The article describes the founding principles, work program, and accomplishments of a Reference Group with both expert and layperson stakeholders for the corrosion of copper canisters in a proposed deep repository in Sweden for spent nuclear fuel. The article sets the Reference Group as a participatory effort within a broader context of…

MMPI-2 scores from a parent competency sample (N = 136 parents) are compared with a previously published data set of MMPI-2 scores for child custody litigants (N = 508 parents; Bathurst et al., 1997). Independent samples t tests yielded significant and in some cases substantial differences on the standard MMPI-2 clinical scales (especially Scales…

Despite considerable achievement in inclusive research, people with intellectual disabilities have been largely excluded from the critical area of data analysis and theory development. Next to the undoubted complexity of these tasks, this can partly be attributed to higher demands of representativeness that are used to judge the validity of…

The easing of legal and unauthorized entry to South Africa has made the country a new destination for Black immigrants. As this population continues to grow, its children have begun to experience South African schools in an array of uniquely challenging ways. For these immigrant youth, forging a sense of identity may be their single greatest…

In this paper we investigate the role of several socio-economic and non-economic factors such as absolute and relative income, education and religion to explain the differences of happiness levels of Turkish and Moroccan Immigrants in the Netherlands by using ordered logit model. We focus on members of the Moroccan and Turkish communities, as…

Using data from the US General Social Survey 1972-2004, we study the role of perceptions and status in self-reported happiness. Reference group income negatively relates to own happiness and high perceptions about own relative income, quality of dwelling, and social class relate positively and very significantly to happiness. Perceptions about…

Previous research has found that religiosity may protect against risky alcohol and drug use behaviors among adolescents, but the social mechanics underpinning the relationship are not well understood. This study examined the relationship between religiosity, heavy drinking, and social norms among U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, using the…

We examine the extent to which self-reported health and psychosocial health are affected by relative economic status in China, for the first time examining the importance of reference groups not defined by geographic location or demographic characteristics. We propose a methodology to address potential bias from subjective reporting biases and…

This study examined how much improvement was attainable with respect to accuracy of differential item functioning (DIF) measures and DIF detection rates in the Mantel-Haenszel procedure when employing focal and reference groups with notably unbalanced sample sizes where the focal group has a fixed small sample which does not satisfy the minimum…

Researchers debate whether one represents the magnitude of a fraction according to its real numerical value or just the discrete numerosity of its numerator or denominator. The present study examined three effects based on the notion that people possess a mental number line to explore how children represent fractions when they compare fractions…

Aim: To determine if adolescents who are born very preterm (less than 32wks; of gestation) and/or with very low birthweight (VLBW; less than 1500g) have a higher risk of experiencing clinically significant anxiety problems. Method: We used a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched the databases ISI Web of Knowledge, PubMed, PsycNET,…

Research on students studying business management shows that there is a series of changes they go through during their education, during which students become more concerned with the practical application of what they are learning and how it will fit into their future careers. (Contains 7 tables, 2 figures, and 4 notes.)

Most studies that explore the impact of relative standing on subjective well-being use objective measures of the individual's relative position, such as the mean income of the reference group or the individual's ranking in the relevant income distribution. In this paper, using a new household survey from South Africa, we are able to derive…

Both adults and adolescents often conform their behavior and opinions to peer groups, even when they themselves know better. The current study investigated this phenomenon in 24 groups of 4 children between 4;2 and 4;9 years of age. Children often made their judgments conform to those of 3 peers, who had made obviously erroneous but unanimous…

The atypical behaviour of preterm infants can elicit stress in fathers and influence their ability to perceive and interpret infants' cues. This study investigated whether fathers of moderately and late preterm infants were more stressed than fathers of term infants. In a randomised controlled trial, we also studied the effect of the Mother-Infant…