Concurrent and predictive validity designs: A critical reanalysis.

Historical and contemporary discussions of test validation cite 4 major criticisms of concurrent validity that are assumed to seriously distort a concurrent validity coefficient. These include "missing persons," restriction of range, motivational and demographic differences between present employees and job applicants, and confounding by job experience. As a result, predictive validity has been espoused as a scientifically superior strategy for the validation of personnel selection tests. However, it is argued here that frequently the conceptual distinction between predictive and concurrent validity has been exaggerated. More importantly, the differences that may exist have never been shown to render concurrent validity inaccurate as an estimate of predictive validity. Existing data suggest that these differences, if present, have a minimal impact on the magnitude of an obtained validity coefficient. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent validity and screening efficiency of The Dyslexia Screener.

The concurrent criterion-related validity and screening efficiency of a recently developed scale, The Dyslexia Screener (TDS), was investigated by examining its relation to the Reading Cluster of the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Assessment Battery (WJ) in a sample of 100 nonreferred children participating in a longitudinal study. Results supported the validity of the TDS; TDS scores correlated moderately with the WJ Reading Cluster and its subtests, p?     

Motivational subtypes and continuous measures of readiness for change: Concurrent and predictive validity.

This study compared the concurrent and predictive validity of motivational subtypes versus a continuous measure of readiness for change as measured by the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale (URICA; E. A. McConnaughy, J. O. Prochaska. & W. F. Velicer, 1983) in 252 individuals participating in a substance abuse treatment study (38% female; mean age = 36). Hierarchical cluster analysis identified a 2-cluster solution. Consistent with previous research, both the motivational subtypes and the continuous readiness measure exhibited good concurrent validity with both baseline characteristics and change process variables. Neither readiness-for-change measure predicted end treatment outcomes. Measures of readiness for change based on the URICA exhibit limited clinical utility, because they are not able to predict future behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

GRE predictive validity in a Master's program in clinical psychology.

Presents predictive validity data for GRE scores collected in the Master's program in clinical psychology at Acadia University. The program typically admits 4 or 5 students per year, and the current sample consists of 37 students (29 females, 8 males) who have completed their 2-yr residency requirement in the program over the past 10 years. Upon application, 12 of the admitted students did not provided GRE scores, and of the other 25, 4 did not write the Advanced test in psychology. Cumulative undergraduate 4-point GPAs and 4 GRE scores were used as predictors, and these means are lower than would be found in PhD graduate programs in larger schools or PhD-level programs. Outcome variables were whether students were accepted into a PhD program; external awards; graduating on time; and thesis publication. A series of t-tests were conducted to examine which predictors discriminated between outcome variables. Results show that GRE scores were highly predictive of a range of outcome variables in the Acadia Master's program where there is a higher degree of variability in predictors. The importance of how GRE scores are used in combination with other predictors is noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent and predictive validity of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth version across gender and ethnicity.

The concurrent and predictive validity of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) were examined across gender and ethnicity using multiple outcome measures on a community-based sample of 130 adjudicated youths. The PCL:YV demonstrated concurrent validity with externalizing behavior problems but, it is important to note, was also associated with internalizing measures of negative affect. With a mean follow-up period of 3 years, the PCL:YV was found to predict general and violent recidivism in male, Native Canadian, and Caucasian youths. However, the PCL:YV demonstrated weaker concurrent and predictive validity with girls and failed to predict nonviolent recidivism in all subgroups. Implications of the findings for clinical practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent and predictive validity of thought disorder and affectivity: A 22-year follow-up of acute schizophrenics.

