Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the self-perception profile for children

Harter's Self-perception Profile for Children was designed to assess children's domain-specific judgments of their competence (scholastic, social, athletic, physical, and behavioral), as well as global self-worth. The psychometric properties and exploratory factor analysis of the profile for two Spanish samples of children (49% boys and 51% girls; M age=11.1 yr., SD=9.7), were examined (n=23 from an after-school social care center in an economically deprived neighborhood and n=120 from a private school mainly enrolling families of medium socioeconomic status). All attending children between 9 and 12 yr. old were included. Analysis showed sex differences, with girls scoring lower than boys on Athletic Competence and higher on Behavioral Conduct. Children from the economically deprived group had higher scores on Social Acceptance and lower scores on Physical Appearance. The cross-cultural analysis showed that the Spanish control group scored significantly higher than the original American control group on Global Self-worth. A Spanish validation with 9- to 12-yr.-olds clearly replicated the five-factor structure reported by Harter in 1985 and also replicated the results obtained in other European samples, showing reliable and valid psychometric properties.     

Seasonality of suicide in Eastern Europe: a rejoinder to Lester and Moksony

Seasonality of suicide in Hungary decreased from the 1980s to the 1990s, supporting the 2003 conclusion of Lester and Moksony. However, it was the strongest ever to be documented with contemporary suicide data, supporting the conjecture of Voracek, et al. (2002) that seasonality of suicide remains high in Eastern Europe. A new hypothesis regarding the co-occurrence of high incidence and strong seasonality of suicide is presented.     

The Newtonian Limit of Relativity Theory and the Rationality of Theory Change

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the question of whether Newtonian mechanics can be derived from relativity theory. Physicists agree that classical mechanics constitutes a limiting case of relativity theory. By contrast, philosophers of science like Kuhn and Feyerabend affirm that classical mechanics cannot be deduced from relativity theory because of the incommensurability between both theories; thus what we obtain when we take the limit c in relativistic mechanics cannot be Newtonian mechanics sensu stricto. In this paper I focus on the alleged change of reference of the term mass in the transition from one theory to the other. Contradicting Kuhn and Feyerabend, special relativity theory supports the view that the mass of an object is a characteristic property of the object, that it has the same value in whatever frame of reference it is measured, and that it does not depend on whether the object is in motion or at rest. Thus mass preserves the reference through the change of theory, and the existence of a Newtonian limit of relativity theory provides a good example of the rationality of theory change in mathematical physics.     

Psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) among Icelandic schoolchildren

A psychometric assessment of the Icelandic version of the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) was undertaken among Icelandic schoolchildren, between 10 and 15 years of age. In a first study 625 children between 10 and 15 years of age filled in the MASC. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the four-factor structure of the instrument was justified. Further, means and standard deviations of the total scale and the subscales were similar to the original normative data reported by March (1997). In a second study the MASC, the Children Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) were administered to a sample of 249 schoolchildren between 10 and 15 years of age. The results supported the convergent and divergent validity of the MASC. Together the two studies show satisfactory psychometric properties of the Icelandic version of the MASC in a normal population.     

Attention and reading skills

Attention plays a critical role in information processing. Its adequate functioning is required for correct development of complex cognitive abilities and regular scholastic progress. Children with attention deficits often have difficulties in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The present study investigated interactions among reading skills, overall scholastic performance as rated by teachers, and components of attention: visual reaction time, simple immediate span of attention, and selectivity. The sample was 98 students in the first and second years of public junior high school (age range 11-14 years, M = 12.6, SD = 1.2), i.e., with expected already well-established reading. Reading was evaluated using Comprehension, Accuracy, and Speed tests. Overall scholastic performance was obtained by means of teachers' ratings. Simple Reaction Time, Digit Span, and Color-Word Interference, included in a multitask computerized test, assessed attention. Analysis confirmed the hypothesis that the reading skills are strongly predictive of the Scholastic Assessment rated by the teachers. High scholastic ratings were correlated with Reading Speed and Accuracy rather than Reading Comprehension. Poor readers showed worse performances on the Digit Span test which measures simple immediate span of attention. Good and poor readers obtained a similar score on the Color-Word Interference task. This observation seems to contrast with the more common interpretation of this effect, suggesting that reading is an automatic process and, therefore, the semantic dimension overcomes the controlled perceptual one. According to other studies, an alternative explanation is suggested. In conclusion, present results confirm the hypothesis of a strong link among reading speed and accuracy, scholastic assessment as rated by teachers, simple immediate span of attention, and visual reaction time.     

