The psychological sense of economic hardship: measurement models, validity, and cross-ethnic equivalence for urban families

Poverty is a community stressor that disproportionally affects ethnic minority families. One aspect of programmatic research on poverty focuses on the psychological sense of economic hardship. In a study of 319 African American, European American, and Mexican American urban families, parents completed objective measures of economic status and scales of perceived economic hardship that were adapted from previous research. Measurement models identified a coherent construct of psychological sense of economic hardship that was essentially equivalent for mothers and fathers, English- and Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans, and the 3 ethnic groups. In support of the validity of this construct, relations between objective indicators of economic status and perceived economic hardship showed equivalence across these same groups.     

The Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale, a self-report measure of social intelligence

Social intelligence is a construct that not only appeals to laymen as a relevant individual difference but also has shown promising practical applications. Nevertheless, the use of social intelligence in research and applied settings has been limited by definitional problems, difficulties in empirically differentiating social intelligence from related constructs, and the complexity of most existing measures of social intelligence. The goal of the present research was to address some of these obstacles by designing a multi‐faceted social intelligence measure that is short and easy to administer. Three studies were conducted to develop and validate the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS). Study 1 examined professional psychologists’ interpretations of social intelligence to derive a consensually agreed‐upon definition of the construct. In Study 2, a large pool of social intelligence items were tested, and a 3‐factor, 21‐item scale was identified. In Study 3, the stability of this measure was confirmed.     

A Neuropsychological Approach to Intelligence

This paper proposes that current psychometric intelligence tests are limited in evaluating cognitive activity. From a neuropsychological perspective, they fail to measure some fundamental cognitive abilities such as executive functions, memory, and visuospatial abilities. The analysis of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale presented shows that the original rationale for selecting the specific subtests included in the WAIS was unclear. The concept of a g factor in cognition is also analyzed, with the conclusion that the g factor continues to be controversial. The value of intelligence tests in predicting school performance is also criticized. It is proposed that the psychometric concept of general intelligence should be deleted from cognitive and neurological sciences. Finally, it is proposed that, in the future, neuropsychological instruments sensitive to more specific cognitive abilities replace current psychometric intelligence tests.     

The Development of Person–Vocation Fit: A Longitudinal Study Among Young Employees

This two-phase panel study examines the development of the congruence between vocational interests and perceived skill requirements. Participants were 492 Dutch men and women between 18 and 26 years old, with a paid job in both phases. Three hypotheses inspired by the theory of work adjustment (Dawis and Lofquist 1984) and congruence theory (Holland 1992) were tested, using a composite index of fit proposed by Cronbach and Gleser (1953). The first hypothesis proposing that participants experiencing incongruence between their vocational interests and their perceived skill requirements are dissatisfied with their job was supported. The hypothesis that incongruence has a positive relationship with job change and a negative relationship with tenure was not confirmed. The expectation that the congruence between vocational interests and perceived skill requirements increases over time was confirmed. Furthermore, exploring determinants of change in vocational interests and perceived skill requirements, it was found that change in these domains was predicted by different variables, educational level being the only common factor. It is concluded that this study supports the longitudinal propositions of prevailing work-related person-environment fit theories.     

The Feeling-Tone Questionnaire: Reliability and Validity of a Direct Patient Assessment Screening Instrument for the Detection of Depressive Symptoms in Cases of Dementia

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid measure of affective disorder in elderly demented patients. The field lacks instruments which are sensitive to detecting depressive signs in severely as well as mildly and moderately demented subjects. Two samples of subjects were chosen for study. The first sample consisted of subjects from six institutions, which were chosen for study from a probability sample of 25 long-term care institutions in New York City. This sample was part of the Cross-National Institutional Study conducted in New York and London (Gurland et al., 1979; Mann et al., 1984). Thirty patients were selected at random within each institution. The second sample consisted of 52 inpatients at Willard Psychiatric Center, a traditional state psychiatric hospital in upstate New York. All subjects had a chart diagnosis of dementia and were 60 years old or older. The mean age of the sample was 82 years and 56% of the subjects were female. The Feeling-Tone Questionnaire, which was developed for these analyses, consists of 16 dichotomous items and 16 5-point Likert ratings of affect. The reliability of this scale using Cronbach's alpha is .91 for the long-term care institutional sample and .90 for the psychiatric hospital sample. Interrater reliability for two raters on ten cases is .99. Test–retest reliability on ten cases with a 1-day to 2-day interval between trials is .81. A short mood scale was developed from the observational data as a validity measure for the Feeling-Tone Questionnaire. Evidence for the validity of the Feeling-Tone Questionnaire is provided.     