Followed-up 51 male patients with hospital diagnoses of schizophrenia in the military service through VA hospital records 20 yrs after their initial service hospitalization. Results reveal that severity of thought disorder did not predict outcome, but measures of affectivity and interpersonal competence did so with high significance. The question of why affectivity has received so little attention in the research literature is addressed. It is suggested that recent research diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia are inadequate, because the criteria focus almost exclusively on the less predictive symptoms of disordered thought and exclude assessment of affectivity and interpersonal competence. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent validity of a rule-based system

The purpose of this project was to test the concurrent validity of the diagnoses recommended by a rule-based expert system. Concurrent validity was determined first by comparing the expert system's computerized diagnostic recommendations with that of a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS Assessor) who assessed the patient, and secondly by comparing the expert system's candidate diagnoses with those of a panel of 10 clinical nurse specialists (CNS Panel). The expert system rule base for generating diagnoses was programmed for some of the most common nursing diagnoses (Metzger & Hiltunen, 1987) including: alteration in comfort, acute pain; impaired physical mobility; sleep pattern disturbance; impairment of skin integrity and self-care deficit (bathing, feeding, toileting, and dressing). Activity intolerance and potential for infection were also programmed as diagnostic possibilities in the rule base.     

Interrater agreement and predictive validity.

Ss were 549 illiterate Iranian truck drivers rated for intelligence and given an individual intelligence test. To relate unreliability of ratings to validity, correlations were made between intelligence test scores and 4 groups of criterion ratings differing in reliability. The authors conclude that in the construction of rating scales, weighting of ratings by their agreement is better than by their disagreement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocabulary competence in early childhood: measurement, latent construct, and predictive validity

We systematically examined relations among 6 measures of child language derived from 3 sources, including observations of the child's speech with mother, experimenter assessments, and maternal reports. A total of 184 20-month-olds and their mothers contributed complete information about child language comprehension and expression. Correlations of child language measures with socioeconomic status and maternal education were accounted for, as were correlations of child language measures with mothers' verbal intelligence, maternal report measures with mothers' tendency to respond in a socially desirable fashion, and experimenter assessments with child social competence. Structural equation modeling supported (1) strong relations among child language measures derived from observations of the child's speech with mother, experimenter assessments, and maternal reports; (2) the loading of multiple measures of child language from different sources on a single latent construct of vocabulary competence; and (3) the predictive validity of the vocabulary competence latent variable at 20 months, as well as receptive vocabulary specifically, for both verbal and performance IQ (verbal better than performance) at 48 months. Neither an index of child monologing (a nonvocabulary language measure) nor symbolic play (a nonlinguistic representational measure) covaried with vocabulary competence. Girls consistently outperformed boys on individual language measures, but no differences emerged in any model in the fit for boys and girls.     

Blue-on-yellow perimetry using an Armaly glaucoma screening program

The purpose of the present investigation was to determine whether blue-on-yellow (B/Y) perimetry using a screening program can detect early glaucomatous change before it is evident with standard white-on-white (W/W) screening tests. The subjects included 25 normal, 20 ocular-hypertensive and 27 early glaucomatous eyes. From our results, even in normal subjects, B/Y perimetry alone demonstrated abnormal points in the nasal field in 10 eyes (40%). The Armaly central screening program was thought to be superior to the Armaly full-field program, because the former has less probabilities to detect a false-positive scotoma in the nasal field than the latter. In glaucomatous eyes, more abnormal points were detected by B/Y perimetry than by W/W perimetry. The screening program of B/Y perimetry is more advantageous than conventional tests in detecting early glaucomatous visual field defects.     

Ten-year stability and predictive validity of five bulimia-related indicators

Patient CB showed a severe impairment in figure-ground segmentation following a closed head injury. Unlike normal subjects, CB was unable to parse smaller and brighter parts of stimuli as figure. Moreover, she did not show the normal effect that symmetrical regions are seen as figure, although she was able to make overt judgments of symmetry. Since she was able to attend normally to isolated objects, CB demonstrates a dissociation between figure ground segmentation and subsequent processes of attention. Despite her severe impairment in figure-ground segmentation, CB showed normal 'parallel' single feature visual search. This suggests that figure-ground segmentation is dissociable from 'preattentive' processes such as visual search.     

Smoking outcome expectancies: Factor structure, predictive validity, and discriminant validity.

