Racial differences in birth outcomes: the role of general, pregnancy, and racism stress.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the role of psychosocial stress in racial differences in birth outcomes. DESIGN: Maternal health, sociodemographic factors, and 3 forms of stress (general stress, pregnancy stress, and perceived racism) were assessed prospectively in a sample of 51 African American and 73 non-Hispanic White pregnant women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The outcomes of interest were birth weight and gestational age at delivery. Only predictive models of birth weight were tested as the groups did not differ significantly in gestational age. RESULTS: Perceived racism and indicators of general stress were correlated with birth weight and tested in regression analyses. In the sample as a whole, lifetime and childhood indicators of perceived racism predicted birth weight and attenuated racial differences, independent of medical and sociodemographic control variables. Models within each race group showed that perceived racism was a significant predictor of birth weight in African Americans, but not in non-Hispanic Whites. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide further evidence that racism may play an important role in birth outcome disparities, and they are among the first to indicate the significance of psychosocial factors that occur early in the life course for these specific health outcomes.     

Does matter really matter? Computer simulations,experiments, and materiality

A number of recent discussions comparing computer simulation and traditional experimentation have focused on the significance of “materiality.” I challenge several claims emerging from this work and suggest that computer simulation studies are material experiments in a straightforward sense. After discussing some of the implications of this material status for the epistemology of computer simulation, I consider the extent to which materiality (in a particular sense) is important when it comes to making justified inferences about target systems on the basis of experimental results.     

Preferences for Life-Prolonging Medical Treatments and Deference to the Will of God

We defined and measured a dimension of religiosity frequently invoked in end-of-life (EOL) research—deference to God’s Will (GW)—and examined its relationship to preferences for life-prolonging treatments. In a 35-min telephone interview, 304 older men and women (60 +) were administered the 5-item GW scale, sociodemographic questions, three attitude items regarding length of life, and measures of two health indices, depression, and life-prolonging treatment preferences. The GW scale demonstrated internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .94) and predictive and discriminant validity. Higher scores indicative of greater deference to GW were associated with stronger life-prolonging treatment preferences in poor-prognosis scenarios. Implications for the role of religiosity in medical decision-making are discussed.     

Beyond cognition: predicting health risk behaviors from instrumental and affective beliefs.

OBJECTIVE: Two studies assessed the relative contribution of affective and instrumental beliefs to the prediction of 2 risk behaviors: driving above the speed limit and smoking. DESIGN: Both studies took the form of large-scale questionnaire surveys (Study 1, N=292; Study 2, N=500) measuring instrumental and affective beliefs and self-reported behavior. In both cases, behavior was also measured objectively. OUTCOME MEASURES: In Study 1, speeding behavior was measured via infrared camera along sections of road with 30 mph, 40 mph, and 60 mph speed limits. Self-reports of speeding in these same contexts represented a 2nd dependent variable. In Study 2, level of smoking was measured via a carbon monoxide monitor, and participants were asked to indicate the number of cigarettes they smoked in a week. RESULTS: In Study 1, positive and negative instrumental and affective beliefs were significant predictors of self-reported speed. The most powerful predictor was negative affective beliefs. Observed speed was predicted by negative affective beliefs only. In Study 2, the significant predictors of self-reported smoking and objective measures of smoking were positive and negative affective beliefs. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate the importance of affective beliefs across 2 health risk behaviors. Implications for social cognition models and interventions are discussed.     

"John thinks that Mary feels. . ." False belief in children across affective and physical domains

Children aged 5-8 years (N = 64) were given 3 first- and 3 second-order tasks testing their ability to represent false beliefs about physical facts, positive emotions, and negative emotions. The children were also asked to justify their responses to the test questions. Older children were more successful than younger children at both answering the test questions correctly and justifying their responses. On the first-order problems, performance was better on the physical fact task than on the emotions tasks; the reverse was true for the second-order problems. Children primarily used situational explanations to explain correct judgments on the physical problems, whereas mentalistic explanations were more common than situational explanations on 3 of the 4 emotions tasks. The results extend knowledge of false belief beyond the simple forms studied at the preschool level.     

