There is a Road,No Simple Highway: Musings on Rural Community Practice

The article was delivered as an invited address to the 2019 SCRA Biennial. The author, the 2019 recipient of the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Practice in Community Psychology, discusses the application of community psychology practice competencies to rural mental health practice and reviews the challenges faced by rural and remote residents, and the rural idyllic myth. The author shares musings and observations of key lessons learned from mentors and practice across over three decades.     

Racial Colorblindness and Confidence in and Likelihood of Action to Address Prejudice

In this study, we examined the association between racial colorblindness and inaction to address prejudice. Conceptualized as a type of legitimizing ideology that maintains societal inequality, we hypothesized that colorblindness would be associated with less confidence in and lower likelihood of engaging in action to address prejudice. Our study examined the role of affective variables in explaining the link between colorblindness and inaction, as well as explored potential racial group differences. We used multigroup structural equation modeling analysis to test for measurement and structural invariance of our hypothesized model across White, Asian American, and Underrepresented racial minority (i.e., African American, Latinx American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Native American, and Multiracial students from Underrepresented groups) college students. In Study 1 (n = 1,125), we found that greater colorblindness was indirectly associated with less confidence in action through affective variables (e.g., intergroup empathy, and positive and negative emotions during intergroup interactions). In Study 2 (n = 1,356), we found that greater colorblindness was indirectly related to less likelihood of action through intergroup empathy. In both studies, we demonstrated measurement and structural invariance across racial groups, indicating that our hypothesized model functioned similarly across White, Underrepresented, and Asian American students. Our findings have implications for future research and practice to challenge colorblindness and to promote engagement in actions to reduce prejudice.     

Familiality estimates from restricted samples

In a recent paper here, Benbow, Zonderman, and Stanley (1983) report that the coefficient of regression of offspring IQ on parental IQ is much lower among the gifted than in the population at large. Thus, Benbow, Stanley, Kirk, and Zonderman conclude in a second paper, the gifted resemble their parents less than do people in general. In this paper, I show that this result is an artifact of the particular estimator of the regression coefficient employed by Bendoq, Zonderman, and Stanley. The leastsquares estimator, which they employ, is severely biased downward, if the sample on the dependent variable is restricted to the upper tail of the distribution, and this is precisely the nature of Benbow et al.'s sample. That is to say, in a bivariate normal distribution with constant regression coefficient, samples restricted to values of the dependent variable (here, child's IQ) above a certain value will always produce a lower regression coefficient than unrestricted samples drawn from the entire but same distribution. I introduce an unbiased estimator that can be calculated from the sample statistics reported in the Benbow, Zonderman, and Stanley article and find that the coefficient of regression of gifted child's IQ on parental IQ is, in fact, higher than the regression coefficients reported in the literature for unrestricted samples. That is, Benbow et al.'s data suggest that the gifted in fact resemble their parents more than do persons in general.     

Information processing components of substitution test performance

Although substitution tests have been included in tests of intelligence for years, the underlying abilities they measure have still not been clearly determined. This study used componential analysis to investigate the information-processing components underlying substitution test performance. The bases of sex and age differences were also of interest. One hundred subjects from each of three age groups (9–11, 18–25, and 60–89 years) were tested.The componential analysis found that substitution tests measure perceptual speed and, to a lesser extent, memory ability and writing speed. The component “Stimulus Orientation, Response Initiation, and Execution” was related to substitution test performance in the sample of children and the sample of older adults but not in the sample of younger adults. Verbal ability was not significantly related to substitution test performance in the two younger samples but was strongly related to substitution performance in the oldest sample. Although females outperformed males on the Symbol Digit Test, males did as well as females on the computerized tasks. Apparently, sex differences in substitution test performance cannot be explained by the components of the test measured here.     

