Common rates employed in classificatory testing are the true positive rate (TPR), false positive rate (FPR), positive predictive power (PPP), and negative predictive power (NPP). FPR and TPR are estimated from research samples representing populations to be distinguished by classificatory testing. PPP and NPP are used by clinicians to classify…

An overview of the history of adolescent runaway behavior indicates that it has become a social and psychological problem of significant proportions. This study investigated the use of a personality measure that was hypothesized to be representative of a cluster of behaviors associated with running away. The study also sought to determine a…

While the constructs of aptitude and achievement, which are defined as genotypic and environmental constructs, are potentially useful in psychological theory and in the development of predictors, the use of these terms for psychological tests is highly misleading. Implications of this position for group differences in aptitude and construct…

Investigated the validity of the Vocabulary-Block Design short form as an estimate of Full Scale IQ in White male delinquents. The difference between the means of the short form and the Full Scale IQ was small and nonsignificant. Concluded the short form was useful as a screening device. (Author)

Four alternative cognitive assumptions concerning the fundamental meaning of events are presented: formism, or everyday thinking; mechanism, or experimental scientist's thinking; organicism, or systems thinking; and contextualism, or relational thinking. The measurement of individual preferences for these hypotheses and behavioral correlates of…

Examined the possibility that individuals may confound measures of temperament and behavior problems because of the conceptual overlap between the measures. The psychologists involved in the study considered temperament items to be better measures of temperament than of behavior problems. (Author/BB)

To supplement previous reliability and validity studies concerning the Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ), new NCQ items were written and assessed in relation to the original eight NCQ scales. The NCQ measures eight non-traditional or non-cognitive variables that relate to minority student retention--positive self-concept, realistic self-appraisal,…

A series of studies and analyses to develop brief, reliable measures of intelligence and achievement motivation that would be feasible for use in a cross-sectional sample is summarized. One measure of intelligence meets these criteria. It is a 13-item test of sentence completion skill, which correlates effectively with other measures of…

This paper presents data on a follow-up study of a project in the 1960's: a classroom assessment and intervention program directed at mental health for all the first grade classrooms of Woodlawn, a black poor community on Chicago's south side. Now, ten years later, the mental health of these adolescents as well as the mental health, structure, and…