The Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire for Older Persons.

Conducted 5 studies to construct and psychometrically evaluate a marital satisfaction questionnaire for older persons. The questionnaire content was generated and refined in Study 1, temporal stability was evaluated in Study 2, and criterion-related validity was examined in Study 3. Norms, factor structure, and construct validity of the questionnaire were established in Study 4. The degree to which scores on the questionnaire predicted observer ratings of marital interactions during an analog problem-solving situation was examined in Study 5. The final questionnaire consists of 24 items with 1 major and 2 minor factors. Factor scores and a total Marital Satisfaction Scale score were found to be homogeneous, temporally stable, and significantly correlated with multiple measures of marital adjustment, life satisfaction, perceived spouse behaviors, and observer ratings of marital communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory.

Four studies examined the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI), a measure of abusive behavior among adolescent dating partners. Exploratory factor analysis was used to refine items based on high school participants with dating experience (N?=?393; 49% female). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to derive and cross-validate the factor structure with participants from 10 high schools (N?=?1,019, 55% female; ages 14–16). The model structure fit for all grades and both sexes, with physical abuse, verbal abuse, and threatening behavior most representative of the underlying "abuse" factor. In Studies 3 and 4, the second-order abuse factor showed acceptable test–retest reliability, partner agreement, and correlation (significant for males only) between observer ratings of dating partners' interactions and youths' CADRI scores. Results support the CADRI as a measure of abusive behavior in adolescent dating relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the validity of leader behavior descriptions obtained from subordinates.

Assigned 80 male college students to 18 4-person work groups as either the leader or a subordinate according to their scores on the Dominance scale of the California Personality Inventory. Leader behaviors in a simulated work setting (utilizing a complex paper folding task) were described by the 3 subordinates and 2 independent observers of each work group. Individual subordinate ratings of leader behavior were unrelated to observer ratings of behavior toward each group member; however, observer ratings for general leader behavior toward all group members correlated significantly with the mean member ratings. Subordinate ratings also failed to detect leader behavior effects on performance and overestimated the magnitude of behavior effects on member satisfaction. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Describing and facilitating effective supervision behavior in counseling trainees.

Counseling trainees often do not receive formal assistance in assuming the role of supervisee. What constitutes effective trainee behavior within the context of supervision, as opposed to the clinical context, also has received little empirical attention. A national sample of 176 participants (145 supervisees, 31 supervisors) affiliated with counseling psychology or counseling center internship programs rated the importance of 52 behaviors/characteristics (Supervision Utilization Rating Form; SURF) to the effective use of supervision at specific developmental training levels. Supervisors and supervisees applied ratings from important to extremely important to all items. Statistically significant differences between supervisor and supervisee ratings were noted on 6 items. The development of the SURF and its potential uses in supervisee role induction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability and responses to items from three MMPI scales: D, Sc, and K.

For random samples of 25 D and 32 Sc items, and for 29 of the 30 K items, ratings of social desirability were correlated with the probabilities that the items would be endorsed when the MMPI was used as a personality test (based on proportion of a college student sample actually endorsing each item). The correlations were .82 and .89 for the D and Sc items respectively. For the K-scale items, correlations of social desirability were computed with endorsement probabilities from a "typical college sample" (r = .50), and "Average-K" group (r = .38), and a "high-K" group (r = .66). "The results were interpreted as demonstrating the validity of K as a measure of the set to respond to items in terms of their social desirability." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms.

The authors articulate a model specifying links between (a) individuals and the physical environments they occupy and (b) the environments and observers' impressions of the occupants. Two studies examined the basic phenomena underlying this model: Interobserver consensus, observer accuracy, cue utilization, and cue validity. Observer ratings based purely on offices or bedrooms were compared with self- and peer ratings of occupants and with physical features of the environments. Findings, which varied slightly across contexts and traits, suggest that (a) personal environments elicit similar impressions from independent observers, (b) observer impressions show some accuracy, (c) observers rely on valid cues in the rooms to form impressions of occupants, and (d) sex and race stereotypes partially mediate observer consensus and accuracy. Consensus and accuracy correlations were generally stronger than those found in zero-acquaintance research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist Alliance-Building Behavior Within a Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Anxiety in Youth.

Explored the specific behavior of therapists contributing to a child client's perception of a therapeutic alliance with youth (n = 56) who received a manualized cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders. The first 3 sessions were coded for 11 therapist behaviors hypothesized to predict ratings of alliance. Child, therapist, and observer alliance ratings were gathered after the 3rd and 7th therapy sessions. "Collaboration" positively predicted early child ratings of alliance, and "finding common ground" and "pushing the child to talk" negatively predicted early child ratings of alliance. Although no coded therapist behaviors predicted early therapist ratings of alliance, "collaboration" and "not being overly formal" positively predicted therapist alliance ratings by Session 7. Child, observer, and therapist ratings of alliance were significantly correlated. Results are discussed with regard to the identified behavior of the therapist as a step toward the identification of empirically supported strategies for building a stronger child-therapist alliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers.

