The purpose of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of the Revised Conners' Parent Rating Scale. The Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-48) was administered to 59 elementary school children between the ages of 5 and 10 years. After a period of two weeks, the same children were re-tested with the CPRS-48. The results of this research lend support to the integrity of the test-retest reliability of the CPRS-48. The need for further psychometric studies on the Conners' Scales is noted.

An investigation was undertaken to examine two measures of personality and their utility with adolescent patient populations. The Rorschach, scored using Exner's (1991) Comprehensive System (2nd Ed.), and the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY; Lachar & Gruber, in press) were explored as to their ability to distinguish inpatients from outpatients, males from females, and diagnostic groups from one another. COP, AG, CDI, DEPI, SCZI, and HVI scores on the Rorschach were utilized, as were the DIS, SOM, FAM, RLTY, WDL, and SSK scores from the PIY.

This study compared the social cognition and object relations of 39 physically abused children to a clinical group of 39 children with no recorded history of abuse.

This study investigated the relationship between preferred coping strategies, and major stressors for nondepressed, and depressed chronic pain patients. The subjects for this study were 67 chronic pain patients who are participating in a pain/spinal rehabilitation program. The information collected from the individuals or their records included: (1) basic demographic information, (2) level of activity, (3) level of perceived pain, (4) medication usage, (5) therapist rating of level of stabilization, (6) scores on three inventories including the Coping Strategies Questionnaire, the Ways of Coping Checklist, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Analyses included an examination of the relationship between level of depression and (1) type of stressors, (2) coping strategies, and (3) level of perceived pain. Further analyses included multiple regression with outcome as defined by therapist ratings at the end of treatment, and patients' ratings at follow up as the criterion variables.

The purpose of the present study was to assess patient improvement in a specific freestanding partial hospital. Improvement was assessed in two specific areas: 1) symptom reduction as measured by the Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and 2) social adjustment as measured by the Social Adjustment Scale Self-Report (SAS-SR) at admission, discharge and three month follow-up. In addition, improvement was assessed from two perspectives: 1) patient evaluation and 2) therapist evaluation. Results indicated that there was statistically significant improvement from admission to discharge on the SCL-90-R and the SAS-SR. This improvement was maintained from discharge to three month follow-up. Findings also revealed statistically significant improvement when analyzed from both the patient perspective and the therapist perspective.

The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was originally designed as a measure for screening depression among elderly medical patients. Although this instrument is well validated among a general medical population, it has never been evaluated with specific regard to cardiac patients, the largest single group of medical patients over 40 years of age. A general cardiac sample of 655 patients completed the GDS within 10 weeks of the cardiac event. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the main sample, then on several subgroups of participants with regard to diagnostic category, gender, and age. The GDS generally produces factor structures with several symptom domains with a high rate of total variance. The myocardial infarction group endorsed general symptoms of depression whereas the coronary artery bypass graft group reported greater levels of despair regarding their condition. Overall, males primarily reported agitation and hopelessness while females reported symptoms of depressed mood.

Self-concept scores of 19 visually-impaired adults were compared to those of 19 matched sighted adults using the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS). All participants attended the University of North Texas. Scores were examined against the Vocabulary and Information subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R).

A specifically oriented instrument was used to partially replicate a study by Dietz (1988) in an effort to compare the utility of the phi coefficient and Rescorla index measures of perceived contingency of reinforcement in children and examine the relationship of these measures to locus of control, teacher ratings of helplessness and academic performance.

Effective leadership can and does influence organizational performance. The Executive Success Profile, a multi-rater feedback instrument, was used to gather perception data on 51 executives and 310 senior managers of a large Fortune 500 electronics manufacturing company in regards to three critical leadership dimensions: visionary thinking, empowering others, and global perspective. Paired t-tests were run to compare the means of the two samples. Significant differences were found between executives and senior managers on the perceived importance of and ability to perform on the empowering others dimension. Additionally, correlational measures indicate a statistically significant relationship between importance and competence ratings on the empowering others and global perspective dimensions for executives, and on the empowering others dimension for senior managers.

