Code of fair testing practices in education

Although the code was not developed to cover employment tests, its guidelines appear useful for both developers and users of tests for the purposes of employee training, counseling, and development.     

Using natural-language responses in microcomputer research

A microcomputer natural-language interface is described that will identify limited natural-language input, such as that obtained in psychological research. In the task studied, subjects made natural-language requests involving 13 DOS commands, A Bayesian algorithm is used to calculate a vector of 13 probabilities expressing the relative likelihood of various DOS tasks that the user was attempting to specify from keywords extracted from the user’s input. The algorithm’s first-guess accuracy in the limited domain studied is approximately 90%; it will identify the user’s request with 99% accuracy in its first three guesses. This performance is considerably better than that of human experts performing the same task with the same input. Also discussed are issues of cross-validation, robustness, conditional independence, and the calibration of the algorithm’s probabilistic output.     

The theory of "truth": how counterindustry campaigns affect smoking behavior among teens.

This study used structural equation modeling to test a theory-based model of the pathways by which exposure to the "truth" counterindustry media campaign influenced beliefs, attitudes, and smoking behavior in national random-digit-dial telephone surveys of 16,000 12- to 17-year-olds before, 8 months after, and 15 months after campaign launch. Consistent with concepts from the theory of reasoned action, youth in markets with higher levels of campaign exposure had more negative beliefs about tobacco industry practices and more negative attitudes toward the tobacco industry. Models also provided support for a social inoculation effect, because negative industry attitudes were associated with lower receptivity to protobacco advertising and with less progression along a continuum of smoking intentions and behavior.     

The effects of children on parents: adoptee genetic dispositions and adoptive parent psychopathology

Although the traditional focus in socialization research has been on the effect of parents on their children (Finley, 1999), recently, researchers have turned their attention to the effects of children on their parents (Ambert, 1992; Demick, Bursik, & Dibiase, 1993). An important confound in the study of the effects of children on parents, however, is shared genetic or biological heritage. One method of avoiding this confound is for researchers to study adoptees and adoptive parents who have no shared genetic heritage. We, therefore, designed the present secondary analysis to examine the effects of adopted children on their adoptive parents without confounding shared biological heritage.     

The Effects of Children on Parents: Adoptee Genetic Dispositions and Adoptive Parent Psychopathology

The purposes of this experiment were to investigate the effects of age, item type, and culture on the mental-real distinction made by children. A sample of 42 children (21 affluent and 21 deprived) in three age ranges (3- and 4-year-olds, 5-and 6-year-olds, and 7- and 8-year-olds) participated. Nine items were used. The behavioral-sensory and public-existence criteria (Wellman &; Estes, 1986) were used to gauge the children's ability to make the distinction. Contrary to previous research findings, the 3- and 4-year-olds in this study were unable to make the mental-real distinction. An age-related improvement in making this distinction was observed, and item type affected the mental-real distinction. The affluent children consistently outperformed their deprived counterparts. This finding was partly construed as evidence for the influence of culture on the ability to make this distinction in these age groups.     

Military occupation as a moderator between combat exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in US Army personnel

ABSTRACT

Military occupational designations are standardized classifications that help define and convey a service member’s expected duties and responsibilities. The present study examined how occupational designation was related to adverse combat-reactions, specifically posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was hypothesized that at comparable levels of combat, non-combat units would display greater symptomology than combat units. The study sample consisted of 785 combat-deployed, active-duty enlisted US Army personnel. Participants were administered self-report questionnaires, including the Combat Experiences Scale and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5. Occupation was coded using the three-branch system (i.e., Operations, Support, & Force Sustainment). Hierarchical multiple linear regression (MLR) was run to examine the effect of occupation, combat, and unit cohesion on PTSD symptoms. Operations units reported the highest frequency of combat exposure; however, Force Sustainment units displayed the highest PTSD symptoms. In MLR analysis, there was a significant interaction between Force Sustainment units and combat exposure (β = 0.10, p = .019), that was not observed in Operations or Support units. These findings demonstrate that PTSD symptom intensity is not solely a function of combat exposure, and that non-combat units may react differently when exposed to elevated levels of combat.     

GUIDING READERS TO MEANING

Learning to seek meaning from print is a vital part of fluent reading. Instruction in reading should focus on guiding readers to use meaning‐getting strategies and providing practice activities which simulate the process of seeking meaning. The availability of interesting materials organized in a classroom designed as a print laboratory where risk‐taking and informed guessing are encouraged will enable readers to take a giant step toward independence in seeking meaning. This article explains how to organize a print laboratory and presents several instructional strategies which promote risk‐taking, self‐monitoring, and informed guessing by readers.