Measuring the effects of demand characteristics on the Beck Depression Inventory responses of college students

To determine whether Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) responses could be influenced by an instructional set or by changing the item order, 198 college students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: instructions designed to facilitate or inhibit responding, along with standard vs. reordered symptom questions. A 2×2 ANCOVA found a main effect only for the inhibitory message. The suppression of scores by the inhibitor instructional set suggests caution regarding possible demand characteristics when using the BDI with this population and should be further studied with clinically symptomatic samples.     

A comparative outcome study of behavioral social-skills training, interpersonal-problem-solving and non-directive control treatments with child psychiatric outpatients

The purpose of the present study was to compare the short- and long-term efficacy of behavioral social-skills training and interpersonal-problem-solving with a control condition (non-directive treatment) with a clinical population of 61 socially-maladjusted outpatient boys. Treatment consisted of 12 weekly 1-hr sessions, with follow-up conducted at 12 months. A comprehensive assessment strategy was employed which included direct behavioral observations, parent, teacher, peer, self-report and academic performance measures. The results of this social-skills comparative outcome study indicated that the behavioral and interpersonal treatments resulted in changes on parent, teacher, self-report and peer sociometric ratings at post-treatment. At the 1-yr follow-up, the behavioral treatment maintained it's gains and continued to show modest improvement. Conversely, the interpersonal treatment manifested significant declines, as did the control group. These findings and implications for future research are discussed.     

Development and psychometric properties of the Children's Assertive Behavior Scale

The purpose of this paper is to present the psychometric properties and individual items comprising the Children's Assertive Behavior Scale (CABS). The CABS is a behaviorally designed self-report instrument for children which measures general and specific social skills and covers many socially relevant situations which are problematic for children. Acceptable psychometric properties of the 27-item test were obtained in several independent investigations across both geographical regions and grade levels. The CABS showed significant concurrent validity with peer, parent, and teacher measures of social competency. The CABS also discriminated trained versus untrained children participating in social skills versus a placebo discussion group. The instrument is presented, along with recommendations for future applications and research.Both authors share equal responsibility for the development and evaluation of the Children's Assertive Behavior Scale.