Take Care to Do No Harm: Harmful Interventions for Youth Problem Behavior.

Youth conduct problems, delinquency, and substance abuse pose serious consequences for the youth themselves, their victims and families, and the broader society. The widespread impact of these problem behaviors highlights the importance of preventing and treating them effectively. Despite this need, an emerging literature has demonstrated that certain intervention programs for these problem behaviors, particularly those that have used group-delivery formats, have produced iatrogenic effects. The potential for intervention to produce negative outcomes raises several ethical implications and dilemmas. In this article, the author provides illustrative examples of iatrogenic effects of interventions that target youth conduct problems, delinquency, and substance abuse; discusses the relevant ethical implications raised by these outcomes; and suggests recommendations to prevent, detect, and respond to their occurrence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Incremental Validity of Psychological Testing and Assessment: Conceptual, Methodological, and Statistical Issues.

There has been insufficient effort in most areas of applied psychology to evaluate incremental validity. To further this kind of validity research, the authors examined applicable research designs, including those to assess the incremental validity of test instruments, of test-informed clinical inferences, and of newly developed measures. The authors also considered key statistical and measurement issues that can influence incremental validity findings, including the entry order of predictor variables, how to interpret the size of a validity increment, and possible artifactual effects in the criteria selected for incremental validity research. The authors concluded by suggesting steps for building a cumulative research base concerning incremental validity and by describing challenges associated with applying nomothetic research findings to individual clinical cases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Construct Validity: Issues of Method and Measurement.

Fifty years ago, L. J. Cronbach and P. E. Meehl (1955) advocated for the concept of construct validity, noting that psychologists study hypothetical, inferred entities and that validating measures of such entities involves basic theory testing. Three important developments in clinical assessment following that seminal article are noteworthy. First, clinical research has benefited from greater theoretical integration and subsequent differentiation among related constructs. Second, implementation of ongoing, critical evaluation of all aspects of the construct validity process, including theory development, hypothesis specification, research design, and empirical evaluation, has improved clinical assessment. Third, improvement in evaluating fit between hypotheses and observations has been sought. Improved means of evaluating multitrait, multimethod designs, and ways to increase their clinical representativeness, are one encouraging development. Ongoing efforts to improve the construct validity process reflect the legacy of L. J. Cronbach and P. E. Meehl. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting Stability and Change in Toddler Behavior Problems: Contributions of Maternal Behavior and Child Gender.

This study examined the stability and continuity of early-identified behavior problems and the factors associated with this stability. Children and their mothers (N=125) were seen when the children were 2 and 4 years of age. Maternal reports of child externalizing behavior and laboratory observations of child noncompliance were stable from age 2 to age 4. Early externalizing behaviors decreased over time; however, child noncompliance in the laboratory did not. Although few associations were found between maternal positive behavior and child behavior problems, maternal controlling behavior was related to increases in child behavior problems, particularly at high levels of both prior noncompliance and prior maternal control. Child noncompliance was predictive of increases in maternal controlling behavior over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting medication adherence and employment status following kidney transplant: The relative utility of traditional and everyday cognitive approaches.

Objective: The authors investigated the utility of both traditional and everyday cognitive measures in predicting medication adherence and employment status among kidney transplant recipients. In addition, the role of noncognitive predictors was examined. Method: Cognitive measures of processing speed, memory, everyday problem solving, executive functioning, and questionnaires assessing mood, medication adherence, and employment status were individually administered to 108 kidney transplant recipients. Because the eligibility criteria differed for the two analyses, there were 103 participants in the medication adherence analyses and 94 participants in the employment analyses. Stepwise hierarchical regression and sequential binomial logistic regression analyses were conducted for continuous and dichotomous outcome measures, respectively. Results: Findings indicate that both poorer performance on the everyday problem-solving test and a higher number of depressive symptoms were predictive of poorer self-reported medication adherence (R2 = .19, p R2 = .29, ps     

Structure of Anxiety and Depression in Urban Youth: An Examination of the Tripartite Model.

In this study, the authors examined the validity of the tripartite model of anxiety and depression (L. A. Clark & D. Watson, 1991) in a community epidemiological sample of 467 urban African American youth. Participants completed the Baltimore How I Feel (N. S. Ialongo, S. G. Kellam, & J. Poduska, 1999), a measure of anxiety and depressive symptoms, in Grades 6 and 9. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a 3-factor model representing the tripartite model fit the data well and better than competing models. Longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis revealed configural invariance of the tripartite factor structure. However, a predicted divergence among dimensions over time was not evidenced. High correlations among the tripartite dimensions suggest that anxiety and mood symptoms may not differentiate in urban youth. Results are discussed in terms of the ethnicity and urban context of this community sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Money Management After Acquired Brain Dysfunction: The Validity of Neuropsychological Assessment.