The paramenstruum and negative moods in normal young women

The present study investigated the effects of depressogenic statements on 154 normal young women, in relation to the late luteal phase of the female monthly cycle (paramenstruum). The women were allocated to a depressive-induction group or to either of two non-treatment groups. Multivariate ANOVAs indicated that paramenstrual women given the depressogenic statements reported more negative post-induction mood states than did other women. Four of the 12 mood states measured by the Differential Emotions Scale (DES-IV) were significantly elevated for the paramenstrual women in the depressive-induction group only (viz. Sadness, Hostility, Fear and Shame subscales). It was concluded that paramenstrual women appear to be more sensitive to depressive stimuli, and therefore, more prone to experience negative mood states than women at other stages in their monthly cycles.     

Self-esteem and reactance: Further evidence of attitudinal and motivational consequences

The present experiments were designed to explore further the relationship between self-esteem and reactance within the domains of achievement and persuasion. Previous research in the achievement context has shown that self-esteem and reactance are positively related. Experiment 1 sought to extend this relationship into the persuasion setting. As predicted, a positive self-esteem/reactance relationship was obtained. The second experiment was designed to identify a factor that might moderate the relationship between self-esteem and reactance: degree of freedom threat. Previous research in the persuasion context has shown that the aforementioned self-esteem/reactance relationship is attenuated or even reversed when freedom threat is low rather than high. Experiment 2 sought to extend this relationship into the achievement context. As predicted, the positive self-esteem/reactance relationship was considerably weakened in the low-threat environment of Experiment 2, especially in comparison to previous research in which freedom threat was considerably higher. Taken together, the present and previous studies show consistent relationships between self-esteem and reactance across achievement and persuasion domains, suggesting that the essence of reactance is similar in these two domains. Practical implications are also discussed.     

Non-accidental injury to children—II: A controlled evaluation of a behavioural management programme

A controlled treatment trial was conducted to evaluate the contribution of a psychological approach to child-abusing families. Ten families participated in the trial, and although some successes were observed in treated and control comparison families (e.g. no further confirmed injuries) the final outcome was inconclusive. A conclusive outcome was precluded by the very high rate of non-cooperation encountered in the 17 other families accepted for inclusion in the study: 11 of these withdrew prior to completion of the initial assessment procedures and 6 withdrew before completing the trial period proper. The results from the 10 participating families are of interest, and indicate that it is feasible to carry out a full, complete evaluation, given considerable resources and even more considerable endurance and patience.     

Spouse involvement and a possible long-term follow-up trap in weight loss

The present study was conducted to determine if husband attendance at treatment sessions and participation in behavioral contracting would produce greater weight losses than two other levels of spouse involvement. The three treatment groups investigated did not significantly differ at post-treatment but by 1-yr follow-up female Ss who attended treatment sessions alone and contracted with the counselor (HA) lost significantly more weight than women who attended sessions with their husbands and also contracted with the counselor (HNC). The Ss who attended sessions with their husbands and contracted with them (HC) did not significantly differ from Ss in the other two conditions. The total amount lost by Ss in the HA, HNC and HC conditions by 1-yr follow-up was 16.4, 4.4 and 15.5 lb, respectively. The study was also conducted to collect preliminary data about procedures Ss used during long-term follow-up to ascertain if weight losses during follow-up could be attributed to the behavioral weight-loss techniques learned during the treatment program. At all follow-up periods, many Ss reported using behavioral weight-loss techniques but 4 of the 36 Ss (11.1%) at 1-yr follow-up, 15 of the 23 (65.2%) and 24 of the 25 (96.0%) who responded, respectively, at 3- and 4-yr follow-up had used other weight-loss programs or methods. A possible confound for follow-up data was identified and suggestions for future research were presented.     

Inspection time and its relation to intelligence

Inspection time, defined as the minimum duration for which two different stimuli must be presented if they are to be perceived as different, was measured for both auditory and visual stimuli. The minimum durations were determined by means of a two- alternative forced-choice task for 50 children whose average age was 12 years 2 months. The times were correlated with the children's verbal (Mill-Hill vocabulary) and nonverbal (Raven matrices) intelligence. The Kendall correlation coefficients were ?.3188 and ?.0929 for the auditory and visual inspection times with verbal intelligence, and ?.2322 and ?.2676 for those times with nonverbal intelligence. Auditory and visual inspection times were correlated .1721 with each other. These results do not support earlier claims that inspection time is closely related to conventional measures of intelligence.