Attributions and sex differences in achievement: Problems and new perspectives

The status of research on sex differences in attribution is reviewed in light of the articles published in this issue. The authors conclude that several widely held beliefs about sex differences in attributions may be unwarranted. Various explanations for the lack of consistent results in studies exploring situational and dispositional effects on sex differences in attributions are offered. The authors conclude that alternative attributional questions need to be raised and investigated in order to understand sex differences in achievement.     

Assessing the theoretical models for sex differences in causal attributions for success and failure

Three basic models of attributional sex differences are reviewed: General Externality, Self-Derogation, and Low Expectancy. Although all of the models predict that women are unlikely to attribute their successes to ability, the models were quite different in other predictions. A meta-analysis of 21 studies examining sex differences in success-failure attributions was done to determine which of these three models had the most empirical support. Wording of attribution questions was also assessed. Results indicated only two consistent sex differences: Men make stronger ability attributions than women regardless of the outcome when informational attributional wording is used; and men attribute their successes and failures less to luck. Empirically, none of the models was well supported.     

HabitWorks: Development of a CBM-I Smartphone App to Augment and Extend Acute Treatment

The month following discharge from acute psychiatric care is associated with increased risk of relapse, rehospitalization, and suicide. Effective and accessible interventions tailored to this critical transition are urgently needed. Cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) is a low-intensity intervention that targets interpretation bias, a transdiagnostic process implicated in the development and maintenance of emotional disorders. We describe the development of a CBM-I smartphone app called HabitWorks as an augmentation to acute care that extends through the high-risk month postdischarge. We first obtained input from various stakeholders, including adults who had completed partial hospital treatment (patient advisory board), providers, CBM experts, and clinic program directors. We then iteratively tested versions of the app, incorporating feedback over three waves of users. Participants were recruited from a partial hospital program and completed CBM-I sessions via the HabitWorks app while attending the hospital program and during the month postdischarge. In this Stage 1A treatment development work, we obtained preliminary data regarding feasibility and acceptability, adherence during acute care, and target engagement. Pilot data met our a priori benchmarks. While adherence during acute treatment was good, it decreased during the postacute period. Qualitative feedback was generally positive and revealed themes of usability and helpfulness of app features. Participants varied in their perception of skill generalization to real-life situations. The feasibility and acceptability data suggest that a controlled trial of HabitWorks is warranted.     

A haphazard reading of McHugh and Barlow (2010)

Replies to comments on Do haphazard reviews provide sound directions for dissemination efforts? (see record 2010-24768-012) by Eileen Gambrill and Julia H. Littell on the current authors' article The dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments: A review of current efforts (see record 2010-02208-010) by Kathryn R. McHugh and David H. Barlow. In their commentary, Gambrill and Littell (2010, this issue) suggested that we provided misleading guidance on the selection of treatments for dissemination in our recent article (McHugh & Barlow, February- March 2010) on the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based treatments. These authors misread our article as an affirmation of the evidence base of the treatments involved in the dissemination and implementation efforts we described. In fact, we explicitly disclaimed in the third paragraph that "we do not revisit controversies surrounding the identification or appropriateness of [evidence-based psychological treatments] . . . rather, we focus on the status and adequacy of [dissemination and implementation] efforts currently under way (McHugh & Barlow, 2010, p. 73). Thus, our review was not intended as a guideline for which treatments to disseminate, nor was it a thorough review of the evidence base for the treatments included in the efforts we reviewed. We chose several programs for illustrative purposes as representative efforts from three general domains: national, state, and investigator initiated.     

Efficacy of CBT for benzodiazepine discontinuation in patients with panic disorder: Further evaluation

Despite its acute efficacy for the treatment of panic disorder, benzodiazepines (BZs) are associated with a withdrawal syndrome that closely mimics anxiety sensations, leading to difficulty with treatment discontinuation and often disorder relapse. An exposure-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for BZ discontinuation, Panic Control Treatment for BZ Discontinuation (CBT) targets the fear of these sensations and has demonstrated efficacy in preventing disorder relapse and facilitating successful BZ discontinuation among patients with panic disorder. In this randomized controlled trial, CBT was compared to taper alone and a taper plus a relaxation condition to control for the effect of therapist contact and support among 47 patients with panic disorder seeking taper from BZs. Based on the primary outcome of successful discontinuation of BZ use, results indicate that adjunctive CBT provided additive benefits above both taper alone and taper plus relaxation, with consistently medium and large effect sizes over time that reached significance at the six month follow-up evaluation. The efficacy of CBT relative to either of the other taper conditions reflected very large and significant effect sizes at that time. These findings suggest that CBT provides specific efficacy for the successful discontinuation from BZs, even when controlling for therapist contact and relaxation training.     

MEASUREMENT ERROR IN RESEARCH ON HUMAN RESOURCES and FIRM PERFORMANCE: HOW MUCH ERROR IS THERE AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE EFFECT SIZE ESTIMATES?

Studies of the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and firm performance typically use a single respondent to assess firm level HR practices or HR effectiveness. However, previous research in other substantive areas suggests that rater differences are a potentially important source of measurement error. We demonstrate analytically the potential consequences of both random and systematic measurement error in research on HR and firm performance. However, our main focus is on random error and we show how generalizability theory can be applied to obtain better estimates of reliability by simultaneously recognizing multiple sources (e.g., items, raters) of random measurement error. These more inclusive reliability estimates, in turn, offer the possibility of more precisely quantifying substantive relationships in the HR and firm performance literature. In our sample, reliabilities (as estimated by generalizability coefficients) for single-rater assessments of HR variables were generally below .50. This degree of measurement error, if present in substantive studies on HR and firm performance, could lead to considerable bias, given that an unstandardized regression coefficient is corrected for measurement error in the independent variable by dividing by its reliability coefficient (not its square root). We also found only limited convergent validity between HR and line managers ratings of a second type of HR measure, HR effectiveness. In general, our findings suggest that future researchers need to devote greater attention to measurement error and construct validity issues. Our study provides an example of how generalizability theory can be useful in this pursuit.