computers, an online survey was conducted on women who played computer games and women who used the computer but did not play computer games. Women who played computer games perceived their online environments as less friendly but experienced less sexual harassment online, were more aggressive themselves, and did not differ in gender identity, degree of sex role stereotyping, or acceptance of sexual violence when compared to women who used the computer but did not play video games. Finally, computer gaming was associated with decreased participation in computer-related employment; however, women with high masculine gender identities were more likely to use computers at work.     

Selective exposure to television programmes and advertising effectiveness

This study focused on the influence of selective exposure within an experiment designed to investigate context effects on advertising effectiveness. In a semi‐natural viewing environment, 86 participants chose one of four television programmes to view. The programmes belonged to diverse genres: news and current affairs, light entertainment, sport, and action‐adventure. Each programme was interrupted by two commercial breaks containing unfamiliar advertisements for familiar product types. Self‐rated involvement, entertainment, and enjoyment of programmes correlated positively with subsequent measures of memory for and responses to the advertisements. The results support the hypothesis that the operation of selective exposure within an experimental situation may result in positive relationships between predictor variables and measures of advertisement effectiveness. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Body Dissatisfaction, Dating, and Importance of Thinness to Attractiveness in Adolescent Girls

The primary aim of this study was to test a multivariate model of predictors of body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls in which psychological variables, beliefs about the importance of popularity with boys, and beliefs about the importance of thinness to attractiveness and dating were included. We also aimed to explore boys' perceptions of the importance of thinness for attractiveness. Grade 10 girls (n = 573) and boys (n = 145) completed questionnaires. Path analysis provided partial support for the model proposed. Dating did not predict body dissatisfaction, but a relationship between importance of popularity with boys and body dissatisfaction was fully mediated by the belief that boys see thinness as important in rating girls' attractiveness. Although girls underestimated the body size that is attractive to boys, over 85% of boys reported a girl's slimness influenced her attractiveness. Dating was not correlated with body mass index.     

Hannah Arendt & Jean Baudrillard: Pedagogy in the Consumer Society

This paper considers the place of education within our “consumers’ society”, beginning with Hannah Arendt’s account of the rise of consumerism to a position of political dominance and the resulting eclipse of public life. Connections are then made between Arendt’s account of this rise and Jean Baudrillard’s account of the postmodern proliferation of signs and the transformation of the sign into a commodity. This radical “semiurgy” accelerates into a self-referential series of signs which entails the loss of reality – it contributes to the disappearance of the human subjectivity behind the creation of images. I argue that Baudrillard does not respond adequately to the dynamic that he describes so well. By contrast, Arendt’s concept of natality, I suggest, prepares the ground for a response to the forces of commodification that colonize the educational environment and threaten its critical possibilities. As youth and schools receive more and more attention from advertisers, students are sold by educational institutions to commercial interests who seek unfettered access to this “captive audience”. Yet education is profoundly compromised when youths are viewed as consumers and not as a social investment, when education is viewed merely as an opportunity to secure a new market.     

Associations of physical activity and gross motor skills with executive function in preschool children from low‐income South African settings

Executive function is foundational for cognitive development. Previous research has shown both gross motor skills and physical activity to be related to executive function. However, evidence for these relationships in the preschool years, as well as in low‐ and middle‐income countries is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationships between components of executive function (inhibition, shifting and working memory) and gross motor skills (locomotor skills and object control skills) in a sample of preschool children from urban and rural low‐income settings in South Africa. Results revealed that inhibition and working memory, but not shifting, were associated with gross motor skills. More specifically: inhibition was associated with both locomotor [β = 0.20, p = 0.047] and object control skills [β = 0.24, p = 0.024], whereas working memory was only associated with locomotor skills [β = 0.21, p = 0.039]. Physical activity was not associated with inhibition and shifting but was negatively associated with working memory. These results elaborate a growing evidence base linking executive function and gross motor skills in the early years, and it is the first to look at specific associations of locomotor and object control skills with executive function in the South African context (a low‐ and middle‐income country).