Cross-sectional,longitudinal and composite longitudinal data on the Career Maturity Inventory Attitude Scale

Longitudinal data collection designs are frequently used in the study of developmental variables but typically yield patterns of results that are different from those obtained using cross-sectional designs. Recent research has focused on ways to clarify and reconcile the methodological distinctions between these two designs by utilizing alternative designs that incorporate features of both. This investigation compared the results obtained by the two traditional designs on the Career Maturity Inventory-Attitude Scale with the effects of an alternative design: constructing a composite longitudinal gradient. The two traditional methodologies yielded different results from each other for males, but not for females. However, the alternative design failed to eliminate the obtained differences for males, and introduced differences for females, casting doubt on the efficacy of the “solution.” The implications of these results for developmental research and career maturity were discussed.     

Consistent curricular choice and congruence of subsequent changes

Curriculum choices of 324 male and 157 female liberal arts students who took the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) during freshman orientation were classified as congruent or incongruent on the basis of rated correspondence between three-letter codes derived from (SCII) Holland theme scales and expressed curricular choice. The choices of those subjects reporting one or more changes in five semesters were examined for level of congruence using a two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures. While serious methodological limitations are noted, analysis of variance procedures indicated that congruent subjects tended to be more stable, more differentiated, and more academically oriented than incongruent subjects. Among subjects who reported one or more changes, Artistic subjects decreased in congruence while Investigative subjects showed no overall change. Results are discussed in terms of recent theory and previous research.     

Investigative versus realistic Holland types and adjustment in theoretical engineering majors

This study tested the sensitivity of J. L. Holland's (Making vocational choices: A theory of careers, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973) congruence method for predicting differential outcomes in the case of subtle person-environment congruence differences. This question is relevant to engineering programs, where students with adjacent Holland orientations of Investigative (I) and Realistic (R) aspire to complete theoretically oriented engineering majors, such as electrical and mechanical engineering. It was hypothesized that high congruence (e.g., I-type student in I-type engineering major) compared to moderately high congruence (e.g., R-type in I-type major) would result in more positive educational outcomes. A preliminary analysis verified that subgroups of I- and R-type students possessed similar scores on measures of general and math aptitude. Results on both outcome measures favored the high student-curriculum congruence hypothesis. I- compared to R-type subjects demonstrated greater persistence in their initial engineering major over a 2-year period and attained higher grades. Persistence findings replicated across two separate classes of entering students, but academic performance differences were not as consistent.     

Cluster analysis in school psychology: An example

This investigation demonstrates the use of Ward's method of cluster analysis to uncover the underlying classification structure in a group of children (N = 200) referred for psychological evaluations by their public school teachers. Data were acquired on children's intellectual development, academic achievement, and social adjustment. The cluster solution identifies six groups of children which are statistically distinct. All three measurement areas are important in distinguishing among the different groups. The six-group solution accounted for appreciable amounts (95%) of the variability in the three measurement areas. Implications for psychologists working in the schools are discussed.     

The importance of including quality-of-life indices in international social and economic development activities

Psychology has not been a visible player in international social and economic development efforts. Through its demonstrated commitment to the concept of quality of life, psychology has an opportunity to help shape foreign policy and to improve the lives of countless people around the globe. Poverty has reached unacceptable limits of humanitarian tolerance and political consequence throughout the world. The United Nations estimates that 20% of the world's population now lives in conditions of absolute poverty in which there is an absence of even the bare essentials for living. Social and economic development efforts have often failed despite good intentions because they have often concentrated on improving peoples' material level of living but not their quality of life. This article addresses the need to include quality-of-life (QOL) indices in international social and economic development efforts. In addition, the article calls attention to the need to use valid cross-cultural measurement strategies (i.e., culturally equivalent) when assessing QOL across cultural and national boundaries. Current approaches to social and economic development rely heavily on interventions that do not reflect the actual peoples' perceptions of life satisfaction and subjective well-being. Self-serving political and economic national interests have kept new approaches to development from being implemented. New interventions must be holistic, decentralized, integrated, empowering, participatory, and human-resource directed, and must include culturally equivalent objective and subjective quality-of-life indices as the arbiters of success.     

The educational pyramid: A model for community intervention

Urban adolescents represent a group who are at special risk for a variety of psychological and behavioral problems. A life skills program was implemented with middle and high school students, using an educational pyramid approach to maximize the ecological appropriateness of the intervention and to increase the likelihood that the program will be continued with progressively lessened university facilitation. Additionally, the educational pyramid offers the opportunity for all participants—university faculty, graduate students, collaborating professionals in the community, and high school leaders—to be both teachers and learners.     

Attachment and social support mediate associations between Polyvictimization and psychological distress in early adolescence

The current study assesses associations between multiple experience of traumatic events (polyvictimization), PTSD symptoms (PTSS) and psychiatric symptoms in early adolescence, and explores the mediating roles of attachment orientations and perceived social support in the associations between polyvictimization, PTSS and psychiatric symptoms. In 2001, a representative national sample of 390 Danish eighth-graders (M = 13.95, SD = .37) completed validated self-report questionnaires. Polyvictimization was related to higher PTSS and psychiatric symptoms. Importantly, polyvictimization was significantly linked to high attachment anxiety, which was linked with low perceived social support, which in turn was linked with high PTSS levels and psychiatric symptoms. Polyvictimization might have dire consequences in early adolescence. An individual's high attachment anxiety might be connected with lack of perceived social support, which should be seen as a possible psychological distress mechanism subsequent to exposure to a number of potentially traumatic events.