Some relationships between behavioral and traditional assessment

Psychometric principles and procedures were developed within the context of traditional approaches to assessment. In order to illustrate the frequent, if not uniform, applicability of these principles to behavior assessment, we first discuss the differences and similarities between traditional and behavioral assessment. We then point out ways in which, given the nature of behavior assessment, attention to certain psychometric principles and procedures would expedite the development of more adequate behavior assessment devices and procedures.     

Stability of Family Interaction from Ages 6 to 18

Research has demonstrated the stability of juvenile offending during childhood and adolescence but generally has not focused on the continuity of family interactions associated with juvenile offending. The present report focused on the stability of several family interaction events and attributes (i.e., physical punishment, communication, supervision, positive parenting, and parent–child relationship) for a large sample of male adolescents and their primary caretakers, drawn from a multiyear longitudinal study that represented middle childhood through late adolescence (ages 6–18). We also assessed the impact of ethnicity, family composition, teenage motherhood, and youth delinquency on these interactions. Test–retest correlations and growth-curve analyses were used to assess relative and absolute stability of the interactions, respectively. As predicted, relative stability of family interaction was high. There was an absolute change in scores of physical punishment (decreased) compared to poor supervision and low positive parenting (both increased), whereas poor communication and bad relationship with the caretaker did not measurably change with age. Single-parent families and families with teenage mothers experienced significantly worse interactions over time than did families consisting of two biological parents present in the household. These findings are discussed in relation to the development of juvenile offending.     

儿童2～4岁行为抑制的稳定性

采用实验室观察法研究了儿童行为抑制性发展的稳定性特征。被试为追踪样本,随机选取北京市124名儿童,经家长同意参加本项追踪项目。2岁时,有124名儿童参加本实验,在不同的陌生情景下对儿童行为进行录像观察,每次一对儿童和母亲。4岁时,有103名儿童参加实验室观察,21名儿童由于搬迁、失约或中途退出而没有数据;在观察室,每次邀请四名过完四岁生日不久的同龄、同性别、但父母评价害羞程度不同的、彼此陌生的儿童同时来到实验室作观察。结果表明：就整体而言,儿童在2岁时的行为抑制性特征与其4岁时的行为抑制性特征相关显著,但稳定性程度较低(0．294);通过对极端组和非极端组儿童的行为抑制性的稳定程度的比较发现,极端组儿童,无论是极端非抑制儿童还是极端抑制儿童,其行为特征的保持程度要好于非极端组;对儿童4岁时行为抑制性的性别差异检验虽然没有达到显著性水平(t＝-1．776,p＝0．079),但男孩总体上有非抑制性倾向(抑制性的平均分数为-0．2420),女孩有抑制性倾向(女孩的平均抑制性分数为0．2035)。     

气质稳定性与发展性新进展*

气质的稳定性和发展性是心理学研究争论已久的问题。遗传×环境的研究视角再次打破了传统研究模式,取而代之的是气质稳定性与发展性的共存,遵循传统先天论——环境论——先天论——先天论×环境论的总体发展态势。该视角在拓展气质研究领域的同时,也成为未来研究的主要取向。本文首先综述了由于研究手段的更新和多元化而引发的气质稳定性和发展性两方面的最新实证研究,探讨了稳定性中遗传基因加性效应和非加性效应、脑生理基础以及个体气质发展性的内部、外部影响因素。然后,从研究样本的年龄段、气质的生理机制和儿童气质的纵向研究、亲子互动及师生互动方面的研究等方面提出目前我国气质研究未来方向。     

Practical Reason and the Stability Standard

Practical reasoning, reasoning about what to do, is a very familiar activity. When we think about whether to cook or to go out for dinner, to buy a house or rent, or to study law or business, we are engaged in practical reasoning. If the kind of reasoning we engage in is truly a rational process, there must be some norms or standards that govern it; the process cannot be arbitrary or random. In this paper I argue that one of the standards that governs practical reasoning is the stability standard. The stability standard, I argue, is a norm that is constitutive of practical reasoning: insofar as we do not take violations of this norm to be relevant considerations, we do not count as engaged in reasoning at all. Furthermore, I argue that it is a standard we can explicitly employ in order to deliberate about our ends or desires themselves. Importantly, this standard will not require that some ends are prescribed or determined by reason alone. The stability standard, therefore, allows us to retain some of the attractive features of instrumentalism without accepting the implication that there is no rational way to evaluate ends.     

Applying Continuity Theory to Older Adult Friendships

Continuity theory provides a rationalization for understanding older adult friendships. Older adults do not have to anticipate disengagement but can exercise their choice to actively participate in establishing and maintaining friendship structures. The role of friend is one a person can choose to maintain. Friendships are dynamic and progress on a continuum with beginnings, periods of endurance and change, and endings. Continuity theory provides ways to understand why particular people have developed and adapted distinct friendship and social support networks. This insight provides social service professionals, gerontologists, and family members ways to enable older adults to remain in their communities longer and maintain support stability.     

Gender bias and construct validity in vocational interest measurement: Differential item functioning in the Strong Interest Inventory

Item response theory was used to address gender bias in interest measurement. Differential item functioning (DIF) technique, SIBTEST and DIMTEST for dimensionality, were applied to the items of the six General Occupational Theme (GOT) and 25 Basic Interest (BI) scales in the Strong Interest Inventory. A sample of 1860 women and 1105 men was used. The scales were not unidimensional and contain both primary and minor dimensions. Gender-related DIF was detected in two-thirds of the items. Item type (i.e., occupations, activities, school subjects, types of people) did not differ in DIF. A sex-type dimension was found to influence the responses of men and women differently. When the biased items were removed from the GOT scales, gender differences favoring men were reduced in the R and I scales but gender differences favoring women remained in the A and S scales. Implications for the development, validation and use of interest measures are discussed.     

The Crystallization of Contemporary Racial Prejudice across the Lifespan

The conventional wisdom is that racial prejudice remains largely stable through adulthood. However, very little is known about the development of contemporary racial attitudes like symbolic racism. The growing crystallization of symbolic racism through the lifespan is tested using two data sets that measure the stability, consistency, and predictive validity of symbolic racism in samples ranging in age from young adults to the elderly. The results provide evidence that the crystallization of symbolic racism generally takes on a curvilinear trajectory across the lifespan, showing that it is already largely crystallized by voting age, that it continues to crystallize still further through adulthood and that it begins to decline in coherence in late adulthood. The results generally provide evidence confirming early speculations of symbolic racism theorists concerning the crystallization of symbolic racism across the lifespan and are discussed in terms of different theoretical perspectives on the relationship between aging and attitudes more generally.     

Do Older Adults and Those Recovered from Low Back Injury Share Common Muscle Activation Adaptations?

Theoretical models suggest trunk muscle activation compensates for spinal systems impairments. The purpose of this study was to determine if two populations (older adults and those recovered from a lower back injury (rLBI)) with spinal system impairments have similar muscle activation patterns to each other, but differ from controls. Trunk electromyograms collected from 12 older adults, 16 rLBI, and 19 controls during two dynamic tasks showed that older adults and rLBI had higher activation amplitudes, sustained temporal and more synergistic activation relative to controls. However, differences found between older adults and rLBI suggest that spinal system impairments differed between groups or that recent pain (rLBI) uniquely influenced muscle activation. This sheds light on our understanding of the relationship between spinal system impairments and muscle activation.