Thirty outpatients being treated at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center Department of Behavioral Health Psychology were randomly assigned to either a relaxation/imagery training class (R/I), a short-term psychotherapy group (P/G) or a no treatment control group. Subjects had psychological, physiological and immunological data taken before and after treatment. Results indicated that support for the hypothesis that relaxation/imagery training improves the psychological, physiological, and immunological functioning of participants was found.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of separation-individuation during late adolescence and obstacles to career decision making.

Structural equation modeling was utilized in studying the voluntariness of the assumption of caregiving status. A model hypothesizing the stress flow that occurs when assuming a new life schema was presented. Utilizing three groups of caregiving populations, Home Caregivers, Intermediate Care Facility Aides, and Intensive Care Units and Emergency Room Nurses (N = 66), measures were administered to determine the voluntariness of the assumption of the role of caregiver. Path analysis and causal interpretation were utilized to determine outcomes. The involuntary assumption of the role of caretaker was shown to significantly affect depression and burnout rates negatively when perceived feelings of burden were high. When caretaker age was greater upon assumption of the role, self-esteem was low and family support was perceived to be lacking. When the role of caretaker is assumed on a voluntary basis and support from outside sources is perceived as helpful (i.e., social or financial support from the family), job stress and the subjective manageability of the symptoms were viewed as manageable. Implications for those assuming the role of caretaker with the elderly were examined, and recommendations for further training and interventions within the caretaker population were offered.

"Think-Assess-Design" is a model for guiding traditional organizations through the steps necessary to redesign themselves into a more empowered, team-based work environment. Three broad steps—think, assess, and design—provided the framework for organizational change in this case study.

The clinical utility of the Intermediate Category Test, a measure of executive functioning in children 9 to 14 years of age, is currently limited by the availability of only a Total Error score for normative interpretation. The Process Scoring System (PSS) was developed to provide a standardized method of assessing specific processing patterns and problem-solving errors. The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of the PSS scores to discriminate between children with and without suspected executive deficits, thereby providing evidence of criterion-related validity.

Meta-analyses with 144 correlations from 44 studies to assess the relationship between experienced, father-to-mother, and mother-to-father violence in the family of origin and partner violence for males and females in clinical, community and student samples.

The purpose of the present study was to compare 42 community-dwelling spouse and child Alzheimer's Disease caregivers with 38 community-dwelling potential caregivers on salience of illness symptoms, and accuracy of judging symptoms of illnesses.

Contributions of home environment and family socioeconomic status (SES) on the intelligence test performance of 24 exceptional children aged five through seven years were investigated. It was hypothesized that higher SES would enrich the children's environment providing a more stimulating learning experience, and would reflect a positive correlation with measures of the home environment. Additional hypotheses were that both HOME scores and SES scales would show a positive correlation with intelligence test performance. The positive association found between SES and HOME Inventory scores suggests that families with a higher SES have the ability to direct more resources toward their children. However, according to the present study, this does not affect the intelligence test performance of exceptional children.

This study hypothesized a direct relationship among three verbal phenomena: derived relational responding, verbal intelligence, and worry. It also hypothesized that experiential avoidance would mediate the relationship between derived relational responding and worry. Overall, results from this study failed to support a relationship between worry and the other two verbal phenomena, however, results did support a relationship between derived relational responding and verbal intelligence. Additionally, results indicated a significant relationship between experiential avoidance and worry. Future research should clarify the relationship among the three primary variables of interest, improve measurement of these variables, be more sensitive to external validity, and promote the study of acceptance-based treatments that target experiential avoidance.

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a popular screening and research instrument for measuring severity of depression. The instrument was translated to Portuguese for use in Brazil in 1979; however, it was not until recently that its psychometric properties have been tested empirically for the Brazilian population. The purpose of the present study was to explore the BDI's psychometric properties in a northern region of Brazil and to test for possible relationships between certain demographic variables and BDI outcomes. Samples used in this study were from an urban area in Roraima, the northernmost state of Brazil. The BDI showed adequate levels of internal consistency in nonclinical and clinical samples. Female respondents had significantly higher scores than male respondents. Those who had lower levels of education, income, or occupational status had significantly higher scores than those with higher levels of these variables. Adolescents had significantly higher scores than adults from all age groups except those from age 19 to 22. No significant difference was found between those who identified themselves as “indigenous” and those who identified themselves as “non-indigenous.” Regression analysis results showed that the combination of gender, education, and age best accounted for the variance in BDI scores. An ANCOVA …

