Application of a Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix to Social,Emotional, and Behavioral Screening

The authors' purpose was to evaluate the multiple-gate Preschool Behavior Screening System (PBSS) for identifying children's social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) difficulties. The sample included 122 triads of preschool children between 3 and 5 years old and their parents and teachers. The teacher and parent samples were predominantly women and European American with a substantial African American representation. The design involved numerous indicators of the reliability of scores and the validity of ensuing inferences. Scores from the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition were used as criterion measures for scores from the PBSS. The PBSS scores were found reliable across scales with Cronbach's alpha values ranging from.85 to.97. Agreement between teachers and parents was consistent with findings from previous research. Analyzed within a Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix, correlational evidence supported inferences about externalizing difficulties, prosocial behavior, and total problems, as well as internalizing difficulties to a lesser degree. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analyses supported the PBSS across a range of scales and cut scores. Findings support the use of the PBSS as one method for identifying preschool children who may be at risk for SEB difficulties and underscore the importance of using multiple informants in the assessment of SEB difficulties.     

Developmental Variation in the Associations of Attention Bias to Emotion with Internalizing and Externalizing Psychopathology

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Attention biases to emotion are associated with symptoms of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in children and adolescents. It is...     

A Metastudy of Adultspan Journal: An Analysis of Publication Characteristics From 1999 to 2019

Articles published in Adultspan Journal from 1999 to 2019 were analyzed for trends over time in author characteristics (e.g., leading contributors and institutions, work setting, gender, domicile) and article characteristics (e.g., reporting standards, topics, research design, participant characteristics, and statistical sophistication).     

Shifting probation culture and advancing juvenile probation reform through a community‐based,participatory action research‐informed training

Many jurisdictions are currently transforming their juvenile probation systems to reflect research‐informed, developmentally based case management approaches. Training, developed through a community‐based, participatory action research (CBPAR) framework and guided by a community–academic partnership, may promote probation staff's readiness for such change. This paper examined whether such training could serve as an effective method to impact organizational culture by exploring shifts in probation staff's knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about graduated response – a structured juvenile probation case management system that aligns with research on adolescent development and youth behavior change. Data came from 559 juvenile probation staff trained in graduated response theory and practice between 2016 and 2019. Results demonstrated that at the end of a 1‐day, CBPAR‐grounded training program, participating staff reported significantly more buy‐in to graduated response, greater knowledge of this new system, and attitudes more strongly in favor of graduated response and intended behaviors. Study findings revealed important shifts indicative of readiness for change within juvenile probation departments. Additional implementation strategies are needed to extend training gains and overcome organizational‐ and system‐level barriers to change.     

The Intersections of Sexuality, Gender, and Race: Identity Research at the Crossroads

Psychology’s engagement with an intersectional perspective on social identities continues to grow. This special issue is significant in its use of intersectionality to complicate thinking about sexual orientation as a singular, homogenous category. Furthermore, it spotlights how intersectional positions within the range of sexual minority identities articulate with multiple other dimensions of identity, including gender, racial ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and age. In addition to recognizing the important contributions of this issue’s authors, in this commentary we relate their efforts to current trends in intersectionality research, including the contrasting ways intersectionality is applied in psychology. We observe that the authors portray intersectionality as either primarily concerned with multiple marginalized identities or as a more generalized theory of identity, and the authors use intersectionality as a framework, a theory, and an approach to social justice. We then address critiques of intersectionality theory that appear in the field of feminist/gender studies, showing how articles in this special issue both exemplify and challenge those critiques. Last, we focus on next steps in intersectionality research, focusing especially on the question of how intersectionality can best inform theory and methods in psychology.