Useful effect size interpretations for single case research

An obstacle to broader acceptability of effect sizes in single case research is their lack of intuitive and useful interpretations. Interpreting Cohen's d as "standard deviation units difference" and R2 as "percent of variance accounted for" do not resound with most visual analysts. In fact, the only comparative analysis widely supported in single case research (SCR) is "percent of nonoverlapping data." This article explores five alternative interpretations of Cohen's d and R2 effect sizes that may be more acceptable to the SCR field. They are: (a) Cohen's (Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum) "Percent of Nonoverlapping Data" (CPND), (b) Parker et al.'s (Parker, R.I., Cryer, J., Byrns, G., 2006. Controlling trend in single case research. School Psychology Quarterly, 21, 418-440, Parker, R.I., Hagan-Burke, S., Vannest, K., in press. Percent of all non-overlapping data (PAND): An alternative to PND. Journal of Special Education) "Percent of All Nonoverlapping Data" (PAND), (c) Rosenthal et al. (Rosenthal, R., Rosnow, R., & Rubin, D. (2000). Contrasts and effect sizes in behavioral research: A correlational approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) "Binomial Effect Size Display" (BESD), (d) "Percentile Rank in Control Group" (PR), and (e) McGraw and Wong's (McGraw, K. O., & Wong, S. P. (1992). A common language effect-size statistic. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 361-365) "Common Language Effect Size" (CLES). Each of the five interpretation schemes are applied to a published data set and are evaluated according to (a) intuitive appeal, (b) relevance to visual analysis, (c) ease of calculation, and (d) technical adequacy. Three of the five appear to be improvements over prevailing practice.     

Effects of bilateral eye movements on gist based false recognition in the DRM paradigm

The effects of saccadic bilateral (horizontal) eye movements on gist based false recognition was investigated. Following exposure to lists of words related to a critical but non-studied word participants were asked to engage in 30s of bilateral vs. vertical vs. no eye movements. Subsequent testing of recognition memory revealed that those who undertook bilateral eye movement were more likely to correctly recognise previously presented words and less likely to falsely recognise critical non-studied associates. This result joins other research in demonstrating the conditions in which false memory effects can be attenuated.     

Relationships between self-determination theory and theory of planned behavior applied to physical activity and exercise behavior in chronic pain

This study examined the relationships between self-determination theory (SDT) and theory of planned behavior (TpB) applied to physical activity and exercise behavior (PA&E) in people with chronic pain. Two hundred and eleven adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain (28 males and 183 females, age range 18 to 82 years, mean age 43 years) were recruited from online support groups and clinic networks in the United States. Participants completed SDT measures relevant to PA&E on perceived autonomy support, autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as well as TpB measures relevant to PA&E on intention, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Correlational techniques and canonical correlation analysis were performed to examine the relationships and variance within and between theoretical dimensions. Overall, the SDT set accounted for 37% of the TpB variance and the TpB set accounted for 32% of the SDT set variance. The results indicate there are statistical similarities and differences between concepts in SDT and TpB models for PA&E. Using both empirical guidance and clinical expertise, researchers and practitioners should attempt to select and integrate non-redundant and complementary components from SDT, TpB, and other related health behavior theories.     

Systematic review of the psychometric properties of transphobia scales

Introduction: Prejudice and discrimination against transgender individuals (i.e., transphobia) is pervasive and has been shown to have pernicious effects on the physical (e.g., substance abuse and other self-harm behaviors) and psychological (e.g., depression and suicidal ideation) well-being of those targeted.

Aims: To date, a review of the psychometric properties of scales assessing transphobia has not been conducted; this gap compromises researchers' ability to make informed measurement decisions.

Methods: In the current study, 61 articles that contained 83 scales were identified, and their adherence to best practices in psychometric testing was evaluated.

Results: Most of the transphobia scales included in the current review did not provide sufficient information about item generation and refinement, scale dimensionality, scale score reliability, or validity. Each scale was entered into a table and was ranked on the basis of its total score. A score of 1 was issued for each psychometric feature that adhered to best practice guidelines, with total scores ranging from 0 to 5 (i.e., higher scores denote greater psychometric soundness).

Discussion: Properties of the reviewed scales are summarized and recommendations are made for future transphobia scale development and validation. The measures that emerged as possessing the highest scores and, subsequently, the greatest utility are identified.