The accessibility of characters in single sentences: proper names,common nouns,and first mention

Accessibility of characters in two-character sentences (e.g., The butler helped Calvin at the wedding reception) was investigated with a probe recognition task. Probes were either the first character (e.g., butler) or the second character (e.g., Calvin) in a sentence and were designated by proper names or common nouns crossed with name or noun nonprobes. Results show that (1) probes in first position are more accessible than those in second position, but not when noun probes are paired with name nonprobes, (2) characters designated by names are generally more accessible than those designated by nouns, and (3) the first name in a sentence is more available than other characters, regardless of position. Thus, accessibility of characters in a sentence seems dependent on discourse function, with named characters seen as main characters, rather than on nondiscourse-related factors, such as temporal distinctiveness.     

Measuring socioeconomic status: reliability and preliminary validity for different approaches

This study investigated issues related to commonly used socioeconomic status (SES) measures in 140 participants from three cities (Atlanta, Boston, and Toronto) in two countries (United States and Canada). Measures of SES were two from the United States (four-factor Hollingshead scale, Nakao and Treas scale) and one from Canada (Blishen, Carroll, and Moore scale). Reliability was examined both within (interrater agreement) and across (intermeasure agreement) measures. Interrater reliability and classification agreement was high for the total sample (ranger = .86 to .91), as were intermeasure correlations and classification agreement (range r = .81 to .88). The weakest agreement across measures was found when families had one wage earner who was female. Validity data for these SES measures with academic and intellectual measures also were obtained. Some support for a simplified approach to measuring SES was found. Implications of these findings for the use of SES in social and behavioral science research are discussed.     

Methylphenidate in treatment of adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can persist into adulthood with a continuation of the pattern of childhood psychopathology, cognition and functioning. Adult comorbidities include substance use disorders, antisocial personality disorder, anxiety, and depression. Studies have shown that as in children, methylphenidate treatment for adults can lead to a robust, dose-dependent improvement in ADHD symptoms. Future research is needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of long-term treatment with methylphenidate (MPH).     

Cerebral palsy in very preterm infants: new epidemiological insights

The focus of this review is on new insights from recent epidemiological research on cerebral palsy in preterm infants. These include: 1) a better understanding of issues related to diagnosis and classification; 2) new information about the brain abnormalities underlying cerebral palsy in preterm infants; and 3) a better understanding of biological mechanisms that may underlie previously described epidemiological associations. Ongoing efforts to improve the diagnosis and classification of cerebral palsy have been enhanced by findings from serial examinations of cohorts of very preterm infants. Cranial ultrasonography through the anterior fontanelle of very preterm infants has provided information about grossly evident brain damage, found in about one-half of preterm infants who develop cerebral palsy. Insights into the pathophysiologic basis for certain epidemiologic associations have come from studies of experimental brain damage in animals and clinical studies of neurologic disorders in adults. Much of the current epidemiological research into the causes of cerebral palsy in preterm infants has focused on two potential mechanisms of brain damage. One mechanism involves insufficient cerebral perfusion; the other, cytokine-mediated damage, potentially triggered by events such as maternal infection (e.g., intrauterine or periodontal infection), neonatal infection (e.g., sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis), and neonatal oxygen- or ventilator-induced lung injury. In addition to the preterm infant's increased exposure to such damaging factors, the high frequency of cerebral palsy in these infants might be due, in part, to insufficient levels of developmentally regulated protective substances, such as thyroid hormone and glucocorticoids. Models of causation currently are being investigated using recently developed methods for quantifying, with small quantities of blood, biomolecules that are suspected to either promote or protect against brain damage in the neonate. Clinical investigations now under way can be expected to identify strategies to be tested in clinical trials that could lower the risk of cerebral palsy in very preterm infants.     

Primary care physicians attitude toward diagnosis and treatment of late-life depression

Underdiagnosis and undertreatment of late-life depression is common, especially in primary care settings. To help assess whether physicians attitude and confidence in diagnosing and managing depression serve as barriers to care, a total of 176 physicians employed in 18 primary care groups were administered surveys to assess attitudes towards diagnosis, treatment, and management of depression in elderly patients, (individuals over 65 years of age). Logistic regression was performed to assess the association of physician characteristics on attitudes. Nearly all of the physicians surveyed felt that depression in the elderly was a primary care problem, and 41% reported late-life depression as the most common problem seen in older patients. Physicians were confident in their ability to diagnose and manage depression, yet 45% had no medical education on depression in the previous three years. Physicians confidence in their ability to diagnose, treat, and manage depression, and their reported adequacy of training, do not appear to correspond to the amount of continuing medical education in depression, suggesting that physician overconfidence may potentially be serving as a barrier to care.     