Two data sources—self reports and peer ratings—and two instruments—adjective factors and questionnaire scales—were used to assess the five-factor model of personality. As in a previous study of self-reports (McCrae & Costa, 1985b), adjective factors of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness–antagonism, and conscientiousness–undirectedness were identified in an analysis of 738 peer ratings of 275 adult subjects. Intraclass correlations among raters, ranging from .30 to .65, and correlations between mean peer ratings and self-reports, from .25 to .62, showed substantial cross-observer agreement on all five adjective factors. Similar results were seen in analyses of scales from the NEO Personality Inventory. Items from the adjective factors were used as guides in a discussion of the nature of the five factors. These data reinforce recent appeals for the adoption of the five-factor model in personality research and assessment. (69 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social facilitation: A self-presentational view.

Offers a self-presentational account of performance in others' presence. The account attributes social facilitation to the performer's active regulation of a public image, and it attributes social impairment to embarrassment following loss of public esteem. Individuals lose esteem by making numerous errors on difficult tasks. This self-presentational analysis was tested in a study of context effects in verbal learning. 75 female undergraduates served as Ss. Two tasks were studied: a difficult task that included a few simple items and an easy task that included a few complex items. Consistent with the self-presentational analysis (but not with drive theories of social facilitation), the presence of an observer impaired the learning of simple items if those items were embedded within a difficult task. Also, an observer's presence did not impair the learning of complex items if those items were embedded within an easy task. Questionnaire responses suggest a naturally occurring confound between task difficulty and perceived failure. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural study of industrial research performance.

To determine the cultural generality of selected U.S. findings, questionnaire data covering working environment, job behavior, and personal history variables were obtained from 220 British scientists. Responses for 120 Ss were analyzed against 3 criteria of research performance: (1) supervisory ratings of research creativity, (2) number of patent specifications, and (3) number of technical publications. The significant variables for each criterion were used to develop scoring keys which were cross-validated on the remaining 100 scientists. The resulting tetrachoric correlations were .64, .73, and .60 for rated creativity, patents, and publications, respectively. Examples of significant items are presented and the findings are related to prior U.S. studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in skill learning: An integration of psychometric and information processing perspectives.

Reexamines the nature of individual differences in novel and practiced performance on skill learning tasks from an information processing framework. Two major sources of data and discussion are reanalyzed and critically evaluated. One source concerns the changes in interindividual between-subjects variability with task practice; the other pertains to associations between intellectual abilities and task performance during skill acquisition. Early studies yielded mixed results regarding the convergence or divergence of individual differences with practice. Other studies indicated small or trivial correlations between individual differences in intelligence and "gain" scores. More recent studies indicated small correlations between performance measures on skill learning tasks and standard intellectual and cognitive ability measures, as well as increasing amounts of task-specific variance over learning trials. Data confirm the proposition that individuals converge on performance as tasks become less dependent on attentional resources with practice. When appropriate methodological techniques are used and crucial task characteristics are taken into account, intellectual abilities play a substantial part in determining individual differences in skill learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Couples' shared participation in novel and arousing activities and experienced relationship quality.

Using a newspaper questionnaire, a door-to-door survey, and 3 laboratory experiments, the authors examined a proposed effect of shared participation in novel and arousing activities on experienced relationship quality. The questionnaire and survey studies found predicted correlations of reported shared "exciting" activities and relationship satisfaction plus their predicted mediation by relationship boredom. In all 3 experiments, the authors found predicted greater increases in experienced relationship quality from before to after participating together in a 7-min novel and arousing (vs. a more mundane) task. Comparison with a no-activity control showed the effect was due to the novel-arousing task. The same effect was found on ratings of videotaped discussions before and after the experimental task. Finally, all results remained after controlling for relationship social desirability. Results bear on general issues of boredom and excitement in relationships and the role of such processes in understanding the typical early decline of relationship quality after the honeymoon period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual basis of maternal perceptions of infant temperament.

To elucidate the differential saliency of infant emotions to mothers across interactive contexts, the authors examined the moderating role of observed infant affect during interactions with mother in the relation between maternal and laboratory-based ratings of infant temperament. Fifty-nine developmentally healthy 9-month-old infants were judged for degree of infant positive, infant negative, and mother-infant mutually positive affect during the course of object-focused and routine home-based activities with mother. Mothers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (M. K. Rothbart, 1981), and infants underwent the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (H. H. Goldsmith & M. K. Rothbart, 1999). Results revealed that maternal and observer ratings of infant negativity converged when infants manifested high degrees of negative affect during routine home-based activities. Maternal and observer ratings of infant positivity converged when infants experienced low mutually positive affect during play. These findings support the hypothesis that maternal perceptions are based on mothers' experiences with their infants but that the salience of infant temperamental characteristics to mothers varies across emotion and interactive context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical assumptions about WISC subtest score and test behavior relationships.