Objective: To study the money management ability of people with acquired brain dysfunction (ABD) and its relationship to neuropsychological test performance. Subjects or Other Participants: 35 people with ABD and 15 matched controls without ABD. Main Outcome Measures: Case managers completed an experimenter-designed Money Management Survey (MMS), a staff-rating measure of the client's money management abilities. Results: In addition to the problems identified by controls, the group with ABD had other difficulties such as not leaving money aside for essentials and using automatic teller machines. Neuropsychological assessment demonstrated a modest ability to predict the overall MMS, however, the prediction of specific behaviors (problematic impulsive spending and paying the bills or rent late) was more successful. Conclusion: These results provide support for the use of the MMS and indicate that people with ABD have greater problems with specific aspects of money management than do controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactions to Counterstereotypic Behavior: The Role of Backlash in Cultural Stereotype Maintenance.

Social and economic sanctions for counterstereotypical behavior have been termed the backlash effect (L. A. Rudman, 1998). The authors present a model of the role of backlash in cultural stereotype maintenance from the standpoint of both perceivers and actors. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants lost a competition to either atypical or typical men or women and subsequently showed greater tendency to sabotage deviants. Moreover, undermining deviants was associated with increased self-esteem, suggesting that backlash rewards perceivers psychologically. Experiment 3 showed that gender deviants who feared backlash resorted to strategies designed to avoid it (e.g., hiding, deception, and gender conformity). Further, perceivers who sabotaged deviants (Experiment 2) or deviants who hid their atypicality (Experiment 3) estimated greater stereotyping on the part of future perceivers, in support of the model's presumed role for backlash in stereotype maintenance. The implications of the findings for cultural stereotypes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Motivating Impact of Informing Women Smokers of a Link Between Smoking and Cervical Cancer: The Role of Coherence.

This research assessed the role of having a coherent explanation of the link between smoking and cervical cancer in motivating women to stop smoking. In the 1st study, women were given a leaflet with either a detailed or a minimal explanation of the link or no leaflet. The leaflets were similarly effective at providing a coherent explanation. In a cross-sectional analysis, having a coherent explanation moderated the relationship between perceived vulnerability and intention: Higher perceived vulnerability to cervical cancer was associated with greater intention to quit smoking only amongst women with a more coherent explanation of the link between smoking and cervical cancer. This rinding was replicated in a 2nd study. These results are consistent with H. Leventhal et al.'s (1997) self-regulatory model, which suggests that motivation to change behavior depends not only on perceiving a threat but also on having a coherent model linking the behavior with the threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Representative Design in an Ecological Approach to Cognition.

Egon Brunswik argued that psychological processes are adapted to environmental properties. He proposed the method of representative design to capture these processes and advocated that psychology be a science of organism-environment relations. Representative design involves randomly sampling stimuli from the environment or creating stimuli in which environmental properties are preserved. This departs from systematic design. The authors review the development of representative design, examine its use in judgment and decision-making research, and demonstrate the effect of design on research findings. They suggest that some of the practical difficulties associated with representative design may be overcome with modern technologies. The importance of representative design in psychology and the implications of this method for ecological approaches to cognition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version and adolescent and adult recidivism: Considerations with respect to gender, ethnicity, and age.

The present study investigated the predictive accuracy of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV; A. E. Forth, D. S. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, 2003) for youth and adult recidivism, with respect to gender, ethnicity, and age, in a sample of 161 Canadian young offenders who received psychological services from an outpatient mental health facility. The PCL: YV significantly predicted any general, nonviolent, and violent recidivism in the aggregate sample over a 7-year follow-up; however, when results were disaggregated by youth and adult outcomes, the PCL: YV consistently appeared to be a stronger predictor of youth recidivism. The PCL: YV predicted youth recidivism for subsamples of female and Aboriginal youths, and very few differences in the predictive accuracy of the tool were observed for younger vs. older adolescent groups. Both the 13-item (i.e., D. J. Cooke & C. Michie, 2001, 3-factor) and the 20-item (i.e., R. D. Hare, 2003, 4-factor) models appeared to predict various recidivism criteria comparably across the aggregate sample and within specific demographic subgroups (e.g., female and Aboriginal youth). The Antisocial facet contributed the most variance in the prediction of adult outcomes, whereas the 3-factor model contributed significant incremental variance in the prediction of youth recidivism outcomes. Potential implications concerning the use of the PCL: YV in clinical and forensic assessment contexts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reliability and validity of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) in nonincarcerated adolescent males.