The brain-sex theory of occupational choice: a counterexample

The brain-sex theory of occupational choice suggests that males and females in male-typical careers show a male pattern of cognitive ability in terms of better spatial than verbal performance on cognitive tests with the reverse pattern for females and males in female-typical careers. These differences are thought to result from patterns of cerebral functional lateralisation. This study sought such occupationally related effects using synonym generation (verbal ability) and mental rotation (spatial ability) tasks used previously. It also used entrants to these careers as participants to examine whether patterns of cognitive abilities might predate explicit training and practice. Using a population of entrants to sex-differentiated university courses, a moderate occupational effect on the synonym generation task was found, along with a weak (p < .10) sex effect on the mental rotation task. Highest performance on the mental rotation task was by female students in fashion design, a female-dominated occupation which makes substantial visuospatial demands and attracts many students with literacy problems such as dyslexia. This group then appears to be a counterexample to the brain-sex theory. However, methodological issues surrounding previous studies are highlighted: the simple synonym task appears to show limited discrimination of the sexes, leading to questions concerning the legitimacy of inferences about lateralisation based on scores from that test. Moreover, the human figure-based mental rotation task appears to tap the wrong aspect of visuospatial skill, likely to be needed for male-typical courses such as engineering. Since the fashion-design career is also one that attracts disproportionately many male students whose sexual orientation is homosexual, data were examined for evidence of female-typical patterns of cognitive performance among that subgroup. This was not found. This study therefore provides no evidence for the claim that female-pattern cerebral functional lateralisation is likely in gay males.     

Tachistoscopic treatment of dyslexia changes the distribution of visual-spatial attention

Twelve children with developmental dyslexia underwent a four-month treatment with tachistoscopic presentation of words, according to Bakker's methodology. One group received standard lateral presentation of words on a PC screen, while the other group received the same stimuli in random lateral position. The spatial distribution of visual attention was measured by means of the Form-Resolving Field (FRF; ), which was administered along with reading tests, before and after treatment. The FRF of children who received random presentation widened at -12.5 degrees on the left side, while the FRF in the group that received standard lateral presentation narrowed at that position. Both groups significantly improved in reading accuracy for both words and nonwords. Some hypotheses are proposed concerning the mechanisms responsible for the changes in the FRF and their correlation with improvements in word and nonword reading. The results of the present study are also compared with data suggesting a left "minineglect" in dyslexia.     

On the facilitatory effects of cognate words in bilingual speech production

There is a growing body of evidence showing that a word's cognate status is an important dimension affecting the naming performance of bilingual speakers. In a recent article, Kohnert extended this observation to the naming performance of an aphasic bilingual (DJ). DJ named pictures with cognate names more accurately than pictures with non-cognate names. Furthermore, having named the pictures in Spanish helped the subsequent retrieval (with a delay of one week between the two tests) of the same pictures' names in English, but only for pictures with cognate names. That is, there was a language transfer but only for those translation words that were phonologically similar. In this article we first evaluate the conclusions drawn from these results by Kohnert, and second we discuss the theoretical implications of the facilitatory effects of cognate words for models of speech production in bilingual speakers.     

The Pentus Theorem for Lambek Calculus with Simple Nonlogical Axioms

The Lambek calculus introduced in Lambek [6] is a strengthening of the type reduction calculus of Ajdukiewicz [1]. We study Associative Lambek Calculus L in Gentzen style axiomatization enriched with a finite set Γ of nonlogical axioms, denoted by L(Γ).It is known that finite axiomatic extensions of Associative Lambek Calculus generate all recursively enumerable languages (see Buszkowski [2]). Then we confine nonlogical axioms to sequents of the form p → q, where p and q are atomic types. For calculus L(Γ) we prove interpolation lemma (modifying the Roorda proof for L [10]) and the binary reduction lemma (using the Pentus method [9] with modification from [3]). In consequence we obtain the weak equivalence of the Context-Free Grammars and grammars based on L(Γ).     

An evaluation scale of family environment for identification of children at risk of school failure

This study describes the development of the Home Environment Resources Scale, a Brazilian measure for families with children ages 6 to 12 years. The scale measures aspects of support for school achievement, made available to the child at home. A first version of the measure with 11 subscales was administered to 100 mothers or guardians of children with poor school achievement in a clinical setting. Analysis of the items in the first version resulted in a final version comprising 8 subscales with acceptable indices of internal consistency. Two validity studies were conducted. One aimed at verifying to what extent the Home Environment Resources Scale could discriminate the home environment of students referred to a mental health clinic on account of poor school performance. The sample included mothers of 53 referred and 23 nonreferred children. The two groups differed significantly in home resources and on four subscales. The other study assessed the validity, i.e., prediction of the academic outcome of children entering Grade 1. 70 children and their mothers participated. Results indicate that school achievement and social competence at school are mediated by family support.