Validation of the German version of the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI) and the Driver Social Desirability Scales (DSDS)

The psychometric properties of the new German versions of the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI) and the Driver Social Desirability Scales (DSDS) were examined. The DSI is a self-report measure assessing perceptual-motor skills and the safety motive as two important aspects of driving behavior. Self-report measures, however, are susceptible to socially desirable responding (SDR) which is why both general and specific driving-related SDR scales have been developed: Based on the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR), the DSDS taps Driver Impression Management and Driver Self-Deception as two important aspects of SDR. In two validation studies with less experienced (N = 130) and experienced drivers (N = 1199), both inventories showed the expected two-factor structure and satisfactory internal consistency. In Study 1, self-ratings were compared with and confirmed by peer-ratings. In both studies, we accumulated evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the German version of the DSI by correlating it with demographic, driving-specific, and personality measures, including the Big Five, Type A behavior, and sensation seeking. The DSI seemed to be only marginally contaminated by SDR.     

Latent Trait Modeling with the Common beliefs Survey III: Using Item Response Theory to Evaluate an Irrational Beliefs Inventory

Assessment of irrational beliefs by such measures as the Common Beliefs Survey III (CBS) has traditionally relied upon classical test theory assumptions, in which the properties of specific test items are less important than the total test score as the aggregate of all item responses. An alternative approach using item response theory (IRT) methodology allows one to specify the parameters of difficulty and discrimination for each test item. Difficulty levels of CBS items range along a continuum of irrationality, the implied latent trait measured by responses to the questionnaire as a whole. We evaluated the CBS responses of 605 individuals from clinical and college settings, drawing from current and archival data. The original Likert scale ratings were recoded into dichotomous scores. Fourteen of the 54 items were highly or very highly discriminating in distinguishing respondents with high and low irrationality levels. However, discriminating items exhibited a very narrow range of difficulty; most functioned at a point a little above the halfway mark on the continuum of irrationality. Item characteristic curves and test information curves were very similar for female (n = 424) and male (n = 179) respondents. We derived a 4-item screening test for irrationality from our IRT analyses of the 54 CBS items. Further test development, focused on the selection and scaling of items with a much broader range of difficulty, would facilitate evaluation of the hierarchical structure of irrational beliefs. Portions of this paper were presented at the 39th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Washington, DC, November, 2005.     

Higher-order exploratory factor analysis of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales with a referred sample

The factor structure of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS; [Reynolds, C.R., & Kamphaus, R.W. (2003). Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.]) was investigated with a large (N = 1163) independent sample of referred students (ages 6-18). More rigorous factor extraction criteria (viz., Horn's parallel analysis (HPA); [Horn, J.L. (1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30, 179-185.], and Minimum Average Partial (MAP) analysis; [Velicer, W.F. (1976). Determining the number of components from the matrix of partial correlations. Psychometrika, 41, 321-327.]), in addition to those used in RIAS development, were investigated. Exploratory factor analyses using both orthogonal and oblique rotations and higher-order exploratory factor analyses using the Schmid and Leiman [Schmid, J., and Leiman, J.M. (1957). The development of hierarchical factor solutions. Psychometrika, 22, 53-61.] procedure were conducted. All factor extraction criteria indicated extraction of only one factor. Oblique rotations resulted in different results than orthogonal rotations, and higher-order factor analysis indicated the largest amount of variance was accounted for by the general intelligence factor. The proposed three-factor solution was not supported. Implications for the use of the RIAS with similarly referred students are discussed.     

PERCEIVING NATURAL EVIL THROUGH THE LENS OF DIVINE GLORY? A CONVERSATION WITH CHRISTOPHER SOUTHGATE

Finding a way to come to terms with the disvalues in the evolutionary world is a particular challenge in the light of Neo‐Darwinian theories. In this article I trace the shift in Christopher Southgate's work from a focus on theodicy to a theologian of glory. I am critical of his rejection of the tradition of the Fall, his incorporation of disvalues into the work of divine Glory, and the specific theological weight given to scientific content. I offer a critique of Holmes Rolston III's approach to the valuation of nature that I believe has influenced Southgate's theology. Constructively, I offer an alternative that seeks to recover an understanding of the origin of evil and the Adamic event that draws on the work of Paul Ricoeur. I also draw on the work of anthropologist Tim Ingold for an alternative philosophical approach to evolution which opens up a space for a recovery of the concepts of creaturely Sophia and shadow Sophia in the work of Sergius Bulgakov.     