Effects of task performance and contextual performance on systemic rewards

Evidence from 2 samples of Air Force mechanics supported the hypothesis that contextual performance affects employees' career advancement and rewards over time. Results of hierarchical regressions controlling for experience showed task performance and contextual performance each predicted systemic rewards. Each facet explained separate variance in promotability ratings over 2 years. In both samples, contextual performance explained separate variance in informal rewards but task performance did not. Task performance explained incremental variance in career advancement 1 year later but contextual performance did not. Analyses using correlations corrected for unreliability suggest these results cannot be attributed to measurement error. Contextual performance still explained separate variance in informal rewards, and task performance explained distinct variance in career advancement a year later.     

Test of the cross-cultural generalizability of a model of sexual harassment

Sexual harassment research has been primarily limited to examination of the phenomena in U.S. organizations; attempts to explore the generalizability of constructs and theoretical models across cultures are rare. This study examined (a) the measurement equivalence of survey scales in U.S. and Turkish samples using mean and covariance structure analysis and (b) the generalizability of the L. F. Fitzgerald, F. Drasgow, C. L. Hulin, M. J. Gelfand, and V. J. Magley (1997) model of sexual harassment to the Turkish context using structural equations modeling. Analyses used questionnaire data from 336 Turkish women and 455 women from the United States. The results indicate that, in general, the survey scales demonstrate measurement equivalence and the pattern of relationships in the Fitzgerald et al. model generalizes to the Turkish culture. These results support the usefulness of the model for explaining sexual harassment experiences in a variety of organizational and cultural contexts.     

Stress and alcohol use: a daily process examination of the stressor-vulnerability model

The authors used a daily diary methodology to examine over 60 days how the within-person associations among event stress, alcohol consumption, and desire to drink varied as a function of gender, positive and negative alcohol-outcome expectancies, and avoidant coping in a sample of 88 regular drinkers. Multilevel regression analyses indicated that men who more strongly anticipated positive outcomes or a sense of carelessness from drinking drank relatively more on stressful days compared with low-stress days. Similar results were found predicting desire to drink. Men who anticipated greater impairment from drinking drank relatively less on stressful days. In general, these effects did not hold for women. Little evidence was found for the predicted effects for avoidant coping style, and some results showed that avoidant coping style buffered the exacerbating effects of careless unconcern expectancies.     

Interpretation of a full-information item-level factor analysis of the MMPI-2: normative sampling and nonpathognomonic descriptors

An exploratory item-level full-information factor analysis was performed on the normative sample for the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989). This method of factor analysis, developed by Schilling and Bock (Bock & Schilling, 1997) and based on item response theory, works directly with the response patterns and avoids the artifacts associated with phi coefficients and tetrachoric coefficients. Promax rotation of the factor solution organizes the clinical scale items into 10 factors that we labeled Distrust, Self-Doubt, Fitness, Serenity, Rebelliousness, Instrumentality, Irritability, Artistry, Sociability, and Self-Reliance. A comparison was made to the results of Johnson, Butcher, Null, and Johnson (1984), who performed a principal-component analysis on an item set of 550 items from the previous version of the MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943). Along with version changes and sampling differences, the essential differences between Johnson et al.'s results and ours may be attributed to differences between the Schilling and Bock method, which uses all information in the item responses, and the principal-component analysis, which uses the partial information contained in pairwise correlation coefficients. This study included 518 of the complete 567 items of the MMPI-2, versus Johnson et al.'s retention of 309 of the initially included 550 items of the previous MMPI. The full-information analysis retained all 518 initially included items and more evenly distributed the items over the 10 resulting factors, all sharply defined by their highest loading items and easy to interpret. Sampling effects and factor label considerations are discussed, along with recommendations for research that would validate the clinical utility of the implied scales for describing normal personality profiles. The full-information procedure provides for Bayes estimation of scores on these scales.