Current knowledge about the validity of the psychopathy syndrome in youth is limited largely to studies relying on parent-teacher rating scales or slight modifications of adult measures. Recently, the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) was designed for use with adolescents. However, most studies that have used this measure examined incarcerated mates and addressed only validity criteria related to antisocial behavior. We investigated the generality and construct validity of the psychopathy syndrome in an adolescent sample by assessing 115 adolescent males on probation with the PCL:YV. Reliability of measurement was high. PCL:YV ratings predicted not only antisocial behavior but also other indices of childhood psychopathology, interpersonal behaviors associated with adult psychopathy, and a lack of attachment to parents. These findings suggest that the PCL:YV identifies a syndrome in adolescence consistent with theory and research on adult males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reply to Noller and Shum: Couple version of FACES III: Validity and reliability.

Replies to the article by Noller and Shum (1990; see record 1990-27249-001), which focused on the couple version of FACES III. I want to commend Noller and Shum for their well-done validity and reliability analysis which provided norms and replication of the couple version of FACES III. Since FACES III was primarily developed using family data, Noller and Shum provide a useful service by using the couple version of FACES and providing norms based on Australian couples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III Subtypes of Opioid Dependence: Validity and Matching to Behavioral Therapies.

The concurrent and predictive validity of 2 different methods of Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III subtyping (protocol sorting, cluster analysis) was evaluated in 125 recently detoxified opioid-dependent outpatients in a 12-week randomized clinical trial. Participants received naltrexone and relapse prevention group counseling and were assigned to 1 of 3 intervention conditions: (a) no-incentive vouchers, (b) incentive vouchers alone, or (c) incentive vouchers plus relationship counseling. Affective disturbance was the most common Axis I protocol-sorted subtype (66%), antisocial-narcissistic was the most common Axis II subtype (46%), and cluster analysis suggested that a 2-cluster solution (high vs. low psychiatric severity) was optimal. Predictive validity analyses indicated less symptom improvement for the higher problem subtypes, and patient treatment matching analyses indicated that some subtypes had better outcomes in the no-incentive voucher conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Single Versus Multiple Health Behavior Change: Promoting Physical Activity and Nutrition Among Adolescents.

Targeting multiple behaviors for change may provide significant health benefits. This study compared interventions targeting physical activity and nutrition (PAN) concurrently versus physical activity (PA) alone. Adolescents (N=138) were randomized to the PAN or PA intervention or control condition (n=46 per group). Primary outcomes were change in PA accelerometer and 3-day dietary recording from baseline to 3-month follow-up. The PAN and PA interventions were efficacious in supporting boys' (p     

The Personal Costs of Citizenship Behavior: The Relationship Between Individual Initiative and Role Overload, Job Stress, and Work-Family Conflict.

By and large, prior research has focused on the positive aspects of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). D. W. Organ and K. Ryan (1995), though, suggest that individuals who engage in high levels of OCB may become overloaded. This research explores the relationship between a specific type of OCB--namely, individual initiative--and role overload, job stress, and work-family conflict. Results from a sample of 98 couples indicate that higher levels of individual initiative (as assessed by the spouse or significant other) are associated with higher levels of employee role overload, job stress, and work-family conflict. The findings also suggest that the relationship between individual initiative and work-family conflict is moderated by gender, such that the relationship is stronger among women than among men. Some implications of this work and directions for future research are discussed as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Randomized Controlled Trial for Behavioral Smoking and Weight Control Treatment: Effect of Concurrent Versus Sequential Intervention.

The authors compared simultaneous versus sequential approaches to multiple health behavior change in diet, exercise, and cigarette smoking. Female regular smokers (N = 315) randomized to 3 conditions received 16 weeks of behavioral smoking treatment, quit smoking at Week 5, and were followed for 9 months after quit date. Weight management was omitted for control and was added to the 1st 8 weeks for early diet (ED) and the final 8 weeks for late diet (LD). ED lacked lasting effect on weight gain, whereas LD initially lacked but gradually acquired a weight-suppression effect that stabilized (p = .004). Behavioral weight control did not undermine smoking cessation and, when initiated after the smoking quit date, slowed the rate of weight gain, supporting a sequential approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Method Matters: Effects of Explicit Versus Implicit Social Comparisons on Activation, Behavior, and Self-Views.

The authors investigated the impact of explicit versus implicit social comparisons. Simply being primed with a superior or inferior standard (implicit comparison) produced contrast as evidenced by accessibility of self-knowledge (Study 2), intellectual performance (Study 3), and self-ratings (Study 4), inconsistent with the standard. However, when participants were explicitly asked to compare, increased accessibility of a similarity focus (Study 1) and self-knowledge, behavioral performance, and self-ratings congruent with the standard were obtained more easily, indicative of assimilation. Explicit comparisons produced assimilation when the self was seen as mutable (rather than immutable; Study 4), when behavioral consequences were measured immediately after the comparison (rather than later; Study 3), and when the participants described (rather than ranked) their intelligence (Study 5). These findings support the interpretation comparison model. Implications for resolution of empirical inconsistencies in the social comparison literature are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)