Using self-evaluation to improve difficult-to-read handwriting of secondary students

We used delayed multiple-baseline and multiple-probe techniques to assess the effects of self-evaluation training on the legibility of cursive handwriting. Five secondary special education students with difficult-to-read handwriting served as participants. All participants improved the legibility of their handwriting during self-evaluation training. A systematic withdrawal of the training package demonstrated maintenance of treatment effects. For the most part, the students' handwriting remained at least 90% legible to judges following the systematic withdrawal of the self-evaluation training.     

An integrated mindfulness and acceptance-based program for young elite female basketball players: Exploratory study of how it works and for whom it works best

In order to better understand how an integrated mindfulness and acceptance-based intervention works and for whom it works best, study objectives were to examine (i) the trajectories of mindfulness skills and performance-related outcomes during the intervention, and athletes’ perceptions of the impact of the intervention; and (ii) the potential moderating effects of personality characteristics on changes in targeted variables associated with the intervention. The sample consisted of 40 young elite female basketball players (M = 16.33, SD = 0.75 years) from three incoming groups at the French Federal Basketball Center over a 3-year period. All players participated in a 15-week Mindfulness BasketBall Integrated program. They completed online questionnaires measuring personality traits 10 months before the intervention, as well as pre-, mid- and post-intervention measurements of mindfulness skills, intensity and directional interpretation of stress, and performance satisfaction. They also participated in semi-structured social validation interviews conducted one month after the intervention. The results of the multilevel growth curve (MGCA) and thematic analyses revealed how the mindfulness skills and performance-related outcomes evolved over the course of the intervention and how these changes were perceived by the athletes. Specifically, the MGCA showed significant linear increases in acceptance, positive stress direction, and performance satisfaction. The complementary social validation data indicated perceived improvements in mindfulness skills and performance. The MGCA also showed that baseline personality traits moderated the effects of the program on acceptance and experience of stress. These findings may be used to inform the design of more effective integrated mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Victimization of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young People: A Structural Model Comparing Rural University and Urban Samples

Research indicates that antigay victimization is widespread and that lesbian, gay, and bisexual young people may be very vulnerable to such victimization. The current study builds upon previous work by Hershberger and D'Augelli (1995), who studied the consequences of sexual orientation-based victimization in 194 urban lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths. Using structural equation modeling, the present study models both antecedents and consequences (including psychological distress, self-esteem, and suicidality) of victimization via a secondary analysis of their data set. In addition, a second sample of 54 lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths from a rural university setting was examined to cross-validate and generalize the relationships found in urban settings. Results indicated that a revised model of victimization exhibited sufficient fit to the urban sample data and provided preliminary support for the generalizability of the model beyond the initial sample. Additional similarities were found between the urban and rural university community samples, including a high prevalence of reported suicide attempts: 42% of the urban sample and 32% of the rural university sample had attempted suicide at least once. Results indicated that victimization based on sexual orientation has similar correlates for young people in different community settings.     

初中生友谊质量与孤独感的变化轨迹:一项多元潜变量增长模型分析

为考察初中生友谊质量与孤独感的变化轨迹及两者间的关系,采用关系网络问卷、孤独感量表对西安市的875名初中生（M=12.73±0.18;男生494名）进行三年追踪测量,使用多元潜变量增长模型进行分析。结果发现：（1）初中三年,中学生的友谊质量逐渐提高,孤独感水平逐渐下降;（2）初一时的友谊质量和孤独感水平存在显著的个体差异,初中三年期间二者的发展速度也存在个体差异;（3）初一时的友谊质量可显著预测初一时的孤独感水平（β=-1.77,p<0.001）及随后的发展速度（β=0.20,p<0.05）;（4）男生的孤独感水平初始值高于女生,友谊质量的初始值则低于女生;高SES个体孤独感的起始值高于低SES个体。本研究结果揭示了初中三年期间个体友谊质量与孤独感的动态变化关系及友谊质量对孤独感的预测作用,对改善青少年孤独感的现状有一定的现实指导意义。     

The effects of videotape modeling and daily feedback on residential electricity conservation, home temperature and humidity, perceived comfort, and clothing worn: Winter and summer

