Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Five Interest Inventories

This study investigated whether interest inventories that purport to measure the same constructs actually yield scores that correspond. The study examined the empirical relation of scores for similarly and same-named scales on five widely used interest inventories: the Campbell Interest and Skills Survey, the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey-Form DD, the Self-Directed Search, the Strong Interest Inventory-Skills Confidence Edition, and the Revised Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory. Comparisons were made among scores for (a) vocational interests measured by homogeneous, rationally based scales; (b) occupational interests measured by heterogeneous, criterion-based scales; and (c) self-efficacy for RIASEC tasks. The participants consisted of 80 women and 38 men employed as career counseling practitioners and professors. Results from analyses of multitrait-multimethod matrices indicated that similarly and same-named scales correlated moderately and that, with few exceptions, these matched scales demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity. These conclusions were interpreted by distinguishing between the linguistic explication and operational definition of constructs in theories of vocational and occupational interests. The implications of these interpretations were considered for both the science of vocational psychology and the practice of career counseling. Future research should investigate both the profile validity and the interpretive validity of interest inventories that yield scale scores derived from different scaling strategies.     

A comparison of intervention for problematic speech using reinforcement with and without preferred topics

Previous research has shown that responding to the appropriate and problematic speech of individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities with interested and uninterested listener responses, respectively, can promote more appropriate conversational engagement. However, Fisher et al. (2013) also responded to appropriate speech with access to preferred conversational topics. This study examined the influence of listener interest on the problematic speech of 8 participants and tested the additive effects of (Study 1) and participant preference for (Study 2) delivering preferred topics as reinforcement for appropriate speech. Interventions were equally effective with or without arranging access to preferred topics, but a majority of participants demonstrated a preference for intervention with contingent access to preferred topics. Caregivers and speech‐language pathologists rated the intervention procedures as acceptable and changes in participants' speech satisfactory.     

Genetic Information,Rights, and Autonomy

Rights, autonomy, privacy, and confidentialityare concepts commonly used in discussionsconcerning genetic information. When theseconcepts are thought of as denoting absolutenorms and values which cannot be overriden byother considerations, conflicts among themnaturally occur.In this paper, these and related notions areexamined in terms of the duties and obligationsmedical professionals and their clients canhave regarding genetic knowledge. It issuggested that while the prevailing idea ofautonomy is unhelpful in the analysis of theseduties, and the ensuing rights, an alternativereading of personal self-determination canprovide a firmer basis for ethical guidelinesand policies in this field.     

医学专业精神的初步研究

由于历史和社会文化的差异,中西方对医学专业精神有着不同的理解。在中西不同语境下,分析了“Profession”和“Professionalism”这两个核心概念的涵义,并从中西对比的视角,对中西方医学专业精神所面临的几个共同问题进行了初步研究,包括医学专业核心道德价值观念、利益冲突、行业自治等。在此基础之上,还对我国医学专业精神的发展提出建议。     

孔子的“义利观”与医院的经营之道

义利关系是中国传统思想中与政治、经济、文化最为密切的一种价值观。以孔子“义利观”为代表的中国传统企业经营的指导思想,对医院构建遵守道德规范、讲求诚信、以人为本、完善激励机制、“以质量为核心”等经营之道具有重大的理论价值和现实意义,它将引导医院实现其所追求的道德观念和法律价值,达到道义与功利综合的发展。     

Using a new analysis of the best interests standard to address cultural disputes: Whose data,which values?

Clinicians sometimes disagree about how much to honor surrogates’ deeply held cultural values or traditions when they differ from those of the host country. Such a controversy arose when parents requested a cultural accommodation to let their infant die by withdrawing life saving care. While both the parents and clinicians claimed to be using the Best Interests Standard to decide what to do, they were at an impasse. This standard is analyzed into three necessary and jointly sufficient conditions and used to resolve the question of how much to accommodate cultural preferences and how to treat this infant. The extreme versions of absolutism and relativism are rejected. Properly understood, the Best Interests Standard can serve as a powerful tool in settling disputes about how to make good decisions for those who cannot decide for themselves.     

Relation of person-environment fit to career certainty

This study examined the person-environment fit-career outcome relation by observing interests, self-efficacy and parental support as person aspects and major and occupational choice as separate indicators of the environment. Career certainty was selected as a career outcome. Two dimensional fit indices (People-Things and Data-Ideas) were examined as was the incremental validity of adding prestige fit indices. In addition, we examined the moderation of these PE fit-outcome relations by ethnicity (Anglos vs. Latino/a’s). Results revealed that the PE fit predictors were moderately related and none of the two dimensional PE fit predictors significantly related to career certainty, while nearly all of the Prestige PE fit-certainty relations were significant. Support was found for the spherical structure of work types and person variables [Tracey, T. J. G., & Rounds, J. (1996b). Contributions of the spherical representation of vocational interests. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 48, 85-95].     

The Roles of Personality Traits and Vocational Interests in Explaining What People Want Out of Life

Life goals reflect people’s aspirations of what they want to become and what kind of life they want to live. In two student samples from the United States (N = 385) and Iceland (N = 1338), we used hierarchical regression and relative weights analyses to first replicate Roberts and Robins (2000) finding that Big Five personality traits predict major life goals, and then to test whether vocational interests have incremental validity in explaining major life goals over and above personality traits. Overall, vocational interests explained larger amounts of variance in major life goals than personality traits, and added incremental validity above and beyond personality traits. Expectations about specific linkages were largely confirmed across the two samples, providing implications for theory and practice.     

Response to Richard B. Miller's "Children, Ethics, and Modern Medicine"

In this essay, Paul Lauritzen examines Richard B. Miller's liberal account of pediatric ethics by asking if the duty to promote a child's basic interests is substantial enough to secure the well‐being of children. This question is raised in light of two case studies: daytime TV talk shows that broadcast interviews with sexually active children, and a medical study conducted to test the effect of growth hormone treatment on adult height in peripubertal children. In both cases, Lauritzen argues, children are subjected to potential harms that are not easily explained, and therefore not easily prevented, by appeals to basic interests.