Multidimensional assessment of family involvement among urban elementary students

Family involvement in children's education is fundamental for academic success. This study extended the research on the Family Involvement Questionnaire for Early Childhood (FIQ-EC) by further developing the measure and testing its use with low-income urban elementary students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses affirmed three salient and reliable family involvement dimensions for a large sample of urban first- through fifth-grade students: Home-based Involvement, School-based Involvement, and Home–School Communication. Multivariate analyses demonstrated the significance of caregiver educational background, family characteristics, and child gender to involvement dimensions. Caregiver age or children's grade level did not significantly relate to family involvement dimensions. This study contributes to evidence for a multidimensional understanding of family involvement.     

辽宁省农村不同经济水平地区居民医疗保健需要、需求与利用

对2001年对辽宁省农村医疗保健需要、需求和利用进行调查.样本选择主要根据不同地区经济水平,抽取9个县、27个乡、54个村,共调查了1084户、3 812人.分析了不同经济水平地区农村居民的患病率、医疗服务利用频率、就医流向、医疗费用支出水平及其在家庭支出中的比例、患病未利用原因及比例的差异和特征.并分析了医疗需要和利用的变化状况,调查对象对农村医疗保障形式的意愿.研究结果揭示低经济水平地区居民高需要、低需求、未就医率高、医疗费用负担重的状况.     

人员选拔中的不准确性来源及对策

在组织人员选拔中存在着一些不准确性来源．这些不准确性直接影响组织人员招募与配置的效果。该文从主观和客观两个维度探讨了人员选拔中的不准确性来源,并提出了减少人员选拔中不准确性来源的对策。     

中国大学生面众恐惧的心理测量学再探

针对《心理科学》2011年第3期发表的《大学生面众交流恐惧的心理测量学初探》研究中存在的不足,通过理论与实践的深入反思,重新设计、研制了调查中国大学生面众恐惧的调研工具。在我国东、南、西、北、中各大地区随机抽取了17个省（市）共24所高校,用含有79个题项的预测量表进行预测,获得1057个有效预测样本,再将其划分为两组样本,分别进行探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析,研究结果表明：《中国大学生面众交流恐惧调查量表》（修订版）修订为新的四个维度和32个题项后,更能覆盖大学生面众恐惧现象的各个主要方面,量表具有更高的信效度,更好地达到了心理测量学的要求;四个维度分别是上台恐惧、面试恐惧、办事恐惧、团组与校外交流恐惧,可作为中国大学生面众交流恐惧的调研工具。     

交流恐惧至中国大学生面众恐惧研究发展轨迹

美国学者McCroskey最早使用交流恐惧这一概念并编制了交流恐惧自陈量表等调研工具,此后有研究者对交流恐惧进行本土化研究。国外学者对交流恐惧产生的原因作了多方面的分析探讨和干预研究;中国学者对交流恐惧的研究主要以大学生为研究对象,在2007年发展了面众恐惧研究,编制了《中国大学生面众恐惧调查量表》并提出了相应矫治对策,给大学生乃至中小学生的心理素质与心理健康教育提供了一条密切联系实际的培养训练途径。     

Modeling the Information Preferences of Parents of Children with Mental Health Problems: A Discrete Choice Conjoint Experiment

Although materials informing parents about children’s mental health (CMH) problems can improve outcomes, we know relatively little about the design factors that might influence their utilization of available resources. We used a discrete choice conjoint experiment to model the information preferences of parents seeking mental health services for 6 to 18 year olds. Parents completed 30 choice tasks presenting experimentally varied combinations of 20 four-level CMH information content, transfer process, and outcome attributes. Latent class analysis revealed three segments with different preferences. Parents in the Action segment (43%) chose materials providing step-by-step solutions to behavioral or emotional problems. They preferred weekly meetings with other parents and coaching calls from a therapist. The Information segment (41%) chose materials helping them understand rather than solve their child’s problems. These parents were more sensitive to logistical factors such as receiving information in groups, the location where information was available, the modality in which the information was presented, and the time required to obtain and use the information. The Overwhelmed segment (16%) reported more oppositional and conduct problems, felt their children’s difficulties exerted a greater adverse impact on family functioning, and reported higher personal depression scores than those in the Action or Information segments. Nonetheless, they did not choose information about, or solutions to, the problems their children presented. Simulations predicted that maximizing utilization and realizing the potential benefits of CMH information would require knowledge transfer strategies consistent with each segment’s preferences.

BENCHMARKS AFFECT PERCEPTIONS OF PRIOR DISABILITY IN A STRUCTURED INTERVIEW

Though covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, job candidates with a record of a disability may be adversely evaluated. Two experiments demonstrate that subtle knowledge of a prior disability creates a bias that can be removed by a structured interview. A job candidate was labeled as having once suffered from depression, substance abuse, cancer, or no disability. The candidate who once suffered from depression or substance abuse was judged more negatively than a control candidate, while a cancer survivor was not. Though disabilities are not perceived equally, benchmarked rating scales can enhance attention to relevant behaviors, thus controlling the potential for bias.We thank Steven Gregson, Michael Records and Cynthia Strickland for their help with pilot studies. Shawn Bocketti is now with IBM, Stephen Maser is with Linkage Incorporated, and Craig Wennet is with the United States Coast Guard.     

Adolescent perceptions of overall family system functioning and parental behaviors

We used a systems perspective to examine relationships between adolescents’ perceptions of overall family system functioning and selected parental behaviors. Self-report questionnaire data from 160 ninth and tenth grade students were analyzed using MANCOVA and discriminant analysis. The results showed two parental behaviors, support and monitoring distinguished between types of overall family system functioning. Adolescents in balanced and moderately balanced overall family functioning reported greater parental support, while adolescents in balanced and extreme overall family functioning reported greater parental monitoring. We present the implications of our findings for parent education and assessment.     

The effect of training in verbal self-guidance on the self-efficacy and performance of Native North Americans in the selection interview

Native North Americans (n = 35) received training in verbal self-guidance (VSG) designed to increase self-efficacy in a selection interview. At the end of the training program, the trainees who acquired skills in VSG had higher self-efficacy than the participants in the control group (n = 31) regarding their interview performance. They also performed better in the selection interview as judged by managers who were blind to the experimental conditions.