Two studies were conducted in all-electric townhouses and apartments in the winter (N = 83) and summer (N = 54) to ascertain how energy conservation strategies focusing on thermostat change and set-backs and other low-cost/no-cost approaches would affect overall electricity use and electricity used for heating and cooling, the home thermal environment, the perceived comfort of participants, and clothing that was worn. The studies assessed the effectiveness of videotape modeling programs that demonstrated these conservation strategies when used alone or combined with daily feedback on electricity use. In the winter, the results indicated that videotape modeling and/or feedback were effective relative to baseline and to a control group in reducing overall electricity use by about 15% and electricity used for heating by about 25%. Hygrothermographs, which accurately and continuously recorded temperature and humidity in the homes, indicated that participants were able to live with no reported loss in comfort and no change in attire at a mean temperature of about 62 degrees F when home and about 59 degrees F when asleep. The results were highly discrepant with prior laboratory studies indicating comfort at 75 degrees F with the insulation value of the clothing worn by participants in this study. In the summer, a combination of strategies designed to keep a home cool with minimal or no air conditioning, in conjunction with videotape modeling and/or daily feedback, resulted in overall electricity reductions of about 15% with reductions on electricity for cooling of about 34%, but with feedback, and feedback and modeling more effective than modeling alone. Despite these electricity savings, hygrothermograph recordings indicated minimal temperature change in the homes, with no change in perceived comfort or clothing worn. The results are discussed in terms of discrepancies with laboratory studies, optimal combinations of video-media and personal contact to promote behavior change, and energy policies that may be mislabeled as sacrificial and underestimate the effectiveness of conservation strategies such as those investigated in these studies.     

Fitting cross-classification table data to models when observations are subject to classification error

Individuals are classified in a cross-classification table where two behavioral observations on each individual determine the classification. The problem is to test certain structural models assumed to underlie the cross-classified observations. A minimum chi-square test procedure is proposed.     

Simulation of Preference Information in an Interactive Reference Point‐Based Method for the Bi‐Objective Inventory Routing Problem

In the research area of multiple criteria decision making, very few publications exist that explicitly design the simulation of a decision maker (DM) in an interactive approach. For this reason, we outline some methods widely used in the literature to identify common assumptions of simulating the DM's responses and the required input preference information. Our paper aims at covering the identified gap by introducing experimental concepts. Such concepts are used for theoretical analyses of a combined search‐and‐decision‐making procedure. Simulating the DM is a fruitful idea because the algorithm can be tested without integrating a human decision maker. Finally, we conduct experiments based on the proposed settings for a multiobjective inventory routing problem, which is a relevant and challenging logistic problem. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impacts of ignoring individual mobility across clusters in estimating a piecewise growth model

A three-level piecewise growth model (3L-PGM) can be used to break up nonlinear growth into multiple components, providing the opportunity to examine potential sources of variation in individual and contextual growth within different segments of the model. The conventional 3L-PGM assumes that the data are strictly hierarchical in nature, where measurement occasions (level 1) are nested within individuals (level 2) who are members of a single cluster (level 3). However, in longitudinal research, it is sometimes difficult for data structures to remain purely clustered during a study, such as when some students change classrooms or schools over time. One resulting data structure in this situation is known as a multiple membership structure, where some lower-level units are members of more than one higher-level unit. The new multiple membership PGM (MM-PGM) extends the 3L-PGM to handle multiple membership data structures frequently found in the social sciences. This study sought to examine the consequences of ignoring individual mobility across clusters when estimating a 3L-PGM in comparison to estimating a MM-PGM. MM-PGM estimates were less biased (especially in the cluster-level coefficient estimates), although we found substantial bias in cluster-level variance components across some conditions for both models.     

Toward a More Credible Understanding of Post-Traumatic Growth

Traditional research on post-traumatic growth has utilized methodologically flawed cross-sectional designs that involve retrospective assessments of post-traumatic growth. This has resulted in a majority of research in this field suffering from a lack of credibility and reliability. In this special issue, we present nine articles that seek to make innovative conceptual and methodological contributions with the goal of promoting better research practices on post-traumatic growth. In the introduction to this special issue, we provide an overview of these contributions, and discuss the implications of these articles both to improving future scholarship and to encouraging personality scientists to examine this important phenomenon in the years and decades to come.     

The contribution of school experience to students' resilience following a terror-related homicide

Schools have a significant effect on students' development, and serve as important social agencies for interventions for students facing disasters. However, little is known about the effect of students' school experience itself on their resilience when facing extreme negative events. The present study focused on students who were exposed to terror-related homicide with the aim of investigating the contribution of school climate resources to their resilience. Since resilience is associated not only with fewer negative outcomes, but also with positive change, the contribution of schools was studied as both inhibiting post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTS) and enhancing post-traumatic growth (PTG). A mixed-methods research design was used. The participants included 117 (52% girls) high school students (mean age = 14.54; SD = 1.49). Twenty-five of them were interviewed in addition to responding to the research questionnaires. Different aspects of the school climate were found to be associated with students' PTS and PTG, yielding two overarched factors explaining the school's role as a protective resource: sheltering and supporting. The former is associated with fewer PTS and the latter with higher PTG. The use of different resources for different forms of resilience is discussed.