Elementary school principals assess services of school psychologists nationwide

A one-page questionnaire was sent to 400 elementary school principals nationwide to assess their opinions regarding services of the school psychologist. These elementary school principals indicated that the school psychologist was found to be most helpful when providing the traditional services of psychological testing, personality and emotional assessment, consultation, and screening. Changes in school psychological services desired by the elementary school principals were more time from the school psychologist and an increase in individual and group counseling, preventive mental health, and inservice training. If elementary principal opinion is to be regarded, gross alterations to existing services of the school psychologist are not indicated by the results of this study.     

Stopping the Nonadherence Cycle: The Clinical and Theoretical Basis for Dialectical Behavior Therapy Adapted for Adolescents With Chronic Medical Illness (DBT-CMI)

Most adolescents with chronic illness do not adhere to their regimen. A novel transdiagnostic adaptation of dialectical behavior therapy (dialectical behavior therapy for chronic medical conditions; DBT-CMI) is presented to improve medical adherence in adolescents. The authors describe the approach of DBT-CMI and the model’s conceptualization of nonadherence, with specific focus on the core concepts of non-adherence across illness in adolescence.DBT-CMI has been piloted in two disease groups with preliminary benefit. DBT-CMI lends itself theoretically as a transdiagnostic approach due to specific skills that target core concepts of nonadherence in adolescence. Future research is warranted on the applicability of DBT-CMI across other pediatric medical conditions to replicate findings and examine long-term outcomes.     

The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale: Analysis of Reliability and Validity1

Development of the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) is described. In Study 1, a set of 17 items was selected on the basis of responses by 125 postpartum women. Analyses of the reliability and validity were then conducted. In Study 2, these analyses were replicated using data from an independent sample of 130 postpartum women. Study 3 involved an analysis of the ability of scores on the IIFAS to predict duration of breast-feeding among a sample of 725 women who had initiated that method of feeding their babies while in the hospital. Limitations of this research and possible future uses of the IIFAS in studies addressing the determinants and consequences of infant-feeding attitudes are discussed.     

Cognitive ability and motivational interventions: Their effects on performance outcomes

A laboratory experiment was conducted to examine the effects of cognitive ability, task interests, goal setting, and feedback on perceived competence, intrinsic motivation, performance, and satisfaction with performance. Data were collected from 90 introductory psychology students performing one of two computer-based tasks. Results indicated that the motivational interventions interacted with cognitive ability in relation to intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, and satisfaction with performance. Implications are discussed within the framework of cognitive resources theory and goal-setting theory.     

A model of union participation: the impact of perceived union support, union instrumentality, and union loyalty

Perceived union support and union instrumentality have been shown to uniquely predict union loyalty. This study was the first to explicitly examine the relation between perceived union support and union instrumentality. Surveys were completed by 273 union members and 29 union stewards. A comparison of 2 models, 1 based on organizational support theory and 1 based on union participation theories, found that the model based on organizational support theory, in which union instrumentality was an antecedent to perceived union support and led to union loyalty and subsequently union participation, best fit the data. The model based on union participation theories, in which perceived union support was an antecedent of union instrumentality and led to union loyalty and subsequently union participation, was not supported. Union instrumentality was related to union commitment, but the relation was completely mediated by perceived union support.     

Secular or nonreligious? Investigating and interpreting generic ‘not religious’ categories and populations

In research dealing with religious affiliation, generic nonreligious categories – ‘no religion’, ‘not religious’, ‘nonreligious’, ‘nones’ – are frequently used to measure secularity and secularisation processes. Analysis of these categories is, however, problematic because they have not received dedicated methodological attention. Using qualitative research conducted in the UK, this article investigates what nonreligious categories measure and, specifically, whether they indicate non-identification or disaffiliation as assumed or an alternative form of cultural affiliation. Findings suggest that generic nonreligious categories are sometimes used to express substantive positions and public identities, and that these are diverse. These findings flatten distinctions between religious and nonreligious categories as ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ respectively and indicate problems therefore in using nonreligious identification to measure secularity and secularisation. They suggest nonreligious identification is, however, a useful indicator of the advance of nonreligious cultures and the ‘nonreligionisation’ of societies.