Differences in Univariate Values Versus Multivariate Relationships

A recent debate has called to light an important issue for communication researchers and other social scientists: Does the use of student samples jeopardize the validity of research? Importantly, this question has failed to make a critical distinction between estimates of univariate values versus those examining multivariate relationships. Estimates of univariate values provide information on the prevalence of an attitude or belief from the sampled population to the overall population. Estimates of multivariate relationships, however, provide information on the validity of our theories. This distinction is examined in a study of identification with Diana, Princess of Wales. Results show that although the estimates of univariate values differed across three samples, the multivariate relationships between the variables were more stable, and therefore the underlying process appears to hold. We argue that this finding illustrates the distinction between estimates of univariate means versus multivariate relationships and is evidence that nonprobability samples can be important for many reasons, including testing the consistency of processes.     

The Impact of Maternal Depression and Parenting Behaviors on Adolescents' Psychological Functioning in Romania

We examined the impact of maternal depression and parenting behaviors on adolescents' psychological functioning in Romania. The direct and indirect links between maternal depression, maternal acceptance, behavioral control, psychological control and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors were analyzed. The sample consisted of 239, 12–14 year-old adolescents and their mothers. Results indicated that higher maternal depression were associated with higher levels of psychological control and higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Higher levels of behavioral control were associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescents.     

Economic Pressure and Children's Psychological Functioning

We examined the mediating role of family dynamics (marital quality, parental depression) in the link between economic pressure and child psychological functioning using the data from the National Survey of Family and Households (NSFH). From the initial multiethnic probability sample, we used a subsample of 2998 parents with a focal child 5 to 17 years of age. We used structural equation modeling using AMOS 4.0 to test the model. The results indicated support for associations among economic pressure, marital quality, parental depression, parenting strategies and children outcomes. Economic pressure was associated with lower marital quality and higher depression. Higher conflict and psychological distress was associated with frequent use of harsh discipline techniques and lower psychological functioning in children.     

Enacting collective support for the European integration: Participation in pro‐integration action and preference for specific transnational acculturation strategies

We propose that collective support for European integration is mani‐fested in 2 distinct forms: first, as engagement in socio‐political action by citizens who seek to change their nation and its status in Europe. Second, it is manifested as a transnational acculturation process that impacts on both nations and their citizens. These processes potentially engage social identities at 3 levels: national, European and as supporters of the European integration. Here, we examine these different levels of identification as part of a model predicting collective support for the European integration. To capture the dimension of transnationality, we collected data from 2 Romanian samples, 1 of participants living in their country of origin (N = 203), and 1 of participants living as migrants outside Romania (N = 196). We found that identification as a pro‐integration supporter flows from European and Romanian national identifications and is an excellent predictor of collective support for European integration in both its forms. We conclude by discussing how our findings can be applied to the design of intervention strategies and policies to promote support for the European Union and the integration process in the current socio‐political climate (where the unity and the very existence of European Union are under threat).     

Cohesion network analysis of CSCL participation

The broad use of computer-supported collaborative-learning (CSCL) environments (e.g., instant messenger–chats, forums, blogs in online communities, and massive open online courses) calls for automated tools to support tutors in the time-consuming process of analyzing collaborative conversations. In this article, the authors propose and validate the cohesion network analysis (CNA) model, housed within the ReaderBench platform. CNA, grounded in theories of cohesion, dialogism, and polyphony, is similar to social network analysis (SNA), but it also considers text content and discourse structure and, uniquely, uses automated cohesion indices to generate the underlying discourse representation. Thus, CNA enhances the power of SNA by explicitly considering semantic cohesion while modeling interactions between participants. The primary purpose of this article is to describe CNA analysis and to provide a proof of concept, by using ten chat conversations in which multiple participants debated the advantages of CSCL technologies. Each participant’s contributions were human-scored on the basis of their relevance in terms of covering the central concepts of the conversation. SNA metrics, applied to the CNA sociogram, were then used to assess the quality of each member’s degree of participation. The results revealed that the CNA indices were strongly correlated to the human evaluations of the conversations. Furthermore, a stepwise regression analysis indicated that the CNA indices collectively predicted 54% of the variance in the human ratings of participation. The results provide promising support for the use of automated computational assessments of collaborative participation and of individuals’ degrees of active involvement in CSCL environments.     

