Development of an abbreviated Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) using item response theory: The SPAI-23.

An abbreviated version of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) was developed using methods based in nonparametric item response theory. Participants included a nonclinical sample of 1,482 undergraduates (52% female, mean age = 19.4 years) as well as a clinical sample of 105 individuals (56% female, mean age = 36.4 years) diagnosed with either generalized (73%) or specific social phobia (27%). Twenty-three of the 45 SPAI items demonstrated good discrimination along the social anxiety continuum. In addition, option characteristic curves (OCCs) indicated that the SPAI's 7-point scale may generate errors in ranking individuals. Thus, options were collapsed to improve item performance. No gender differences emerged between any of the items' OCCs, suggesting that items function similarly among men and women. The abbreviated version also correlated highly with the original 45-item SPAI and exhibited similar patterns of correlations with measures of social anxiety. The SPAI-23 has considerable practical benefits, including a screening of both social and agoraphobic anxiety as well as decreased assessment and scoring time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions that characterize supervisor interventions delivered in the context of live supervision of practicum counselors.

Examined underlying dimensions from actual supervisory statements taken from interventions occurring during live supervision of counseling interviews. 27 supervisor interventions were identified and transcribed from the 3rd and 4th counseling sessions of 16 counseling dyads. 26 judges sorted and rated these transcribed interventions. Multidimensional scaling revealed 6 dimensions that characterized the supervisor interventions. The dimensions were interpreted as Directing-Instructing vs Deepening, Cognitive Clarification vs Emotional Encouragement, Confronting vs Encouraging the Client, Didactic-Distant vs Emotionally Involved, Joining With vs Challenging the Trainee, and Providing Direction vs Resignation. The findings are discussed in relation to the supervision literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The changing status of American women: A life cycle perspective.

A profound change in the status of American women is evident in recent trends in women's educational attainment, labor force participation, and patterns of marriage, divorce, and childbearing. The present article reviews federal statistics which describe these trends as well as some of the recent social science literature on the status of American women. It is suggested that one way of summarizing these trends is in terms of the declining importance of the family life cycle in a woman's total life cycle, or alternatively, the diminishing social importance of the distinction between married women and those who are unmarried (i.e., never married, no longer married, or not yet married). (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Milk composition and health status from mammary gland quarters adjacent to glands affected with naturally occurring clinical mastitis

Mammary gland quarters have usually been considered to be anatomically and physiologically independent, but some recent research has indicated more interdependence than previously reported. The objective of this study was to compare milk composition (fat, total protein, lactose, solids-not-fat, and chloride) and health status (somatic cell count, differential leukocyte count, and lactate dehydrogenase) of milk samples from unaffected mammary glands of an udder with a single clinically inflamed quarter to results of milk samples from healthy mammary glands of healthy cows. The study was designed as a prospective case control study with case and control cows matched by parity and days in milk. Cases were defined as cows (n = 59) experiencing clinical mastitis in a single mammary gland, and controls (n = 59) were defined as cows that had not experienced clinical mastitis during the current lactation. Quarter milk samples were collected from all mammary glands adjacent to clinically affected quarters of cases and from the same mammary glands of controls. Samples were used to assess concentration of chloride and lactate dehydrogenase, fat, total protein, solids-not-fat, somatic cell count, and differential leukocyte count. Microbiological analysis was also performed on milk samples obtained from clinically affected mammary glands (n = 59). Logistic regression models were used to assess possible associations among quarter somatic cell count (≥150,000 cells/mL) and quarter type (adjacent to case or control). Multivariate linear models were used to compare milk composition and health status between quarter types. A total of 170 quarters were enrolled per group. Milk obtained from adjacent quarters of cases contained a lesser concentration of total protein, lactose, and solids-not-fat, but had a greater concentration of fat and chloride. The somatic cell count, total leukocyte count, and absolute numbers of neutrophils, lymphocytes, and macrophages were all increased in milk obtained from adjacent quarters of case cows compared with milk obtained from quarters of control cows. The relative proportion of neutrophils was increased, whereas the proportion of macrophages was decreased in milk obtained from cases. Approximately 30% of milk samples obtained from adjacent quarters of cases had a somatic cell count ≥150,000 cells/mL compared with 12% of milk samples obtained from quarters of control cows. The position of the mammary gland was not associated with any outcomes. In conclusion, our results support previous research that indicates the immune response to intramammary infection in a single mammary gland quarter alters milk composition and health status throughout the udder.     

Constructing knowledge: The role of graphs and tables in hard and soft psychology.

Because graphs provide a compact, rhetorically powerful way of representing research findings, recent theories of science have postulated their use as a distinguishing feature of science. Studies have shown that the use of graphs in journal articles correlates highly with the hardness of scientific fields, both across disciplines and across subfields of psychology. In contrast, the use of tables and inferential statistics in psychology is inversely related to subfield hardness, suggesting that the relationship between hardness and graph use is not attributable to differences in the use of quantitative data in subfields or their commitment to empiricism. Enhanced "graphicacy" among psychologists could contribute to the progress of psychological science by providing alternatives to significance testing and by facilitating communication across subfields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)