Parental values, reinforcement, and young children's prosocial behavior: a longitudinal study.

In this study, the authors assessed the relation of parental reinforcement and parental values to young children's prosocial behaviors. Parents' dyadic interactions with their 1- to 2-year-old children were videotaped in the home on two occasions approximately 6 months apart. The children also were videotaped playing with a peer at 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years of age. Parental reinforcement of the children's prosocial behaviors was coded, as were the children's prosocial behaviors with the peer. The frequency of girls' spontaneous prosocial behaviors decreased in the early years; modest consistency was observed for boys (but not girls) across the two parental sessions. No relation existed between the frequency of children's prosocial behaviors with their parents and their behaviors with peers. Both maternal and paternal valuing of compliance were negatively related to the mothers' use of reinforcement for children's spontaneous prosocial behaviors. Parental reinforcement of compliant prosocial behaviors was negatively related to children's compliance with a peer's request for prosocial behavior and positively related to defensive behavior with the peer. Fathers' valuing of prosocial behavior was associated with children's compliance with the peer's requests for prosocial action. Parents who valued compliance had children who exhibited low levels of compliant prosocial behaviors with the peer, possibly because of the depressed level of peer interaction.     

An assessment of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule from the perspective of the five-factor model.

We examined the validity of need scales of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS) by correlating them with a measure of the five basic factors of personality; we also considered test format as a possible source of invalidity. Three hundred thirty (223 women, 107 men) undergraduate students completed both the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI)--a measure of the five factors--and one of two versions of the EPPS. Results show that both ipsative and normative versions of the EPPS could be meaningfully interpreted within the five-factor model, although the ipsative, forced-choice format of the standard EPPS apparently lowered validity coefficients and decreased convergent and discriminant validity. We argue that the five-factor model can provide a useful interpretive context for evaluating many clinical measures.     

Job experiences over time, multiple roles, and women's mental health: a longitudinal study.

Are changes over time in the quality of a woman's job associated with changes in her psychological distress? Do family roles moderate these relationships? We addressed these questions using longitudinal data from a 2-year 3-wave study of a stratified random sample of 403 employed women who varied in occupation, race, partnership, and parental status. After estimating individual rates of change for each woman on each of the predictors and the outcome, we modeled the relationships between family role occupancy and change in job-role quality on the one hand, and change in psychological distress on the other. Among single women and women without children, as job-role quality declined, levels of psychological distress increased. Among partnered women and women with children, change in job-role quality was unrelated to change in psychological distress.     

MMPI taxonomies of child sexual and nonsexual offenders: a cross-validation and extension.

In a court clinic sample of 107 child sexual and nonsexual offenders, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles did not differ as a function of arrests for sexual versus nonsexual offending. However, a three-group cluster-analytic solution was generated. Two of these clusters replicated those derived by Hall, Graham, and Shepherd (1991). The first cluster was unelevated, with Scales 4 and 9 as high points. The second cluster had MMPI Scales 4, 8, 2, and 7 as the highest scales. The third cluster was even more elevated than the other two clusters, characterized by extreme elevations on MMPI Scales F, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8. The somewhat different results of this study versus previous studies (e.g., Hall et al., 1991) may be a function of the different populations sampled. The results provide evidence of within-group heterogeneity among sexual and nonsexual offenders that may be as important as between-group differences.     

A cross-validation of MMPI-2 substance abuse scales.

We evaluated the efficacy of the Addiction Potential Scale (APS) and the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS), two new scales designed to assess substance abuse problems with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), in samples from settings different from those used in their development. Results replicate earlier findings that both scales discriminate between psychiatric and substance abuse samples and do so more effectively than other substance abuse scales designed for use with the MMPI and carried over to the MMPI-2. Results also suggest that APS may be more resistant than AAS to response distortion.     

Children in the public eye: The functioning of Pastors' children

Pastors' children have been thought to have more behavioral problems than other children since they face high expectations and are part of families that are often under public scrutiny. The purpose of this study was to describe the social competencies and behavioral problems of a national sample of pastors' children, aged 4–16, and to compare them to age and sex standardized norms. Data were obtained on 98 children from a random sample of 62 families, using the Child Behavior Checklist. Results indicate that scores for both boys and girls at each age grouping fell within the acceptable norms for both social competencies and behavioral problems.     

Computational behavior dynamics: an alternative description of Nevin (1969).

A computational processing behavior-dynamic model was instantiated in the form of a computer program that "behaved" on the task developed by Nevin (1969). In this classic discrete-trials experiment, the relative frequency of choosing a response alternative matched the relative frequency of reinforcement for that alternative, the local structure of responding was opposite that predicted by momentary maximizing (i.e., the probability of a changeover decreased with run length), and absolute and relative response rates varied independently. The behavior-dynamic model developed here qualitatively reproduced these three results (but not in quantitative and specific detail) and also generated some interesting, as-yet-untested predictions about performance in Nevin's task. The model was discussed as an example of a stochastic behavior-dynamic alternative to algebraic behavior theory.     

A capacity theory of comprehension: individual differences in working memory.

A theory of the way working memory capacity constrains comprehension is proposed. The theory proposes that both processing and storage are mediated by activation and that the total amount of activation available in working memory varies among individuals. Individual differences in working memory capacity for language can account for qualitative and quantitative differences among college-age adults in several aspects of language comprehension. One aspect is syntactic modularity: The larger capacity of some individuals permits interaction among syntactic and pragmatic information, so that their syntactic processes are not informationally encapsulated. Another aspect is syntactic ambiguity: The larger capacity of some individuals permits them to maintain multiple interpretations. The theory is instantiated as a production system model in which the amount of activation available to the model affects how it adapts to the transient computational and storage demands that occur in comprehension.