Managerial self-awareness is thought to impact leadership. A multi-rater feedback instrument was used to gather performance data on 70 managers in a large multi-national airline in regards to five leadership dimensions: making sound decisions, driving for results, effective communication, self-management, and innovation. Difference scores between self and direct reports were calculated and used as the operational definition of managerial self-awareness. T-tests were run to examine the difference between high performers and average performers. No significant differences were found. Additionally, correlational measures between the five leadership competencies and the managerial self-awareness measure indicated statistically weak relationships.

Children with a recent history of TBI often demonstrate impaired memory, which can be affected by impaired attention, processing speed or impaired verbal information processing. The purpose of this study was to determine if qualitative differences exist among the narrative recall of TBI patients that is not adequately accounted for by standard scoring methods. Sixty-six TBI subjects ranging in age from 6 to 16 were given the Wide Range and Memory and Learning (WRAML) Story Memory subtest and selected subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition (WISC-III). Mean elapsed time since injury was 53 days. Recall of the story on the WRAML subtest was hand-recorded by the examiner. A supplemental scoring method accounted for differences in length, errors, and disorganization. Comparisons were made to a randomly selected control group consisting of 16 hospitalized subjects between 7 and 15 years with no history of head injury, neurological condition or event. Findings suggest the WRAML Story Memory subtest is relatively robust in providing information regarding the quality of recall, with the exception of not accounting for the addition of erroneous details. Subjects with both cortical and subcortical injuries were more likely to add superfluous details to their stories. …

An understanding of factors that enhance empathic parenting behaviors is of considerable importance to the study of child development and to the development of parenting interventions to promote child adjustment. Moreover, gaining a better understanding of the factors that predict empathic parenting with older children is of interest since most research examining parental empathy focuses on infants. These were the goals of the current study. Guided by Belsky's 1984 process model of the determinants of parenting that impact child development, an expanded model of the determinants of parenting is proposed that includes various parent, child, and contextual factors of influence. Using data from a community sample, a partial least squares path analysis approach was employed to test the model's strength in predicting empathically attuned parenting with children ages 5 to 10 years and, ultimately, the child's psychoemotional functioning. Results support the expanded model; however, a reduced model was found to be superior and revealed unique relationships between the determinants of parenting. Specifically, a parent's psychoemotional functioning and childrearing beliefs and attitudes were found to be critical to the parent's ability to engage in empathic parenting behaviors. Other parent factors such as the parent's developmental history of abuse, maladaptive personality traits, …

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of and the subjects' overall satisfaction with the implementation of an internally created performance appraisal system. The system was implemented at a major technology consulting firm in the US. The subjects of this study were manager level employees of the firm. An employee survey conducted annually at the firm included questions relating to the implementation of the performance appraisal system. Eight years of managers' responses to six key questions in the Career Development category were analyzed. Managers' perceptions of their contribution to the firm, their understanding of what career paths are available to them, their understanding of the requirements for promotion, as well as their overall satisfaction with the implementation of the performance appraisal system were captured by this survey. Trend analysis indicates that managers at the firm perceived their career path knowledge improved and their understanding of promotion criteria improved as a result of the implementation. Overall satisfaction with the implementation did not improve enough to site confidence in managers' perceptions for the period immediately after the implementation; managers' responses to the actual implementation were disagreeable to neutral. Managers did not feel their impact on the organization improved as …

Descriptions of obesity, cerebral palsy, and scoliosis were rank-ordered (from one to twenty) and rated on a five-point scale by 75 college students. The descriptions were of two types: with the appearance of an individual on five levels of severity of a disorder and with the appearance and level of functioning of an individual on five levels of severity of a disorder. The ranking data indicated males rank-ordered descriptions of obese individuals different from cerebral palsy (p < 0.01) and scoliosis (p < 0.05) . The ratings of the descriptions were analyzed in two studies with 2 x 2 x 2 x 5 ANOVA's. Three-way interactions of the level of severity, complexity of description, and type of disorder rated were discussed in terms of likeability of handicapped individuals .