Correspondence between psychological reports based on the Mini-Mult and the MMPI.

In order to assess the utility of the Mini-Mult with a university counseling center clientele, MMPI answer sheets of 10 students at the University of Miami Counseling Center were scored for both the MMPI and the Mini-Mult. Four judges completed psychological reports (Q-item questionnaires) based on the profiles. Correlations between judges' responses to MMPI and Mini-Mult profiles were calculated as an indication of the correspondence between the two tests. In addition, correlations between judges' responses to repeated presentations of MMPI profiles were calculated as an indication of the judges' reliability over time. The results do not support the use of the Mini-Mult with a university counseling center clientele.     

A developmental cross-sectioning of women's careers and marriage attitudes and life plans

A new cultural imperative, “marriage and a career,” is probably emerging. This conclusion is based on study of a random sample of 180 women (60 each) in junior high, high school, and college. Amazing consistency appeared in this cross-sectioning of women's attitudes toward Education, Occupation, Marriage, and life Plans. The cultural imperative “to marry” was present at age 12, but by adulthood, the biological surge for early marriage had been passed and/or fulfilled, and career emerged as part of a life pattern. As young women develop they become more liberal in their attitudes and desires about work, which can now be fulfilled because of the relaxing cultural interdiction against married women working.     

Contextual amplification of pubertal transition effects on deviant peer affiliation and externalizing behavior among African American children.

The effects of the pubertal transition on behavior problems and its interaction with family and neighborhood circumstances were examined with a sample of 867 African American children 10-12 years of age. Pubertal development status, pubertal timing, and primary caregivers' parenting behaviors were significantly related to affiliation with deviant peers and externalizing behaviors. Externalizing behavior among early-maturing children was associated positively with primary caregivers' use of harsh-inconsistent discipline and negatively with nurturant-involved parenting practices. Disadvantaged neighborhood conditions were significantly associated with deviant peer affiliation. The effect of pubertal transition varied according to family and neighborhood conditions: Early-maturing children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods were significantly more likely to affiliate with deviant peers. Early-maturing children with harsh and inconsistent parents were significantly more likely to have externalizing problems.     

Robust regression: Testing global hypotheses about the slopes when there is multicollinearity or heteroscedasticity

A well-known concern regarding the usual linear regression model is multicollinearity. As the strength of the association among the independent variables increases, the squared standard error of regression estimators tends to increase, which can seriously impact power. This paper examines heteroscedastic methods for dealing with this issue when testing the hypothesis that all of the slope parameters are equal to zero via a robust ridge estimator that guards against outliers among the dependent variable. Included are results related to leverage points, meaning outliers among the independent variables. In various situations, the proposed method increases power substantially.     

Comparing dependent correlations

In a recent article in The Journal of General Psychology, J. B. Hittner, K. May, and N. C. Silver (2003) described their investigation of several methods for comparing dependent correlations and found that all can be unsatisfactory, in terms of Type I errors, even with a sample size of 300. More precisely, when researchers test at the .05 level, the actual Type I error probability can exceed .10. The authors of this article extended J. B. Hittner et al.'s research by considering a variety of alternative methods. They found 3 that avoid inflating the Type I error rate above the nominal level. However, a Monte Carlo simulation demonstrated that when the underlying distribution of scores violated the assumption of normality, 2 of these methods had relatively low power and had actual Type I error rates well below the nominal level. The authors report comparisons with E. J. Williams' (1959) method.     

Adolescent Suicidal Ideation Subgroups and their Association with Suicidal Plans and Attempts in Young Adulthood

Suicidal ideation during adolescence is quite common. Longitudinal ideation patterns may predict adolescents at greatest risk of progressing to more serious suicidal behaviors. We enumerated suicidal ideation trajectory subgroups and estimated subgroup association with later suicidal plans and attempts using data collected across a 13‐year period from 552 Caucasian adolescents. Three subgroups were found: non‐ideators (no ideation), decreasers (ideation decreased), and increasers (ideation persisted or increased). Probability of planning a suicide was greatest among increasers (females: .54, males: 51, p < .01). Probability of attempting suicide was greatest among male decreasers (.36, p < .01) and female increasers (.25, p < .01).     

Tactile perception and the right hemisphere: A masculine superiority for imagery coding

Recent research regarding hemispheric lateralization has suggested complex interactions among observed asymmetries, subject coding strategies, and sex differences in the utilization of and access to information codes. Prior to tactile perception of ambiguous figures, subjects were instructed to use either a verbal (left hemisphere) or imagery (right hemisphere) strategy. A non-instruction control group was included. Although a significant overall relationship between instructed strategy and tactile asymmetries was observed, this largely was due to males' privileged access to right-hemisphere imagery codes.     

Romantic relationships in early adulthood: Influences of family,personality, and relationship cognitions

Two hundred and sixty‐five participants and their romantic partners were involved in a prospective, longitudinal, and multimethod study during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Guided by the development of the early adult romantic relationships (DEARR) model (Bryant & Conger, 2002), the research (a) investigated mid‐adolescent family experiences and individual differences in personality as predictors of qualities in the early adult romantic union and (b) evaluated the degree to which marital beliefs mediated these associations. Structural equation modeling partially supported the mediating effects of marital beliefs. The findings were generally consistent with the DEARR model, suggesting that it is informative to study early adult romantic relationship functioning within a developmental‐contextual framework, while simultaneously considering the unique effects of personality and relationship cognitions.