Research findings were reviewed on the Auditory Visual Combined Discrimination Test, which can be used with severely and profoundly mentally retarded persons to assess basic position, visual, and auditory discriminations. The test was found to be reliable and predictive of client performance in classroom learning, language, and vocational tasks.…

An investigation is undertaken of the nature of some of the difficulties encountered in interpreting accurately student evaluations of courses of instruction. Intuitive assessment of the results can be quite erroneous, especially if it is accompanied by a lack of awareness of Bayes' Theorem and the role of prior probabilities. (Author/MLW)

This article discusses the uses of production function models and describes the role of inferential statistics for making predictions in school finance. Specifically, the analysis evaluates types, suggests uses, explains the advantages and disadvantages, and lists the statistical complexities of production functions. (JAM)

Random-walk conceptions of performance, aspirations, and risk preferences are used to model a pattern of risk taking responsive to a risk taker's changing fortune. The impact of adaptive aspirations and attention focus on risk taking over time is explored for cohorts and a renewing population of risk takers. (SLD)

Two important parameters of the general utility function--the standard deviation of job performance and predictor performance--were examined in terms of their sensitivity to departures from underlying mathematical assumptions. Integral calculus was used to assess the effects of statistical violations of the assumptions underlying these parameters.…

Reviews issues faced by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools in developing a predictor exam when the exam is designed for U.S.-educated nurses. Describes issues surrounding the administration of a predictive exam internationally. (JOW)

Children of 18 months classified as secure or insecure/avoidant by means of the Ainsworth Strange Situation were observed at home and in a playgroup. Teachers and observers rated girls classified as insecure/avoidant as being more difficult to deal with and having more difficulty with peers than girls rated as securely attached. (PCB)

Youthful antisocial behavior is often viewed as a precursor to later violent behavior. Examines the assertion that aggressive reaction patterns in males over time approach the stability of intelligence by studying evidence from 82 reports of prospective studies. Analysis finds considerably more modest relationships between earlier antisocial…

This study investigated the relative importance of semantic, grammatical, phonological, and rapid naming abilities in predicting word identification skills in 200 children (grades 1-6) using correlation, factor analysis, multiple regression, and predictive outcome analysis techniques. Composite measures of these abilities correlated significantly…

Reports on school survey of males entering puberty and occurrence of delinquent behaviors. Results show that these students reported a wider range of delinquency, including higher levels of crime and school opposition behaviors. They also reported a greater frequency of particular delinquent acts over a 12-month period. Findings lend support to…

Adolescents diagnosed with at least one mental disorder were studied to determine predictors of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Major depression was predictive of suicidal ideation and attempts for both genders. Chronic stress was found predictive of male suicidal ideations, while low self esteem and family dysfunction were predictive in…

Using path analysis and hierarchical linear modeling, the authors evaluated the associations between both partners' level of depression and anxiety, as measured by Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) content scales, and both partners' level of marital satisfaction among married couples (N = 774) that participated in the MMPI…

Despite several decades of activity, alcohol expectancy research has yet to merge measurement approaches with developing memory theory. This article offers an expectancy assessment approach built on a conceptualization of expectancy as an information processing network. The authors began with multidimensional scaling models of expectancy space,…

Tympanic membrane (TM) temperature asymmetry has been proposed as a phenotypic marker of vulnerability to negative emotionality in children. Little is known about the stability of TM temperatures or how readily one can obtain a reliable index of the phenotype. TM temperatures were collected from 3- to 5-year-old children (N=73) over 5 months…

The Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995 was an act of terrorism that had many potential influences on the city and state, including influences on families. We analyzed divorce data from 1985 to 2000 for all 77 counties in Oklahoma to assess the divorce response to the Oklahoma City bombing. Our prediction was that divorce rates in Oklahoma would…