Recent models of addiction posit that drug outcome expectancies are influential determinants of drug use. The current research examines the dimensional structure, predictive validity, and discriminant validity of expectancies for cigarette smoking in a prospective study. There was a good fit between the factor structure of the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire and the observed data. In addition, the internal consistency of each scale was satisfactory. Moreover, there was considerable evidence for the predictive and discriminant validity of expectancies. Expectancies of positive outcomes (positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and appetite-weight control) predicted withdrawal severity. Negative reinforcement expectancies and expectancies of negative consequences predicted cessation success. Predictive relations remained significant after controlling for related constructs: negative affect, stress, and dependence measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term predictive validity of the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Studied the ability of the Scholastic Aptitude Test-Verbal (SAT-V) and Quantitative (SAT-M) scores to predict achievement over the entire period of college attendance. In Exp I which used a sample of 318 students who earned a mean of 71.6 credits before terminating their college careers, the correlations of terminal GPAs and SAT-V and SAT-M were .52 and .43, respectively. Correlations of .26 and .22 were found between cumulative GPAs and SAT-V and SAT-M scores for 520 graduating seniors in EXP II. The lower correlations in the senior group were attributed to a restriction in range of the grades. Correlations of the Undergraduate Record Examination Field Tests and SAT-V (.47) and SAT-M (.43) were also reported for the senior group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent and predictive electrodermal correlates of symptomatology in recent-onset schizophrenic patients.

Electrodermal activity and symptomatology were interrelated in a group of 56 male and 13 female recent-onset schizophrenic patients. Electrodermal activity was indexed by the frequency of nonspecific skin conductance responses and the number of trials to habituation of the skin conductance orienting response. Symptomatology was assessed by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) on 2 separate test occasions. The 1st test occasion was during the inpatient period when psychotic symptoms were prevalent and medications were variable. The 2nd test occasion was several mo later during an outpatient period when symptoms were stabilized and medications held constant. Electrodermal activity was positively and significantly related to a number of symptoms in male patients, most reliably the BPRS factors Activation and Hostility/Suspiciousness. These relationships were most consistent during the outpatient period. Of particular theoretical interest, greater electrodermal activity during the inpatient period was associated with greater outpatient psychopathology. The results suggest that heightened inpatient electrodermal activity is predictive of poor short-term symptomatic recovery in recent-onset, acute, male schizophrenic patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feasibility of an emergency department-based, risk-targeted voluntary HIV screening program

Renal biopsies from 19 boys and 11 girls, most with moderate or severe forms of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) of the classic diarrhea-associated type, were analyzed as part of their long-term follow-up. Patients were biopsied because of late or persistent proteinuria, hypertension, and prolonged renal failure. The median length of follow-up was 11.2 years (range 0.9-22.0 years). Four histological groups were identified: focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and hyalinosis (FSGSH) (17 patients), diffuse mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (DMPGN) (9 patients), diffuse glomerulosclerosis (2 patients), and minimal glomerular changes (2 patients). The median interval between the onset of disease and renal biopsy was significantly shorter in DMPGN than in FSGSH (P < 0.001). The pathological findings may be the expression of two different stages of the same dynamic process: a regular sequence of glomerular lesions consisting of early DMPGN, followed by FSGSH. This lesion would ultimately lead to the final stage of global glomerulosclerosis. At the last examination, only a quarter of the patients had normal renal function. These observations also confirm that prolonged oligoanuria during the acute stage of HUS frequently results in an unfavorable long-term prognosis.     

A tuberculin screening and isoniazid preventive therapy program in an inner-city population

As tuberculosis transmission decreases, case rates decline and an increasing proportion of cases arises from the pool of persons with latent infection. Elimination of tuberculosis will require preventing disease from developing in infected persons. From 1994 to 1996 the Atlanta TB Prevention Coalition conducted a community-based tuberculin screening and isoniazid preventive therapy project among high-risk inner-city residents of Atlanta, Georgia. We established screening centers in outpatient waiting areas of the public hospital serving inner-city residents, the city jail, clinics serving the homeless, and with outreach teams in neighborhoods frequented by drug users. All services were provided free. A total of 7,246 persons participated in tuberculin testing; 4,701 (65%) adhered with skin test reading, 809 (17%) had a positive test, 409 (50%) fit current guidelines for isoniazid preventive therapy, 84 (20%) we intended to treat completed therapy. The major limitations of this community-based tuberculin screening and preventive therapy project were the low proportion of infected individuals who were eligible for isoniazid preventive therapy and the poor adherence with a complete regimen among those we intended to treat. For community-based programs to be efficacious, preventive therapy regimens that are of shorter duration and safe for older persons will need to be implemented.     

