Employment Status and Sex Role Attitudes in Middle-class Suburban Mothers

Twenty-one employed and 31 nonemployed suburban mothers of 2nd and 6th grade children were administered the Bern Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), Welledey Role Orientation Scale (WROS), and items from the Traditional Family Inventory (TFI items). Employed mothers agreed with more nontraditional attitudes on the WROS and described themselves in more masculine or androgynous terms than did nonempldyed mothers. These differences were not affected by grade or sex of child. While the directionality of effect could not be established, it was clear that these employed women viewed themselves and their roles as wives and mothers differently than did their nonemployed counterparts. This was true despite differences in conditions of employment, and despite a more traditional overall attitude among these women than has been reported in studies using younger, upper middle-class university women. In this study, mothers employed part time were more traditional in their responses to TFI items concerned with child rearing attitudes than were mothers employed full time. Again, while directionality of effect could not be established, the decision to work part time and thus spend more time with the children is compatible with a more traditional attitude. The usefulness of these easily administered measures in dividing groups of women for further research on sex roles outside university communities is apparent.     

Probability matrix decomposition models

In this paper, we consider a class of models for two-way matrices with binary entries of 0 and 1. First, we considerBoolean matrix decomposition, conceptualize it as alatent response model (LRM) and, by making use of this conceptualization, generalize it to a larger class of matrix decomposition models. Second,probability matrix decomposition (PMD) models are introduced as a probabilistic version of this larger class of deterministic matrix decomposition models. Third, an algorithm for the computation of the maximum likelihood (ML) and the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimates of the parameters of PMD models is presented. This algorithm is an EM-algorithm, and is a special case of a more general algorithm that can be used for the whole class of LRMs. And fourth, as an example, a PMD model is applied to data on decision making in psychiatric diagnosis. This paper is based on a chapter of the first author's doctoral dissertation, written at the University of Leuven and supervised by Paul De Boeck.     

A Dynamic Model for Rule Induction Tasks

In this paper, a model for performance on rule induction tasks (e.g., items on intelligence tests) is developed. The model simultaneously specifies distributions for response times and response accuracies on an item-by-item basis. It is dynamic in the sense that it can be used to specify and test different ways of learning throughout a test. Three versions of the general model (i.e., with three different learning rules) are described and the fit of these versions is investigated in two datasets on solving number series. The results indicate that one of these versions (one of the learning rules) is better at accounting for the data.     

The role of orthographic and phonological codes in the word and the pseudoword superiority effect: an analysis by means of multinomial processing tree models

Central to the current accounts of the word and the pseudoword superiority effect (WSE and PWSE, respectively) is the concept of a unitized code that is less susceptible to masking than single-letter codes. Current explanations of the WSE and PWSE assume that this unitized code is orthographic, explaining these phenomena by the assumption of dual read-out from unitized and single-letter codes. In this article, orthographic dual read-out models are compared with a phonological dual read-out model (which is based on the assumption that the 1st unitized code is phonological). From this phonological code, an orthographic code is derived, through either lexical access or assembly. Comparison of the orthographic and phonological dual read-out models was performed by formulating both models as multinomial processing tree models. From an application of these models to the data of 2 letter identification experiments, it was clear that the orthographic dual read-out models are insufficient as an explanation of the PWSE, whereas the phonological dual read-out model is sufficient.     

Comparative Psychopathology of Suicide Attempts and Assaults

ABSTRACT: Using the Katz Adjustment Scales to measure psycho-pathology, systematic samples of 108 suicide attempters and 42 persons arrested for assault were tested in Baltimore, Maryland. The subjects' scores were compared with ratings by third-party respondents, who knew the subjects well, and with scores of 450 controls. Both suicide attempters and assaulters displayed significantly more psychopathology than the controls. The suicide attempters were differentiated from the assaulters on six Katz items: Helplessness, Anxiety, Nervousness, Depression, Stability, and General Psychopathology. An attempt was made to refine prediction and control of these two different life-threatening behaviors by interpreting the data in terms of Henry and Short's concept of “internal restraint.”     

5 Social Suicide

At first blush suicide seems like the ultimate private action. However, it is argued that social forces and social pathologies figure prominently in the dynamics of suicide interacting with more individual characteristics. Several examples of “social suicide” (intentional cotemporaneous self-murder of two or more persons) are considered, including mass suicide, organizational self-destruction, social analogues to individual suicide, and military suicide. Suicide prevention requires social, economic, and cultural transformations at the primary prevention level, not just individual psychotherapy and dispensing of the latest antidepressants.