Using Situational Judgment Tests to Assess Training Effectiveness: Lessons Learned Evaluating Military Equal Opportunity Advisor Trainees

Situational judgment tests (SJTs) are well suited for training evaluation, especially when measures of on-the-job behaviors/performances are unavailable. Yet, SJTs are underutilized in the training evaluation context. This research details the development and use of an SJT to evaluate equal opportunity/diversity training in the military. We focus on issues that differentiate the development of SJTs for training evaluation from the development of SJTs for selection. Finally, results are presented for two cycles of training evaluation using an SJT, and the strengths and limitations of using SJTs in the training context are discussed.     

Anxiety and Depression in Children with HFASDs: Symptom Levels and Source Differences

The purpose of this study was to: (1) examine symptom levels of anxiety and depression in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASDs) compared with matched control children using child self-reports and parent ratings; and (2) examine source differences within the two condition groups. An overall multivariate effect indicated significantly elevated depression and anxiety symptoms for children with HFASDs based on parent reports; however no significant between-group differences based on child self-reports. Within-condition source comparisons (parent vs. child) revealed a significant multivariate effect indicating a significant difference in symptoms of depression and anxiety for the HFASD group but none for the control. Correlations between parent and child reports for the HFASD group suggested some positive association between child-reports and parent-reports for depressive symptoms only; however, the difference in average scores reflected a substantial discrepancy in the magnitude of symptoms by rater. Implications for clinical assessment and future research are provided.     

Scholarship on Gender and Sport in Sex Roles and Beyond

In this paper we critically review how research on girls or women and sport has developed over the last 35 years. We use a post-positivist lens to explore the content of the papers published in Sex Roles in the area of women, gender and sport and examine the shifts in how gender and sport have been conceptualized in these accounts. In order to initiate a broader dialogue about the scholarly analysis of gender and sport, we subsequently explore ideas inspired by feminist theorizing that have dominated/guided related research in other outlets over this time period but have received relatively little attention in papers published in Sex Roles. We conclude by briefly making suggestions for further research in this area.     

Cross-Cultural Competence: The Role of Emotion Regulation Ability and Optimism

Cross-cultural competence (3C) is critical for military personnel to understand and perform effectively in complex cultural environments and to interact with individuals from other cultures. The knowledge, skills, and abilities that make up 3C can result in clearer communication, build trust, and strengthen relationships in cross-cultural social contexts ( Selmeski, 2009 Selmeski, B. (February, 2009). Military Cross-cultural competence: Core concepts and individual development. Proceedings from the 7th Biennial Equal Opportunity, Diversity, and Culture Research Symposium. Patrick Air Force Base, FL. [Google Scholar]). This research investigated the role of emotional regulation and optimism in the development of 3C in military personnel. Results demonstrate that the ability to regulate emotions is positively related to 3C, both directly and through its effect on optimism.     

Estimating the proportion of preplanned refixations in natural reading using Monte-Carlo simulations

Recent research has suggested that refixation saccades in reading can be planned before the first fixation is made on a word. If some proportion of refixations are preplanned, then the asymmetric shape of initial landing position distributions may be due to the mixing of two populations of saccades—planned single-fixations that are aimed at word-centre and planned refixation sequences that are aimed near word-beginning. Here, we used Monte-Carlo methods in conjunction with a computational model of saccade planning to estimate the proportion of preplanned refixations in normal reading. Simulation results suggest that about 20% of refixation saccades were preplanned and that preplanning was associated with an initial landing position nearer word-beginning for multiple-fixation cases compared with single-fixation cases.     

The Manifest Association Structure of the Single-Factor Model: Insights from Partial Correlations

The association structure between manifest variables arising from the single-factor model is investigated using partial correlations. The additional insights to the practitioner provided by partial correlations for detecting a single-factor model are discussed. The parameter space for the partial correlations is presented, as are the patterns of signs in a matrix containing the partial correlations that are not compatible with a single-factor model.     

The Influence of Social Status on Token Women Leaders' Expectations About Leading Male-Dominated Groups

Prior research has shown that women report mostly negative expectations about being a gender-token in male-dominated work groups. We speculate that this is partially caused by the socially ascribed status devaluation of women. In this study we investigated the degree to which elevated social status may lessen negative expectations of gender-token women assigned to leadership positions. Sixty-three undergraduate women participated in 1 of 3 tokenism conditions: (1) nontoken, (2) gender-token, and (3) high-status gender-token. In all conditions participants were led to believe that they would be leading a group of men in a decision-making exercise. Leader expectations were then assessed. The results suggest that increased social status may help prevent gender-token women from developing negative expectations about interactions with male-dominated work groups.     

Attention Problems as a Mediator of the Relation between Executive Function and Social Problems in a Child and Adolescent Outpatient Sample

Social functioning is critical for the successful navigation of everyday life for children, adolescents, and adults. Recent theories have postulated a neuropsychological basis for social functioning with particularly strong links with the executive functioning (EF) system. The current study examined attention problems as a mediator between EF (e.g., working memory, planning, and response inhibition) and social functioning in a child and adolescent outpatient sample. Participants were 218 children ages 6–16 (M = 10.23; SD = 2.52; 68.8 % males) who were referred to an outpatient clinic for psychoeducational assessment. Bias-corrected bootstrapping mediation analyses were used to examine the hypothesized models. The effects of working memory and planning (but not response inhibition) on social problems were mediated by attention problems in both teacher- and mother-reported models. These findings also held up in cross-source models (e.g., mother-reported attention problems as a mediator in a model predicting teacher-reported social problems). These findings have implications for dimensional models of social functioning and conceptual models for specific clinical populations (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).     

Effects of variation in teacher organization on classroom functioning

This study examined effects of variation in teacher organization on how time is spent in classrooms, focusing on time spent in transitions and instruction, including child skill by teacher organization interactions. Forty-four first-grade classrooms were observed three times over the school year. Timed narratives of each activity were recorded. “Orient-organize” referred to time teachers spent orienting students to classroom procedures or organizing the class for specific assignments, and included instructional clarity, where teachers described objectives of activities to students. Using hierarchical linear modeling, substantial variation across teachers in orient-organize was observed. Overall, classrooms spent less time in organization as the school year progressed. In addition, spending more time in organization was related to less time spent in transition. Students in classrooms that spent more time in organization in the fall also experienced greater amounts of time in child-managed activities in the spring. There was also an interaction between child vocabulary and amount of orient-organize in the winter. Students with lower vocabulary scores were more likely to be in classrooms that spent more time in spring child-managed activities if they continued to receive substantial amounts of orient-organize in the winter. The opposite was the case for students with high vocabulary skills.     

Consumer spaces as political spaces: A critical review of social,environmental, and psychogeographical research

The purpose of this review is to critique the social and environmental psychology literature on spaces and places with a focus on consumer culture and neoliberalism. By drawing on social theory and the Continental philosophical literature, the review argues that an alternative approach to knowledge production is required. To this end, recommendations are provided for what a psychogeographical approach in social and environmental psychology could look like. It argues that such work could be of benefit to academic and local communities by exposing the social costs and consequences associated with consumer culture and neoliberalism.