Long-term reliability and predictive validity of the Teller Acuity Card procedure

A diuretic hormone (DH) of unusual structure was isolated from extracts of heads of Tenebrio molitor. The hormone is a 47 amino acid peptide, Mr = 5,029.9, with the sequence AGALGESGASLSIVNSLDVLRNRLLLEIARKKAKEGANRNRQILLSL. This peptide increases cyclic AMP production in Malpighian tubules of T. molitor. We recently identified a smaller DH from T. molitor with 37 amino acids; these peptides have only 15 identical amino acids when aligned to maximize similarity to other members of the insect DH family. This family has sequence similarity to the corticotropin-releasing factor superfamily of vertebrate peptides.     

Concurrent validity of cloze as a measure of intersentential comprehension.

This study examines the relationships of cloze to across-sentence information integration by measuring the degree in intersentential comprehension of Ss who had just completed a cloze test over natural (unscrambled) text. Three experiments were conducted. In the first, 5th-grade Ss completed traditional cloze tests and then answered multiple-choice inference questions written in such a way that information from 2 separate sentences in the cloze test was needed to determine the correct answer. A second study tested whether scrambling the texts might affect intersentential comprehension in ways not easily measured by multiple-choice tests, and a third tested whether the results of the initial experiment might have been artifactual. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the predictive ability of the test-positive findings of an elementary school vision screening

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to assess the predictive ability of the test-positive findings of an elementary school vision screening program, conducted by 2nd-year optometry students, in identifying children with eye or vision disorders. METHODS: A modified version of the Modified Clinical Technique (MCT) vision screening was administered to elementary children from a below-average socioeconomic neighborhood in Houston, Texas. Comprehensive eye and vision examinations were provided to the available children who failed the vision screening. The screening was administered by groups of 2nd-year optometry students with the assistance of a 4th-year optometry student, and supervised by a faculty member licensed to practice optometry. The follow-up examinations were provided by supervised 4th-year optometry students in a clinical setting based at the elementary school. Positive predictive values calculated from the screening and examination findings estimate the probability that a failure on one or more of the screening tests would identify children with eye or vision disorders. RESULTS: Sixty-nine percent of the test-positive children examined were found to be true positives by the criteria developed in a study of vision screening methods in Orinda, California from 1954 through 1956. CONCLUSIONS: The predictive ability of this study's test-positive findings for identifying eye and vision disorders was found to be less than the predictive ability of the Orinda Study findings. This reduced predictive ability of the present study resulted in a larger number of children being overreferred for examinations than had occurred in the Orinda Study. The reduction in the ability of the test-positive findings of the current study's screening program to identify accurately children with eye and vision problems is most likely due to the limited experience of the optometry students conducting the screening program. The inability of this retrospective study to evaluate the accuracy of the test-negatives is a major limitation in assessing the total effectiveness of this vision screening program. Although the present study may indicate some value in optometry students conducting elementary vision screening programs, a prospective study which could assess the predictive ability of both test-positive and test-negative findings, as well as determine the sensitivity and specificity of the screening program, is needed to assess more fully the effectiveness of school vision screening programs using professional students.     

Concurrent validity of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory depression scales.

In a sample of 95 psychiatric clinic outpatients, this investigation compared two new measures of depression (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory [MCMI] Dysthymia and Major Depression subscales) with two established instruments: the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a self-report measure that emphasizes the cognitive-affective aspects of depression, and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), and interview measure that emphasizes somatic complaints. All measures were significantly intercorrelated. The relatively weaker relations between the HRSD and the MCMI depression subscales, which resulted because of their neglect of vegetative depressive symptoms, pose a serious problem for interpreting the meaning of the MCMI Major Depression subscale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)