How gender affects the relationship between hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions?

Five hundred and fifteen consumer responses are used to model the affect of online hedonic shopping motivation and online purchase intentions: moderated by the consumers' perceptions of their offline and online gendered behaviour. The model was applied across five product categories using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. We conclude that there is no online‐gender effect on hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions. However, offline‐gendered behaviour does significantly affect hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions for females across all product categories. Our findings support the proposition that gender is merely a prosthetic device of the private self and is an intentional manipulation and misrepresentation of the anonymous body. Online gender is a performance that is hidden by the technological veil from the offline space and public self, without social constraints or criticisms. Research implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Going beyond the facts: Young children extend knowledge by integrating episodes

The major question posed in this research was whether 4- and 6-year-olds productively extend their knowledge by integrating information acquired in separate episodes. The vehicle was a read-aloud activity during which children were presented with a novel fact in each of two passages. In Experiment 1, both age groups showed evidence of integration between the passages. For the 6-year-olds, the evidence came in the form of responses to open-ended questions. The 4-year-olds recognized the correct answers but did not generate them in the open-ended question format. The 6-year-olds who generated the correct answers also were likely to recall both of the individual facts presented in the passages. In Experiment 2, we tested whether the 4-year-olds’ integration performance would improve if their memory for the individual facts improved. Extra exposure to the individual facts resulted in higher levels of integration performance in both recall and recognition testing. The roles of memory and other potential sources of age-related differences in integration performance are discussed.     

Parent-school relationships and children's academic and social outcomes in public school pre-kindergarten

Two dimensions of parent-school relationships, parental school involvement and parents' perceptions of teacher responsiveness to child/parent, were examined in state-funded pre-kindergarten classrooms in a large urban school district. Children's social and academic outcomes were individually assessed in the fall and spring. Hierarchical Linear Modeling analyses revealed that parental school involvement positively predicted children's social skills (d = .55) and mathematics skills (d = .36), and negatively predicted problem behaviors (d = .47). Perceived teacher responsiveness to child/parent was positively related to children's early reading (d = .43), and social skills (d = .43), and negatively to problem behaviors (d = .61). All analyses controlled for quality of teacher interaction with children in the classroom, parental home involvement, parental education level, and child race/ethnicity.     

The Relationship Between Parent and Child Dysfunctional Beliefs About Sleep and Child Sleep

Cognitive theories emphasise the role of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep in the development and maintenance of sleep-related problems (SRPs). The present research examines how parents’ dysfunctional beliefs about children’s sleep and child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep are related to each other and to children’s subjective and objective sleep. Participants were 45 children aged 11–12 years and their parents. Self-report measures of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep and child sleep were completed by children, mothers and fathers. Objective measures of child sleep were taken using actigraphy. The results showed that child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep were correlated with father (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) and mother (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) reported child SRPs, and with Sleep Onset Latency (r = 0.34, p < 0.05). Maternal dysfunctional beliefs about child sleep were related to child SRPs as reported by mothers (r = 0.44, p < 0.05), and to child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep (r = 0.37, p < 0.05). Some initial evidence was found for a mediation pathway in which child dyfunctional beliefs mediate the relationship between parent dysfunctional beliefs and child sleep. The results support the cognitive model of SRPs and contribute to the literature by providing the first evidence of familial aggregation of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep.     

Identification of the 1PL Model with Guessing Parameter: Parametric and Semi-parametric Results

In this paper, we study the identification of a particular case of the 3PL model, namely when the discrimination parameters are all constant and equal to 1. We term this model, 1PL-G model. The identification analysis is performed under three different specifications. The first specification considers the abilities as unknown parameters. It is proved that the item parameters and the abilities are identified if a difficulty parameter and a guessing parameter are fixed at zero. The second specification assumes that the abilities are mutually independent and identically distributed according to a distribution known up to the scale parameter. It is shown that the item parameters and the scale parameter are identified if a guessing parameter is fixed at zero. The third specification corresponds to a semi-parametric 1PL-G model, where the distribution G generating the abilities is a parameter of interest. It is not only shown that, after fixing a difficulty parameter and a guessing parameter at zero, the item parameters are identified, but also that under those restrictions the distribution G is not identified. It is finally shown that, after introducing two identification restrictions, either on the distribution G or on the item parameters, the distribution G and the item parameters are identified provided an infinite quantity of items is available.     

On the Bayesian Nonparametric Generalization of IRT-Type Models

We study the identification and consistency of Bayesian semiparametric IRT-type models, where the uncertainty on the abilities’ distribution is modeled using a prior distribution on the space of probability measures. We show that for the semiparametric Rasch Poisson counts model, simple restrictions ensure the identification of a general distribution generating the abilities, even for a finite number of probes. For the semiparametric Rasch model, only a finite number of properties of the general abilities’ distribution can be identified by a finite number of items, which are completely characterized. The full identification of the semiparametric Rasch model can be only achieved when an infinite number of items is available. The results are illustrated using simulated data.     

Exploring and Promoting the College Attendance and Success of Racial/Ethnic Minority Students

Using consensual qualitative research methodology and being mindful of both challenges and successes, the authors explored diverse students’ experiences with higher education. The authors used semistructured interviews with 7 students with racial/ethnic minority backgrounds to investigate the circumstances under which these students decided to attend college and experienced success. Multiple factors that were reported to contribute to students’ college attendance and success emerged, including individual factors, psychological factors, social factors, and cultural/environmental factors. Utilizando una metodología de investigación cualitativa consensuada y teniendo en cuenta tanto los desafíos como los éxitos, los autores exploraron las experiencias de estudiantes diversos en la educación superior. Los autores usaron entrevistas semiestructuradas con 7 estudiantes de minorías raciales/étnicas para investigar las circunstancias en las que estos estudiantes decidieron cursar estudios universitarios y tuvieron éxito. Surgieron múltiples factores reportados que contribuyeron a la asistencia y al éxito de los estudiantes en la universidad, incluyendo factores individuales, factores psicológicos, factores sociales y factores culturales/del entorno.     

A Categorical Equivalence Motivated by Kalman’s Construction

An equivalence between the category of MV-algebras and the category \({{\rm MV^{\bullet}}}\) is given in Castiglioni et al. (Studia Logica 102(1):67–92, 2014). An integral residuated lattice with bottom is an MV-algebra if and only if it satisfies the equations \({a = \neg \neg a, (a \rightarrow b) \vee (b\rightarrow a) = 1}\) and \({a \odot (a\rightarrow b) = a \wedge b}\). An object of \({{\rm MV^{\bullet}}}\) is a residuated lattice which in particular satisfies some equations which correspond to the previous equations. In this paper we extend the equivalence to the category whose objects are pairs (A, I), where A is an MV-algebra and I is an ideal of A.     

How to fit and interpret multilevel models using SPSS

Hierarchic or multilevel models are used to analyse data when cases belong to known groups and sample units are selected both from the individual level and from the group level. In this work, the multilevel models most commonly discussed in the statistic literature are described, explaining how to fit these models using the SPSS program (any version as of the 11 th ) and how to interpret the outcomes of the analysis. Five particular models are described, fitted, and interpreted: (1) one-way analysis of variance with random effects, (2) regression analysis with means-as-outcomes, (3) one-way analysis of covariance with random effects, (4) regression analysis with random coefficients, and (5) regression analysis with means- and slopes-as-outcomes. All models are explained, trying to make them understandable to researchers in health and behaviour sciences.