Assessed the relation between behavior problem ratings and family relationship quality among 29 mothers and their 4-year-old children. Findings suggest that the absence of positive parental behaviors is as important as the presence of negative behaviors in behavior problem development. (RH)

Reports a study that examined the influence of authoritarianism on the formation of behavioral intentions by female college students. High authoritarians took subjective norms less into account relative to low authoritarians, providing support for the theory that personal and subjective norms can be distinguished empirically. (LS)

The impact of participation rate and nine educational/demographic variables on state mean Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores for the class of 1985 was studied. It is misleading to compare scores on standardized tests without considering proportions of potential examinees taking the test, and the SAT needs to be renormed. (SLD)

Analysis of use of high school grade point averages (GPAs) based only on academic course grades, not on all courses taken, as predictors of freshman academic success found that while academic GPAs reflect background variables promoting success more precisely, they do not predict success significantly better statistically. (MSE)

Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test results from Spring 1984 through Fall 1986 were analyzed for 14,768 males and 16,574 females with regard to gender differences at the item level. For four of the six subtests, differences were related to item subject content; this was untrue for the two quantitative subtests. (SLD)

Discusses study that examined the relationship between age, education, sex, and household income, and attitudes toward computers. An eight-item Likert scale, which was developed to measure the attitudes (the Computer Orientation Scale) is described, and the findings are reported, i.e., age and education had direct effects on computer attitudes. (5…

Describes the development of the Media Specialist Stress Inventory (MSSI), designed to examine the degree to which stress variables can be used to predict burnout levels of school library media specialists. The results of tests of the reliability and validity of the MSSI are presented and discussed. (31 references) (CLB)

A study of 92 medical students found that critical thinking skills, as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, were moderately predictive of academic success during the preclinical years of medical education. (Author/MSE)

Data from the National Institute for Mental Health's Epidemiologic Catchment Areas Survey followed 7,103 parents who denied physical abuse/neglect of their children in Wave I but admitted it in Wave II, 1 year later. Social and demographic variables were limited predictors of maltreatment, while substance abuse disorders and depression were…

A longitudinal study examined predictive relations among sociometric status, aggression, and adolescent childbearing; the relation among peer status, aggression, and multiple births; and whether these variables are related to the timing of adolescent childbearing. Results suggest that controversial peer status and aggression predict adolescent…

Studied the influence of parenting, personality, and school adjustment on early adolescent substance use in 1,023 middle school students. Findings indicate similarity in etiology of early adolescent substance use across gender and ethnicity; the importance of examining multiple domains of influence on adolescent substance use; and the need to…

Examined Swedish children's inhibition behavior using mothers' and psychologists' ratings of inhibition at age 18 and 24 months to predict later ratings through age 16 years. Prediction was more reliable for children rated as very inhibited or very uninhibited than for those in nonextreme group through age six. Only for inhibited girls did early…

Hypothesized that individual differences in 81 sixth-grade boys' self-restraint would serve as a mediator between family factors in preadolescence and sons' delinquent behavior 4 years later. General family functioning at preadolescence, independent of other scores, predicted boys' level of self-restraint four years later. (MDM)

Determined whether there are developmental precursors to accidents and resulting physical impairment. Data collected at ages 8 and 14 (147 males and 142 females) were related to the number of types of accidents and impairment by the age of 27. Accidents and impairment were most frequent among individuals whose behavior had been characterized by…

Narrative features of the life stories of child abuse survivors (n=23) and nonvictimized college student respondents (n=23) were compared. Narratives of survivors differed from the comparison group in both relative emphasis on the past versus present/future and on others rather than self. An emphasis on others by child abuse survivors emerged as…