Children need adults, not polemics.

Comments on the public criticism of the L. B. Silverstein and C. F. Auerbach (see record 1999-05337-001) examination of the essentialist perspective on fathering, family structure, and child development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in predictors of adolescent smoking cessation.

Sex differences in predictors of smoking cessation were investigated among 337 male and 490 female participants in the RAND adolescent panel study. Participants reported smoking at least 11–20 times during the past year at Grade 10, with cessation defined as not smoking during the past year at Grade 12. Controlling for demographics, sex-specific analyses indicated that girls who quit smoking within 2 years had friends who smoked less frequently, perceived less parental approval of their smoking, had weaker intentions to continue smoking, used marijuana less frequently, attended fewer different schools, were more likely to have an intact nuclear family, experienced greater peer support, and rated themselves as healthier. Similar analyses for boys yielded results that were generally weaker and nonsignificant, with smoking quantity accounting for several associations in the sex-specific models. Despite these differences, interaction tests revealed significant sex differences for only three predictors. Implications of these results for understanding adolescent smoking cessation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A partitioning advisory system for networked data-parallel processing

With the increased performance capabilities of desktop computers, networked computing has become a popular vehicle for using parallelism to solve a variety of computationally intense problems. However, node heterogeneity and high communication costs may limit performance unless the problem space is carefully partitioned across the network in a way that considers both the capabilities of the machines and the high network communication costs. We describe an advisory system that is designed to help the programmer, compiler or run-time environment choose the best decomposition strategy for partitioning specific data-parallel applications across a given collection of machines. The system includes provisions for assessing the capabilities of the participating machines and the network in light of the current workload. Given information about the problem space, the machine speeds and the network, the system provides a ranking of three standard partitioning methods. We test the validity of our system by comparing the observed relative performance with predicted relative performance of different data decompositions on a program with a variable number of floating point operations and a 5-point stencil communication pattern.     

A multicomponent intervention to prevent partner violence within an existing service intervention.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an enormous public health problem that results in injury, health problems, and substantial cost to society. Despite having a grasp of the scope of IPV, public health officials and workers know little about how to prevent it. The few empirically established primary prevention programs consist of school-based curricula targeting high school students. Additional venues for IPV prevention are needed, especially for women at elevated risk. This article describes a preventive intervention for IPV consisting of three components: (a) a structured assessment for IPV; (b) a brochure-driven intervention for women experiencing IPV, including safety planning, referrals, and advocacy; and (c) a skills-based curriculum delivered to all participants that focuses on improving relationship decisions and outcomes. While this intervention could potentially be delivered in a multitude of clinical settings, this article focuses on its delivery within a home visitation program for young, disadvantaged new mothers, a population known to be at increased risk for IPV. If found to be effective, this intervention could be incorporated into many service delivery systems, with broad-based clinical implications for IPV prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonvisual navigation by blind and sighted: Assessment of path integration ability.

Blindfolded sighted, adventitiously blind, and congenitally blind Ss performed a set of navigation tasks. The more complex tasks involved spatial inference and included retracing a multisegment route in reverse, returning directly to an origin after being led over linear segments, and pointing to targets after locomotion. As a group, Ss responded systematically to route manipulations in the complex tasks, but performance was poor. Patterns of error and response latency are informative about the internal representation used; in particular, they do not support the hypothesis that only a representation of the origin of locomotion is maintained. The slight performance differences between groups varying in visual experience were neither large nor consistent across tasks. Results provide little indication that spatial competence strongly depends on prior visual experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beliefs versus realities: Response to Elliott.

R. Elliott's (1989) belief that affirmative action principles should not be applied to the hiring of women by psychology departments is not only in violation of the law, but would prevent the correction of the injustices perpetuated by societal sexism and its effects on women's career aspirations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of self-initiated smoking cessation among young adults.

Applied the cyclic-stage model of self-initiated smoking cessation by J. O. Prochaska and C. C. DiClemente (1984) to data on 3,179 young adults (aged 17–21 yrs) to determine the cross-sectional distribution of stages and the frequency and pattern of changes among stages over time. Compared to older adults, the distribution of the stages differed substantially. There were twice as many relapsers and only half as many maintainers among young adults. One-yr changes in stages were examined using a static model that did not take into account the cyclic nature of the change process and a dynamic model that did. Both models, especially the dynamic model, suggested more movement among stages in younger than in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's reconstructions of the horizontal, vertical, and oblique in the absence of a rectangular frame.

Tested the generality of the P. W. Berman et al findings (1974) which reported that children who were able to construct the horizontal and vertical had difficulty with the oblique when using a rectangular frame apparatus. Data from 24 nursery school children who produced horizontal, vertical, and oblique settings on a rod apparatus show that the comparative difficulty of the 3 settings were the same after observing the initial setting and after E spun the rod to rest at a random setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of children's racial attitudes.

Compared the relative efficacy of 4 short-term intervention techniques for modifying negative racial attitudes in 140 White 2nd and 5th graders in 2 city and suburban schools. These included (a) increased positive racial contact, (b) vicarious interracial contact, (c) reinforcement of the color black, and (d) perceptual differentiation of minority group faces. Ss were given a battery of attitudes indices and behavior measures, including the Koslin Social Distance Scale, the K-Z Test, the Friendship Questionnaire, and social distance, picture imitation, and discrimination tasks. Ss who were high in prejudice were randomly assigned to an experimental condition or a matched control group. Race of examiner was varied. Posttests were administered after 2 wks and again 4–6 mo later. Results reveal a significant short-term reduction in prejudice for all experimental groups on combined measures. Vicarious contact and perceptual approaches were more effective than the other 2 methods. Some interaction effects with grade and race of examiner were found. Long-term treatment effects were less pronounced, although some gains were maintained in the vicarious contact and perceptual differentiation groups. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal influence of teachers' expectations on children's academic performance: A cross-lagged panel analysis.

Investigated the causal interplay of teachers' expectations and children's academic performance. In a 4-yr longitudinal study of 4,300 British beginning elementary school children, a series of cross-lagged panel correlational analyses indicated that the preponderant cause in the achievement–expectancy relationship was that of teachers' expectations causing children's achievements to an extent appreciably exceeding that to which children's performance impinged on teachers' attitudes. Teachers' evaluations of children's social performance affected later achievement to an extent exceeding that attributable to academic expectations. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)