Studying the ecclesiology of a national church: the Danish context

Studying the ecclesiology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark is a complicated matter. It requires knowledge of a broad range of subjects such as theology, political science, history, and anthropology. This article shows some of the difficulties and problems related to studying a national church which is heavily politicised, because a national church, in a globalised context, easily becomes the symbol of a past identification of nation, state, church, and people. Today, this identification is changing because of immigration, secular ideologies, and secularisation. Researchers in ecclesiology must be aware of the political and national dimensions of their research and how their conclusions are used in the political debate.     

Reconsidering the Factor Structure of the Beavers Interactional Scales: Do External Ratings Mirror Self-Reports?

Factor analytic studies indicate that family relationships assessed by self-reports may be most clearly and parsimoniously differentiated along three dimensions, namely, Affective Expression, Behavioral Control, and Shared Activity. The present study explored the question of whether this were true of family ratings by outside parties. Confirmatory factor analysis was used with three data sets (n = 97, 91, and 95; N = 283) employing the Beavers Interactional Scales of family functioning. Multicollinearity of the observed variables was a pervasive problem. When the redundancy of the observed variables was pared down so that there were two observed variables for each latent factor, these three factors in oblique relationship provided a good fit to the observed data.     

Comparative relationships of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS-R) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) to the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS)

This study investigated whether the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale — Revised (WAIS-R) and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) demonstrate similar patterns of relationship with the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS). Sixty VA patients were administered the WAIS-R and WMS and 60 completed the WAIS and WMS. The groups were comparable in terms of demographic variables. Pearson correlations were computed between the subtest and IQ scores from the intelligence scales and the scores from the WMS for each group. Comparison of the resulting correlations for the WAIS-R group with those of the WAIS subjects demonstrated only four significant differences, indicating that the WAIS-R and WAIS variables covary in a similar manner with the WMS scores. Following factor analysis of the test data for both groups, coefficients of congruence indicated a high degree of similarity between the two factor solutions. Essentially the same relationships emerged between intelligence variables and the WMS regardless of which scale was administered.     

Predicting preschool motor and cognitive performance in appropriate-for-gestational-age children born at ≤ 32 weeks gestation

Although many follow-up studies have been performed on preterm infants, little attention has been devoted to prediction of motor skills in the preschool or school years. We studied the relationship of performance on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at a mean corrected age of 21 months to performance on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities at a mean corrected age of 44.7 months for 43 appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) children born at ≤ 32 weeks gestation. Motor scores were stable over time with a significant correlation between the Bayley Psychomotor Developmental Index (PDI) and the McCarthy Motor subscale (r = 0.60; p = 0.0001). Scores of cognitive abilities also showed a significant correlation between the Bayley Mental Developmental Index (MDI) and the McCarthy General Cognitive Index (r = 0.42; p = 0.009). Small-for-gestational-age (SGA), very low-birthweight (≤ 1500 grams) children scored lower on the McCarthy General Cognitive Index (p = 0.01) and on the Motor subscale (p = 0.047) than the AGA children. We concluded that motor performance of AGA children born at ≤ 32 weeks gestation is stable from toddlerhood to preschool age. We suggest that SGA children be excluded from studies of motor performance of prematurely born children.     

Differential validity of the Gottschalk-Gleser Anxiety Scales: is gender a moderator variable?

It can be hypothesized that affects like anxiety can be measured by content analysis of speech due to the phenomenon of mood congruent memory, which is found predominantly in females. To assess the effect of gender on the validity of the Gottschalk-Gleser Anxiety Scales, the standard procedure for obtaining verbal samples was followed and self-report measurements of comparable emotional constructs were applied concurrently. Measures of state and trait emotions were administered to 25 female and 25 male university students. In the female group 18 significant convergent validity coefficients were found. For males, content analytic anxiety scores showed four significant correlations with concurrent self-report scales. These results suggest that content analytic anxiety scores from female subjects may allow a more accurate prediction of state and trait emotions than anxiety scores from male subjects. Thus, gender might have a differential effect on the validity of the Gottschalk-Gleser Anxiety Scales.     

Kinetics of persistent photoconductivity in crystalline III–V semiconductors

Although persistent photocurrent (PPC) in photoconductive III–V semiconductors is known to be dominated by dispersive reaction kinetics, which produce a stretched exponential function decay, exp[?(t/τ)^β], where τ is the effective reaction time and β (<1.0) is the dispersion parameter, the reason for the occurrence of the PPC is still not clear. Here, we discuss the origin of dispersive kinetic relaxation associated with a DX-like centre, i.e. deep levels associated with donors in III–V semiconductors. It is suggested that lattice relaxation of DX-like centres, accompanied by multi-phonon processes, may play a role in the dispersive nature of the PPC.