The development and predictive relations of play and language across the second year.

The play and language development of 171 toddlers was examined at 14 and 18 months by observing their activities on the Symbolic Play Test and by assessing their language skills using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (MCDI) and the Reynell Developmental Language Scales. Additionally, data from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and the MCDI were obtained at 24 months, in order to investigate how play and language measures taken at 14 and 18 months predict children's development at the age of 2 years. The results showed that the vocabulary production and symbolic play of the 14-month-old toddlers made a unique contribution to their language and cognitive skills at the age of 2 years, while at 18 months only language variables made a similar contribution. Other-directed pretense discriminated between the children's subsequent language and cognitive skills best, whereas nonsymbolic play had no independent predictive contribution. Significant gender differences were found in the use of nonsymbolic and symbolic play acts already at 14 months. Gender did not, however, contribute to the prediction of the children's subsequent skills, whereas maternal education significantly added to the prediction of the 2-year-olds' maximum sentence length and that of their cognitive development.     

Effects of session duration on functional analysis outcomes.

We examined the extent to which variations in session duration affected the outcomes of functional analyses. Forty-six individuals, all diagnosed with mental retardation and referred for assessment and treatment of self-injurious or aggressive behavior, participated in functional analyses, consisting of repeated exposure to multiple test conditions during 15-min sessions. For each set of assessment data, new data sets based on session durations of 10 and 5 min were prepared by deleting data from the last 5 and 10 min, respectively, of each session. Each graph (N = 138) was then reviewed individually by graduate students who had previous experience conducting and interpreting functional analyses, but who were blind to both participant identity and session duration. Interpretations of behavioral function based on the 10- and 5-min data sets were then compared with those based on the 15-min data sets. All of the 10-min data sets yielded interpretations identical to those based on 15-min data sets. Interpretations based on the 5-min and 15-min data sets yielded three discrepancies, all of which were the result of increased response rates toward the latter parts of sessions. These results suggest that the efficiency of assessment might be improved with little or no loss in clarity by simply reducing the duration of assessment sessions.     

A case study of behavioral assessment and treatment of insect phobia

We assessed the academic performance of a 14-year-old boy with insect phobia in the context of feared stimuli. The dependent measure was math calculation rate across three conditions that varied therapist statements about the presence of crickets and the actual presence of live crickets. Subsequent treatment consisted of graduated exposure and contingent rewards for math problem completion. Assessment results indicated that the boy's performance was consistently low in the presence of live crickets but not when he was spuriously informed that crickets were present (the primary referral concern). Treatment results indicated no effect from exposure alone and a dramatic effect when exposure was combined with contingent rewards.     

Examination of the PC-PTSD in previously deployed Air Force Medical Service personnel

This study assessed the performance of the PC-PTSD in diagnosing postdeployment posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a cohort of Air Force Medical Services personnel (N = 18,530). The prevalence of PTSD in the cohort was 5.18% based on medical record data. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.69, indicating poor classification accuracy. Sensitivity was 47.55%, specificity was 90.68%, positive predictive value was 21.79%, and negative predictive value was 96.94%. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 5.10 and 0.58, respectively. Several risk factors were found to be associated with a diagnosis of postdeployment PTSD: being a nurse, being enlisted in the medical service career field, being enlisted in the mental health service career field, those over age 30, being a member of the Active Duty service component, and having one’s first deployment be to Iraq. Being an officer was found to be a protective characteristic. These factors could potentially improve screening for PTSD among Air Force healthcare personnel.