Developing of an English Version of the Aggressive Driving Behavior Test (AVIS). Improving the Construct Validity of Aggressive Driving

The research investigated the psychometric properties and the discriminant validity of the English version of the Questionnaire for the Assessment of Aggressive Driving Behavior (AVIS). Study 1 assessed the psychometric properties of the instrument. Internal consistency ranged from 0.77 to 0.92. Exploratory factor analysis did not support the original five factor structure, Instrumental Aggression and Acting Out being unified in a single factor. Following the confirmatory factor analysis a version with 26 items and 3 factors was obtained. Inter-scale correlations showed that the dimensions of the AVIS are inter-correlated. Study 2 verified the discriminant validity of the English version of the AVIS by testing the relationships between the AVIS dimensions and the DAX (Driving Anger Expression Inventory) dimensions. The results showed good discriminant validity, the dimensions of the two instruments being uncorrelated. In conclusion, the findings contribute to the development of the driving aggression construct by adding new dimensions to it.     

Associations of Stress Exposures and Social Support With Long-Term Mental Health Outcomes Among U.S. Iraq War Veterans

The long-term mental health effects of war-zone deployment in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on military personnel are a significant public health concern. Using data collected prospectively at three distinct assessments during 2003–2014 as part of the Neurocognition Deployment Health Study and VA Cooperative Studies Program Study #566, we explored how stress exposures prior, during, and after return from deployment influence the long-term mental health outcomes of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety disorders, and problem drinking. Longer-term mental health outcomes were assessed in 375 service members and military veterans an average of 7.5 years (standard deviation = 1.0 year) after the initial (i.e., “index”) Iraq deployment following their predeployment assessment. Anxiety disorder was the most commonly observed long-term mental health outcome (36.0%), followed by depression (24.5%), PTSD (24.3%), and problem drinking (21.0%). Multivariable regression models showed that greater postdeployment stressors, as measured by the Post-Deployment Life Events scale, were associated with greater risk of depression, anxiety disorders, and problem drinking. Anxiety disorder was the only outcome affected by predeployment stress concerns. In addition, greater postdeployment social support was associated with lower risk of all outcomes except problem drinking. These findings highlight the importance of assessing postdeployment stress exposures, such as stressful or traumatic life events, given the potential impact of these stressors on long-term mental health outcomes. This study also highlights the importance of postdeployment social support as a modifiable protective factor that can be used to help mitigate risk of long-term adverse mental health outcomes following war-zone exposure.     

Ethnic Identity in Jewish Families

Forty-eight Jewish families living in Central New York were interviewed about the development of their ethnic identity. Within each family, parents and children were asked about how they developed their ethnic identity to explore qualitatively how Jewish identity shapes and influences family dynamics. The semi-structured family interviews were coded using a constant comparison methodology. Seven qualitative categories emerged (gendered decisions, negotiating continuity, family of origin, survivors, active learning, traditions, and cultural religion). Jewish identity formation in families and the implications for clinical practice are explored.     

Exploring social capital in rural settlements of an islander region in Greece

This paper reports on a large scale cross‐sectional study examining subjective perceptions of community social life held by a randomly selected sample of residents (n = 428) in all small rural settings (n = 89) of the region of North Aegean Sea. The notion of social capital was used as a conceptual tool in order to explore different aspects of the relational life of contemporary rural communities. This study has two aims: First to provide an account of rural residents' perceptions of village life in terms of interpersonal support, mutual aid, trust, social cohesion and community competence, and second to examine the suitability of the social capital notion within the specific cultural context. A combination of data collection procedures and a range of sources were employed, such as key informants, rural residents and researchers' field observations. The findings indicate that small farming communities of high devotion with deep roots and strong sense of belonging face severe demographic imbalance and experience low civic power given the limited links with external agents. The mainstream notion of social capital as an unconditionally beneficial factor is thus questioned. The findings call for revisiting its relevance across communities with varying capacities and needs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.