Administered the WISC to 40 white and 38 Negro 8-yr-old boys. The E and an O independently scored the S's behavior for attention, energy level, social skill, task persistence, and concern about performance. 13 clinical psychologists completed a questionnaire ranking behaviors considered important to performance on each of the WISC subtests. 15 hypotheses resulted, 8 involving attention and none involving concern about performance. Analysis of scores and ratings produced 8 significant relationships, 3 involving concern about performance. Emphasis on attention was found to be greatly overestimated. 16 correlations were significant for race and socioeconomic status. "Results indicate that (a) most of the clinically assumed relationships do not exist, and (b) the importance of test behavior to performance may vary among groups of children and tasks." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

e-Perceptions: Personality Impressions Based on Personal Websites.

This research examined the accuracy of personality impressions based on personal websites, a rapidly growing medium for self-expression, where identity claims are predominant. Eighty-nine websites were viewed by 11 observers, who rated the website authors' personalities. The ratings were compared with an accuracy criterion (self- and informant reports) and with the authors' ideal-self ratings. The websites elicited high levels of observer consensus and accuracy, and observers' impressions were somewhat enhanced for Extraversion and Agreeableness. The accuracy correlations were comparable in magnitude to those found in other contexts of interpersonal perception and generally stronger than those found in zero-acquaintance contexts. These findings suggest that identity claims are used to convey valid information about personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental child-rearing attitudes and preadolescents' problem behaviors.

Correlated teacher's ratings of 278 5th and 6th graders on internalization and externalization behaviors with scores on ss' reports of their parents' child-rearing behaviors as assessed by schaefer's child report of parental behavior inventory. While the degrees of both internalization and externalization were inversely related to reported parental acceptance, externalization alone was related to reported parental control in a positive direction. High correlations between internalization and externalization were also found. Results are discussed in terms of the ss' characteristics, past findings, and conceptualization of internalization and externalization as categories of a more general dimension of maladjustment. (28 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vicarious moral licensing: The influence of others' past moral actions on moral behavior.

This article investigates the effect of others' prior nonprejudiced behavior on an individual's subsequent behavior. Five studies supported the hypothesis that people are more willing to express prejudiced attitudes when their group members' past behavior has established nonprejudiced credentials. Study 1a showed that participants who were told that their group was more moral than similar other groups were more willing to describe a job as better suited for Whites than for African Americans. In Study 1b, when given information on group members' prior nondiscriminatory behavior (selecting a Hispanic applicant in a prior task), participants subsequently gave more discriminatory ratings to the Hispanic applicant for a position stereotypically suited for majority members (Whites). In Study 2, moral self-concept mediated the effect of others' prior nonprejudiced actions on a participant's subsequent prejudiced behavior such that others' past nonprejudiced actions enhanced the participant's moral self-concept, and this inflated moral self-concept subsequently drove the participant's prejudiced ratings of a Hispanic applicant. In Study 3, the moderating role of identification with the credentialing group was tested. Results showed that participants expressed more prejudiced attitudes toward a Hispanic applicant when they highly identified with the group members behaving in nonprejudiced manner. In Study 4, the credentialing task was dissociated from the participants' own judgmental task, and, in addition, identification with the credentialing group was manipulated rather than measured. Consistent with prior studies, the results showed that participants who first had the opportunity to view an in-group member's nonprejudiced hiring decision were more likely to reject an African American man for a job stereotypically suited for majority members. These studies suggest a vicarious moral licensing effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Congruency of student evaluative information collected by three methods.

Investigated the structural corroboration of instructional evaluation information collected from 1 source (students) by 3 different methods: student responses to objective questionnaire items, written student comments to open-ended questions, and group interview results. Pearson product-moment correlations calculated between instructor and course ratings across 14 class sections based on each of the 3 data collection methods revealed a high degree of structural corroboration of overall teaching performance and course quality. Results indicate that the 3 types of evaluative information examined presented a similar general impression of instructor quality. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

External validation of the Personality Inventory for Children: Comment on Lachar, Gdowski, and Snyder.

Comments on the D. Lachar et al (see record 1984-19420-001) evidence of external validity for Personality Inventory for Children (PIC), which is based on correlations of PIC scales with dimension scores derived from factor analyses of behavioral ratings. It is argued that due to considerable item overlap between PIC scales and behavior rating forms, correlations may be an indication of rater reliability rather than one of construct validity. This problem is thought to be especially evident for rating forms completed by parents because parents also completed the PIC, and many items are similar in both content and wording. The problem is illustrated using the hostility/dyscontrol dimension derived from parent ratings. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)