Impact of Behavioral Intention on Effectiveness of Message Features Evidence From the Family Sun Safety Project

The effectiveness of messages with different logical styles might change, regardless of factual content, depending on receiver intent to practice prevention. Predictions based on reactance theory, postdecisional regret, and language expectancy theory were tested in a study altering logical style (inductive versus deductive) and language intensity in messages to parents advocating family sun safety. A prediction that deductively formatted messages would be inferior for parents not intending to act was confirmed in analyses of their reported sun protection, supporting a reactance theory explanation. For parents with mixed intentions to increase protection for themselves or their children, deductive messages were most effective, consistent with postdecisional regret processes. High language intensity enhanced both effects. Reactance effects among nonintenders completely disappeared in a follow-up survey, but language intensity effects remained. The influence of message features varies by stage of progression to action, which has practical implications for tailoring health communication to individual needs.     

SIGNIFICANCE TESTS AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS FOR THE ADVERSE IMPACT RATIO

The two most common methods for assessing adverse impact, the four-fifths rule and the z -test for independent proportions, often produce discrepant results. These discrepancies are due to the focus on practical versus statistical significance, and on differing operational definitions of adverse impact. In order to provide a more consistent framework for evaluating adverse impact, a new significance test is proposed, which is based on the same effect size as the four-fifths rule. Although this new test was found to have slightly better statistical power under some conditions, both tests have low power under the typical conditions where adverse impact is assessed. An alternative to significance testing would be to report an estimate of the adverse impact ratio along with a confidence interval indicating the degree of precision in the estimate.     

Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems: Vl. Theoretical Update

This paper updates the theoretical work on the Circumplex Model and provides revised and new hypotheses. Similarities and contrasts to the Beavers Systems Model are made along with comments regarding Beavers and Voeller's critique. FACES II, a newly revised assessment tool, provides both "perceived" and "ideal" family assessment that is useful empirically and clinically.